Real Salt Lake's Findley nears return to the field

If called upon Robbie Findley should be able to play in some capacity for Real Salt Lake this Friday, but a spot in the starting 11 seems out of the question.

Findley still hasn't recovered fully from the ankle injury he suffered back on June 6 against Colorado, though he admits he's close. The RSL striker is also the first to acknowledge he's surprised how long he's been out.

Through the years there have been a handful of RSL players who've been reluctant to play through pain — perhaps most notable was Rusty Pierce back in the inaugural 2005 season.

Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis doesn't consider Findley one of those players.

"I know that Robbie Findley is not someone who takes time off," said Kreis. "When we first traded for him he showed up with an ankle injury and he played through it. I know he's someone who will play through a little bit of pain, so it must be pretty severe."

Findley trained for the full 45 minutes during Wednesday's shortened training session at Xango Field, but Kreis said a decision about his exact status for Friday's match against visiting San Jose won't be made until game day. Either way, Findley will likely dress.

CONCACAF Gold Cup call-ups and nagging injuries limited RSL to just 14 healthy field players for Wednesday's training session, so there really shouldn't be that much competition for a spot on the 18-man game day roster.

"I can't wait for him to come back, I can't wait to have Robbie Findley as an option for us," said Kreis.

Despite missing the past three games, Findley is still Real Salt Lake's leading scorer with six goals. Prior to the injury, and with Findley sitting near the top of the MLS goal scoring list, it seemed there was an outside hope of him being named an MLS All-Star.

Now that four players have scored more than six goals, and five others have equaled Findley's goal total, whatever slim hope he had of being named to his first MLS All-Star team is gone.

"When it comes down to it I have no control over that. All I can do is do my rehab to get better and get back on the field," said Findley. "Just wait until it heals, I don't want to jump in too early so I re-injure myself."

Findley said the circumstances are frustrating, but he's anxious to get back on the field and help RSL improve upon its four-game unbeaten streak.

"I wish I could've been on the field these past few games with them, but they've done well they've responded well," said Findley. "It comes from practice, we're working hard out here getting after each other. It's been good so far but we've got to continue the streak."

E-mail: jedward@desnews.com