Stuart Holden - back by end of January

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/10131504.Holden_could_be_back_by_the_end_of_January/

What we learn:
.. Played in a closed door scrimmage against Wigan. Knee held up.

.. Bolton scheduling more friendlies to get him ready.

It'll be a long road back to the US Team for Holden, but he's finally taking some big first steps towards playing. Good luck to him.

Knock on wood. Fingers crossed. Where is my rabbit's foot?

holden should be a lock for gold cup, and a possible for 2nd half of hex based on play

After all the leg injuries and loooooooooong layoff let's see how long the soccer legs get underneath him and if he returns to his old form. My worry is that all injuries are not the same and this last one could effect his game so much that he will not have the quality he once had. I hope this doesn't turn in to anO. Onyewu, J.O'Brien, or Charlie Davies.

For reference: Charlie Davies was out for a total of 17 months. Holden has been out for 21 months (not counting his one league cup appearance in Sep. 2011 before re-injuring himself) and will have been out 22 if he does return at the end of January.

Obviously, very different situations, but the sheer length of the layoff should temper people's expectations. Returning for the Gold Cup would be a terrific but astonishing achievement.

That being said, Holden is 27 and entering the prime of life and a soccer player's career- I want to believe.

How long was Jermaine Jones out? How old was he?

still, Holden is only a knee. He may be as good as new, he may not.. Davies was massive LIFE-ALTERING injuries. We hoped that he would be able to fully return. Way different.

About 13 months from the time of surgery, at the age of 28.

Good luck to Stu!

Very good news for Stu. If he's anywhere close to where he was, he walks back into our 23. Though I think we should take our time and not overtax him.

Though I'm not a fan of putting him in GC. If he's back, then use him the qualifiers. CMs = Jones, Bradley, Williams, Holden.

Comparing anyone else to Stu is not appropriate. The point is he's coming back and it isn't an unimportant year.

I'm really glad to see Holden nearing a return, and am cautiously optimistic that he gets almost half a season with Bolton to recover his form and prepare for a Gold Cup call-up in June.

If he can return to form, he is a lock for our 23-man WC/WCQ roster, and is a perfect fit in the midfield for Jurgen Klinsmann's 4-3-3 scheme due to his two-way abilities. Much more versatile than Jermaine Jones, almost as steely in the tackle, better passer, better going forward and better in possession. And he can play multiple positions in a 4-4-2.

Stu deserves a run of good health.

Let's hold our horses. I remember hearing this kind of stuff about Charlie Davies too.
Believe me, we all want him to succeed. Let's watch him at Bolton and reassess toward the end of his season there IF he's able to hold up and play well.

Yeah, people expecting him to be the player he was should probably hold off declaring him a lock for anything until he proves he's not permanently broken or altered.

There's also the matter of Bolton not likely wanting a guy who has been out for about 2 years and had a couple major knee operations playing in a meaningless federation tournament. Yeah, it's the summer, but don't think for a second that Holden wouldn't honor their wishes if they asked him not to play, considering they stood by him for this long.

The best case realistic scenario is that he gets a call up toward the end of the Hex just to bring him into a camp to evaluate. We're not short of CM options; there's absolutely no reason to jump the gun and call him in just because he was really good in 2010.

Personally, i think he's not going to be the same player, and thus won't contribute in a meaningful way for the NT. He's not young, and his ops were not insignificant.

holden has 6 months to get matches in and im talking gold cup

oit'll be evident if holden cant play, as to davies, his violtion of curfew, doesn;t make me feel sorry for him

his soccer life was ruined by a bad decision, and where can he make the money now he was playing a game...

This is true, but if his knee returns to full strength, it's basically like he took 2 year break from the wear and tear of professional sport.

27-28 year olds don't heal as well as 20-24 year olds.

It's good news that Holden is starting to play again. I hope he takes it slowly and doesn't try to overdo it. Only time will tell what sort of player he'll be post-surgery.

Personally, I'm hoping to see him in Brasil 2014.

This. Cheers Stu!

Hope he comes back and is the same player. Cautious though, we've heard he's 'coming back soon' several times only for the date to get pushed back and back..

Those dates were always innaccurate from what Ive read. He would go to bolton to visit the team in training, and a report would come out that he was back in training.

It has been clear for a while January was Stuart's earliest return, even when the official target was October. And I still hear January is optimistic and mid-February would not surprise me.

As for return to form, a good rule of thumb is 50-100% percent of the time the player was out. So best case for Holden he is back to top form in about 9 months. More likely he is back near his best at about this time next year.

With Holden's injury, what people will be closely watching is whether he regains his explosiveness. Stuart had a great first step and agility. I thought during his peak play he was the best US midfielder at closing space down defensively and hope he recovers that ability.

This is great news. It will be one step at a time back to the US Men's squad...

Reserve games (now)
First team game day roster
First team sub minutes
First team starts
US camp invite
US game day roster
US sub minutes
US start

A lot of steps there before he gets to a US game day roster (as US fans this is the key), but I won't be betting against him.

Pretty harsh penalty to pay for staying out late. I can only hope your life reflects a monk like existence to justify your indifference to someone nearly dying because they stayed up a few hours past bedtime. I'd hate to see what you think his punishment should've been for illegally downloading music.