EX-SUPER Eagles ace, Obafemi Martins is at least several weeks away from returning to the Seattle Sounders, but there was at least some visible proof that he's making progress on Wednesday. The Seattle Sounders forward was seen jogging around the training fields and may even be a bit ahead of schedule from an injury initially expected to cost him 6-8 weeks.
"It's going well," Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid told the media. "He started running on Tuesday, didn't have any setbacks or issues so they did a little more today and will continue to build upon it. ... We really haven't been able to nail (a timetable) down, but it's been positive. I think he's doing more than we expected him to be doing at this stage."
Martins suffered an adductor injury during the Sounders' U.S. Open Cup match against the Portland Timbers on June 17. Although no surgery was needed to repair the injury and Schmid initially said the timetable was 3-6 weeks, it was considered similar to the ones suffered by Dylan Remick and Djimi Traore last season. Both players needed more than two months to return to full action.
Without Martins, the Sounders have dropped three straight league games and been outscored 7-1. A best-case scenario has Martins returning for the road match against the Montreal Impact on July 25, but that seems quite optimistic. More likely, the Sounders are probably targeting a Martins return on Aug. 1 for a home match against the Vancouver Whitecaps or the Aug. 9 match at the LA Galaxy.
