FOXBOROUGH — For the last couple of weeks, Revolution manager Brad Friedel has noted that Andrew Farrell has not been able to train with the club following a freak accident on the training ground in between their preseason trips to Spain and Florida.
On Tuesday, we got a little more detail as to what happened.
According to Friedel, a ball caromed off the goal frame and “inadvertently hit (Farrell) in his eye before he had time to close his eyes and react.”
The incident tore his retina in the right eye; we reported in last Tuesday’s Revolution Notebook that Farrell was favoring his right eye during some shuttle runs.
“He’s fine, he’s just rehabbing,” Friedel said prior to training inside the Empower Field House Tuesday afternoon. “Again, strange injury. On (Friday), he has another appointment to go see the specialist, and we’ll have more clarity on the timeline (for his return).
“Again, I’m really hoping that’s nearing completion on him being able to join, because he feels completely fine; he just has to wait for the retina to heal. Once that’s healed, he won’t be too far off fitness, because he is able to do a lot of fitness activities, he’s just not allowed any kind of contact.
“It was something very, very minor at first, and that’s where it stands. It’s just down to the healing process now.”
In addition, defensive midfielder Luis Caicedo is “close” to 90 minutes fitness headed into the weekend, after he suffered a knock to his ankle earlier in the preseason.
The Colombian import has only had a spot run-out in the match against Dallas, subbing on for Scott Caldwell in the dying embers of the match. He was listed in Friedel’s 18 for Saturday’s home opener against Columbus, but did not come on as Friedel elected to go with more offensive-minded players in the second half.
“We had a reserve game (against Fairfield University) on Sunday, and he came through very, very well, so hopefully we’ll see him on the pitch soon,” Friedel said.
The gaffer also said that he is hopeful to see Juan Fernando Caicedo make his MLS debut soon.
“We said day-to-day, and he is day-to-day; he’s been doing a lot of fitness work. We were a little bit worried about a possible reaction to include him last weekend, so hopefully he’s nearing the field very soon as well,” Friedel said.
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A little bit of an addendum to my roster analysis from earlier Tuesday: Friedel mentioned that both DeJuan Jones and Caicedo have the ability to play in the right back slot had there been the need to fill it.
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I can't breathe.... https://t.co/H3XzhyIMp0
— Sean Sweeney (@MrSeanMSweeney) March 10, 2019