Bobby Convey’s return from his latest injury remains on hold, as Sporting Kansas City’s coaches and training staff work to sort out the hamstring strain that has sidelined the left winger for more than a week.
“He’s just not there yet from a full sprint capacity,” manager Peter Vermes told MLSsoccer.com after Tuesday’s training session. “We may have to take a different tack in the way we’re dealing with it, because right now he’s just not fully strong enough in that area for some reason.
"I don’t know if something else is causing the problem, so I’m actually going to talk to the trainers today and talk to him and see if we can come up with something different.”
Convey pulled up lame in the seventh minute of Sporting’s 1-0 win at New England on Aug. 4, and missed both Sporting’s US Open Cup final victory over Seattle on Wednesday and their 2-1 home win over D.C. United on Saturday.
He took part in small-squad games on Tuesday but did not speak to media afterward.
“He’s fighting it a little bit from the frustration perspective,” Vermes said. “I know what it’s like, when I see players like that who want to be out there but just can’t get over the hump. That’s what he really needs. It seems like he just got over the calf thing, and it’s one thing after another. But we’ll get it right, and he’ll be back in at some point.”
Jacob Peterson, who performed well on the left wing when Convey was out for seven league matches with quad strains earlier in the season, also has no timetable for his return from injury. He has not played since sustaining a left shoulder sprain in a 2-1 home loss to Columbus on July 28.
“We’re going to give him a bunch of therapy for the next couple of weeks and see if he comes back by a certain point,” Vermes said. “Hopefully, he’ll respond well.”
Left back Seth Sinovic, who sat out the United match after taking a right ankle knock in the Cup final, returned to full training on Tuesday and is expected to be available for Saturday’s match at Toronto FC.
“I was running with [Mauro] Rosales or [Fredy] Montero, one of the two, and I just stepped on their foot and kind of rolled over it,” Sinovic said Tuesday. “I’ll be all right.”
