Ten weeks and change remain in Major League Soccer’s 34-round season, but can we go ahead and hand some kind of Comeback Player honor to Philadelphia striker Conor Casey?
He’s probably not eligible for official MLS Comeback Player of the Year – although it’s hard to say, as that is an odd duck of an award anyway. It’s not always 100 percent clear what some of these characters are “coming back from” in the MLS “comeback” vernacular.
Casey tore his Achilles tendon back in the summer of 2011. He did return to the field last year but was largely ineffective for Colorado with just two goals in 18 appearances. The Rapids released him at season’s end; Philadelphia claimed the 2010 MLS Cup winner in Major League Soccer’s winter re-entry draft.
What a bargain that man has become.
Casey struck for both Philly goals Saturday in a 2-0 win over D.C. United. He has nine goals, tied for fifth among league leaders. Anyone around PPL Park in Chester would certainly have taken nine goals from Casey, and the man still has about a third of the season to further pad the stats.
What makes his contributions so vital right now is that young Jack McInerney, who would fall out of bed and accidently score a goal earlier this year (that is to say, everything was going in for the 21-year-old American) cannot find goal this summer. McInerney has not scored since June 1, a seven-game scoreless streak now.
We’ll talk more later about Sebastien Le Toux, who had two more assists Saturday; he’s another reason things are going so weel in Chester, PA.
Here are NBC’s highlight’s from Saturday’s 2-0 win at PPL Park in Chester, three points that moved John Hackworth’s Union from fourth to third in the East.
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