On Saturday in front of a sparse crowd of 1,384 at the Peoria Sports Complex in Arizona, a former UEFA Champions League midfielder made his return to soccer after a scary injury had him sidelined for two months.
Real Salt Lake’s Sunday Stephen – “Sunny” to his teammates – made his first appearance with Real Monarchs since a collision with New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles left him with multiple facial fractures. The Monarchs won 1-0 over Arizona United to extend the club’s winning streak to three straight matches and the 90 minutes – plus an exorbitant amount of stoppage time – played by Sunny was a good indication that his fitness was better than expected in his first match back.
“I feel great. I’m so happy to be back,” Sunny said on Tuesday when he returned to training with Real Salt Lake.
Although he wasn’t scheduled to play the full match, Sunny indicated in a brief conversation with Monarchs Head Coach Freddy Juarez during the match that he planned to finish what he started and see out the result.
Sunny said he had no reservations heading the ball and never had any confrontations that put his surgically repaired face in peril. His remarkable progress didn’t go unnoticed by Head Coach Jeff Cassar.
“He played a fantastic game and they got a great result,” Cassar said on ESPN 700’s Bill Riley Show on Tuesday. “It’s fitness. It’s game fitness. It’s game speed. Sunny has worked incredibly hard as soon as he was able to start conditioning from his facial fracture. That can only get you so far. Now you have to get game fitness. That 90 minutes, it just shows what kind of person he is and what kind of work that he’s put in to get himself ready. He’s going to play an important role for us going forward.”
Since June 22, Real Salt Lake has missed a certain dynamic on the field – an indescribable element that is not easily measured in statistics. However, the results speak for themselves. When Sunny was in the lineup for RSL, the Claret-and-Cobalt was 7-2-3. Following his departure from the lineup after undergoing surgery to repair fractures in his face suffered early in RSL’s 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls in June, RSL was winless in its next six matches at 0-2-4.
With still a week before RSL hosts the LA Galaxy on September 7 at Rio Tinto Stadium, he has time to get a bit more training in before his next test. He hopes to be ready to contribute in that match and Cassar knows that if it isn’t against LA, a match against the Portland Timbers three days later could mark his return to the pitch for RSL too.
“I think he’s going to start to put himself available for that,” Cassar said of the LA match. “With two games in four days, hopefully we’ll get him involved with the first team.”
To hear Cassar’s full interview, click here.
