Willkommen Back, Herr Friedrich!

Arne Friedrich, the German international center back, joined the Chicago Fire in training on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. It was his first training session with the club since returning from Germany where he underwent treatment for the hamstring injury that he suffered in the preseason.

Both MLSsoccer.com's Anthony Zillis and Chicago-Fire.com's Jeff Crandall have articles up on Friedrich's first day back, but Jeff's article include a video. Instead of copying and pasting quotes, it might be best to let Arne speak instead:

This is a promising sign to all Fire fans. While Austin Berry and Jalil Anibaba haven't been too bad in the backline, their inexperience does show and having Arne back would be a huge boost.

When it comes to a time line for Arne to return to playing, Zilis' article mentions that Arne will not be participating in Friday's friendly against Minnesota United FC. The initial return from time injury time line given by Frank Klopas a few weeks back was that Arne could possibly return for the April 7th game against the New York Red Bulls. Both Crandall and Zilis included a quote from Arne about his anticipated return. Here is the quote from Zilis' article:

“We will see,” he said. “Today was my first practice and everything went fantastic, and we will see how my body reacts when we accelerate a little bit. I don't want to state anything today. First and foremost, I'm happy that everything is fine now.”

Arne should definitely take his time returning to the lineup. Having Arne re-injure his hamstring because he was rushed back too soon would be a huge set back for a team that is struggling to stay healthy.