Kappelhof, Azira return to Chicago Fire training

Chicago Fire defender Johan Kappelhof and midfielder Micheal Azira have both returned to full team training with the club this week.

Azira and Kappelhof were not with the Fire for the MLS is Back Tournament. Azira had an eye injury he picked up in the final training session before the team left for Florida, and Kappelhof was battling a quad injury.

Both players had to quarantine for 10 days away from the rest of the team before they were cleared.

“Micheal Azira is in full team training,” Fire head coach Raphael Wicky said after training today. “Johan has come slowly back. We have seen him as a neutral in certain game forms. So, we will progress him back to full team training hopefully in the next couple of weeks.”

The Fire are still missing Jeremiah Gutjahr and Luka Stojanović, who are both recovering from knee surgery. Wicky said because of that, the team currently doesn’t have the numbers to play a full, 11v11 scrimmage.

The Fire could return to play as soon as the end of this month, but MLS has yet to announce final plans for a restart of the 2020 regular season. Whenever it starts, both Azira and Kappelhof should be ready.