United States head coach Vlatko Andonovski says that the fitness of Manchester United forward Tobin Heath is being monitored on a daily basis.
The 32-year-old has been sidelined with a knee injury since January and she returned to the United States before the end of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League season in a bid to recover in time for this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Heath was not named amongst United States head coach Andonovski’s 23-player squad for next month’s Summer Series matches against Portugal, Jamaica and Nigeria, however, he has invited her to attend the camp as a training player.
When speaking in a US Soccer press conference in which FAWSL Full-Time were present, Andonovski said that the United States are monitoring Heath’s fitness around the clock.
“We are taking things day-by-day,” Andonovski said. “Right now, she is still not fully recovered to be with the team in practice 100 percent.
“We are getting daily updates on how she is doing, physically and medically. Laura Harvey our Under-20 coach works with Tobin on the field and we have an athletic trainer that monitors her development.
“As she has recovered well, she was invited into camp as a training player because the next step of her recovery is to train with the team. That’s why we want to help her out and make sure that she is ready for the Olympics.”
Heath is yet to play a competitive fixture in 2021 with her last outing having come before Christmas. Andonovski went on to say that he would assess her match fitness once she arrives in camp.
He added “The most ideal thing for us is that Tobin is fully fit and able to play in our send-off series before we go to the Olympics because that will give us a very good benchmark of where she is at and how much she can play.
“We are not going to know anything until we see her in camp in a couple of weeks.”
Heath is likely to have just two or three weeks to prove her fitness before the final United States squad for Tokyo is announced. Andonovski confirmed that no date for final selection has yet been agreed, although discussions will take place following the Summer Series.
“Right now, we don’t have a specific date in mind but it will be after this camp,” he said. “I would say a few days after this camp is when we will have the final evaluation, the final report from the camp and from the games.
“We will then put everything together and announce the roster.”
The United States will take on Portugal (June 10) and Jamaica (June 13) at the BBVA Stadium in Houston before opening the New Q2 Stadium in Austin with a fixture against Nigeria on June 16.