CARSON, Calif. -- Robbie Keane is back on the field, at least to do a little running, and can see his return to the LA Galaxy lineup on the horizon. He's just not certain when that will be.
The Irish striker, who will miss his seventh straight game with a groin injury when the Galaxy plays Sunday at Orlando City (5 pm ET; ESPN2), says it's been disheartening to be out so long with a groin issue, but he's dealing with it better than he might have previously.
“I love playing, so it's been a bit frustrating, but it's just the way it is,” Keane, who suffered the injury near the end of LA's April 4 loss at Vancouver, said following Thursday morning's training session at StubHub Center. “If it had happened a few years ago, I probably would have been an absolute disaster in the training room, because I'm the worst person in the world to be injured. But as you get experience, you [learn to] make sure you look after yourself well, and of course I want to get back as quick as I can, and I'm certainly on the mend, but I just have to be very, very careful that it doesn't come back again.”
Keane thought he'd back for the April 26 road draw with the New York Red Bulls, but he aggravated the injury when he returned to training in advance of that match and hadn't been on the field until Wednesday. He hopes to be training, with the ball and alongside teammates, next week.
“It's just one of those situations,” he said. “I came back and then it just kind of reoccurred again, so maybe it wasn't fully healed, but that's the way it goes. I'm certainly on the mend now. Doing a lot of work in the gym. ... I have to kind of make sure it doesn't occur again.”
LA's captain is among a dozen Galaxy players who have been sidelined by injury this season, at nearly every post on the field and adding up to 46 games in all.
Forward/midfielder Jose Villarreal returned to full training this week after missing six of the past seven games with a hamstring injury and hopes to play in Orlando, but defender Todd Dunivant (leg bruise) and forward Edson Buddle (calf) haven't been able to fully train.
Left back Robbie Rogers, who played through an Achilles' injury in last weekend's loss at FC Dallas after skipping the midweek draw at Real Salt Lake, appears unlikely to travel after spending little more than 10 minutes on the field in this week's sessions.
Forward Alan Gordon (hip soreness) and defender A.J. DeLaGarza (foot) are also dealing with ailments, but both are expected to be available.
“I feel good, I feel ready to go ...,” Gordon said this week. “We've got to suck it up and power through it. We've all got to do our part to stay healthy and stay on the field.”
Keane, last year's MLS MVP, had never missed more than five successive Galaxy games, and that was while he was away with Ireland's national team for the 2012 European Championship. LA has gone 2-1-3 in his absence, with a pair of road points included, but has struggled mightily to present a coherent attack with so much flux among their front six.
“We've been OK. Most important thing is we're staying in there, you know?” Keane said. “In the next month or so, you'll probably see a different team, when people get fit and people come back. Of course, it probably hasn't been the prettiest to watch, but the lads have done well to get points on the board.”
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Keane hasn't enjoyed watching it.
“I shout at the screen when I'm watching a movie. So you can imagine how I am watching a game,” he said. “I hate watching anyway, because I should be out there. ... I'm so desperate just to get out there. When you're watching, you can't do anything. When you're playing, you can do something to help the team.”
Keane says he'll “be back” in training within two weeks. He's “not even focusing” on Ireland's June 7 friendly against England and June 13 European Championship qualifier against Scotland. He was included Tuesday on manager Martin O'Neill's 33-man preliminary roster for those matches.
“I'm focusing on getting myself playing for the Galaxy first, and then as soon as I get fit for that, then I can worry about [Ireland],” he said. “For me, most important is focusing on getting back training by the end of this week or the start of next week, and then just seeing how I am.
“I'm not going [to guarantee] I'll be back next week, because I thought I would be back 2-3 weeks ago, and I wasn't, so you start saying that, and you don't really know. So I want to concentrate on hopefully getting back next week training and just take it from there.”
