Brandon Aguilera is undertaking a 5,500-mile journey to try and be ready for Bristol Rovers' League One encounter against Port Vale on Good Friday after featuring for Costa Rica in their friendly defeat against Argentina.
On-loan Nottingham Forest talent Aguilera played 68 minutes for his country in Los Angeles on Tuesday as they were beaten 3-1 by the world champions with goals from Angel Di Maria, Alexis Mac Allister and Lautaro Martinez.
The 20-year-old is due to land at Heathrow late on Thursday night with Rovers then laying on an Uber to transport him to the team hotel just outside Stoke-on-Trent, with kick-off then following at 3pm on Friday. Rovers manager Matt Taylor won’t be able to fully assess the playmaker until he joins up with the rest of the squad, to then determine exactly how much of the game he’ll be able to play.
On the plus side, his time on the field for Costa Rica has kept his sharpness over the international break after a month out with a hamstring injury, but the 13-hour journey he will undertake and the likely impact that will have on his physical state means he may only be good enough for a place on the bench.
“It’s an interesting one,” Taylor said. “Brandon gets back in the late hours of Thursday, so we’ve got to find a way of getting him from Heathrow, if his flight is on time, up to Port Vale.
“With all flights and travel, there could be delays, there could be problems, there could be hiccups, there could be fatigue in there.
“I’ll speak to him Friday morning, it will be great to have him available and it’ll be great if he can play some part. What that looks like on Friday is yet to be determined.
“But either way, it’s a positive he’s got some game time and got through unscathed after his previous injury, and he got to play against Argentina. From Argentina to Port Vale, it’s a bit of a contrast!”
The international break has allowed for a degree of healing within the squad, mentally and physically, in the wake of their 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Lincoln City in their previous match.
Luca Hoole and Jed Ward have returned after Wales Under-21 and England Under-20 duty, but defender Elkan Baggott is a doubt after withdrawing from the Indonesia squad.
Luke McCormick has returned to full training and could come into the equation, and while Luke Thomas is back on the grass, the extended Easter weekend comes too soon for the winger.
Midfielder Grant Ward is in the frame to start for the first time since January 6 after overcoming a niggle which denied him a place in the team at Lincoln, having seemingly made his injury comeback in the previous fixture against Fleetwood Town.
“Grant Ward has got over that issue that kept him out of the Lincoln game,” Taylor added. “He’s had a couple more days training so hopefully he’ll be in contention.
“Whatever it was has settled down. We didn’t feel it was serious at the time but his history, the experience of the medical staff with Grant, made us make that decision to leave him out that weekend.
"You want all players available at every opportunity but it was just a little kick in the gut because he’d returned, he was back, us and the fans were getting excited, and you’re thinking, more game time, more minutes, and then all of a second he’s taken away from you.”
Midfielder Jordan Rossiter, meanwhile, who hasn’t played for the Gas since December 2022 due to a series of knee issues and is out of contract this summer, continues to train at The Quarters with the hope that he could be involved in some capacity before the end of the season.
Given the length of his absence, Taylor was reluctant to put any kind of timeframe over whether the Scouser would be seen in blue and white again but there seems a degree of optimism.
“There’s no rush for Jordan,” Taylor said. “He’s training with the group every single day and just building and building and building himself up, having been out for so long. There’s not a restriction there but just a little bit of an issue with the knee in terms of movement and moving patterns, and real sharp movements, but he’s getting better every day, so he’s made huge strides.
“Will we see him on the pitch before the end of the season? I honestly don’t know. It would be great if we could get him a reserve game or in an 11vs11 format, because he’ll need that at some stage but that’s probably not in the next week to two weeks, and then there’s not much time before the end of the season.
“What I will say is, what a guy to work with. He does value the right things in football and is one who has been sorely missed for such a long period at this football club. So great to have him back out there and I’m delighted I get to see him first-hand and work with him.”
