Connor Lade returns from loan to ease New York Red Bulls' injury woes

The New York Red Bulls' squad depth is being severely tested by the seven-game September schedule.

We already knew the team would be missing Michael Bustamante (season-ending knee surgery) and Bobby Convey (taking September to straighten out his septum). Next, the team lost Bradley Wright-Phillips to an injury that has kept him off the pitch since half-time of the game against D.C. United on September 10.

As the team prepared for its September 17 CCL match against L'Impact in Montreal, Mike Petke broke further news: Tim Cahill and Thierry Henry will likely sit out the trip to rest the knocks that caused them to exit the game against Philadelphia prematurely.

Oh, one more thing: RBNY's remarkable difficulty with immigration matters persists - Ambroise Oyongo had a little trouble getting back into the US, and apparently is not allowed to travel to Canada.

The good news (as reported by Big Apple Soccer): the club has recalled Connor Lade from his loan to NY Cosmos to bolster the numbers for the CCL game in Montreal, and (as reported by Empire of Soccer) the following games against Seattle (in MLS) and CD FAS (CCL, in El Salvador).

Lade's return gives Petke 22 players to choose from to make the match-day 18 for CCL duties. Assuming the coach wants to rest Luis Robles and Jamison Olave, he's got just two players who aren't injured he can afford to leave out of the trip to Canada (unless he decides to take less than the maximum number of players, which would be a shabby way for the club to conduct itself in a tournament it has no right to take for granted).

It was only a couple of weeks ago that RBNY couldn't get enough bodies on the field to run a training session without drafting in a few members of the coaching staff. Matt Coyne asked just how desperate would the team need to be to summon Connor Lade back from his exile in Long Island?

At least we now know the answer to that question.