The All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen is back training with his English football club Blackburn Rovers and could be back playing by the weekend.
Nelsen hyper-extended his knee in a Premiership match last month and has been out of the game for almost 5 weeks.
Blackburn play Birmingham tomorrow, but manager Sam Allardyce has decided to leave him on the sidelines saying the central defender is short on match fitness.
Blackburn have 8 matches left in the season which will give Nelsen plenty of time to get back to his best ahead of the World Cup in June.
