As the dog days of summer quickly approach, professional sports teams do their best to find moments of rest as seasons drag on. Part of that long road involves sustaining injuries and the ability to adjust, heal and return.
Over the past few weeks, some hurting dogs have licked their wounds and seem poised to do just that for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.
Several players are returning to the starting lineup as a capable Eastern Conference foe visits F.N.B. Stadium on Saturday as Miami looms in a key match for both clubs. Miami sits in a tie for third in the East with 16 points, while the Hounds are locked into a tie for sixth at 13 points but hold two games in hand with the visitors.
Several Riverhounds players have been nursing ailments since the club’s 1-0 home loss to Phoenix Rising on May 2. Among them, Eliot Goldthorp (quad) and captain Danny Griffin (undisclosed) sustained injuries in that defeat, the first at home for the club dating back to last September. Center back Guillaume Vacter (knee) also has been out since mid-April, but all three are poised to be in the starting lineup for manager Rob Vincent in this key tussle.
“It came at a good time, get some guys healthy again and recover,” Vincent said about the time off between USL matches. “We reduced the load on the guys a lot last week and tried to have a normal training week this week. It can always go one of two ways when you come out of a break. You can be sluggish or be refreshed and vitalized. I’m hoping on the latter. I reminded the guys today our last home game was a loss, so we must get back to our winning ways here.”
Vacter’s return could be the most important. After nine games, the Riverhounds have given up 13 goals in the club’s first nine USL Championship matches in 2026, up from 10 last season over the same number of contests. The other side of that coin is the club has seen a jump in scoring over the same timeline, having scored twice as many goals (12) from the previous campaign.
One player who has contributed to that surge is first-year midfielder Eliot Goldthorp, who possesses a wicked right and left foot. He has shown his ability to strike from a distance, having registered one goal and numerous crossbar and post strikes in just 294 minutes of play.
“Since being a kid, my dad always told me if you can go left and right, you can be more of a threat,” Goldthorp said. “You can always get better. I’ve always trained that way. Without games, it’s hard to replicate that match sharpness, match fitness. Miami has a good block defense, so we will look forward to breaking that down.”
Griffin has been nursing his injury with ice baths and other healing methods to return after missing the club’s USL Prinx Tires match two weeks ago in Charlotte. Despite that, he’s logged the fourth most minutes so far this year in USL Championship play with 700 out of a possible 810.
“I picked up a knock in the Phoenix game and our training staff has done a good job of managing our (work) load since then,” Griffin said. “Obviously I want to get back to 100% before this game. I’m ramping up and itching to get back out, watching the past two games. The guys have been making the most of it, inching back to playing with the time off.”
With near perfect weather in the forecast, a sellout crowd is expected. There are some tickets still available and with promotions like Pup and Star Wars night, it could be a record number of fans coming to F.N.B. Stadium. Kickoff is set for just after 7 p.m., and the game will be televised on KDKA .