Portland Timbers forward Fanendo Adi did some short sprints and footwork drills with the club's trainer while the rest of his teammates practiced Wednesday morning.

It has now been almost three months since Adi, who injured his hamstring in a game on Aug. 6, last participated in training and it is still unclear when he will return to the field.

Timbers coach Caleb Porter said Wednesday that Adi could finally be back in training this week, but could not say exactly when he expects the Nigerian forward to return to practice or whether the 27-year-old could be available to play when Portland opens its playoff campaign on Oct. 30 or 31.

"I was told he was going to be in training this week a bit," Porter said. "So, we'll see, obviously, as the week goes on. But he wasn't in training today. Tomorrow, who knows. There's no firm update on when he'll be in or if he'll be in this game."

Adi is not the only Timbers players that has struggled to return from injury this season.

Timbers captain Liam Ridgewell made just 15 starts in the regular season due to multiple injuries and missed 13 of 14 games from June to September after injuring and then re-injuring his quad.

Along with Ridgewell and Adi, nearly every player in Portland's starting lineup has been sidelined by injury at some point this year.

While Porter said that all teams have to deal with injuries and accept that certain players will recover more quickly that others, he also said that it has been concerning to see players suffer the same injury multiple times this year.

"You're always going to have injuries, everybody does in this league because of the travel and the compacted windows and the climate changes and those things," Porter said. "So, you're going to have injuries, but the re-injuries shouldn't occur and we've had far too many of those."

While Porter is solely focused on preparing his team for the MLS Cup Playoffs this week, he said that the club will be evaluating its training and sports science staff and routines in the offseason.

"Of course, at the end of the year, whether we win it all or lose in the next round, we're going to evaluate everything," Porter said.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg