Kenneth Kronholm in familiar territory as injury rehab continues

Fire goalkeeper Kenneth Kronholm tries to look forward. That’s a good trait for goalies as it prevents them from dwelling on shots that get past them.

It also is helping Kronholm now as he continues recovering from the torn ACL and meniscus he suffered in his right knee during a July 30 training session. After undergoing surgery on Aug. 11, Kronholm is optimistic he’ll be back for the start of the 2021 season, whenever it kicks off.

“I’m feeling better every day,” Kronholm said. “I’m a goalkeeper so I always think positive. I never look back. That’s my goal for the next couple of weeks.”

There is one way, however, that Kronholm is looking back — when revisiting his own history with rehabbing a knee injury.

In 2015 as a member of German club Holstein Kiel, Kronholm blew out his left knee. From that experience, Kronholm knows what he must do to recover and how hard he has to work to get back to 100%.

“When you work hard on your left knee, you have to work hard on your right knee and this time I have to work hard on my right knee and also my left knee,” Kronholm said.

He also is not concerned that having a second major knee injury will change his style. An athletic player, the 35-year-old Kronholm is known to play “sweeper keeper,” which makes him more active outside of his own net and requires high levels of athleticism and precision to pull off successfully.

“The last five years were the best time of my career after the surgery,” Kronholm said. “Hopefully, the second-best time of my career follows after the second surgery as well. That would be great.”

Signed by Veljko Paunovic and Nelson Rodriguez in 2019, Kronholm quickly supplanted David Ousted as the Fire’s No. 1 keeper last year.After struggling at the outset, Kronholm ended that campaign with five shutouts.

Over the 2019-20 offseason, the Fire brought in MLS veteran Bobby Shuttleworth, though Kronholm retained his spot in net through the team’s first five games of 2020. His numbers (no shutouts, eight goals against, seven saves) weren’t great, but Fire coach Raphael Wicky stood by Kronholm after the injury.

“Kenny is a really good goalkeeper with a lot of experience. He will come back,” Wicky said in August. “He will come back stronger, and that’s also the goal he set for himself directly after actually having the injury on the same day. He told me he was very obviously touched emotionally, but he’s going to come back stronger. We count on Kenny.”

Once he took over, Shuttleworth played well enough to earn a look for the top spot in 2021. Kronholm, under contract through 2021 with a 2022 team option, praised Shuttleworth’s performance, and is ready fora competition next year.

“That’s my goal; I want to have the competition with Bobby,” Kronholm said. “That’s professional soccer. I don’t want a gift or something.I’m looking forward. I’m excited. For sure, I’m happy when I can have the competition with Bobby.”