Gus Poyet is confident Jozy Altidore will feature in Sunderland's squad for their Premier League curtain-raiser at West Brom on Saturday.
The United States international suffered a hamstring injury in his country's opening World Cup fixture with Ghana in June.
However, he made his comeback as a second-half substitute in Sunderland's 2-0 friendly victory over Udinese on Saturday.
Sunderland head coach Poyet believes the 24-year-old could now be ready for the visit to The Hawthorns after a full week's training.
"Jozy is coming along well," Poyet told the club's official website.
"We were thinking he could feature for 45 to 30 minutes (against Udinese), the idea was to get him to play a part in case we need him in any games.
"I'm sure he will work a little bit more this week and a full week of proper training will help him be part of the squad for (Saturday)."
Altidore scored just once in 31 Premier League appearances last season.