Today, the Philadelphia Union announced on twitter that goalkeeper, Rais M’Bolhi, has returned to be with the team and was a full participant in training today. This is surprising news after the rather sour ending to his starting position just a few weeks ago.

If you recall, M’Bolhi lost his starting position to MLS rookie, John McCarthy after the stoppage time collapse against Sporting Kansas City. Head coach, Jim Curtin announced that Rais would be heading back home to be with his family for a while to reflect on his performances and hopefully come out better than before.

For many Union fans, they thought that M’Bolhi had suited up in a Union jersey for the last time. It was expected that he would be the #3 keeper until the summer where he would be sold off. So to say it is a surprise that he is back, especially so soon, is definitely an understatement.

This surely raises a lot of questions among the Union faithful, however. The first, and most obvious, question is this: Is he back to claim the starting position once again? For many Union fans, the sound of that is surely going to bring back some not so great memories, but it is a very possible scenario.

This hand was pretty much dealt to Curtin. He did not have much to do in acquiring what seemed like a useless acquisition at the time, nor did he ever really seem thrilled about Rais’ arrival, which was evident when he made the decision to bench M’Bolhi.

With McCarthy playing no better than Rais did, however, it makes you wonder if there is a chance M’Bolhi could be back between the posts in the near future. The homecoming story of McCarthy was a very nice one, but he has let in some very soft goals as of late, and it is clear he is not an MLS starting caliber player.

This also asks the question: What is Andre Blake’s status? The coaching staff seems to think he is not 100%, or at least not ready yet. Blake however believes he is ready to go out and play in some real games, and it would seem like he should next in line for a shot to claim the starting position, right?

That is what most Philadelphia Union fans wants, but one thing is for certain, tomorrow’s press conference will be very interesting as Curtin is sure to asked about Rais’ return to Philadelphia.