By BRIAN LEWIS

Red Bull forward Juan Pablo Angel _ who missed Sunday’s win and is listed as questionable Thursday at Toronto _ returned to practice today.

He was originally listed as having suffered a hamstring injury, but the Post reported that he had a nerve-related problem in his lower back. In the game notes he’s listed as the probable starter against Toronto, whom he owned in his debut season.

“I’m feeling better. I feel like I made some progress over the last few days. I’m still a little bit restricted but it’s getting better,’’ said Angel, who scored twice in one minute in a 2-1 come-from-behind win last June 6http://redbull.newyork.mlsnet.com/media/player/mp_tpl.jsp?w=mms%3A//a1503.v115042.c11504.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1503/11504/v0001/mlbmls.download.akamai.com/11504/2007/open/topplays/06/060607_rbntor_angel_goals_350.wmv&_mp=1, then again in a 3-0 rout Aug. 12.http://redbull.newyork.mlsnet.com/media/player/mp_tpl.jsp?w=mms%3A//a1503.v115042.c11504.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1503/11504/v0001/mlbmls.download.akamai.com/11504/2007/open/topplays/08/081207_torrbn_angel_goal_350.wmv&_mp=1

“I’m just taking it one day at a time. Today was a big day for me because I managed to train with the team, a full session for the first time in a week. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for me. Then obviously we’ll make a decision what is the right thing to do.’’

Trust Juan Carlos Osorio _ who was a conditioning coach for the MetroStars and a fitness coach for Manchester City _ to make the conservative decision.

“It’s great to see him back. We’re monitoring him day-by-day. He trained today and looked good. We’ll see and make a decision tomorrow,’’ said Osorio. “He’s definitely traveling with us because of rehab issues. As far as playing, I’ll resist the temptation to play a player who’s not 100 percent.’’

It’s an arthritic-type condition, but both proclaimed confidence it’ll be a short-term thing, knocked out by the cortisone shots and rehab. We’ll see.

“As far as I understood this is one-off. And hopefully this will take care of it,’’ Osorio said.

“That’s what I want to believe. I’m getting the best doctors here treating the problem. And hopefully we’ll get rid of it sooner rather than later,’’ Angel said. “I never had the in my life, so I’m not used to these kind of things. They’re saying it comes from my back, it’s a nerve thing; so they treated it and hopefully it’ll be better soon.’’

Hopefully for the Red Bulls’ sake; they’re 5-3-2 when Angel and Jozy Altidore start together, including a 1-1 tie vs. New England two weeks ago when he left the game at halftime with the Red Bulls leading 1-0.

Just as worrying is that Angel broached the turf as a possible cause, since they play on turf at Giants Stadium and nobody is sure when Red Bull park in Harrison or their trainer center in Hanover will be done.

“It’s one of those (things). It can be the turf field; we’ve been on the turf field more than we normally train, and that might be one of the causes,’’ Angel said. “But it could be another thing. Instead of looking at what was the thing that caused the problem, I’m just looking to try and get it solved.’’