By BRIAN LEWIS

Juan Pablo Angel said he’s still in pain and estimates he’s only 80 percent, but can play through the nerve problems in his back. That’s good news for the Red Bulls, since he scored five goals in three games against Kansas City, whom they host Saturday at 7:30 p.m. “It’s still sore. It hasn’t made that much improvement over the last week. The pain is still there, the discomfort is still there,’’ Angel said. “We have tried the alternatives. But the body takes its own time to heal and im hoping at some point very soon I’ll start to make progress.

“It’s hard because I’ve never had an injury like this. It doesn’t make me stay not doing anything but it restricts me from doing things 100 percent the way I can. The discomfort is still there, but I’d say 80 percent of the things I like to do. Ideally I’d like to get rid of this thing very soon.

“When I sprint when I jump it just gets tight. So there are some movements I can’t make. But I’m sure _ I hope _ it’s going to get better very soon.’’

Seth Stammler is still a week away, out for the Wizards game with what he revealed was a herniated disc.

“I got an injection yesterday and the doctor said it should take a couple days to set in and notice a difference,’’ Stammler said.

In his absence, Luke Sassano excelled as a holding midfielder in the 2-1 win at Los Angeles. Sassano has played holding mid, wing midfielder and even as an outside back; but the true star of that win was the team defense, which smothered David Beckham and Landon Donovan.

“All the credit goes to the players. They’ve been on board. Everybody wants to defend, they’ve responded very well to the fact we’ve played two different systems,’’ Juan Carlos Osorio, who has gone back and forth between a 3-5-2 at home and a 4-4-2 on the road.

“They’ve gelled and improved substantially in all departments. I think Jeff Parke has been very good, Kevin Goldthwaite has been very good, and general I think they’re all improving in their games and we’ve defended well individually and collectively.’’

*** Oscar Echeverry returned to training on the field yesterday and could be back in 2-3 weeks, as could rookie David Roth.