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Since the centre half's last appearance – the 3-0 win over Brighton – Latics have lost all their early 2002 momentum, earning just one point from their last three games and failing to keep a clean sheet in that run.
With Matt Jackson and Pat McGibbon both injured, De Vos should return to the starting 11 fresh and match fit after leading Canada to third place in the Gold Cup across the Atlantic.
But, as Latics reflect on a damaging spell for the club's chances of promotion, question marks remain over the value of the much maligned tournament.
We caught up with Jason to find out if it had been worthwhile…
Congratulations, Jason. Did the tournament go as well as you had hoped?
It went very well, to be honest. I think we exceeded all expectations of everyone back in Canada. No-one gave us a chance so to come back with third place was very gratifying for a lot of people.
If we didn't do it a strange way then it wouldn't be very interesting. We were at 0-0 against Ecuador with just two minutes left and that would have taken us through fair and square but they scored two goals in the last couple of minutes to leave us all tied.
We ended up having a coin toss, which made things very difficult and frustrating for us but we got through to the semi-finals and America couldn't beat us in 120 minutes of football.
So it was a successful tournament for us and it was good for me to go out there and play five internationals in the space of two weeks.
The tournament has its critics. How do you rate the standard of the Gold Cup?
It's quite good, actually. While we were there, we faced three countries that will be going to the World Cup in America, South Korea and Ecuador.
We were very unlucky to lose to Ecuador so late in the game but I think that was down to tired legs as much as anything else.
The America game was a good scrap and there were a few big men going at it in that match. It was good practice for me personally as well because we played quite defensively.
Was it you who made that coin toss as captain?
No, I absolved myself of all responsibility for that and let the manager do it. Actually it's a big joke among the camp that we are always confident going into a coin toss because we've won through that before. If we could play every game via a coin toss, we would be World Cup winners!
You do realise that every Latics fan, including the manager, was hoping you would lose that coin toss and come home early?
It was obviously frustrating for me to have to leave Latics for a few weeks after just recovering from a long injury. I just wanted to be back here playing for the team. I remember getting up really early in Los Angeles to find out what the latest result was, so I was cheering them on from a distance.
How's the head? I've seen some gruesome looking photos of you last week.
Yeah, I had a really nasty clash in the Ecuador game. Myself and a team-mate both went up for a header and clashed heads. He came off the worst but I had to have six stitches in my head but I should be okay to keep playing.
My wife was a bit concerned when she saw the photos on the internet but it's just another scar for the collection.
After such a long journey home, do you feel fit and ready for a return to the first team at Wrexham this week?
I slept all day yesterday and at night and now I'm back in training. I'll just have to see how it goes and how I feel later in the week. It's not my decision, whether I get in the team or not. That's up to the manager but hopefully I'll get a chance. I've just got to settle back into training and work my way back into the side.
Wrexham will be a tough game. They are fighting for their lives and we desperately need to pick up a win to get our play-off drive back on track.
Story Courtesy of wiganathletic.tv
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