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Sporting Kansas City are set to face off against the Colorado Rapids this evening and apparently the need has arisen to add the pool goalkeeper to the roster. For those unfamiliar with the concept, MLS has at least one (if not more) goalkeepers under contract to the league that can be loaned out in case of emergency injuries, suspensions or some other action to cause a player to be unavailable. Famously, Tim Melia first trained with SKC as a pool keeper.
Sporting KC has temporarily added Charlie Lyon, formerly of the Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles Football Club, to the roster for this game. He has zero MLS appearances, as we detailed in our Starting XI predictions from earlier this week. The hope is that Richard Sanchez will play amazing, stay healthy and of course not get a red card and Lyon will remain with zero MLS appearances. Melia will be available against against Real Salt Lake.
Lyon has been in the bubble training with New York City FC.
Why do Sporting Need a GK?
Of course you are fully aware that Tim Melia picked up a red card last Sunday and he’ll be suspended. The team has just two other keepers on the roster currently: Richard Sanchez and John Pulskamp (Eric Dick is on loan with Phoenix Rising and not in the bubble). Sanchez came on in relief of Melia, so unless he’s picked up an injury this week in training, he is not the reason.
There is no reason to believe anyone on the team is injured as the official injury report only lists Felipe Gutierrez and Andreu Fontas, who aren’t even with the team anyways.
That would lead most to the logical conclusion that John Pulskamp is the player on the team who tested positive for COVID-19 (coronavirus), though we are not able to officially confirm this. The team only had three possibilities for who had the virus based on the lineup and bench against Minnesota United: Tyler Freeman, Botond Barath and Pulskamp.
Peter Vermes has confirmed that the player who has the virus is asymptomatic, so that would appear to be a positive. That player is currently quarantined, as outlined in the MLS Guidelines.
Tonight’s Game Stories
The Blue Testament will continue to update this and other stories around Sporting Kansas City as news becomes available.