Sporting KC should welcome players back on Saturday

While trying to stay atop the Eastern Conference standings, Sporting Kansas City will travel to Montreal on Saturday ready to welcome back a key player — or perhaps two — to its roster.

Aurelien Collin will return after a mandatory one-game suspension for receiving a red card. And forward Sal Zizzo, who sat out Saturday’s win against Columbus because of a groin injury, is progressing more quickly than initially expected.

Zizzo did not train with the team in its early-week practices, but he has participated in side work, producing pain-free results.

“I think there’s a good chance that he could be back,” coach Peter Vermes said.

“We’re not going to rush it. We know we have a lot of games in a short period of time, so we’ll try to build that way. He’s getting there. He’s probably a little more ahead of schedule than we thought.”

Sporting KC has seven league matches in May. It hopes to get forward C.J. Sapong back sometime this month, but it won’t be Saturday. While Sapong rejoined training this week, he isn’t ready for game action, Vermes said.

“He’s got some time still,” Vermes said.

“It’s his fitness. All the time that’s he’s been out, he’s lost soccer fitness.”

A group of 30 players will receive the call Monday to join the U.S. men’s national team for its pre-World Cup camp.

Matt Besler and Graham Zusi are expected to be part of the initial roster, which will be trimmed to 23 players before the team departs for Brazil.

All call-ups will be asked to join national camp on May 14 or May 15. Sporting KC plays host to Philadelphia on May 14. If Zusi and Besler are picked for the team, that would be their last game before the World Cup.

Sporting KC players who make the trip to Brazil will miss a minimum of six MLS matches.

This story was originally published May 7, 2014 at 8:10 PM with the headline "Sporting KC should welcome players back on Saturday."