The New York Red Bulls need a win against the Columbus Crew Saturday night at Giants Stadium to help solidify a berth in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
But they'll have to do it without the backbone of its defense as both goalkeeper Jon Conway and central defender Jeff Parke have been suspended by Major League Soccer for testing positive for a pair of performance enhancing substances.
Conway and Parke have been banned for 10 games, effective immediately, and fined 10 percent of their salaries for violating the MLS Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health (SABH) Policy by testing positive for androstatriendione (ATD) and boldenone metabolites.
"MLS has one of the strictest drug policies in professional sports and holds its athletes both responsible and accountable for what they put into their bodies," MLS Commissioner Don Garber said. "This is an important statement as to the high standards to which we hold our players."
According to a league release, the players purchased and ingested an over-the-counter nutritional supplement containing ATD, a substance that metabolizes into boldenone. Both ATD and boldenone are banned substances under MLS's SABH policy. The supplement was purchased from a vitamin store that is part of a national chain.
"Jon and Jeff have been valuable members of the Red Bulls organization, both on the field and in the greater New York community," Red Bull New York managing director Erik Stover said. "This is a sad day for our club and our fans. We are extremely disappointed that Jon and Jeff have tested positive for a substance banned by MLS's policy.
"We have met with both players and they informed us that they ingested an over-the-counter supplement that unknowingly contained a banned substance. However, the Red Bulls support MLS' policy and believe that performance enhancing drugs have no place in professional sports."
Neither player was at training today and when asked about their absence, Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio was vague.
"They are resolving personal issues themselves," Osorio said. "No, no injuries. They just have private matters that they need to resolve and they were excused today."
Conway, who served as a backup to Tony Meola and Ronald Waterreus the last two years, has played every minute of every game for the Red Bulls in his first season as starting goalkeeper. The 31-year-old had a 1.50 goals against average and nine clean sheets this year.
Along with Dave van den Bergh, Parke was arguably the most consistent Red Bulls player this year. He anchored the backline, starting 23 of 24 games, playing 2,025 minutes.
Parke, 26, in his fifth year with New York, has become fanatical about his fitness since being challenged by then-Red Bulls coach Mo Johnston in 2006 to reduce his body fat.
"It's just understanding how to treat your body, how to eat right, how to take the whole professionalism to what we do every day and what we're supposed to do, what the guys that make the millions do," Parke said in an interview for an MLS Magazine article in April.
In part because of his athletic ability, Parke has started 126 of the 132 games he's played in and is second behind Mike Petke on the team's all-time list of games played.
"He's really in tune with his body and really keeps an eye on what he puts in," Conway said for that article. "His eating habits are very strict, to say to the least, to the point where he brings most of his meals with him when he departs for a road trip."
So who will fill the massive void left by the two regular starters? Good question. Osorio has three goalkeepers to choose from and he'll have them all on the training field Firday, while Andrew Boyens and Diego Jimenez could replace Parke.
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
