SANDY, Utah — Real Salt Lake defender Abdoulie "Kenny" Mansally has made a switch.
No, the 24-year-old is not moving back to forward where he played with New England before joining RSL last season. The switch is in his name: He would like to be known by his given name of Abdoulie.
"I told all my friends and everybody because I saw my real name Abdoulie was going away," Mansally told reporters at training on Tuesday. "I know people will still call me Kenny, but I prefer people call me Abdoulie."
Mansally said he got the nickname "Kenny" because that was the nickname of the man he was named after back in his home country of The Gambia, but he is ready to change.
"Abdoulie is on all of my documents, so I would like it more if people call me by that from now on," he said.
It's possible there may be another switch coming as well, this time on the field. MLS could decide to suspend Mansally for the team's upcoming Rivalry Week match against Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado on Saturday (6 pm ET, MLS Live) following a brief altercation with D.C. United's Perry Kitchen in last week's loss. Mansally retaliated toward Kitchen with a head butt to the chest after the fiery United midfielder shoved Mansally following a foul on a hard tackle.
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"I thought I made a great tackle. I didn't even think it was a foul," Mansally said. "I was walking away and this guy came out of nowhere and pushed me and hit me in my stomach. I was just trying to protect myself, to just push him back with my whole body."
Mansally was replaced moments later after a lackluster 66 minutes with Jamaican Lovel Palmer taking his place and making his case for a spot in the starting lineup.
"I'm just training hard and worrying about the game," Mansally said. "I think we both did the same thing. [Kitchen] pushed me, and I pushed him back and that's all. So right now, all my football is just concentrating on playing a good game this Saturday."
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