Sporting Kansas City on Thursday announced that they will be sending four players on loan to Orlando City for the duration of the USL season as part of their affiliate arrangement established in January.
Goalkeeper Jon Kempin, defender Yann Songo'o, midfielder Christian Duke and forward Dom Dwyer will be joining Orlando City, who kick off their season on April 7. Dwyer is the only one of the four players to appear in an MLS match for SKC with one regular season cameo (Sept. 1, 2012 vs. Toronto) and one playoff appearance last year vs. Houston.
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Sporting manager Peter Vermes will be able to recall any of the four players at any point during the loan.
"It gives us an opportunity for players who we think have real potential within our team to be able to go into an environment and play on a regular basis for a real competition," Vermes said in a club statement. "That constant competitiveness is going to be huge for their development."
“We are bringing players in who all want to be on the first team,” said Orlando City manager Adrian Heath in a club statement. “We think that they are going to come in and immediately compete. It’s game on for everybody.“
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The MLS players could feature as early as this Saturday, when Orlando City face Florida Gulf Coast in a friendly. OCSC then play an "I-4 Derby" match against Tampa Bay Rowdies on March 30 before the start of the USL season.
Sporting Kansas City are one of four MLS teams with formal USL affiliate partnerships. New England have also paired up with Rochester, Philadelphia with Harrisburg and D.C. United with the Richmond Kickers.
SKC's deal with Orlando City expires at the end of 2014.
