BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Fresh from his recent call-up to the USMNT, Sean Johnson has backed his Chicago Fire understudy Kyle Reynish to step into the breach when he makes his debut at D.C. United on Saturday.
Johnson, who was third choice goalkeeper for the USA’s 1-1 draw with Honduras on Tuesday, has been the Fire’s only ever-present this season, playing in all 32 regular-season games, registering six clean sheets in 2,880 minutes for the Men in Red.
However, with a playoff place beyond the Fire for the fourth time in five years, head coach Frank Yallop is expected to give some of his fringe players a chance to play their way into his plans for next year, with Reynish expected to get his opportunity against the Eastern Conference leaders.
“It’s the coach’s decision, we talked about it, I support his decision 100 percent,” Johnson told MLSsoccer.com after open practice on Thursday. “Frank’s been upfront with me from day one since he came in and now Kyle gets an opportunity, which is fantastic.
“I think he’s earned it, he’s played and trained hard all year, he’s been terrific for me as a back-up and I’m going to go out there and do the best I can, from training this week to the matchday, to do whatever I can to make sure he’s as comfortable as he can be and he’s ready to go out there and help us win the game.”
With the pressure somewhat off going into the Fire’s last two games, Yallop admitted it will be a good opportunity to assess Reynish’s abilities in the heat of MLS action at RFK Stadium.
“Guys like Kyle have been with us all year and haven’t had a chance to play, so I’m most probably going to go with Kyle,” Yallop told reporters Thursday. “It’s good for him, he’s worked hard, he’s backed up Sean the whole time and Sean is fine with everything. Sean deserved to keep playing, obviously, but I want to see what Kyle’s abilities are like. His training habits are fantastic so we want to see him in a real game.”
Reynish, who played eight times in six seasons while serving as deputy to Nick Rimando at Real Salt Lake, is excited at the chance to show his quality for the first time in a Fire shirt.
“If it happens, I’m just excited, it’s great to be in front of a crowd and get to play,” the 30-year-old told reporters Thursday. “You play the Reserve games and it’s a little bit different, there’s a few hundred people out there. And knowing that D.C. still has something to play for, you want to go out there and compete with teams in those situations and kind of show that you can play with them.”
The California-native has been unfortunate, or fortunate depending on your perspective, to be in direct competition with two of the top goalkeepers in MLS in Rimando and now Johnson.
However, the 6’ 3” ’keeper views it as a positive and admits he has learned a lot from both players.
He said: “I was behind Nick at Salt Lake and been behind Sean here, different guys, different skillsets, different techniques, so I feel like you can always learn a lot from the guys you play and train with day-in, day-out. So it’s been great, I’ve really enjoyed training with Sean this year and watching him.”
Johnson attributes his consistency this year to the hard work put in by him, Reynish and Alec Kann under the watchful eye of goalkeeping coach Aron Hyde. And while he is disappointed he won’t get to finish the season as an ever-present for the Fire, Johnson is fully behind his teammate to shine against D.C.
“He’ll be more than ready, I think he’ll do a fantastic job, he’s been great all year, it’s been a great crew,” Johnson insisted. “My success as a goalkeeper over the course of the year doesn’t just come from myself, it comes from a group. Aron, Kyle and Alec have been terrific, our core is very strong, we work very well together and any one of us that plays it’s really a group effort. Any result or any performance I put out there really attributes to us four and how we work with each other day-in and day-out.”
