After starting all 34 games for the Crew last season, Eloy Room is not available for the first game in 2023.
Room left Fort Lauderdale, where the Crew were for a preseason training camp, early last week to return to the Netherlands. Room is working to secure his green card ahead of the 2023 season, in order to no longer count as an international player on the Crew's roster.
Because international roster slots are limited in MLS — each team is granted eight, but they are able to be traded, as the Crew did when they acquired a ninth from Sporting KC in January — players securing green cards is a benefit for roster building. Room getting a green card would open an international roster slot, giving the Crew more flexibility for player acquisitions throughout the season.
The green card process has to be completed before the season begins — technically, it has to be completed before the roster compliance deadline at 8 p.m. Friday — in order for Room, or any player getting a green card, to count as a domestic player for that season. If Room were to get his green card later in the year, it wouldn't apply to his roster status until 2024.
That deadline means that Room had to go back to the Netherlands for his green card appointment ahead of the 2023 season, and because he's missed approximately a week of training, he won't be inserted into Saturday's lineup with little preparation. He is expected back in Columbus later this week. Without Room available for Saturday's game, either veteran goalkeeper Evan Bush or Patrick Schulte, who earned Goalkeeper of the Year honors with Crew 2 in MLS Next Pro last season, could get the nod as the starter.
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