KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Soni Mustivar's request to be released from his CONCACAF Gold Cup call-up to the Haitian national team has finally been granted, but Sporting Kansas City's defensive midfielder has not stepped away from the international game entirely.
“If they call me back, for sure, with pleasure, I will play with Haiti,” Mustivar told MLSsoccer.com on Wednesday.
Mustivar, who joined Sporting just before the start of the MLS season from Romanian side Petrolul Ploiesti, said he requested to be replaced on the Gold Cup roster so he could concentrate on his development with his new club.
“For me, I think this is a good time to stay with the team,” said Mustivar, who has become manager Peter Vermes' first choice at D-mid, with eight starts and 12 appearances in 2015. “I just got here, and I want to be part of everything that the team is doing right now, so I really think for me it's important to stay with the team.”
The 25-year-old Mustivar has six caps with Haiti, including three in 2014 to help Les Grenadieres reach the Gold Cup, with a third-place finish in the Caribbean Cup. His roster spot for the Gold Cup will be filled by Andrew Jean-Baptiste – but not without some early resistance from the Haitian federation, which initially put Mustivar on coach Marc Collat's 23-man Gold Cup roster despite his request to be left off.
Had the switch not been granted, Mustivar would have had no choice but to report for international duty.
“They didn't agree with my decision the first time, but now they understand it,” he said. “That's why it's taken some time, but now it's OK. Everything's good.”
Mustivar is the second Sporting player, after Honduran midfielder Roger Espinoza, to turn down a Gold Cup bid this summer. Espinoza, a two-time World Cup veteran and member of Honduras' 2012 Olympic team, said he did not feel he was up to his standard of international play after his move back from England's Wigan Athletic in the offseason and a recent groin injury.
Both of those teams opened Gold Cup group play on Tuesday, Honduras with a 2-1 loss to the United States and Haiti with a 1-1 comeback draw against Panama. The two sides will meet on Monday at Sporting Park in the first half of a doubleheader that will conclude with a US-Panama matchup (8:30 pm ET; Fox Sports 1).
“I'm going to go to the game with my jersey as a fan,” Mustivar said, “because I am a fan. Yesterday, I was watching the game, and I was behind the team – 'Ah, let's go!' You get a little frustrated.”
Vermes, whose club still has two players – American winger Graham Zusi and Canadian left back Marcel de Jong – on Gold Cup duty, said he was not involved in Mustivar's decision, but will be glad to have him on hand for Sunday's away match with Western Conference-leading Vancouver Whitecaps (9 pm ET; TSN1).
“It wasn't like we were trying to keep him back,” Vermes told MLSsoccer.com on Wednesday. “It was up to him and what he wanted to do. I'm glad that it's resolved – especially with the kind of games that we have coming up. We need as many bodies as we can right now. We still have some guys who are unhealthy and some guys away with their national teams, so it's very important that he's here. But at the same time, if he would have had to go with his international team, we would have dealt with that as well.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
