Olum Called Up for Kenya

Reports out of Kenya are saying that Sporting KC midfielder/defender Lawrence Olum has been called up by the Harambee Stars for their African Cup of Nations qualifier against Comoros on May 18th.

Olum has never represented his country at the international level but he has previously been called into camp with the team. If Olum accepts the call up, he would miss this weekend's game against the Chicago Fire. Accepting the call up would be great for Olum, but would leave KC very short in the back. Sporting has already lost Ike Opara for the season after having surgery and after tonight's game against Philadelphia will be losing Matt Besler to US national team camp. Losing Olum for this weekend as well would leave KC with just two central defenders on the roster, Aurelien Collin and 17 year old Erik Palmer-Brown.

It'd certainly be a trial by fire for the home grown US youth international if he were to get his first start. But KC does have other options if Peter Vermes didn't want to put Palmer-Brown into the starting 11. Both Chance Myers and Oriol Rosell can play center back in a pinch. And it's not like Vermes is adverse to playing midfielders at center back if need be. He played Roger Espinoza there when KC played at Chicago in 2011.

Still it'll be interesting to see if Olum accepts the call up. Olum seems to have always shown an interest in representing his country and this would be a good opportunity. But it'd certainly leave KC in a dire situation at center back for a match up against the Fire.