Luis Barraza has not played an MLS game in two years with NYCFC. (Photo courtesy of MLS)

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

New York City FC enters one of its most important games of the season Tuesday night with a goalkeeper who has no MLS experience.

Luis Barraza will be between the posts when City meets UANL Tigres in the second leg of its Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal series after regular Sean Johnson was ruled out of the match due to COVID-19.

Johnson has not tested positive with COVID but was deemed a close contact and was not allowed to travel with the team.

Three NYCFC players did test positive and will not play in the match. Head coach Ronny Deila wouldn’t reveal their names

“It’s about privacy,” he said during a media video conference call Monday afternoon.

When asked how it affects his Starting XI, Delia replied, “Can’t say anything about that. … I will not mention any names.”

Deila said he had the utmost confidence in the 24-year-old Barraza, who was selected by the club in the MLS SuperDraft. NYCFC lost the first leg of the quarterfinal series in March at Red Bull Arena, 1-0.

“Luis has been fighting over two years to be closer to the team,” he said. “I’m very happy now that he gets a chance. He’s talented, young. he’s been working really hard. And now the time has come. We’re looking forward to the game and to see, to see how he is going to do. I’m very confident that he will do a good game.”

To bolster its goalkeeping crops, City acquired Orlando City SC goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar on loan for the remainder of the season. Stajduhar, who hasn’t played an MLS match in five years with Orlando, will join NYCFC at Exploria Stadium and be on the team’s matchday roster.

The two other players added to NYCFC’s roster were goalkeeper Evan Newton, who is on loan from Indy XI (USL Championship) and forward Andres Jasson, a Homegrown player signing.

Forward Valentin “Taty’ Castellanos hinted his team lost some key players but didn’t name who.

“Unfortunately, it’s sad that this can happen,” he said. “Some of these players are, all of them, they’re very important for the team and unfortunately they got COVID, but we can’t think about that. Now we have to be really focused on the game tomorrow, but we are being very careful.

“The players that don’t have COVID we’re being very, very careful in training. We’re getting ready. We haven’t been near any of the players. We just have to make sure that we’re focused on the game tomorrow and prepare well.”

It just goes with 2020, Deila said.

“The whole season has been surprises, all the time,” he said. “So nothing is a surprise for me anymore. So, I prepare for everything. You have to adapt to things that’s happening all the time, and that’s happened during the season.”

Deila added that NYCFC has done everything to ensure the players training under safe conditions during the COVID pandemic.

“II want to give credit to the club, the way they’ve handled the whole COVID situation,” he said. “It has been done in a really good way. We felt really safe. The information has been good, the testing. Everything has been so good, so that is much easier for me as well and the team to focus on what we want to do and that’s to win football games.

“We are really focused. We know that every day something can happen because football just reflects the rest of the society.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.