3 Saprissa players who faced the Union tested positive for COVID-19 before their Champions League rematch at Subaru Park

The Union’s Concacaf Champions League series has been upended by a few COVID-19 cases in Saprissa’s ranks, and a recent U.S. government quarantine rule that led to the sidelining of star centerback Kendall Waston.

Costa Rica’s Teletica.com and other outlets reported that Mariano Torres and Aubrey David, who played in the Union’s 1-0 win last Wenesneday in Costa Rica, tested positive along with Fabricio Aléman, who was on the bench. (Saprissa’s official statement said they’re out for “other health conditions,” which is the international code.)

It’s the second time the Union have learned of an opponent having COVID-19 cases a few days after a matchup. The first came last September when FC Cincinnati’s Nick Hagglund played against the Union in Cincinnati, then tested positive two days later. There was no spread to anyone else on either team.

Union manager Jim Curtin said all of his players are “fully cleared to play,” though they haven’t all been vaccinated yet. And the game will go ahead Wednesday night at Subaru Park (8 p.m., FS1). It’s the first time the Union will play at home this year, and the first time Concacaf’s top club tournament has come to the Philly region.

» READ MORE: Union win Concacaf Champions League debut, 1-0 over Saprissa, on Kacper Przybylko goal

Just once before has a Philadelphia team ever played in a Concacaf club competition: 1967, when the Ukrainian Nationals qualified out of the old American Soccer League. They played El Salvador’s Alianza over two games, but both took place in El Salvador.

Now back to the present, and the government rule that has Waston stuck at home in Costa Rica. Since late January, non-U.S. citizens and permanent residents who travel from Europe to another country before entering the United States must quarantine for two weeks before coming here.

Waston went with Costa Rica’s national team to Bosnia and Austria for games at the end of March. He could have been exempt from the rule because he has a U.S. green card after playing in MLS for many years. But in the end, he didn’t travel here.

The good news for Saprissa (relatively) is Waston was the team’s only player affected. The other Costa Rican club in the tournament, Alajuelense, was down six players for Tuesday’s game at Atlanta United, and Mexican club León lost veteran forward Joel Campbell, for Wednesday’s game vs. Toronto FC.

Alajuelense’s case drew the most attention, in part because the club protested on social media and asked Concacaf for a postponement. Concacaf responded with a statement that the club did not apply for exemptions that it could have received “until the day of their travel, only two days before the match,” while other club and national teams have filed their paperwork on time when traveling to the U.S> in recent months.

Curtin offered his sympathies.

“They’re being tested, so if they’re clear and healthy, they should be allowed to get on the plane and come in,” he said. “I feel bad for them, I feel that it’s a little bit unjust. And when you’re in this competition, it’s the champions, right? So you want to play teams at full strength.”

» READ MORE: Leon Flach fits in right away during Union win in debut on Concacaf Champions League stage

Curtin also offered some good news from his locker room: Sergio Santos is finally healthy after missing most of the preseason with a toe injury.

“Whether we’re winning, whether we’re losing, or whether we’re tied, it’s a pretty darn good bet that he’ll be on the field at the end of the game to get himself going to game fitness,” Curtin said. “And because we’re a better team when he’s on the field.”

Kai Wagner is fully healthy too, and received an apology in a social media message from Ricardo Blanco, whose vicious tackle at the end of the first game sent Wagner into the air and sparked a mass brawl on the field.

“It’s in the past, and I obviously spoke to not retaliate in this next game,” Curtin said. “Bad tackles happen in this game, and that one was almost like a cartoon. ... Now we have a job to do against a tough opponent, and the most dangerous opponent in soccer is a 1-0 lead, and our players understand that.”