With Sporting KC’s season winding down, former captain Jimmy Nielsen provides a motivational speech

Before Sporting Kansas City concluded its visit to the White House on Wednesday — where President Barack Obama honored the team for its 2013 MLS championship — the players gathered in a corridor near the exit and put their hands together in a circle.

They asked their former captain, retired goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen, to say a few words and provide a proper sendoff — the same as he had done after so many practices, games and other events last season.

It took some persuading before Nielsen agreed, but his message stuck.

“That was a big lift for everyone to see him again. I know it was for me,” forward Dom Dwyer said. “He basically told us that we can do this again. We can win another one and come back here next year.

“That’s going to resonate with me for the rest of the season.”

If Sporting KC plans to make the same late-season surge it made last season, it had better get going.

The club has lost five of six MLS matches heading into Friday’s tilt with D.C. United. But it still has an outside shot to win the Eastern Conference — provided it earns a victory Friday.

Sporting KC trails conference-leading D.C. United by six points with four regular-season games remaining — which makes Friday’s national-TV matchup a welcome one for the team in pursuit.

“Instead of trying to let someone else do it for you, we’re in a position to take some points ourselves,” coach Peter Vermes said. “The bottom line is we’re trying to make the playoffs. Whatever position we can get ourselves in, the higher the better.”

There’s also an emphasis on playing well should they get there.

Sporting KC won its final four regular season matches last year before turning the momentum into its first MLS Cup in 13 years.

That stretch led to Wednesday’s visit to the White House, a trip that provided some rather obvious motivation.

“It was such a cool experience — something I never thought I would get the chance to do,” Dwyer said. “It definitely brings back that hunger to do it all over again. Absolutely.”

A victory against D.C. United would be a step in the right direction, though Sporting KC hasn’t fared well against the Eastern Conference leaders this season. D.C. United edged Sporting KC 1-0 on May 31 and then posted another shutout in a 3-0 victory on Aug. 23 at Sporting Park. The latter kick-started a four-game losing streak for Sporting KC.

But Vermes thinks those scores aren’t indicative of the way his team played in both matches.

“I actually think we played well against them here (in D.C.) the first time, but we gave up a silly goal. We deserved a lot more in that game,” Vermes said. “And at home, we gave up three silly goals. So I don’t think we need to change anything or do anything different just because of those results. If we play our style, everything else will take care of itself.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2014 at 6:12 PM with the headline "With Sporting KC’s season winding down, former captain Jimmy Nielsen provides a motivational speech."