Vermes sees opportunity for Sporting Kansas City and U.S. soccer in Leagues Cup

When it was announced on Tuesday afternoon that Sporting Kansas City would compete in the 2021 Leagues Cup there was certainly no shortage of diverse opinions on the competition.

Much of the fan base was excited that Sporting was granted the chance to compete for an international trophy, winning such a trophy is something that has so far alluded the club.

KC qualified for the Leagues Cup by virtue of being one of the top two teams in the MLS Western Conference regular season not competing in the Champions League.

The club was snubbed from 2021 Champions League inclusion despite finishing first in the Western Conference regular season last year — a feat that typically is rewarded with a Champions League berth.

The four qualification spots are usually awarded to the U.S. Open Cup winner, the MLS Cup winner, the Supporters Shield winner and the first-place team from the opposite conference of the Supporters Shield winner.

Columbus and Philadelphia were awarded berths by winning the 2020 MLS Cup and Supporters Shield, respectively, while the Portland Timbers were awarded a birth for winning the 2020 MLS is Back Tournament.

Due to COVID-19, the 2020 U.S. Open Cup wasn’t played, leading many fans to think the MLS is Back Tournament berth would replace the U.S. Open Cup and the winner of the Western Conference would earn the final berth.

Yet Major League Soccer handed the final spot to Atlanta United, which won the 2019 U.S. Open Cup. Atlanta finished 12th in the Eastern Conference in 2020.

That left Sporting KC and their Western Conference regular-season title out to dry and left many fans aggrieved that the club wouldn’t compete in North America’s premier soccer competition.

It’s because of this snub, as well as the short history of the Leagues Cup, which only began in 2019, that many Sporting KC fans are already dismissing the tournament.

Some fans see the Leagues Cup as an opportunity to field some of the youth players, while others don’t seem to care for the competition at all.

But if Sporting KC is feeling hard done by the decision, they’re certainly not showing it.

KC coach Peter Vermes, along with newly appointed captain Johnny Russell and defender Luis Martins, were adamant that the club was going to give the competition their full attention.

“The way that I look at it is that it truly is another opportunity to win something, and we’re going to participate like we always do in those competitions and try to win, give everything we have,” Vermes said.

The Leagues Cup is a single-elimination tournament between the top MLS teams and the top Liga MX teams, Mexico’s top division.

The last time Sporting KC faced off against a Liga MX team was in the 2019 Champions League semifinals.

That ended up being a one-sided 10-2 aggregate loss for KC to eventual champion Monterrey, the Mexican side beating KC 5-0 in Mexico and 5-2 at Children’s Mercy Park.

“I mean the last one didn’t end too well,” Russell said with a dry laugh.

“It’s another competition, it’s another chance to try and win a trophy which is always our aim,” he continued. “It’s the way we set it every year, that we want to win, whatever we play in. It’s another opportunity for that at the end of the day.”

Eight teams will compete in the tournament — four from each league. Sporting KC, the Seattle Sounders, Orlando City and New York City FC are MLS’ four representatives, while Liga MX won’t know theirs until the end of its season in May.

The competition is also a chance for Sporting and the rest of the league to show that it can go toe-to-toe with Liga MX.

The 2019 tournament featured an all-Mexican final between winners Cruz Azul and runners-up Tigres UANL. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.

What’s more, a Mexican team has won the CONCACAF Champions League every year since 2006. Only two American teams have won the competition — D.C. United (1998) and LA Galaxy (2000) — when it was called the Champions’ Cup.

“We as MLS teams, we are improving year by year, season by season, and I think we are almost there, and I think maybe we can compete with the great teams on the Mexican side,” Martins said.

Vermes also sees the Leagues Cup as a trophy that will become of huge importance in the North American soccer landscape soon. The winner of the Leagues Cup will earn a Champions League berth starting in 2023.

“I think the League’s Cup is going to continue to grow, and I think it’s going to be a really, really big competition as we move forward,” Vermes said.

“The two best leagues in our region are Mexico and United States, and the fact that we’re now playing this competition, where it’s head-to-head, I think is very good moving forward.”

This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 6:21 PM with the headline "Vermes sees opportunity for Sporting Kansas City and U.S. soccer in Leagues Cup."