No Mauri, no Rosell, no problem? Why Sporting KC’s Peter Vermes isn’t too worried

Sporting KC opened its Wednesday training session at sun-splashed Children’s Mercy Park to media and the public.

With a few hundred fans and few dozen reporters in the seats, two glaring absences quickly became apparent in the middle of the field: Where were Uri Rosell and Jose Mauri?

Rosell was the more obvious of the two no-shows; after all, he’d left the Mercedes-Benz Stadium field clutching his hamstring as he exited Sunday’s match against Atlanta United FC in the 50th minute. After training Wednesday, Vermes confirmed that Rosell will miss a couple of games while recovering from the injury.

The other absence Wednesday was more surprising: Sporting KC is parting ways with defensive midfielder Jose Mauri.

Mauri came to Kansas City last summer as a depth-chart replacement for Gianluca Busio, who departed to play in Europe. The Argentine saw action right away and was impressive at times, fueling hope that perhaps he could earn a starting role this season. Most observers had penciled him in as a starter before training camp.

It took about three weeks to realize that Rosell had clearly won the job, leaving Mauri on the outside looking in. Mauri played only about 20 minutes on Sunday in Atlanta and was soon subbed off for newcomer Marinos Tzionis.

While Sporting clearly needed an attacking spark, Tzionis also showed a work ethic that appeared to alter the dynamic of the game. Mauri entered the match with Sporting trailing 2-0 and frankly looked lost and out of place.

Vermes would not give further explanation Wednesday about the club’s decision, saying Sporting is still in the process of making the split official with the league. What Vermes did offer was detail about how he plans to deal with the defensive midfielder position, or “number six,” until Rosell returns from his injury.

“We have so many guys that can play there,” Vermes said. “Last year Roger played there. I’ve played Remi (Walter) there. Felipe (Hernandez) has played there before.

“We’ve also played two and one, as opposed to one and two,” Vermes said in regards to the shape of the midfield.

Vermes has left such details open-ended, and his team’s approach could change with the opponent. He added that in the long term, Rosell will man the position once he regains his health..

Rosell grew up in the Barcelona academy and came to Sporting KC knowing a style of play in which the defensive midfielder is a “single pivot.” But during his time in Portugal, and more recently Orlando City, Rosell played in a “double pivot” midfield, comprised of two defensive midfielders who are are a little more locked to one-half of the field.

Despite this being a familiar system he still sees himself having tendencies that he picked up with the other systems.

“I feel like I still have some sort of mentality as a double pivot,” Rosell told The Star at media day. “You can be more aggressive because you have the other one that covers you. In the last game, I realized I was pressing too high and putting these extra things in that I have to correct so I can be more secure and be in the middle.”

Sporting KC’s home opener is Saturday at 2:30 p.m. against the Houston Dynamo. The Dynamo coaching staff features two former Sporting KC players: head coach Paulo Nagamura and Sporting Legend Jimmy Nielsen.

This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 5:51 PM with the headline "No Mauri, no Rosell, no problem? Why Sporting KC’s Peter Vermes isn’t too worried."