Sporting KC is trying to get back to the best version of itself. What will it take?

While Sporting Kansas City is just seven matches into its 2022 campaign, the club’s urgency toward better results and improvement in the MLS standings is starting to be an issue.

Sporting KC currently sit in 12th place in the Western Conference Standings with a 2-5-0 record.

“We’ve gotta get back to the best version of us,” Sporting manager Peter Vermes admitted late this week.

Sporting is coming off an emotionally charged loss, one that ended with captain Johnny Russell’s angry confrontation of fans chanting “not good enough” and “we deserve better” as KC’s players were making their customary post-game walk around the field.

After watching his team lose 2-1 to Nashville — blowing a 1-0 halftime lead — Vermes called out his players’ mentality in a blistering post-game analysis. Suffice to say that this week’s training sessions were intense and emotional, too.

“This is the way it’s supposed to be,” Vermes said. “It’s competitive. It’s supposed to be an environment where you want to win — at times at all costs.

“If you don’t have that mentality, it’s hard. It’s hard to be successful, hard to be a champion.”

Championship-level aspiration has been Sporting KC’s calling card for years. At the start of each season, the organization’s goal is always to compete for the several coveted trophies available to Major League Soccer clubs: the Supporter’s Shield, MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup.

Falling short of that standard, as Vermes’ team is currently doing, is certainly frustrating for players and staff alike. But Sporting’s showing through seven games doesn’t mean this team can’t still accomplish its goals. Plenty of squads have started slow and still made the MLS Cup playoffs.

“It pisses me off sometimes that there are teams that don’t do anything until game 20 and then they end up winning MLS Cup,” Sporting veteran Roger Espinoza said. “That’s just how the league is.”

He noted that this team doesn’t want to reach the playoffs like that.

“Our team expectation is to be winning every single game,” Espinoza said. “We owe it to the fans, to the media, and that’s our expectation here. I want to start winning soon.”

The path doesn’t get much easier from here. Sporting KC’s next opponent, LAFC (4-1-1), was unbeaten until a recent loss to the crosstown-rival L.A. Galaxy. Sporting is at LAFC on Sunday.

Carlos Vela is still the headliner, but LAFC has a new supporting cast around him and a new manager in charge. One of those cast members is the familiar face of former Sporting stalwart Ilie Sanchez, who signed with the black and gold during free agency.

“I hope he doesn’t have a great night on Sunday, but I really wish the best for that guy,” Vermes said of Ilie. “He brought an incredible amount of professionalism to our club.”

Sporting KC’s Sunday match at LAFC is slated for a 3 p.m. Central Time start on ESPN.

This story was originally published April 16, 2022 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Sporting KC is trying to get back to the best version of itself. What will it take?."