Sporting Kansas City prepares to defend title
The initial moments after the MLS Cup Final were a whirlwind for Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes. Sort of controlled chaos.
They started with a familiar routine. Quick handshakes with the opposing coach staff. But in the next sequence, Vermes rushed onto the field, welcomed the confetti pouring onto his head and celebrated with just about every familiar face he encountered. Some of that is now a blur.
The next moment isn’t.
A brief meeting on the field with Sporting Club CEO Robb Heineman set the stage for a highly anticipated 2014 season.
“Let’s go win Champions League now,” Heineman said.
“That sounds great,” Vermes responded. “But can I have a day to enjoy this one?”
Vermes shared that anecdote Tuesday during the Sporting Takeoff event at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport. He wanted to illustrate Heineman’s avidity.
His point was this: It’s a quality his team shares as it begins a quest to defend the MLS Cup trophy. Sporting KC opens the MLS regular season at 2 p.m. Saturday at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.
“We’re right there with him,” Vermes said. “This is a hungry group of guys. They aren’t going to be complacent, I can tell you that. We still want to evolve as a team and get better so we can experience that kind of success again.”
It may take an even better effort.
While Sporting KC remained relatively quiet this offseason, other Eastern Conference teams opted for splash moves.
Toronto FC spent $100 million to bring in American midfielder Michael Bradley and English striker Jermain Defoe. The Bradley move was quickly dubbed the “Bloody Big Deal.” Toronto wasn’t done. It also acquired former MLS MVP Dwayne De Rosario and Brazilian national team goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
D.C. United signed former Kansas City Wizard Eddie Johnson to a designated player contract Thursday, which follows key additions of Fabian Espindola, Davy Arnaud and Jeff Parke.
That raises the bar for teams like New York and Sporting KC, the top two finishers in the East last season.
“The message being thrown around this season is that we can’t be satisfied with where we were at the end of last season,” forward Graham Zusi said. “All the other teams are rising up to get to that level and even surpass it. That means we’re going to have to get better, too.”
And do it with primarily the same roster. Sporting KC welcomes back 25 players from its championship team, which led the league in fewest goals allowed for the second straight season. Those players accounted for 96 percent of the nongoalkeeper minutes last season. The only missing piece from that team is goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen, who retired at the end of the season.
While the personnel is largely the same, however, the club insists it isn’t standing pat.
“If you’re not improving, you’re getting worse,” midfielder Benny Feilhaber said. “Teams are going to come after us a little bit more because they know they’re playing against the defending champions.
“But even though we won the MLS Cup, we didn’t play our best soccer each and every game. We have 10 of our 11 starters back, and I think that makes a huge difference. We continue to grow together and learn more and more how everyone plays. That only leads to more success.”
So where, exactly, can Sporting KC improve?
Well, inside its home stadium, for starters. The club won only nine of its 17 matches at Sporting Park last season, the 13th-best home record in the MLS.
As for its style of play, Sporting KC knows it can improve in a variety of areas — transition play, the effectiveness of set pieces — but it won’t be making any major adjustments.
“It’s not time to reinvent what we do,” Zusi said. “We want to take what we do well and get even better at those things. That’s our goal. It’s going to take a better effort this year, absolutely. There’s no question about that.
“I think that’s always the case when you’re the defending champions. You have to be ready for everyone’s best game.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2014 at 7:45 PM with the headline "Sporting Kansas City prepares to defend title."