Schedule has been released. The St. Louis team is now in the league and we play them 3 times. Lots of attacking power on this team with Agada, Russell, Salloi, and hopefully a healthy Pulido and Kinda.
Players In
M - Nemanja Radoja (10/26/22 - free transfer)
D - Graham Zusi (12/2/22 - free agent)
D - Andreu Fontas (12/2/22 - free agent)
M - Roger Espinoza (12/2/22 - free agent)
F - Stephen Afrifa (12/21/22 - draft)
D - Chris Rindov (12/21/22 - draft)
Players out
D - Nicolas Isimat-Mirin (11/15/22 - option declined)
D - Kaveh Rad (11/15/22 - option declined)
Originally Posted by carlos3652:
Man. Vermes needs to stick to one thing. He can’t do all the responsibilities and coach everything. This is what happens when you give one man full control of an organization.
They need to either tell him to concentrate on one side of the org and allow new blood and new ideas working with someone or just coach and let others bring in the talent.
I don’t think Vermes is bad, I just think he has too much on his plate and he’s becoming stale being the be all in the org.
It's worse than you think it is. He is not only in charge of everything for SportingKC but also the director for Sporting II and for the Sporting Blue Valley youth club.
Tough times in Kansas City
MLS has featured some truly dreadful teams over the years.
D.C. United won a total of three games in 2013, scoring just 22 goals across 34 games and getting shut out 17 times. They scored more own goals (4) than their leading scorer knocked in against the opposition (3). Chivas USA’s inaugural season in 2005 was only marginally better, as the expansion team cycled through three head coaches and won just one of their first 17 matches. In 2001, the Tampa Bay Mutiny were so bad that the team packed up shop and folded after the season ended.
It’s been a while, though, since we’ve seen a team as bad as Sporting Kansas City. Their shocking 2-0 loss to fellow doormat CF Montreal on Saturday extended their winless streak to 10, the longest such streak to start a season in MLS history.
Statistically, Sporting are right up there (down there?) with the worst in league history. They’ve scored three goals across their first 10 matches, an all-time low in MLS history, and they’ve racked up just as many red cards during that span. Their only win across all competitions this year came against an NPSL team (Tulsa Athletic) in the Open Cup. Things won’t get any easier, either: SKC gets Seattle and LAFC in the coming weeks.
It wasn’t supposed to unfold like this. Sporting finished strong last year after integrating striker Willy Agada and midfielder Erik Thommy in the summer window. The return of designated player Alan Pulido also should’ve provided a shot in the arm to the club, but Pulido has continued to look understandably rusty after over a year off the pitch due to knee injuries and fellow designated player Gadi Kinda has only recently started getting minutes after his own season-long injury.
It’s not like Sporting is getting run over this season — on Saturday, for example, they outshot and out possessed Montreal. According to Trumedia, SKC owns the highest final third pass completion percentage in the league…but also the fifth-lowest total of expected assists (7.08, alongside the lowest number of actual assists, with one). By and large, the squad’s failing is that it has largely been bereft of ideas in the final third, mostly managing to string together a series of half-chances.
All the analysis in the world, though, can’t sum up Sporting’s fate quite as well as winger Johnny Russell did on Saturday.
“I don’t know how you fix it,” Russell told reporters after the match. “I’m going to be completely honest. We just don’t look anything like the team that we were. I don’t know. I genuinely don’t know how you fix it.”
The club’s fans are understandably upset right now, and on Saturday, a contingent of supporters made their voices heard, chanting “Vermes out.” It is not the first time this year they’ve done so.
Sporting director / manager Peter Vermes is by all accounts a club legend. In 16 years as a player and manager with the club, he has won MLS Cup twice, hoisted the U.S. Open Cup a pair of times and won a trio of Supporters’ Shields. He is a member of the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame, played in a pair of World Cups and for many years has been considered among the league’s elite coaches and sporting directors. Just this year, Vermes was connected with the U.S. men’s national team coaching vacancy.
That C.V. likely affords Vermes a longer leash than most in terms of job security. Already the league’s longest-serving manager, Vermes signed a five-year contract extension in February which will theoretically keep him in Kansas City through 2028. But the bar is high at Sporting, which has long been considered one of the league’s small-market success stories.
Vermes himself did not hide from criticism after Saturday’s loss. Asked whether he felt his job was in danger after this year’s start, he was typically blunt.
“The first day when you enter into this business, you know that your job is always at stake,” said Vermes. “It’s the way it is. I’ve always known that. I have never thought differently in any of the time I’ve been here.” – Pablo Maurer [Reply]
Somehow...someway...they go to Seattle and win 2-1. Some nervy moments at the end but they totally dominated the first half and did enough to hold on in the second.
First time they had all their DP's on the field at the same time in a long time and they were a lot more dynamic on offense.
So, they finally get one and its on the road against one of the best teams in the league. :-)
Held scoreless tonight playing with an extra man for the final 60 minutes to get eliminated from the Open Cup. I mean… It’s gotta be time. I know you’re a little more in tune with the organization Zach. What do you think the chances are of moving on from Peter at this point. The fans are obviously becoming more and more disgusted by the day. The cauldron put out their SOS letter to ownership essentially, but I still haven’t seen any response. It’s becoming an embarrassment at this point. Is ownership even paying attention? Did they completely screw themselves with guaranteed money or something with the terrible contract extension?
On the plus side, at least rumors never panned out and Peter stayed away from the USMNT. I’m just trying to find the silver lining to that contract extension at this point…:-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by POND_OF_RED:
Held scoreless tonight playing with an extra man for the final 60 minutes to get eliminated from the Open Cup. I mean… It’s gotta be time. I know you’re a little more in tune with the organization Zach. What do you think the chances are of moving on from Peter at this point. The fans are obviously becoming more and more disgusted by the day. The cauldron put out their SOS letter to ownership essentially, but I still haven’t seen any response. It’s becoming an embarrassment at this point. Is ownership even paying attention? Did they completely screw themselves with guaranteed money or something with the terrible contract extension?
On the plus side, at least rumors never panned out and Peter stayed away from the USMNT. I’m just trying to find the silver lining to that contract extension at this point…:-)
That was a pitiful showing to be sure, but the lineup itself was indicative of how little PV seemed to care. I mean, you’d think that we’d maybe consider starting a strong starting XI for Open Cup matches in a year that we’re dead last in the MLS, but what do I know.
Anyway, the Star just put out an interview with Illig either today or yesterday; long story short, illig thinks PV is still that guy and hasn’t lost the locker room. Says they’ll never rule out moving on though, but I find that hard to believe. [Reply]
Originally Posted by POND_OF_RED:
Held scoreless tonight playing with an extra man for the final 60 minutes to get eliminated from the Open Cup. I mean… It’s gotta be time. I know you’re a little more in tune with the organization Zach. What do you think the chances are of moving on from Peter at this point. The fans are obviously becoming more and more disgusted by the day. The cauldron put out their SOS letter to ownership essentially, but I still haven’t seen any response. It’s becoming an embarrassment at this point. Is ownership even paying attention? Did they completely screw themselves with guaranteed money or something with the terrible contract extension?
On the plus side, at least rumors never panned out and Peter stayed away from the USMNT. I’m just trying to find the silver lining to that contract extension at this point…:-)
I know this is an older post and there have been good results since. The tea leaves seem to be pointing that the ownership has considered a change but chose not to because they want to see how the team plays healthy alluding to the idea that PV has not had a full deck and things they can be good when they do.
The extension really made this complicated. [Reply]
Last night was fun. Jake Davis has come on and been fantastic these last two games solidifying his spot. Radoja was everywhere....very strong in midfield the defense did not have to run around with its hair on fire all day. Offense moving a lot better.
I don't know what this team is yet but they are more fun with their good players out there.
