It took a little longer than usual, and at times in the middle of the season Sporting KC looked downright awful.
They struggled through a ton of injuries, including the season ending variety to Chance Myers and Ike Opara, and the career ending type to Peterson Joseph. National team call ups also wreaked havoc with the roster, with Matt Besler, Graham Zusi, Lawrence Olum, Soony Saad and others missing extended periods of the MLS’ marathon season.
But with just three regular season games left, and a must-have playoff berth hanging in the balance, the boys in blue came up big against the visiting Chicago Fire, winning 2-0 on the strength of an 80th minute Zusi left footed bomb from about 25 yards out.
And that was after Dom Dwyer missed an early PK over the bar. No doubt, as the game neared its end Sporting was gripping a bit.
“I think it was a culmination of a lot of emotions after that ball went in,” said Zusi afterwards. “We had to give these fans what they deserved and play well and we were dead set on doing that tonight, not only to get into the playoffs, but to do that at home where we should win every game. That’s how we feel.”
To seal the deal, Zusi put a cross right on Dwyer’s head for the easy header in stoppage time. For the first time in a long time, Sporting could exhale.
“We had an opportunity to get into the playoffs now and resting ourselves going forward,” explained KC boss Peter Vermes after the win. “That is something we will have to do because we have been through a very difficult time this year. The guys need to get a little break and make sure when we get to the playoffs we have as many healthy bodies as possible.”
Expect to see some new guys getting playing time for the last two MLS games, as well as one more CONCACAF Champions League game. Hopefully, KC can get its core players enough rest to rejuvenate this squad for a strong playoff push and regain the early season form that has been missing for months and months now.
I hope they don’t rest too many guys for the CONCACAF games. I’d like to see Sporting be the first MLS club to win that tourny.
I think the Champions League will still get an A squad lineup, based on what the club has said in the past about their priorities in that competition. The last couple MLS games, though, might be a different story.
I would hope they don’t rest their A players for the last couple MSL games either; it would be nice to go into the postseason with some momentum, after having almost none for the past 2 months.
I’m still not sure who is really their ‘A squad’, especially on defense, with the roster being so disjointed/injured/DQ’s all season.
Has Sporting Kansas City folded or something? No one has talked about them in three months.
From,
The guy who was the biggest SKC fan this time last year. But now that the Royals are winning, I can go back to not giving a damn about SKC.
Or most Kansas City sports fans outside the Brookside, Valentine and some parts of the Blue Valley area.
Awww, still sore about it all? Don’t worry, you’ll get over it some day.
It’s OK. You can go back to being a SKC fan soon after being a typical, fairweather, bandwagon Royals fan.