In order to reach the knockout rounds of the newly announced MLS is Back Tournament next month at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Sporting Kansas City will have to navigate a group that includes three awfully familiar foes.
During today's official draw for the tournament, Manager Peter Vermes' men were placed into Group D alongside Real Salt Lake, the Colorado Rapids and Minnesota United FC. A full match schedule, including broadcast details and kickoff times, is expected to be released next week.
All 26 MLS outfits were divided into six groups, with Group A, C and E consisting of Eastern Conference sides and Groups B, D and F containing Western Conference teams. Group stage action will unfold from July 8-23 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, giving fans 16 consecutive days of MLS action. The top two finishers in each group will join the four best third-place finishers in the 16-team, single-elimination knockout rounds. The tournament final is slated for Aug. 11.
Real Salt Lake, of course, is no stranger to Sporting Kansas City in high-stakes encounters over the past decade. Vermes' side notably defeated RSL in MLS Cup 2013 and the 2018 Western Conference Semifinals at Children's Mercy Park as well as the 2015 and 2018 editions of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
As for the Rapids, they hold the title as Sporting's most frequent opponent in club history. The MLS charter members have met 78 times in all competitions, including playoff battles in 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2011. Sporting prevailed on each of the latter three occasions.
When Minnesota United FC became Sporting's nearest neighbor as a 2017 expansion team, it took no time for a notoriously "friendly" rivalry to develop. Sporting owns a 5-3-2 mark against the Loons in all competitions, including a win and a loss in U.S. Open Cup play.
Another compelling aspect of Group D is the fact that it contains all three of the Western Conference teams that began 2020 with a perfect 2-0-0 records before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a suspension of the season on March 12. Sporting opened the year with convincing wins over Vancouver Whitecaps FC and the Houston Dynamo, while Colorado and Minnesota also took six points from their first two fixtures.
In a press conference with media today at Children's Mercy Park, Vermes didn't get into specifics about Sporting's Group D rivals but acknowledged that the draw presented several fascinating matchups.
"In regards to group itself and all the groups, I think it really wouldn't have mattered who we got in my opinion, and I say that because we're going to have to play everybody anyway at some point coming out of this as well," he said. "So however we start, if you want to get to the final you're going to have to play all the teams anyway. I thought the groups wound up pretty good because there are some good rivalries and a lot of them will be good for television."
Vermes also noted that having match dates and specific opponents to look forward to would add a much-needed element to his team's training sessions and preparations for a return to play.
"Having a date — that's the way that we work in our business — everything is centered around dates and times and when our next opponent is and where we're traveling to. So you're always kind of reverse engineering from that and now having a date a team to play, all that, is going to help immensely in what we're trying to get prepared for. Athletes are almost always goal-oriented, so then now having something is going to make it that much different just in training and how we prepare going forward."
