KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It's been a while since Sporting Kansas City had a decent position battle at left back. That's all about to change. In fact, it already has.
Seth Sinovic won the job from Michael Harrington in 2011 and has held onto it since, proving to be a durable and consistent performer for his hometown club. The preseason acquisition of Canadian international and Bundesliga veteran Marcel de Jong portends a higher level of competition for time, though – and Sinovic, who led Sporting with 3,385 minutes and 37 full-90 outings across all competitions in 2014, is looking forward to that.
“Obviously, he's got a good pedigree, and having him in in preseason, he's done really well,” Sinovic told MLSsoccer.com last week during the team's annual media day. “He's a really good player. He's blended in with the guys on and off the field. Competition's always good, always makes the team better.
“The more good players you have in practice, the better the team's going to get. So it's a good thing, all around.”
De Jong, meanwhile, is not coming to MLS to be a backup – especially not after parting ways with FC Augsburg in January because he was unhappy with his reserve role there.
“I have to just show everybody what I can do and just wait for the opportunity to come,” he told MLSsoccer.com on Tuesday. “If it comes next week, or next month, I don't know. I just have to be ready and show everybody what I can do. But I'm confident. I know what I can do. So I'm looking forward to the battles.”
Manager and technical director Peter Vermes was not looking for a Bundesliga-grade left back going into the club's training camp in Tucson, Arizona, but he was not about to let the opportunity get away once it presented itself.
“I knew of the player, and I knew that six months to a year ago, he was untouchable,” Vermes told MLSsoccer.com on Tuesday. “He had a huge transfer fee and all kinds of different things around his situation.”
Then Augsburg let de Jong out of his contract in January, and the untouchable became attainable.
“I know his agent pretty well, done some business with him in the past,” Vermes said. “I'm getting ready to go down to training camp, and I get a call from him. He says, 'I have a guy available who I think you would be interested in. Are you looking for more players?’ I said, 'Well, it's all going to depend on who the player is.'
“Then he told me who it was, and I said, 'Can he come in and train with us for a week?' He said, 'He's actually in the States right now. I think he can do it.’ I don't think anybody outside of us knew, so we immediately put him on discovery. We got No. 1 priority, which was great. Then he came and trained with us, and everything worked.”
De Jong, who has 31 international caps, was looking to make any move to MLS after friends on the Canadian national team spoke highly of the league. He particularly liked what he saw in Sporting, meshing well with the club during his trial in Tucson.
“There was a positive vibe,” he said. “Everybody was trying to do their best for their club and was focused on soccer. I liked the relaxed atmosphere in the team. Everything is really professional.”
De Jong wasn't in the squad for
Sunday's
season-opening 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls after his visa wait kept him from training with Sporting earlier in the week. But that hurdle has been cleared, and he will be available for Saturday's Western Conference clash at FC Dallas
.
De Jong has played as a winger in the past, before going to Augsburg in 2010, but Vermes – while prizing versatility in his players – said he doesn't see him in that spot right now.
“I think his best place is left back, but there's no doubt that the guy can play a couple of different places,” Vermes said. “He comes from a place, playing in the Bundesliga, where it is a very intense, physical, strong league. There's no doubt that he translates extremely well to this league, especially the way we like to play and the expectations for those positions, the outside back positions.”
If de Jong's presence in the club did not ratchet up the competition at left back enough, that's also the natural position of rookie Amadou Dia, who impressed Vermes, his teammates and Sporting's fans with a solid 90-minute outing at right backon Sundayin his professional debut.
“We've got a lot of competition there, which I think is great,” Vermes said. “It's going to be good for the team.”
