Sporting KC midfielder Zorhan Bassong
On how he grew as a player in 2024…
I think I evolved a lot as a player, especially where I come from, knowing that I came as a left back. I started the year – I didn't play that much in the beginning, and to see where I'm at right now, I'm really happy about the way it turned out. I'm happy to be – the staff, the coach, they really started to trust me as a midfielder. So I'm really happy about what I've been able to show up on the field and to get the call with the national team. It was an amazing opportunity for me, for all the work that I've been putting in the gym, on the field. I was just happy about the season, how it started, especially how I finished it.
On what needs to change next season…
I feel like there's a lot of things that we’ve got to change. I feel like, first of all, our mentality, like the team spirit, we’ve got to fight more to not give up points like we did in the beginning of the year – especially in the beginning of the year. I feel like after this we lost a couple points and I don't know if the energy was a bit down, but we’ve got a lot of great players actually in this team. So I think we’ve got this in us. We’ve got to find a way ourselves. For me, it's mostly about the energy we’ve got to put on the field, the team spirit, the mentality of the guys, because again, we have big, quality players on this team, and I think that if we're able to change that little thing mentally, that we're going to be able to achieve great things next year.
On if dropping points at the start of the season affected the team’s confidence…
It's hard to say now. It's really hard to say, because there's so much things that happened this season. We didn't start the way I think we were supposed to start. Again, in the beginning, we lost so many points. Then that has a big impact on the rankings so I feel like till the very end, we really tried to make our way to the playoffs. I remember, for example, the game against New York Red Bulls, we almost had those three points, we were not so far actually to make it to the playoffs. So I guess we're just trying to fight a lot to get an opportunity for it. We didn't make it, it was a really tough season at the end, but I think we had some good games, especially at the end that actually showed up. We actually showed that we can actually do it, you know? And I think that if we're actually able to put this kind of performance throughout the whole year, I think we're going to be able to do great things next year.
On his personal highlights of the season…
The fact of – to start as a left back – I got that opportunity to play against Orlando, it was a kind of risk for the coach because he saw me as a midfielder on the training grounds, but it's always different to actually take the decision to put me on the field as a midfielder because it's a lot of pressure for him as well. I mean, the fans haven't seen me there, the media people, too. They didn't see me there, so they're like, “oh, is he crazy to take that risk?” Nobody has an idea of what I'm going to do on the field, and then I think I did great, honestly, and I'm happy about the way it turned out. Then you can actually see now that I’m starting to get even more comfortable at that position and I think the staff is happy, too, about what I've been able to show up over there. Peter (Vermes) talks to me a lot and I think now he sees me as a midfielder and I'm happy about how it went.
Sporting KC midfielder Jake Davis
On how he’s grown as a player this year…
Personally, this year has been a little bit different. I've had different experiences throughout the season that kind of helped me grow as a player. I was at the Olympics and to be honest, that was probably a big turning point for me. Everyone knows here I didn't play, didn't make an appearance, but I think being at the camp, learning what they taught me and just being around a different group of guys gave me a lot of confidence to come back and try to be a better player here and I think I did become a better player there. Obviously this season, I started at right back and the majority of the first part I was there and then coming back from the Olympics, I started to play midfield and I think I've always been a good midfielder, but I just hadn't really had the opportunity to showcase myself and so when stuff happened to our team, players had to leave or there were injuries, I got a chance and I think that I did a really good job taking that opportunity. So I think I've progressed well this season. There's obviously a lot more to work on.
On what he needs to do personally to keep improving next season...
I just think that, like I always say to you guys, offseason is really important. It's a time to mentally take some time to rest, but also physically it's not take two months off and come back. “Yeah, I'll be fit here or I'll get fit at preseason.” I always have my own ways of staying fit with the program we do for us at Sporting and also I do some training in Michigan. I won't try to do anything special. I won't take some time off. I think I'll just keep on doing what I've been doing over the last two seasons of training hard in the offseason to make sure I come back sharp and fit and ready to build off of this year for myself.
On what the team needs to do next year to get back into the top positions in the conference…
I think we have a good team, we have a lot of quality on this team, but I think throughout the season, and I know Peter (Vermes) talked about this, about mentality, but I don't want this to sound soft or weird, but it's about belief in ourselves. I think we let a lot of games define us, and a result of a game doesn't define who we are as a team. I think we do that ourselves and we have to know who we are and we have to have an identity. I just think that going into the next season, the little things matter. I had a coach in the Academy and he'd always talk about the dirty yards, the five extra yards that are – you're so tired you don't want to just take a couple more steps because you're so tired, but you do it. I think there's a lot of moments this year where all of us could have been better in that kind of aspect of doing just a little bit more and a little bit better. On another note, there's always going to be adversity in a season, and I don't mean in a playoff hunt every year. I think when we're in a game and we're losing, adversity doesn't just mean we have to fight to get three points and we're down 2-0. Adversity is also when we're up 2-0 away and the pressure is on us and we have to just figure out a way to hold the result no matter what that might be, no matter how pretty it looks. I think we just kind of have to go into the next season really with the mindset that we're going to do whatever it takes to win, whether it looks good, whether it doesn't, we want to be a successful team and we have all the tools to do that. That’s how I feel.
On the excitement that offseason changes can bring to the new season…
I think it's just another opportunity and obviously having the season gone the way it has, next year is – I don't know how to say this – it's a humongous opportunity to make sure that we all, this offseason is a huge opportunity to come and work hard, come into preseason, fit and stay sharp. We have the Champions Cup, we have Open Cup and we have MLS and Leagues Cup. We have four opportunities to win something. So I think it'd be silly if we don't go into next season thinking, make the most out of everything we can. We don't want to forget about this year because we know what's happened this year, but next year we have to just go out and take one game at a time and focus every day at training to get one percent better. And I think when you talk about next season, it's so far away. I think every player now who's on the team, and I think every player that's coming to the team should focus on day to day. How am I getting more fit? How am I going to be ready for preseason? Then when we're in preseason, we're not thinking about an away game at St. Louis that's in four months. What can I do at training today to get better and how can I help my teammates be better? When you have an attitude like that, you're going to progress as a team together, and I think another important thing is just us really being together as a team and not as individuals. If us four were teammates, I'm fighting for you, and I'm fighting for you, and I'm fighting for you on the field, and then all of you are fighting for me. I think that's another mentality we have to go in. But getting one percent better every day is very important to our team.
On what’s made him so versatile and so prepared to take on different roles within the team…
Fortunately, I love soccer. So I just love going out there and I like training and working on things. I try to work on everything. So I don't think that there was ever a moment where I was singling out, “okay, I’ve got to focus on midfield now.” Even a year ago, it wasn't like, “all right, I'm going to get really good at right back.” I just think that when we're out there, we're doing drills, I just kind of hop in and if we're doing crossing, I'll do crossing. If we're doing defending, I'll defend. If we're doing finishing, I'll go finish. I just like the repetition. I feel like I've been ready for those opportunities because of that.
On if the team lacked unity at times throughout the season…
I think at some point, yes, that's the truth. I think in games where things weren't going our way, even if we were winning, if maybe we had lost the ball, if they had countered us, if they had scored. It's not everybody, and this is not a time where I'm hinting at anybody, I'm just saying everyone, even myself, had sometimes put my head down. But I think at the end of the day, for 90 minutes, we’ve just got to fight. No matter what happens. That's the biggest thing to me and I guess I'll give you guys something. So when I was on the USL team, we were not very good. We were a good team, but we didn't get really good results. But we would fight for 90 minutes, whether it was 4-0 away at Louisville, we were tied 2-2 at Indy Eleven. We would die on the field no matter what the result was. I think that's what made that team special to me, because there were guys with way less quality than here, but those guys would go out there and fight like it was their last game. I think that means something to me. I think when I talk about togetherness, if you have 11 guys that can do that, results will come and we have the quality. I think when you put those two things together, good things can happen. It just comes down to us to want it that bad.
Sporting KC midfielder Erik Thommy
On what needs to change culturally or in general for an improved season…
I think you guys see the season as one, I would split it. I would split it because we had different phases. So when we look back, we had the preseason and the games after preseason where we were strong. I think we were fit. We collected a lot of points on the road and then season phase two hits us. I think it was around April where we couldn't get the results. I just remember games at home against Galaxy, Portland, even St. Louis where we should have won these games for sure. We just couldn't close it. Then everything around Leagues Cup where we were decent in my opinion. The last phases probably everything around Open Cup Final and afterwards where it was hard for us to reach the playoffs. So I think if you look back and see the beginning of our season, it was good. I think it was exactly what we expected and what we wanted. But right in between where we couldn't get the results, we need to be better. What means to be better? I think making less mistakes because you could see the league growing the last few years and if you do more mistakes, you get punished immediately, and that happened to us in these games. Like I said, Galaxy, St. Louis, Philadelphia at home last minute and I think there we need to be better and obviously, I would say be smarter to close games down. So even if it's a foul, even if it's wasting time or whatever, I don't want to say that we have to do it, but it's also kind of the game and it's something we need to be better.
On if the team needs a better mentality and more intensity going into next season…
When we talk about mentality, we show two phases. One was when we look back at the U.S. Open Cup where we had weather delays and we came back every time and the road to the final. That was us. Mentality was great. But on the other side, yes, it's also kind of mentality if you cannot close down games, and that's absolutely something we have to work on.
On the passing of Pat Curran, a founding member of the Sporting Club ownership group…
I'm here since two and a half years now, and just look around at the facility, at the club. I think, for me, it's not just a normal club, it's a special club for me. It's an honor to play here, and that was actually the work of our owners. So they did everything for us to make us feel comfortable here, to make it so we can play in front of a big crowd and a great stadium, in front of amazing fans. That's all their work. I think him and all the owners we have, they did a great job. I think every one of us needs to appreciate to be here.
