In a candid and insightful discussion with The Program’s Soren Petro on Sports Radio 810 WHB this afternoon, Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes made it clear that his team intends to go for the jugular during the Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Sporting KC earned a 5-3 aggregate win over Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference Semifinals, winning the decisive second leg in a 4-2 thriller on Sunday at Children’s Mercy Park. In that game, the hosts led 2-0 at halftime but showed no signs of bunkering in throughout the second half.
While a few pundits might have questioned such an approach, Vermes indicated that parking the proverbial bus simply isn’t in Sporting KC’s DNA—at least not in the vast majority of situations as a game unfolds.
“In that game, we could have sat back in the second half and said, ‘OK, we’re up 2-0,’ and just bunkered in and played from there,” Vermes said. “But I’m not doing that. I don’t think our fans want to see that, and I don’t think that’s what they pay money to come watch us to do.
“They come to watch and see if we can run roughshod over another team. We don’t always do it, but that’s what we’re going to try and do all the time. We’re going to try and play our game, and we’re going to try and do what we do better than what the other team does. Simple as that.”
Vermes also pointed out that oftentimes, Sporting KC’s best form of defending is pressing high up the field to create turnovers and scoring opportunities.
“My perspective is that if you go on the attack, it can be your team’s best defense. Depending on the team, if you can press them high up the field, you take away everything from them.”
Sunday’s contest at Children’s Mercy Park was the first playoff game held at the stadium since Sporting KC ousted RSL in the 2013 MLS Cup. The six-goal barnburner entertained from beginning to end, and Vermes was complimentary about how RSL performed under head coach Mike Petke in the playoffs. The Utah side went on the road and upset LAFC in the Knockout Round before battling Sporting KC to a 1-1 draw in the first leg on Nov. 4.
“Between their coach and myself, we had a moment on Sunday before they were getting ready to leave. I said, ‘Hey, you guys should be extremely proud. You guys knocked off LAFC, you guys were good and solid in our first leg, and you came here and gave it a run.’ It was a great series.”
Vermes and top-seeded Sporting KC will now turn their attention to the Western Conference Championship, where they will face the No. 5 seed Portland Timbers. The first leg is set for Sunday, Nov. 25, in Portland, where the Timbers have gone 14-2-4 across all competitions this season. Sporting KC will then host the second leg on Thursday, Nov. 29, at Children’s Mercy Park.
Sporting KC fared well in two regular season meetings against Portland this year, drawing 0-0 at Providence Park on June 9 before cruising to a 3-0 home win on Aug. 18. However, Vermes expects this to be a different challenge altogether.
“They’re a better team than when we faced them earlier in the year,” Vermes said. “It’s your objective as a coach to peak at the end, and I think that they’re doing that. They have a lot of weapons going forward and they’re a good defensive team.”
Aside from the veteran core of Matt Besler, Roger Espinoza, Ike Opara, Seth Sinovic and Graham Zusi, Vermes pointed out that most of the Sporting KC roster was short on playoff experience heading into the 2018 postseason. The 10th-year manager believes that what transpired Sunday will be incredibly beneficial heading into the conference finals.
“Our last game was a tremendous opportunity for our players to see what it’s like to be in the MLS playoffs,” he said. “When you can go through a game like we did, come out on the right side of it, and use that experience going into your next series, it helps you a lot. We needed a game like that.”
Listen to the full podcast below.
