Sporting Kansas City captain Matt Besler is looking forward to a reunion of sorts when his side hosts the Houston Dynamo in a pivotal Western Conference clash on Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park.
Houston will enter the contest under the guidance of interim head coach Davy Arnaud, a former Kansas City great who amassed 52 goals and 40 assists across 273 matches during an excellent 10-season stint at Sporting from 2002-2011.
Arnaud retired as a player and became a D.C. United assistant in 2016 before joining the Houston coaching staff in 2017. He took interim managerial duties when Wilmer Cabrera was dismissed earlier this month.
“I have utmost respect for Davy as a player, person and coach,” Besler said in a conversation with Sports Radio 810 WHB hosts Nate Bukaty and Steven St. John on Tuesday. “When I was a rookie coming into the league, he was at a similar stage to where I am now. Whether he was doing it on purpose or not, he showed me what it was like to be a professional soccer player. From the way he carried himself to the work he put in and the passion he brought every day, I took a lot of things from Davy Arnaud during the time we spent together.”
Besler and Arnaud played as teammates for three seasons from 2009-2011, during which time Sporting orchestrated a turnaround from MLS afterthought to championship contender.
“It’s one of those things you don’t’ quite realize in the moment when you’re young and new to the league,” Besler said of his learning curve as a young player alongside Arnaud. “You don’t really know how things work, but you figure it out at some point in your career. I really learned a lot from Davy—he molded me as a player and had a heavy influence on me. I’m grateful for the time we spent together and I’m grateful that he was one of the veterans on the team when I joined as a rookie.”
Although Besler is delighted to see Arnaud receive a head coaching opportunity with Houston, the defender hopes his counterpart’s first win doesn’t come at the expense of Sporting. Besler’s side is six points shy of the seventh and final playoff spot in the West—three points ahead of the Dynamo—and anything less than a victory would deliver a blow to Sporting’s hopes of a ninth consecutive playoff berth.
“We’ll welcome Davy back. I hope he does well because he deserves it—but not against us,” Besler said. “Let’s take care of business and keep rolling.”
Indeed, Besler and Sporting will hope to notch their first three-game winning streak of the season this weekend. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT with live coverage on FOX Sports Kansas City Plus, FOX Sports Midwest Plus, FOX Sports GO, ESPN 94.5 FM and ESPN Deportes KC 1480 AM. Tickets for the game are available at SeatGeek.com and the first 7,500 fans in attendance will receive Sporting KC branded sling grips for their mobile phones courtesy of U.S. Bank.
Listen to the full Border Patrol podcast with Besler below.
