Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes joined The Border Patrol on Thursday from Tucson, Arizona, where his team is unbeaten through five preseason matches. In an interview with Nate Bukaty and Steven St. John, the eighth-year head coach assessed Sporting KC's readiness for the 2016 regular season and praised the performance of the Swope Park Rangers, who are unbeaten through three games at the Desert Diamond Cup.
Among the topics of discussion, Vermes confirmed that the club is actively pursuing a new striker ahead of the 2016 campaign.
"There's no way that [Dom Dwyer] is going to play all 34 games in the regular season," Vermes said. "There's no way he's going to play all the Open Cup games and all the CONCACAF Champions League games. We need to have another guy, and what I'll tell you is we'll have another guy. We could possibly have two, but we will definitely have at least one more."
Speaking of strikers, Vermes expressed high optimism about freshly minted Homegrown Player Daniel Salloi, who has appeared in all three Desert Diamond Cup matches so far.
"He is an incredible prospect going forward," Vermes said of Salloi. "Incredible movement off the ball, excellent finishing around the box and deceptive with his speed...He's got great instincts in the field and soft feet. I'm excited about him and I think he's going to get good time with us."
Another player to earn individual praise from Vermes? Goalkeeper Alec Kann, who joined the club this offseason from the Chicago Fire. The 2015 MLS Re-Entry Draft selection made a handful of impressive saves against Colorado on Wednesday.
"Alec, I've got to tell you, has been incredibly impressive," Vermes said. "First off, he's a monster. He's got incredible feet for his size and incredible range just because of his stature. But he's quicker than you would think for a guy that big. He made some great saves (Wednesday) night where he was one-on-one and it was very impressive, but he's been impressive since he's gotten here. He's able to apply an incredible amount of pressure onto Tim (Melia) now for that number one spot."
Listen to the full interview below, courtesy of Sporting Kansas City's radio partner Sports Radio 810 WHB.
