Compared to other professional sports in America, the MLS offseason is short. For teams that advance to MLS Cup, it’s a six-week turnaround before the following preseason kicks off. And for those players that are invited to the U.S. MNT’s January Camp, that break is even shorter.
Sporting KC had two players participate in this year’s January Camp under new head coach Bruce Arena. Graham Zusi - who has been a mainstay for the national team over the past five years - was called in as a defender while Benny Feilhaber earned his first selection to the national team since 2014. Both players featured in the two friendlies before joining Sporting KC last Saturday in Tucson.
"It was good that they got down here just to be a part of the group,” Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes told reporters after Tuesday's match. “I wanted to give them a few days [off]. They have been going a lot earlier than we have.”
January Camp began on January 10 and included friendlies against Serbia and Jamaica. Zusi started both matches at the right back position, totaling 158 combined minutes while Feilhaber came off the bench in the Serbia friendly before starting the Jamaica friendly. Neither featured in Sporting KC’s scrimmage yesterday against the New England Revolution.
“I wanted to give them a little bit of a break so they can get themselves in a position so when we return back here on Sunday, they are gonna be full force with us,” Vermes said. “I think that was the important thing for us to get done."
Zusi and Feilhaber are not the only players who had Tuesday’s scrimmage off. Dom Dwyer, who had surgery this past offseason to clean up bone spurs in his ankle has sat out both of Sporting KC’s early preseason scrimmages. Vermes expects the All-Star striker to be in full training when the team returns to Arizona for the Desert Diamond Cup.
“We had to take a little more time with him because he was returning a little later than Besler was,” Vermes said. “We just wanted to make sure his whole body was getting to where it needed to be."
Sporting KC will have one training session in Kansas City before returning to Tucson for the Desert Diamond Cup. The tournament kicks off on February 15 against Colorado Rapids. All tournament matches will be streamed on SportingKC.com and the FOX Sports Go app.
