Sporting KC: MLS Predictions Based Off CONCACAF Play

Has Sporting Kansas City already hit their peak lineup?

No—but it definitely looks like it. The team looked as if they were in midseason form with top fitness, shape, and passing connections, despite a franchise-record shortest offseason of just 83 days (compare that to the Kansas City Chiefs 223-day offseason for perspective).

The team looked beautifully integrated as they effortlessly bounced passes around Toluca, as if they had been playing together for months; Vermes credits that to his players for coming into the season already near peak fitness and to returning a lot of key players. I would also credit Vermes’ efficiency running a quick preseason and getting the team gelled together in a short amount of time.

Nonetheless, I am confident that there is further progress to be made, especially with a roster as deep as this one. The healthy competition across the field promises that as the season goes on, players will be pushed, and the roster will change accordingly.

Is Andreu Fontas ready to hold down Kansas City’s defense?

Yes.

I will admit that I previously doubted Fontas’s readiness to fill the space that Ike Opara left, but I may have been proven wrong.

Fontas’s style of play is very different from Opara’s, as he isn’t the fast, explosive athlete that Opara is—but he doesn’t need to be. Fontas showed incredible control and technical skill with the ball; he didn’t play like a defender, but rather like an attacker attempting to get control of the play.

Also, slotting Fontas in at center back allowed Graham Zusi to shine as right center back, and I loved watching every minute of that back line. More, please!