Sporting Kansas City’s “We Defend Together” campaign was supposed to rally the troops entering the playoffs as they looked to retain the MLS Cup.
So much for that plan.
On Thursday night, Sporting KC fell flat on their faces in a 2-1 loss to the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena in the Knockout Round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. Only four days prior, the Red Bulls beat Sporting 2-0 in Kansas City in the final match of each side’s regular season.
Both results could have easily been uglier. New York’s Bradley Wright-Phillips had a field day against SKC’s formerly dominant centre-back pairing of Matt Besler and Aurelien Collin. Eric Kronberg’s positioning in goal rivalled Iker Casillas’ when Spain played the Netherlands in the 2014 World Cup. Had the likes of Tim Cahill, Dax McCarty, and Eric Alexander not squandered gimmes, the Red Bulls might have been able to put four of five past SKC in the playoff fixture.
That Spain reference could be used further. Like the Spanish national team, Sporting Kansas City were the champions and appeared to have a fair chance at defending their title. Sporting won in 2013 without a proven forward, similar to how Spain have won many matches in recent years. Both sides were given proven goalscorers that were expected to make excellent teams scary; Spain added Diego Costa while Sporting brought Dom Dwyer back up from his torrid USL Pro stint.
But for some reason, neither Spain nor Sporting Kansas City could deliver. In not-so-light terms, both sides were thrown into the water and forgot how to swim.
The question that has to be asked now is whether Sporting can rebound after a promising campaign (the month of July is a good sample size- 13 out of 15 points) turned so sour (seven losses in their last 10 regular-season matches) so quickly. The answer might not be as positive as you would think.
Sporting have a bad track record of losing key players. Kei Kamara went first. Then it was Roger Espinoza. Jimmy Nielsen decided to retire after winning it all last season. This year it was Oriol Rosell, who lived up to his Catalonian roots with an 84% pass completion rate in 2013 and a staggering 90% pass completion rate in 2014 before he was sold, according to whoscored.com.
Look at some of the other good sides in MLS. Note how a lot of them have very good defensive midfielders. There’s Osvaldo Alonso in Seattle. Kyle Beckerman is a Real Salt Lake legend. Juninho has been brilliant in Los Angeles. Rosell was that irreplaceable piece for Sporting Kansas City, but they thought otherwise and paid for it.
Rosell’s departure put more pressure on SKC’s backline. I can’t even say they bent but didn’t break, because they were a borderline trainwreck in the two matches against New York. Bending would have been understandable. Collin dealt with injury problems in May and September. Full-back Chance Myers was ruled out for the season in late May. Besler missed time because of the World Cup. A new goalkeeper in Kronberg was going to be an adjustment.
Again, some bend was expected. But they conceded 11 more goals than they did last year. That’s a 37 percent increase. That isn’t bad. That’s awful.
Such a big step back isn’t what these guys are being paid big bucks for. Both Besler and star midfielder Graham Zusi became Designated Players in July, in large part to prevent them from moving overseas (remember the retention funds fiasco from a year earlier?). Both dropped off significantly down the stretch.
Zusi played 500 fewer minutes this season, attempted 0.3 fewer crosses per game, and made 0.4 fewer key passes per game according to whoscored.com. Besler played 200 fewer minutes, made 0.3 fewer tackles per game, had 0.4 fewer interceptions per game, and cleared the ball 2.2 times fewer on average per game than in 2013.
To summarize, Besler and Zusi were without a doubt viewed as Sporting Kansas City’s cornerstones over the last few seasons. Sporting didn’t want to pay them what they deserved until the European clubs came knocking on the door. Once the Europeans left, Besler and Zusi stopped playing like they wanted to attract overseas interest.
That investment may have just doomed Sporting Kansas City.
Based on 2014 alone, Sporting’s real cornerstones are Rosell and Dwyer. With Rosell out the door, I’d argue that Benny Feilhaber, who pulled the opposite of a Zusi/Besler this season by seeing an increase in minutes and improvement on both sides of the ball, is the other cornerstone. Sporting Kansas City wanted to invest in the foundation of their franchise, but they missed the mark. And now they might not have enough money left to invest the keep their house from collapsing.
Feilhaber has gone from being a New England castoff to a 1B behind Zusi to usurping his midfield partner as the main string-puller. Dwyer has gone from minor-league hero to one of the franchise’s greatest goalscorers. According to the MLS Players Union’s most recent salary figures (guaranteed compensation, not base salary), Feilhaber makes roughly $340,000 while Dwyer is just over $90,000. Zusi and Besler are each over $630,000.
You can bet your life savings that Feilhaber and Dwyer will be asking for raises this offseason. You can also be certain that their agents aren’t idiots and have read the same numbers I just shared. The problem is that the money might not be there to give them the raises they want and quite arguably deserve.
Sporting Kansas City already have their three Designated Player spots filled, by Zusi, Besler, and forgotten forward Claudio Bieler. Under the expiring CBA, Feilhaber and Dwyer are stuck. But even with a new CBA hopefully coming into effect in the next few months, the outlook may not be much better.
Is it realistic to expect five DP spots? Even four? Even if Bieler gets offloaded, one of Feilhaber or Dwyer might not be able to get that tag. And if the salary cap doesn’t go up enough, there may not be enough room for compromise.
And then of course comes the Expansion Draft. Orlando City pick first. Sporting KC are a deep side and will surely have somebody of significance left unprotected. Dom Dwyer lit up USL Pro while playing for Orlando City. Dwyer will be protected, but that won’t stop Orlando taking somebody from SKC and sending them back in a big package for the Englishman.
In short, Sporting Kansas City could be at risk of losing (yet another) one of their real cornerstones this offseason and might not be able to meet the salary demands the other.
Did I mention that they’re also moving to the Western Conference next year?
Sorry Sporting fans, but this could be the beginning of the end.
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