Sporting Kansas City: New trick takes them to next level

Sporting Kansas City have learned a new trick: Goals. It is a trick that takes them to the next level and makes them a real threat for MLS Cup once again.

Peter Vermes’ Sporting Kansas City teams have always been close. Consistent. Reliable. Determined. Resilient. They have always been on the cusp of roaring MLS success. But it has never quite happened for them, especially when it matters most in the postseason — after their 2013 MLS Cup victory, they have suffered four successive losses at the knockout stages.

Now, there are many reasons for this. They have never quite had the star power of the likes of Toronto FC last season, for instance. But perhaps the biggest influence for their inability to convert strong campaigns into trophies and titles is simple: Goals.

Sporting KC have never been flush in the goals department in recent seasons. Last season, they ranked 18th in MLS with only 40 goals. The year prior, they only scored four more goals, good for 13th in MLS. The year prior to that, 2015, they only ranked 8th, the highest that they have ranked since their MLS Cup victory in 2013, a year in which they scored 54 goals and ranked fourth.

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Their lack of goals has stemmed from both their inability to create and finish chances. In 2013, they topped MLS with 15.4 shots per game. In 2014, that figure dropped to 13.5 shots per game, ninth-best in the league. In 2015, that figure dropped again, to 11.8 shots per game, 13th best, before rising to second in MLS in the last two years. They have extended periods proving that they have struggled to create a good number of chances and also their failures on converting a high number of shots on goal.

But this year, it’s all change. As of writing, Sporting Kansas City rank second in goals per game, first in shots per game, first in total goals scored, and third in shots on target per game. This is a team that now boasts one of the best offences in the country, all having traded away Dom Dwyer to Orlando City last year.

There are many reasons for the gluttony of goals. The inspiring addition of Johnny Russel, who scored an excellent hat-trick in KC’s latest dismantling, a 6-0 thrashing of the Vancouver Whitecaps. Goals from midfield in the form of Felipe Gutierrez. A faster approach play that allows them to play through the zones of the pitch with a greater pace and precision, pulling the opponents out of their defensive shape, opening up spaces, passing lanes, and ultimately creating good quality chances. There are many different changes that have been made by Vermes, the coaching staff and the players themselves to ignite such a goal-scoring streak.

But, ultimately, how they’ve done it doesn’t really matter. As long as it is repeatable, reliable and consistent throughout the whole season, something that, in fairness, is yet to be proven, then the simple fact that KC have now added goals to their already well-rounded game should ring alarm bells in their rivals.

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They are the best of the west. They already had one of the best defences in MLS history, conceding only 29 goals all season long. And they now have added a blistering attack that cannot stop scoring. This is a new trick for Sporting Kansas City. It makes them a totally different threat. It takes them to the next level. The rest of MLS should watch out because Vermes’ boys are very much flying, and, this time, they have goals on their side.

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