Sporting KC: Who is their most important player?
By Nathan Dunn
This season, Sporting KC injuries have made some players stand out more than others. But who is the most important player in the squad? Here, I investigate the potential candidates.
Sporting Kansas City are finally starting to recover from a horrific injury crisis that has caused a disastrous start to the MLS season. They currently sit in tenth place in the Western Conference with 14 points, ahead of only Colorado and Portland. And yet, they are only three points out of the playoffs.
Similar to Toronto FC in 2018, a long run in the CONCACAF Champions League hasn’t been too kind for the health of Peter Vermes’ side in 2019. Highlighting the injury crisis has been captain Matt Besler and Roger Espinoza.
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After such a productive previous season at right-back, Graham Zusi has been really poor in 2019, with that likely from a lack of rest between 2018 and 2019 as well as the number of matches played so early in the season. In my opinion, Nicolas Hasler, who SKC signed as a backup right-back, is an upgrade on Zusi this season. Meanwhile, arguably the best goalkeeper in the league the previous two seasons, Tim Melia, isn’t making nearly as many big saves as he used to.
So, amidst this chaos and calamity, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to investigate who is the most important player to Sporting KC’s set-up. These are the top three.
3. Matt Besler
A captain is always difficult to replace. Matt Besler has a huge presence at the club. As a captain, he is a leader and a future Sporting Legend, as well as being a great person off the field, often volunteering and making weekly appearances on a local radio show co-hosted by Sporting KC play-by-play commentator, Nate Bukaty.
Since being drafted by the Kansas City Wizards out off the University of Notre Dame in 2009, the Overland Park, Kansas native — which is located 18 miles from Children’s Mercy Park — has won three Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cups and an MLS Cup in 2013. Besler has also represented the United States Men’s National Team at the 2014 World Cup.
Besler is one of the best readers of the game in the league. He has struggled with hamstring injuries the past couple of seasons, but before that, he was always a reliable center-half with the exception of a poor run of form in 2016, where he played in just 19 matches. Besler’s ability to read the game so well allows him to rarely give away a penalty or get sent off as well as successfully play 50-yard diagonals multiple times a game and connect with a teammate. He has been and still is one of the best central defenders in MLS.