Looking back at Roger Espinoza's 2015 season

“The way that he plays — the aggressiveness, his mentality, his never-give-up attitude on the field, all of it — is a big piece of who we are,” coach Peter Vermes said. “It’s a big reason why we have (53) sellouts in a row. He was a major component to that style of play.”

Peter Vermes offered that quote at a January press conference to announce that World Cup veteran Roger Espinoza had returned to Kansas City. It was a proud moment for the club and player who spent the previous two years in England with Wigan Athletic after five successful seasons with Sporting Kansas City.
Espinoza returned to MLS a smarter, stronger player. He won the FA Cup with Wigan and played against some of the world’s best on a weekly basis. Espinoza was brought back to fortify the midfield and strengthen the line in front of a Sporting KC defense that allowed 41 goals in 2014.
Unfortunately, a Nathan Sturgis tackle ended Espinoza’s season on Aug. 1 and Sporting KC was forced to play the final three months of the season without their midfield linchpin. Not only did Espinoza help stifle opposing attacks, he proved to be a key cog in Sporting KC's attack with a career-best four assists in only 17 matches.
Although the second half of the campaign featured a dramatic 4-3 home win over the Vancouver Whitecaps and a successful Open Cup campaign, Sporting KC struggled down the stretch, winning only three of the club’s final 12 regular season games.
Espinoza's importance to Sporting KC's success and the impact his injury had on Sporting KC's season cannot be overstated. To put things into perspective, we broke down Sporting KC's season with and without Espinoza. The stats in the chart only take into account MLS regular season matches.