Sporting Kansas City's center back tandem is starting to look a bit like a triad.
All-Stars Aurelien Collin and Matt Besler are still seeing most of the action together, Collin with 27 starts and Besler with 21. But with Besler's emergence as a regular with the U.S. national team, Ike Opara has seen a good deal of the pitch this season – and made the most of those opportunities.
“He's done a good job,” manager Peter Vermes said on Tuesday. “He's very focused. He's very coachable, and because of all of those things, I think that's why he's adapted and adjusted so quickly.”
Opara, who came over in an offseason trade with San Jose, already has 15 appearances and a career-best 13 starts. Besler is on international duty this week, ahead of Friday's World Cup qualifier against Jamaica, so Opara is likely to add another start when Sporting visit the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday.
“I'm just coming to work every day and trying to get better each and every day, along with Bes and Collin,” he told MLSsoccer.com after Tuesday's training session. “I think whoever's been in there, between the three of us, has worked hard and done the job for the team. If it's a triad, it's a triad. I'm not sure.”
Opara has been physical but not reckless in the back line, with only three cautions all season, and has been a threat to score in the air whenever he's in. He has three league goals and four across all competitions for Sporting, including the game-winning header in Saturday's 1-0 away victory over Columbus.
More than that, he has proven himself adept at meshing with whoever's in the other spot, be it the attack-minded Collin or Besler, whose game is based on possession and positioning.
“He's been a great player,” Collin said. “There's no difference. We all play together. When Bes is with him, everything goes great. When I'm with him, everything goes great. When Bes and I are together, everything goes great. It's like we change players, but we all have the same mentality, same spirit, same chemistry. We're very happy about that.”
That level of contribution and fitting into the squad was what Vermes wanted to see from Opara, who was coming off an injury-plagued 2012 season when Sporting acquired him.
“I would say that we always have high expectations for the guys who come into our team at the start of each year,” Vermes said. “It's great to see that he's lived up to what we hoped would happen – and at times, he's surpassed those expectations. So from that perspective, it's really good.”
The key, Opara said, has been preparing himself to play at any time and then performing when he gets the call.
“It's tough, coming into a team with two guys of their caliber,” he said. “It's a very interesting development. You're not sure when you'll get chances, or how many you'll get. For me, it's been one game at a time. Each game I'm in there, I just want to do well and show Peter that going forward, whenever he needs me, that I'm ready and capable to help the team win.”
