Weâre at what most people would consider the halfway point of the season (even though weâve only played 15 games and have 19 left) and I feel itâs important for every Sporting fan to hear this. One thing Iâve learned in this profession is if you want to be successful, everyone needs to be on the same page. That means having real, honest and sometimes difficult conversations. And since Iâve always viewed you as a vital part of our team, itâs important youâre a part of this conversation.
I believe we started the year well. Every player voluntarily came in two weeks early, and we accelerated our preseason faster than ever before in order to give ourselves a chance at making a run in the Concacaf Champions League. Despite being the last MLS team standing, we eventually fell short, and I underestimated how difficult it would be to move on (physically and mentally) immediately after. Thatâs on me...live and learn.
Still, we managed to juggle both CCL and MLS league play early on and put ourselves in a decent position to start the season, capped off with a historic 7-1 win at home.
Then the injuries came. I believe in order to have success in this league, you need consistency in both personnel and performances. We had neither for a few weeks, which made it difficult to get positive results.
Now weâre getting healthier, but we clearly still have a lot of work ahead. Weâve got to get better defensively. We simply canât allow some of the goals weâre giving up. We also need to be better at finishing our chances when we get them. And we need to be better in the second half of games, specifically closing games out. All these have to be improved upon. If not, Peter will have to find players who can.
Speaking of Peter, we wouldnât be having this conversation if it wasnât for him and his expectations and accountability. Heâs the best leader of an organization in our league, and itâs not close. Shame on you if you donât realize it. Ask any player, current or former, and everyone says the same thing: "Heâs one of the best coaches Iâve ever played for.â And the only reason players might not say THE BEST is simply out of respect for all the other coaches theyâve had. One of Peterâs best qualities is his ability to get a group of people on the same page and buy into an idea and belief. That will never change.
To summarize, Iâm frustrated, confused and uncomfortable with where weâre at right now. Things havenât gone as expected, and weâre in a position we havenât been in for a very long time. Right now weâre below the playoff line. From 2012-2018, we spent one game below the playoff line in June or later. ONE. Thatâs out of almost 150 regular season games. Thatâs crazy. It means our club is not used to being in this position and doesnât have experience dealing with it. Which is why weâre feeling the emotions I mentioned.
However, itâs on us to embrace our position, even if itâs uncomfortable. If you want to give up on the season already, thatâs OK, itâs your choice. We hope to prove you wrong. If you want to stick with us through it all, great. We hope to honor your loyalty. It will be a different challenge than in years past, but Iâm confident weâll respond in the right way. And when we do, weâll be much stronger than before. Letâs go on a run in the second half of the season TOGETHER.
As always, we appreciate your support.
Matt Besler
