Heading into Saturday’s showdown with Arizona United SC at the Peoria Sports Complex, the Swope Park Rangers are exactly halfway through their inaugural 30-game season. The side has gone 6-7-2, claimed 20 points and are a solitary point away from claiming a Playoff berth should the season end today.
The Rangers’ schedule was road-heavy to start the season, with seven of the first 10 games coming away from home, while SPR has played just six of their opening 15 games in Kansas City.
“(It’s been) very difficult, the first 15 games of our schedule we had nine away,” head coach Marc Dos Santos said. “It’s not easy to travel in the league. I think it was a big challenge for us, especially in our first year of existence. Right away as an expansion team we had nine out of 15 games on the road which made it difficult, but I think overall we were able to manage the best we could and now it’s exciting just to get back in the second part of the season where we have nine out of 15 games at home.”
With a new team comes a new group of players, a new coaching staff and a new culture. Dos Santos has maintained from the get-go that his side will have a “winning” mindset.
“We aim to have a winning culture by setting up objectives – our objective at the beginning of the season was that we wanted to be in the playoffs at the end of regular season,” Dos Santos said. “When you set up objectives that are very clear you are able to set a certain culture with a winning mentality.”
Setting up a winning culture and system is easier said than done, and Dos Santos and his coaching staff have worked tirelessly to instill their winning mentality and playing philosophy on what is a young squad with an average age of 22.
“We have a certain style we want to play and a certain style we want to develop and we have to do that by work and training,” Dos Santos said. “I think with the past weeks and months and everything we have been doing here, slowly the guys have been getting more and more into the way we want to play and understanding more and more. That’s very exciting and important for us. Now we see a lot of signs of a team that is being built in moments that we had in the game against Saint Louis.”
The Rangers have found goals relatively easy to come by this season, having only been shutout twice this season and their 21 goals in 15 games ranks tied for eighth out of all 29 teams in the league. In addition, SPR have scored in each of their last nine games – tied for the longest streak in the Western Conference – and the Rangers have five players with three or more goals, the most in the West.
“The positive is that we have been scoring a lot of goals, we’ve scored in almost every game,” Dos Santos said. “It comes from a lot of different players and that is exciting. It comes from different players that can contribute to the success of the team.”
On the other end of the field, the first half of the season hasn’t gone quite as smoothly. The Rangers have conceded 23 goals – ninth most in the league – and posted their first shutout three months into the season on June 8. However, recent games have seen a shift defensively, and SPR have now recorded back-to-back shutouts in their last two games for the first time this season.
“We’ve improved over the last two games, but overall we want to improve our defensive record,” Dos Santos noted. “I think that is something we haven’t done well in, we’ve conceded a lot of goals for 15 games. The game in Seattle and the game against Saint Louis we didn’t concede goals, we kept a blank sheet, but overall in the first part of the year we conceded a little bit too many goals. I would really want to see an improvement in our collective defensive shape.”
In late June, the Rangers lost a key attacking piece when midfielder Kevin Oliveira went down with a torn ACL in his left knee, ruling him out for the remainder of the season. The 20-year-old led the league with four assists at the time, while also adding three goals and had been named USL Player of the Week earlier in the month.
“Losing Kevin is something we can’t change and Kevin is irreplaceable,” Dos Santos said. “Kevin is a special player and everyone knows that. At the end of the day I think it will allow other players to step up and give other players the opportunities to show more of their qualities. I think that Kevin’s injury is sad for us and sad for the club, but it is an opportunity for other players.”
Starting tomorrow, the Rangers have a busy schedule to contend with as they open up the second half of their season. Including the game against Arizona United SC on Saturday, SPR will play four games in the space of 14 days from July 9-23.
“We have to be sure that everybody is healthy and that everybody is ready to participate and that everyone is ready to answer in the games coming up,” Dos Santos said. “I think that if we have a healthy squad where everyone is away from injuries that will help us cope with having four games in 14 days.”
Despite only playing six of their opening 15 games at home, the Rangers have been thrilled with the fan support both at Children’s Mercy Park – where SPR played their home opener – and at the club’s primary home at Swope Soccer Village. Dos Santos is excited to see that support flourish with the Rangers hosting nine of their remaining 15 games in KC.
“It’s very important. The same way we suffered when we went away from home, people will now have to suffer when they come here. We’ve been having some great support from fans when we play at home, even after the hour and half delay against Saint Louis, fans stuck around. We need those types of fans so we can make it to the playoffs.”
The Swope Park Rangers are back in action tomorrow night when they take on Arizona United SC at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, Ariz. The game will kick off at 9:30 p.m. CT and a live stream will be available on Sporting KC.com.
