Peter Vermes said going in that this would be a different sort of preseason for Sporting Kansas City, with an emphasis on match fitness going into next month's CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals.
Even a cursory look at Sporting's match management this week shows that their manager – whose squad opens the two-leg quarters at home against Mexico's Cruz Azul on March 12 –wasn't kidding.
In Wednesday's group-stage finale of the Walt Disney Pro Soccer Classic, a 3-2 win over Montreal that put Sporting into Saturday's title match against Columbus, the Impact made 10 substitutions – four of those at the half. Vermes made two, one in the 70th minute and another in the 88th. Everyone else went the full 90.
Then again, Vermes couldn't throw in fresh legs wholesale because much of the rest of his squad had already played in a 4-2 exhibition win over expansion NASL side Indy Eleven earlier in the day. Counting friendlies such as that one, Sporting have already played nine preseason matches – with an 8-0-1 record and eight straight wins over that span.
“I like to make sure that everybody's getting minutes under their belts, so it was a very demanding day,” Vermes told reporters during a conference call after the Impact match. “And the guys are a little nicked up, a little banged up, and they're fatigued. And you know, you're on the road for a very long time, so maybe you can call it boredom or a stale environment can set in. So it's good for them to get hardened and be strong and fight through that mentally as well.”
Sporting had to do that on Wednesday, falling behind after 30 seconds on Sanna Nyassi's early strike and then having to come back from a 2-1 deficit later in the first half. And while Montreal kept sending fresh players into the match, Kansas City still seemed to wear the Impact down physically down the stretch.
“I think the guys are getting through it,” Vermes said, “and they're getting through it well, but we've still got a little time to go here.”