After guiding Sporting Kansas City to their most successful season in years, manager Peter Vermes is in line for a contract extension – although he first word of talks didn't come through official channels.
On Thursday, a day after Sporting's elimination from the MLS Cup playoffs in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Sporting CEO Robb Heineman tweeted that there were “deals to get done” and then added: “fyi....working on an extension for PV.”
Club policy is not to disclose salaries or length of contracts, a team official said on Friday, but an announcement of any extension could come as early as next week.
Vermes, who played on the then-Wizards' MLS Cup-winning team in 2000, has managed Kansas City since August 2009 and has also been the technical director since November 2006.
He led Sporting to back-to-back first-place finishes in the East in each of the past two seasons, and the 2012 team set a club record with 63 points and broke a 7-year silverware drought by winning its first U.S. Open Cup since 2004.
No time to celebrate
Left back Seth Sinovic waited 75 matches for his first goal, but there was no time to savor the moment when it finally came.
Sinovic's 64th-minute header, off a perfect cross from Graham Zusi, gave Sporting a 1-0 win over Houston in Wednesday's second leg of the East semis, but Kansas City came up short on a 2-1 aggregate.
“It was an exciting moment,”Sinovic said in the locker room after the match. “I didn’t really think much about it, just took the ball out of the net and back to the center circle. We wanted to keep going, keep playing fast, keep pressuring. We needed another goal.”
Sinovic came close to delivering it in second-half stoppage time, but his shot off C.J. Sapong's cross was knocked away by defender Andre Hainault.
“I don't think I'm ever going to let myself get over that one, at least until I win an MLS Cup,” he said. “I just tried to hit it too hard, and it came off the inside of my foot a little bit. I wish I could have done a little bit better with that one.”
