With the first week of preseason training in the books, Manager Peter Vermes and forward Dom Dwyer expressed excitement ahead of Saturday night's friendly against the Portland Timbers (7 p.m. CT) in Tucson, Arizona. Check out their comments below as Sporting Kansas City prepares for another title challenge in 2015.
Vermes on the team's performance during the first week of training...
A lot of the guys that are here are very, very quick learners, which is great. There’s a tremendous amount of athleticism with a lot of the new guys that have been added to the team, and they have a really good understanding of the game. I’m pleasantly surprised by the overall group and the quality that they’re bringing to training every day. I also like the level of fitness within the group—overall it’s really good, especially starting out as early as we are. So that gives us the ability to actually spend a lot more time on our model of play.
Vermes on the team's improved level of athleticism...
I’ve always thought we’ve been a pretty athletic team. It just so happens that the guys that we’ve added in different places on the field are very good athletes. They’ve really changed the way we look in a lot of areas, and these guys have a lot of upside.
Vermes on his objectives for the first preseason match on Saturday...
It’s a matter of trying to get everybody 30 minutes and getting them out without any injuries. That’s the big part. There are some guys who won’t participate—Roger Espinoza, Ike Opara, Graham Zusi, Chance Myers and Saad Abdul-Salaam.
Vermes on the fitness of Ike Opara...
Ike is already training with us. We aren’t putting him into too many competitive environments yet. Today he participated in probably two-thirds of training and then at the end when we played 10-v-10, he came out. Outside that, he has been doing well and it’s just bringing him along day to day. He hasn’t played with the team on a regular basis in awhile, but he’s getting more adapted to that every day.
Vermes on the fitness of Chance Myers...
Chance is actually doing very well. I think it’s next week that he’ll start doing some more things, but he’s already doing stuff with [head fitness coach] Mateus Manoel with the ball. I consider him in a transition phase, but he’ll start entering in training a little bit next week. But again, it’ll be pick-and-choose what those parts of training will be. I see us going into the second phase [of training camp] and he should be more involved on a regular basis.
Dwyer on his first impression of new forward Krisztian Nemeth...
He’s going to be a fantastic player. In our training sessions, he’s looked sharp and his finishing is very good. He’s a very good player and a great addition to the team.
Dwyer on the team's offseason additions...
Obviously you make changes in football—people go on different adventures, but we have a lot of new guys coming in that are great additions. It’s going to be a good side. We have so many players right now and so many options. It’s exciting times ahead. We have guys who are expected to do well and we have guys coming out of nowhere who are doing well. So it’s an exciting group to play with.
Dwyer on signing a new contract in the offseason...
It’s nice getting a new contract. It shows faith in me from the coaches and just gives me more confidence. I’m still going to play the same and fight the same, it’s just that now I’m going to be here for a few more years. Now I have more responsibility and I thrive on that.
Dwyer on his goals for the team in 2015...
This is by no means a rebuilding year. We have our strengths and we know what we’re good at. We now have more personnel to get the job done, so our focus is winning. I think we’re headed towards that this year. We’re not going to be satisfied with anything other than winning here.
Dwyer on the strength of Sporting KC's roster...
We’ve got guys coming back from injury who are very important to the team. We’ve got some new guys coming in who are going to be very important. With guys like Roger coming back, it’s exciting times. [Matt] Besler and [Jon] Kempin haven’t even gotten here yet, so we have so many weapons. By the time March comes, we can bring it all together.
