KANSAS CITY, Mo. – You'd think Sporting Kansas City would be old hands at getting used to new goalkeepers, what with five different starters at the spot over the past two-plus seasons.
Luis Marin isn't like any of his predecessors, though – and while the Chilean veteran has two clean sheets and 15 saves through five matches, it's still clear that both he and the defensive corps in front of him are in an adjustment period.
“We haven't had anybody like that,” center back Ike Opara told MLSsoccer.com. “In preseason, that was a lot for us to get adjusted to as a unit, the back four. But it's all come together pretty well over the past few weeks.
“I think his English is getting a lot better so we can communicate better. I think he's gotten on top of it pretty quickly, and I'm excited to see it all come together.”
That's what manager Peter Vermes expected when he signed Marin in the offseason from Universidad de Chile, after the end of his two-year loan from O'Higgins FC.
“It's going to be a progression,” Vermes said during a club news conference last week. “All the new guys in our team, they have two things they have to overcome. One is, if they're foreigners they have to get used to the league, and that means the travel, the distance, the climate we're going to get to, all of those things are part of it.
“And the second thing is, they're still getting familiar with the way we want to play.”
Marin, for his part, had hoped but not expected to bring his game to MLS.
“I always wanted to play in the United States,” he told MLSsoccer.com through a translator on Wednesday. “So when they presented me with the opportunity to play here, I didn't have to think about it.”
His active, distribution-minded style has helped Sporting go unbeaten through their last three matches, heading into Saturday's Western Conference home date with Real Salt Lake (7:30 pm CT, 38 the Spot, SKCTV) – but there are still some miscues mingled in with his stops and well-placed outlet passes.
“He's made some very good strides, and at the same time he's also made some mistakes,” Vermes told MLSsoccer.com on Wednesday. “He's got to minimize those and get better from there. But I have the confidence that he'll do that.”
In Sunday's 3-2 comeback win over Philadelphia, for example, Marin came up big to deny Fernando Aristiguieta's deflected shot late in regulation and help set the stage for Sporting's two-goal stoppage-time rally – but only after a spilled corner that led to an own goal just three minutes into the match, followed later in the first half by a goal kick sprayed wide and out of bounds in his own end.
“He got back into it,” Vermes said. “He's one of those players – and most players are like that – who live off good routines and confidence. He's got to know that he's here for a reason, because we like him and we think that he's good.”
And when Marin takes off 40 yards up the pitch to head off an attack, as he did in Saturday's match?
“I get it. He's reading the game,” Vermes said. “If he can be there, then we want him there. He's got to make those decisions, and sometimes they work very well for us. I think he's usually pretty good at his decisions.”
And as much as Marin's teammates have to adjust to him, the 'keeper knows that his main responsibility is to play the way his club wants him to.
“It is me who has to get used to Sporting´s style, rather than them getting used to my style of play,” he said. “I think that I have advanced and improved quickly.”
So does Vermes, despite last week's highs and lows.
“I think each game he gets better and better in our build-up,” he said. “In the beginning, when he got the ball, he would look – not to just kick it long, but he would look for the long pass. That winds up being a 50-50 ball a lot of times, and we don't want that. So he's been much better at keeping possession for us.”
Marin also has grown attached to Kansas City in the short time he and his family have been here – and he needed no translator to help him express that.
“The complex, the stadium, the fans, all the people – Kansas City is very good,” he said in English. “In general, Kansas City is perfect for me.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
