Points are at a premium.
That was the message coming out of Swope Soccer Village on Tuesday as Sporting KC players and coaches spoke with the media ahead of what looks to be the club’s most important stretch of the season. Sporting KC will kick off a four-game homestand on Saturday that includes three regular season matches as well as the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final next Wednesday, Sept. 20 at Children’s Mercy Park.
"We are getting down to the final stretch and it’s important for us to raise our level,” captain Matt Besler said on Tuesday. “Everybody talks about playoff time and the games mean more. We just have to make sure we are concentrated. I think we are in a good spot, but we have to make sure we take advantage of the work we put in so far this season."
Sporting KC is currently in fourth place in the Western Conference. The team is just three points back of conference leaders Portland Timbers but just five points ahead of seventh place San Jose Earthquakes. With three regular season home matches on the schedule to close September, Sporting KC players see this as their opportunity to make a move up the table.
"We are excited to be back [at home],” Hungarian striker Daniel Salloi said. “Obviously we dropped some points [on the road] and we need to get back on track. We are at the end of the season now and we can’t make any more mistakes. I hope we are going to get three points in each game because it’s really important to have the higher seed in the playoffs."
If any team knows the value of playoff seeding, it's Sporting KC. In each of the last three years, Peter Vermes’ side has gone on the road in the Knockout Round and come away with crushing defeats. A top-four finish would guarantee a home playoff game, while a top-two finish would give the side a bye into the conference semifinals.
"We have to make sure we finish strong,” Besler said. “For us, it’s not necessarily about finishing in first place in the Western Conference, it’s about how we are playing at the end of the season. We want to make sure we go into the playoffs with the confidence that we are playing well."
Currently, only Toronto FC have clinched a playoff berth. In both conferences, teams are not only fighting for the right to get into the playoffs, but to earn the highest seed possible and potentially host matches at their venue. The logjam in the standings doesn’t surprise Manager Peter Vermes, who has seen it all during this 20-plus years in Major League Soccer.
"I think there is a lot of parity,” Vermes told media on Tuesday. “I’ve always thought there is a lot of parity in this league. Obviously Toronto has pulled away on the East side, but outside of that, everyone else is bunched together. As I always say, all the points matter, both at the start of the year and at the end. For us, we have a game on Saturday and that’s the only thing we can affect at the moment, and that’s what we are going to stay focused on."
Besler added: "There are probably four or five other teams that think they are in a good spot. It’s about the teams that separate themselves over the last eight games, and we have to make sure we are one of the teams that does that."
