When two of his starters went down before halftime, Peter Vermes knew his club was in trouble – and he was right.
But after Sporting Kansas City were bounced from CONCACAF Champions League contention with Thursday night's 2-0 away loss to Costa Rica's Deportivo Saprissa, their manager had nothing but praise for their fight against long odds in a packed, hostile Central American stadium.
“Getting two guys injured in the first half changed a lot of the game, especially going into the second half,” Vermes told reporters in a conference call after the match. “But they battled. I can't deny that they battled. They tried. They went after it.”
Sporting lost attacking midfielder Benny Feilhaber to a right ankle sprain and right back Igor Juliao to a left hamstring strain before the break. Vermes elected to sub winger Soony Saad for Feilhaber, rather than inserting veteran box-to-box mid Paulo Nagamura, in part because he was trying to keep some players fresh for Sunday's regular-season MLS finale at home against New York (8:30 pm ET, ESPN2).
“To me, it was a better choice for us, long-term,” Vermes said. “We've just got too much to manage. I'm not going to risk everybody all over the place. Soony was better suited for that position anyway, because it was more of an attacking role.”
Both Feilhaber and Juliao are doubtful for Sunday's match, which Sporting need to win to avoid falling to the Knockout Round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The injuries forced Vermes to keep winger C.J. Sapong, who was coming off a thigh contusion, on the pitch for the full 90.
“You've got guys on the field who aren't 90 minutes fit, and they're trying to give everything they have,” Vermes said. “So from that point of view, it was very, very difficult.”
Vermes wasn't happy that defensive lapses on set pieces led to both of Saprissa's goals, Heiner Mora's putback in the 22nd minute and Ariel Rodriguez's strike in the first minute after the half – but he also cut his team plenty of slack for them.
“We could have done better on both of those situations, and we should have,” he said. “But again, I'm not going to deny the fact that the guys battled for the result. It was just – look, a lot of things against us. We went into the game not thinking that we were going to have to sub two guys in the first half.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
