Sporting Kansas City will face their stiffest tests of the preseason on Tuesday and Wednesday in Arizona, and the timing couldn’t be better for manager Peter Vermes.
With First Kick against Chivas USA now just 11 days away, Kansas City will conclude their preparations for the regular season with back-to-back games against a Real Salt Lake squad that’s already embarked on competitive matches in 2011.
“They’ve played two very true, MLS-quality games in playing Columbus,” Vermes said in a conference call with reporters. “[RSL] are playing in CONCACAF Champions League and had to start earlier than everyone else.”
The accelerated start in Salt Lake should result in two tough challenges for a Sporting squad that has held its own this preseason, compiling a 2-2-4 record overall.
Kansas City, however, have failed to register a victory in five preseason games against other MLS sides, drawing with Columbus, Colorado, Portland and New York, and losing to Houston. The club’s lone victories so far came against the Montreal Impact and Arizona Sahuaros.
But even if RSL have the advantage from a competitive point of view, Vermes said both games should help his team take another step forward as it prepares itself for an opening-night road trip to the West Coast.
“[RSL] have a leg up on us,” Vermes said. “Their level and speed of play is probably going to be a little bit quicker. It’s going to be a really good opponent and quality match to play going into our first game against Chivas.”
Bunbury making progress toward return
[inlinenode:329618]Teal Bunbury, who dislocated his right elbow on Feb. 15 against the Dynamo, is slowly working his way back into training.
The 21-year-old is still rehabbing and building strength in his elbow but Vermes said the young striker, who had a banner summer with the Generation adidas team in Spain and the US national team, should begin assimilating back into the squad this week.
Bunbury expressed hope that he would be able to return by First Kick, but, with plenty of options to fill in for the forward, it's likely Sporting will exercise caution.
“Teal is progressing very well,” Vermes said. “He’s been playing with the ball and working out with the ball quite a bit. Hopefully this week we will start to see if he can enter into some training that isn’t so much contact.”
Ubiparipovic on trial at KC
[inlinenode:305501]In the wake of Jack Jewsbury’s trade to Portland, Sporting are taking a look at former Red Bulls midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic.
Ubiparipovic was available in the inaugural Re-Entry Draft and his MLS experience interested Kansas City, but Vermes said the team learned he was going to pursue options overseas and ruled against selecting him.
“He was leaving the league, so there was no sense in even trying to pick him up,” Vermes said. “Things didn’t work out, and we found out that he was interested in possibly moving to a different team. He called us up and we brought him in. He’s just training with us at the moment. We’re just assessing if he fits in to what we are looking for, but we’ll make that decision at the end of camp.”
Vermes said it was very likely that Kansas City would make additional moves leading up to the close of the transfer window on April 15 as they attempt to agree to terms with various players. The club is currently compliant with league roster guidelines.
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