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One Spot Left On Sporting KC's Roster, Who Gets It?

By AlexEnglen
KANSAS CITY, KS - AUGUST 03: Manager Peter Vermes of Sporting Kansas City looks on during the game against Real Salt Lake on August 3, 2011 at LiveStrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, KS - AUGUST 03: Manager Peter Vermes of Sporting Kansas City looks on during the game against Real Salt Lake on August 3, 2011 at LiveStrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
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At the back end of last year's season Sporting KC was left with what can only be described as a bitter taste in their mouth. Having come so close to the MLS Cup final and all it's glory it entailed we fell short. But with a squad in place that did actually make it that far did we really need too much of a roster shake up?

From a fan point of view - not really, the side was good and solidly built. Yet in late November Sporting KC waived and parted ways with a number of players and out of a roster-filling 30 players that were with the squad in 2011only 24 players remained in late November.

Flash-forward 4 months and Sporting KC again find themselves with an almost roster capping 30 players following the signing of Shawn Singh and 6 other players like him leaving the total number of players on Sporting KC's roster currently at 29.*

So with that one spot left who gets it? Well, there are two players that I think of that could possibly get it.

  • Kyle Miller - The former Sporting KC junior is still with the club since he was drafted in January and is expected to take part in Sporting KC's reserve game against Real Salt Lake tomorrow. Kyle can play outside back as well as center back.
  • Mozzi Gyorio - This Yugoslavian born central midfielder was brought in to Sporting KC's camp when they were in Florida for preseason and hasn't left since. The only reason he too is not participating in tomorrow's reserve league fixture is due to his call up to the Canadian U-23 team.
There are also two goalkeepers with Sporting KC, Scott Angevine and Steve Spangler, but if they were to be signed they would have been already seeing as the club had ample time to mull over their predicament following the injury to second string keeper Eric Kronberg.

Back to the outfield players - out of the two of them you have to like Gyorio's chances. With Singh's signing it almost all but eliminates Miller's chances of earning a contract not to mention the fact that Vermes has spoken extremely highly about Gyorio.

But let's say Vermes wants to look outside of the two players he has in camp, who does he bring in? Well I have always been a fan of good center back depth and signing a proven MLS central defender could help me sleep easier at night.

If Vermes does stick to what he has here in KC however it is almost strictly between Gyorio and Miller but even then Sporting KC doesn't necessarily have to fill all 30 spots. But with spots 21-30 not counting against the salary cap and Peter Vermes' emphasis on maintaining a high level of competition for not just the starting 11 spots but all 18 spots that are on game-day rosters you have to think that he brings someone else in before he gets too far into the season.

*Most of you are smart enough to notice that signing 7 players would of exceeded the maximum amount of players allowed on a squad at 30 from the 24 man roster as of late November. Take into account however that Omar Bravo and Daneil Cyrus also parted ways with the club after November.

**Note: It is worth mentioning that Birahim Diop's situation with Sporting KC is unclear and the Senegalese midfield-forward hybrid could be on his way out of LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, thus negating the effectiveness of this post because the departure would leave Sporting KC with 2 spots to fill instead of 1.

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