The Blue Links: September 1st

Right... so three losses in a row, 13 goals conceded the last four matches, and even Peter Vermes lost his s***. How is everyone feeling?

I am surprised we have yet to hear about a fine coming down for Vermes after his rant to Jake Yadrich. I'm sure it is still to come.

"It’s not my team that’s losing. It’s every game we get taken away points by the boys in yellow." -Vermes. He was scarily mad there.

— The Blue Testament (@BlueTestamentKC) August 30, 2015

After a few minutes to calm down after the match, Vermes did not step back those comments during the conference call with reporters.

"Did we deserve more out of this game? Yes," Vermes told reporters in a conference call. "The other team didn't beat us. What beat us was the guys who are supposed to be the impartial guys reffing the game. They are the ones that beat us, for the second week in a row."

Look, the defense was poor and SKC should be able to beat last place Colorado even with a bad ref, but I can't blame the guy for being frustrated. That missed PK against Houston for a handball recently, Kamara being offside against Columbus, and then a few missed calls this game would drive anyone crazy. That being said, it is never a good look to blatantly blame the refs for your team losing.

ESPNFC had on Peter Walton (General Manager of PRO) to discuss Vermes' frustration. However, they only focused on the missed handball from Vicente Sanchez. They perfectly edited out (as did ALL MLS highlights of the play) what I believe was the real missed call. Walton says in the video, "The ball played onto a Kansas player, who then lost the ball." Craig Burley screams, "HIS TEAM GAVE THE BALL AWAY."

This is the play they are talking about immediately after the handball:

Mikey lost the ball, yes. But because he was absolutely bulldozed by Drew Moor. This is the play that even the Colorado announcers couldn't leave alone during the broadcast!

But what is done is done. As I said, there were like three missed calls on that one play, but Sporting Kansas City should be able to beat the last place team despite any of that.

We really, really need Mustivar and Espinoza back in the midfield.

But, Sporting KC are going to have to deal with another blow as the latest round of International Call Ups has come. Matt Besler is with the USMNT for the upcoming friendlies with Peru and Brazil. He is happy to be back after an extended absence from the team. The guy has played every single minute of the last 27 matches, his absence leaves a big question mark. Jalil Anibaba can play CB but has been recovering from an injury. We will know more at practice this week if he will be ready to fill in. Erik Palmer Brown has joined the U-20's, so he is not even an option. And Amobi Okugo is still listed on the injury report as well.

Matt Besler spoke about the competition among his position and several others with the national team.

"Competition is good. It pushes guys along," said Sporting KC mainstay Matt Besler, another World Cup veteran back after a lengthy absence from the USMNT picture. "It helps the team get stronger. And that's what we need right now.

"I definitely think these friendlies are different than friendlies in January, just because of where they fall on the calendar and what's ahead of us. So I think if Jurgen has said that these friendlies are more important, then I think he's correct. That's how it should be. We have a very, very big match coming up in about a month, and so these two friendlies we have to take very seriously, to try and get ready for the Mexico game."

On Friday, Nemeth and Hungary will take on Romania while Marcel De Jong and Canada face off against Belize. This FIFA fixture window closes on Sept. 8 just before Sporting KC's next match on the 9th.

Matt Besler and Dom Dwyer are trying to win a Lamborghini in a competition among MLS personalities. Besler's lap around the track is the fastest yet as he just bumped Zardes out of the top spot.

For all my EA Sports FIFA brothers and sisters out there, Landon Donovan and Alexi Lalas are among 10 new Ultimate Team Legends that have been added to FIFA 16.

Voting is open for the Player of the Month of August. Nominees are David Bingham, Sebastian Giovinco, Kei Kamara, Robbie Keane, and Sacha Kljestan.

New Power Rankings are out with SKC down to 6th. MLS has NYRB as the number 1 team.

And your latest standings are HERE. Sporting were passed by Dallas and sit in 4th place (still with games in hand on the leaders LA and VAN, however). 40 points through 25 matches and that shining PPG has fallen down to 1.6.

Sporting KC released the 2nd edition of their own Eleven The Magazine today. There are a lot of good interviews in there with Besler, Dia, Saad Abdul Salaam, and even Jimmy Conrad.

Plus this great image of memorable moments:

The Premier League transfer has just now officially closed. In case you have missed the Man U and David De Gea debacle, check it out right here. Just a mutli-million dollar screw up, NBD.

Relevant to American soccer, DeAndre Yedlin has been loaned out from Tottenham to Sunderland so he can get more playing time.

I leave you with this kid who finally realized Wayne Rooney was standing next to him in the tunnel this weekend.

Wayne Rooney made a little fan go at Sunday's @manchesterunited game.

A photo posted by SB Nation (@sbnation) on Sep 1, 2015 at 9:12am PDT