The Coach View: SKC at LA

We asked Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes for a quick breakdown of what will make the Los Angeles Galaxy a tough opponent.

Vermes: “They are undefeated in their last eight games, they are probably one of the more in form teams at the moment. Like a lot of us are always trying to do, you have these ups and downs a little bit in the season. They’re on the wave and feeling good about themselves and they should, they’ve gotten good results in their last eight games. They have some individual players that are very dangerous. They’re relentless going forward and guys from all different areas will go and get forward. Those are all thing you really have to pay attention to over the course of the game.”

Same question to Sporting KC defender Seth Sinovic.

Sinovic: “It’s always a tough place to play and they are always a very talented team. They put a lot of emphasis on isolating their wingers and counter-attacking I would say but at the same time they possess well. It’s going to be a tough challenge.”

Any players standout that will be especially good on LA?

Vermes: “Romain Alessandrini is obviously a very good player, Joao Pedro is another one, he is solid, Jack McBean is a very busy guy, Gyasi Zardes has great pace, the outside backs, especially Ashley Cole come high up the field. Then on set pieces you’ve got Jelle Van Damme, he’s a guy that can be very dangerous on those. He’s a big body and a pretty powerful guy.”

Sinovic: “Alessandrini, Zardes, Boateng, just go down the list and there are tons of guys who are all dangerous and can all hurt you.”

Has the Galaxy changed much since Curt Onalfo took over?

Vermes: “It’s hard to make that assessment at this time because it so new in the time that he is there. They have made some changes like most teams do each year in their team but I think there are some similarities to the way the team played before and the way they play now. Curt is a disciple of Bruce, he spent a lot of time as an assistant so a lot of that is part of it. There are some similarities for sure but time will tell how much for sure.”

Sinovic: “There are little differences here and there but there are a lot of similarities because there are a lot of similar players as well. Obviously there are some change s but I think Onalfo is still kind of making his imprint on that team. They’ve been getting better and better as the season goes on and they are on a good unbeaten streak right now and will be a tough test for us.”

Vermes always says he worries more about Sporting KC playing the way they can, imposing their play, than he does the other teams

Sinovic: “We’ve got to be prepared for anything but Peter is right, we have to impose our style of play on the game and that will help us.”