Peter Vermes says his Sporting Kansas City players must take responsibility for the team’s poor start to the season.
SKC is 13th in the Western Conference after 13 games in 2024, having won just two games.
Heading into a trip to Austin FC – who sit sixth in the West – on Saturday, Kansas City are winless in six games and have lost four of their last five MLS outings.
Speaking ahead of the game, Vermes said: “(Austin) has been strong defensively, they’re very clear in how they want to play and they’re finding ways to get results. They’ve defended well too.”
Asked what he could do to reverse the trend, Vermes replied: “There are many different things you can do. You can set expectations, maybe change the training a bit.
“There’s all sorts of things you can do – at the end of the day, it’s them, they’re playing, I’m not playing, they’ve got to go do it. The one thing I have a bigger stick for is accountability – if you’re not doing it, then someone else will come along and do it.”
Austin has won three of its last four games, including a 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo at home last time out.
“Positive energy brings positive things, and let me say that you were crucial in that particular moment of the game to help the team win,” athletic director Rodolfo Borrell said in an open letter to Austin fans.
“I thought the energy coming from all of you was phenomenal. It was a special moment and I would like to thank you personally for that. This experience will definitely remain in my memory for a long time.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Austin FC – Sebastian Driussi
Driussi has scored in back-to-back games, including the lone goal in Austin’s win over Houston on Wednesday. Driussi has scored in two or more consecutive games eight times since the start of the 2022 season.
Sporting Kansas City – Daniel Salloi
Salloi’s strike against Houston on Saturday was Sporting Kansas City’s fifth goal from outside the box this season, the most in MLS in 2024.
MATCH PREDICTION: AUSTIN WIN
After losing just two of their first nine games this season (D2, 5 draws), SCK have lost three in a row in MLS matches. This is Sporting’s first regular-season losing streak in more than a year since a four-game losing streak in April 2023.
Austin has won five of its last eight games (1 draw 2 draws) after opening the season without a win in five games (2 draws 3 draws). Since the start of this season in late March, Real Salt Lake (18 points) is the only Western Conference team with more points than Austin (16).
Austin has won four of the last five meetings with SKC (L1). Austin has won all three meetings between the teams at Q2 Stadium, scoring nine goals in those games.
PROBABILITY OF WINNING OPTA
Austin – 45%
SKC – 27.4%
Draw – 27.6%
