Photo by Adam Hunger/USA Today Sports
By DAN KARELL
Two weeks after criticizing U.S. Men’s National Team coach Jurgen Klinsmann for his comments on player fitness, Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes made comments that sound eerily similar to the very kind of stance he criticized Klinsmann for taking.
Honduran international midfielder Jorge Claros was cut by Sporting KC last Wednesday as the two sides agreed to mutually part ways. Vermes, who had waited for more than a year for Claros to be available in the first place to sign him, said in a conference call that Claros wasn’t committed to working to achieve the team’s ideal fitness level, and that Vermes wasn’t willing to wait for him to get there after preseason.
“That wasn’t his choice. That was our choice,” Vermes told reporters. “He didn’t come into camp fit, after being here for six months – knowing what we expect – and just wasn’t good enough. We’re not waiting around for someone who couldn’t figure out what we’re trying to do, and so it was time for him to move on because he wasn’t the right fit for us.”
The comments come just two weeks after Vermes told the Kansas City Star that Klinsmann’s comments over a perceived lack of fitness of USMNT players in a recent preseason camp were “utterly ridiculous.”
“To expect those guys to be in top form at a January camp — and I mean this — I think it’s utterly ridiculous,” Vermes told the KC Star. “Totally disagree with the comment. I have a lot of respect for Jurgen. Obviously he was a great player, and he’s done tremendous things as a coach, as well. But that doesn’t mean every time someone opens their mouth, they’re right. And I completely disagree.”
What do you think of these comments? Think Vermes sounded a bit hypocritical in his comments? Think the situations are too different to draw a comparison? Eager to hear Klinsmann’s reaction to Vermes’ comments?
Share your thoughts below.
Here’s a difference: Klinsy played a bunch of players, they crashed and he blamed fitness afterwards. Vermes said, ‘you’re not fit, you’re not playing’ one is reactive, one is proactive. This is ridiculous even for clickbait.
Sad to this kind of article here. C’mon Ives.
What’s floating near Petey Vermeez’s head? Is it a potato chip? A cheese puff? Someone plz help.
eye of sauron, obvs.
The problem with Klinsmann’s comments is it didn’t make any sense. If it were just the Chile match then fine the players might not have been fit. However the problem is we’ve seen the same second half melt downs for 6 months now.
What Klinsmann should have just said is I’m not looking at results, I’m looking at performances. It’s clear that by the end of these friendlies the team has made so many formation and player shifts no one has a clue what they are doing.
what a headline! so many holes in this post.. just going to move on. bummer about Claros, decent player, whatever your cut!
To be fair, there’s so much to do in Kansas City in the winter, how does any SKC player find the time to train?
clickbaitclickbaitclickbaitclickbaitclickbaitclickbaitclickbaitclickbait
Come on Dan. The season starts next week. Training had just started when JK made his comments…..Little bit of a difference ? No enormous difference.
February 13th Peter Vermes finds February 27th Peter Vermes “utterly ridiculous.“. Vermes expanded on this by saying, “Totally disagree with the comment. He’s [Vermes] done tremendous things as a coach as well. But that doesn’t mean every time somebody opens their mouth that they’re right.“
You’re nuts. This is nothing like that.
We are a week away from the season starting. The UMSNT were playing a relatively meaningless friendly, with a bunch of players who are on specific training regimens to be at match fitness levels in March, not January.
Agreed.
Vermes specifically mentions expectations of being in shape for a January camp in his first comment. We are three days from March for his second comment.
Meaningless friendly, you say? Like preseason soccer?
I feel like you are selectively reading what helps you be cynical and not actually paying attention. The season starts in 6 days and he is still not fit enough to even train correctly. Also, thinking preseason soccer is meaningless is exactly why Claros doesn’t have a team now.
Pretty silly. The season is starting in a week (hopefully) and Campos isn’t match fit yet so SKC told him to take a hike. That’s different than expecting players to be in peak condition in the middle of the offseason. You can do better than this Dan.
Hoof and mouth disease
First of all, terrible headline. I’d have gotten shredded for writing something like that in J-school.
Secondly, it’s practically March not january. And it’s for his club JOB not a meaningless friendly.
Agreed. This is a totally different situation. The US team was fit, just not maybe 100% match fit. From the sounds of it, Claros wasn’t even fit to be participating in training at the level necessary, and it’s a week from start of the season. How long would it take him to get to match fitness?
There have been some very suspect “articles” popping up on here recently. Quality of the reporting is noticeably declining in my view.