By SKYLAR ROLSTAD

Peter Vermes had just wrapped up practice last Tuesday morning when reporters notified him of Sepp Blatter’s resignation from the FIFA presidency. After making sure it wasn’t a joke, Vermes was surprised and happy to hear the news.

“It’s long overdue and very welcome for the game,” Vermes said. “It just shows that that’s the organization that we should be looking toward to set the standards and guidelines to follow.”

Vermes said FIFA has, over the last several years, been reluctant to change in the game.

“There are a lot of innovative things that we want to do in our league and there’s always been some push-back from FIFA for many years,” Vermes said at Sporting KC’s weekly press conference Thursday, “whether it’s technology or trying to change some of the rules or tweak some of the rules.”

“It doesn’t mean you’re going to change them, but you’re going to have an open mind to them.”

After training on Tuesday, Vermes compared FIFA to the National Football League, which changes rules much more frequently.

“[The NFL is] always looking at their sport, they’re very transparent. They’re always looking to improve their game,” Vermes said. “And when they make a decision, it’s always with the fan in mind.”

“When you see all the bribery, maybe it’s a way for [FIFA] to have control on the game and be able to push things the way they want them to go.”

Vermes also noted that CONCACAF has been one of the most disadvantaged by the indicted FIFA officials’ bribery, money laundering, and racketeering.

Of the nine FIFA officials indicted so far, four of them are directly connected to CONCACAF. Included in those four are Jeffrey Webb, head of CONCACAF, Eduardo Li, president of Costa Rica’s FA, and Costas Takkas, general secretary of the Cayman Islands and Webb’s close adviser, according to ESPN.

Roger Espinoza, Sporting KC’s Honduran international, said his country might have been feeling the effects of FIFA’s alleged criminal activity.

“In Honduras we don’t have a high-performance facility. where is the money going? I don’t know,” Espinoza told SBIsoccer.com Saturday night. “It’s sad to know that a team that has gone to the past few World Cups doesn’t have a high-performance facility.”

The Honduran national team has gone to the last two World Cups, both of which Espinoza played in.

“It’s hard to believe, I know we’re a third-world country but there’s a lot of money in football,” Espinoza said.

“Sometimes [Honduran national team players] don’t have anywhere to train. When you play in Mexico, you have it all. When you play in the United States, they have every facility in every state. In Honduras we don’t have one city, we don’t have one place to train.”

Honduras or any members of the Honduran FA were not connected with the indictments, but the NY Post has reported that more indictments are likely to come.

“It would be great to get some fresh ideas and fresh faces in there where they are doing to do the best for the game instead of just trying to fill their pockets,” Vermes said.

Among the problems that Vermes pointed out with CONCACAF, Champions League scheduling and standards of fields were focused on. For MLS teams, the later stages of the Champions League take place just after preseason.

“We’d like to play in the Champions League when we’re in our best form, not when everybody else is.”