Kansas look to rebound

Sporting Kansas City will look to extend their lead atop the MLS Eastern Conference when they host the Montreal Impact on Saturday.

Kansas are the in-form side of the division having won seven of their last eight matches to move six points clear of second-placed DC United.

But they suffered their first defeat of the season last time out away to the Portland Timbers and hope to return to winning ways against Montreal at Livestrong Sporting Park.

Kansas head coach Peter Vermes believes his side have used the two-week break since the Timbers loss to good effect.

“I think (the break) was actually great for us,” Vermes said.

“To start with, we were on the road, we came home, played another game at home, back on the road so, even though the cycle was good, we finished up with the last three games in eight days.

“It was a long, hard, intense, mentally draining eight days for our guys.

“Having the week off and giving the guys three days off was excellent for them to just recharge their batteries and, more importantly, it gave them a chance to get away from the game a little bit.

“The intensity in training has been high. The guys are locked in, so I think we’ll be ready to go come the first minute on Saturday night.

“The key for us, like I always say, is the first 45 minutes against Montreal. Everything else doesn’t matter.

“We play those first 45 minutes, then we came make all the adjustments and moves as we have to at half-time and then we’ll go from there.”

Kansas midfielder Roger Espinoza said while he wants to play all the time, the scheduled break had come at a good time.

“It was good for us to relax a little bit,” Espinoza said.

“Now we are ready and there’s not another break until the end of May, so we just have to take advantage of the next few weeks coming and next few games and perform well.”