Everyone knows Orlando City Stadium isnât exactly an easy place to play on the road. The stadium has sold out every match this year, filling each seat with roaring Orlando City supporters, and the design of the stadium creates maximum discomfort for traveling teams. When Sporting Kansas City came to play the Lions on Saturday, they were focused on doing whatever it took to find a win.
But as the team competed in a hard fought match that ended in a 2-2 draw, Sporting Kansas City Head Coach Peter Vermes took in the atmosphere, and thought about what it meant for this organization, for this city, and ultimately, for this country. He was impressed.
âItâs fantastic. Itâs a great environment, fans are into it for sure, and I think itâs fantastic for the league,â Vermes said. âAs much as I deal with my team every day and you compete in situations like this, you also canât help, in my position, but be a fan with all my time spent growing up with soccer in the United States and going through this league and playing overseas and everything else. Itâs exciting whatâs going on here. I think itâs tremendous. I think itâs great that the city is supporting the team the way that they are. It makes great environments, great games, and itâs exciting, it really is. Itâs tremendous. Congratulations to Orlando because itâs a great situation to be in.â
Orlando City hosted U.S Menâs National Team Manager Bruce Arena for Saturdayâs match, and he spoke before the game about why U.S Soccer chose Orlando City Stadium to host the final U.S World Cup qualifier (deep link). Vermes said that he believes the stadium will live up to the expectations, and that he believes it could be a venue for future U.S soccer events as well.
âItâs a great environment. First off, you love a tight environment,â Vermes said. âHaving that kind of closeness and people right next to you, it changes that vibe for the players as well. And so I think, yeah, it will be a great environment for the U.S to play games here. No doubt, absolutely.â
