After a disappointingly early end to his record-breaking 2014 season, Dom Dwyer is ready to have fun again in 2015.
How much fun he has, though, will be measured by his club's success rather than his own statistics.
“We have so many players. We have so many options,” Sporting Kansas City's star center forward told reporters last week in a conference call from the club's training camp in Tucson, Arizona. “It's exciting times ahead, and it gets more exciting every day at training. We have guys who you expect to do well who are doing well, and guys who come out of nowhere who are doing well. It's an exciting group to play in.”
With 24 goals across all competitions in 2014 – after making the starting job his own early in the year – Dwyer shattered a handful of single-season marks that had stood since the club's and MLS' inaugural campaign in 1996.
But toward the end of the year, with Sporting struggling down the stretch on their way to a first-round exit in the Eastern Conference playoffs, Dwyer's trademark grin showed up less and less. He was short in interviews, and especially loath to discuss the Golden Boot race eventually won by New York's Bradley Wright-Phillips.
“It's never fun losing,” he said. “I never enjoy that part. But this is a new, fresh year. We're back at it again, grinding, working hard – and it'll be fun.”
He won't get to share that fun firsthand with forward Soony Saad, though. The two close friends and former roommates have gone their separate ways, with Saad heading to play in Thailand after his Sporting contract ran out at the end of 2014.
That's just the way things go in the business of soccer, Dwyer said.
“I guess it's time to grow up and be a big boy now,” he said jokingly, before adding a serious observation. “Obviously, you make changes, and people go on different adventures. So you miss players, but we have new guys coming in and other guys are off to places that they're happier. The guys who have come in are great additions, and it's going to be a good side.”
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Sporting showed a double measure of confidence in Dwyer's ability to continue his high-scoring ways this offseason, first signing him to a contract extension and then agreeing to part ways with former first choice Claudio Bieler.
“Claudio's a very good player, and it was time for him to move on,” Dwyer said. “I think he's going to do very well at his new club, and he needed playing time, as every player does. That's kind of how things go sometime, but it's nice. I feel, obviously, that the new contract shows a lot of faith in me from Kansas City, from the coaches. I'm going to do the same, and fight the same, and it's just that now I'm going to be in Kansas City for a few more years.”
As he heads into his fourth professional season, Sporting's first-round pick from the 2012 MLS SuperDraft is increasingly comfortable in assuming a veteran's role in the club.
“It's fun times,” he said. “I like more responsibility. I thrive on that.”
And after winning two league titles in 2013 – the MLS Cup with Sporting, following a USL PRO championship while on loan to Orlando City SC – Dwyer is looking to get the feeling of team success back this season.
“This is by no means a rebuilding year,” he said. “This is by no means a fresh new team. We have our base. We know what we're good at. We have, now, more personnel and more guys to get the job done. Our focus is winning, and I feel like we're headed toward that this year.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
