KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Seven-plus professional seasons. Two World Cups. One Olympiad. Domestic cup titles on two continents.
Clearly, Roger Espinoza has been in this game for more than a bit. And for longtime followers of Sporting Kansas City, that longevity and experience are showing in how the veteran midfielder plays – matching the energy and work rate that have been his hallmarks with an increased sense that playing every roll of the ball doesn't mean chasing it all over the pitch.
Or, in manager Peter Vermes' assessment, given at a recent news conference:
“Roger has really grown up. He's become a man in this game.”
Espinoza, now in his second stint with Sporting after two up-and-down years with English side Wigan Athletic, doesn't dispute that.
“I do see the game differently,” he told MLSsoccer.com on Tuesday, after returning from international duty with Honduras to rejoin Sporting ahead of Sunday's home match against the Philadelphia Union (7 pm ET, Fox Sports 1). “Maybe I don't run as much as I used to when I was younger. I mean, I still have it in me to run, but I don't run all over the place where my team doesn't need me to. I try to make smarter runs, communicate with my teammates better.”
That stands in marked contrast to the way Espinoza played in the first few seasons after the then-Wizards took him out of Ohio State in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft. He was all over the pitch, quickly establishing a reputation for hard-nosed play and a willingness to challenge opponents.
The approach made him a fan favorite in Kansas City (and a target of opposing supporters' wrath) – but did not always come with the best results, as his former “Red Card Roger” nickname attested.
“You just want to be everywhere,” he said. “You want to be in every play. Sometimes you're not going to be in every play. Sometimes you have to remember that defensively, you have to be on point and you've got to try to help your team as much as you can. Sometimes when I was younger, I'd go run somewhere and it would cost us games.”
Even before he left for Wigan, after helping Sporting win the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2012, Espinoza was impressing Vermes with his growing maturity and understanding of the game and his role in it.
“He was definitely on the cusp of it,” Vermes told reporters last week. “What happened, though, was that when he left, and now he's come back, he has a different level of experience. He was still trying to find himself as a professional. You have to find out what it takes to be a player and where you fit in the hierarchy of the team.”
And with his experience on so many big stages, including victory with Wigan in the 2013 FA Cup final, Vermes is counting on Espinoza to be a senior leader for Sporting after his offseason return.
“Him coming back now, he is the hierarchy of the team,” Vermes said. “He's a guy that has found himself, found what it takes to be an everyday professional, how he has to go and compete every day, and he now doesn't just do that for himself. He also does that for other people, and he demands that from other people as well. That's the kind of people that we need in the team.”
Playing in the high-pressure environment of the Premier League – although Wigan were relegated at the end of the 2012-13 season – helped him grow, Espinoza said, as did withstanding a string of managerial changes at the club.
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“I got older, played more games, big games,” he said this week. “The more you play, you see the game a different way. Having different coaches makes you look at how you play your positions and play the game. It changes you.”
One other thing has changed, too: After scoring just twice in 113 MLS appearances through his first five seasons in Kansas City, he cut that ratio to two goals in 36 league matches with Wigan and has one goal in two outings this year with Sporting.
“If I get the chance, I'll shoot,” he said. “Hopefully, I'll get in those positions a lot more often.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
