It’s a surprisingly cool August afternoon in Kansas City, and Benny Feilhaber keeps close watch over his Sporting KC II squad’s practice session at Swope Soccer Village. After the training period ends, he hustles over wearing a sweat-stained ballcap. His beard shows a little more gray than when he arrived in Kansas City more than 11 years ago. Feilhaber suggests sitting, instead of standing, as he’s interviewed for this story. He explains that his knee will ache if he stands for too long — perhaps from the mileage of years as a player, including in 2013-17 with Sporting Kansas City. Seated and comfortable enough on a metal bench, Feilhaber, who turned 39 in January, then proceeds with candor. He’s undoubtedly fielding more interviews than usual this week, as he’s set to be inducted as the newest “Sporting Legend” during Saturday’s match against Orlando City at Children’s Mercy Park.
The native of Brazil was an integral part of Sporting KC’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championship teams in 2015 and 2017, and of course the one that won the 2013 MLS Cup. In fact, some of the biggest moments in Sporting’s run to the MLS Cup happened primarily because of Feilhaber. Here’s how, and more about why, he will receive the club’s highest honor at Saturday evening’s 7:30 p.m. match:
THE TRADE THAT BROUGHT BENNY FEILHABER TO KC
After gaining extensive experience overseas, Feilhaber arrived in Major League Soccer via its old allocation process. Chivas USA had first priority, the Philadelphia Union second. Feilhaber thought he’d end up with Chivas USA. “I had heard they were either going to pick me up and keep me, or pick me up and trade me,” he said. “I had heard that if they traded me, Houston was the likeliest of landing spots.” The prospect of living in his hometown of L.A. to play for Chivas USA or joining a competitive Houston Dynamo squad excited him. So did playing on grass and not turf. Somewhat inexplicably, however, both Chivas USA and Philly passed, meaning Feilhaber would land in the lap of the New England Revolution.
Ironically enough, Sporting KC’s recently hired sporting director, Mike Burns, was the general manager who traded Feilhaber to Sporting KC in the 2012 offseason. Feilhaber said that, while New England didn’t want to pick up the option on his contract, the Revs at least offered to re-negotiate. “I told him, ‘Mike, I’m not renegotiating my contract. I don’t wanna stay here. I wanna go somewhere else,” Feilhaber said. Feilhaber asked to be traded to Sporting KC or the L.A. Galaxy and KC manager Peter Vermes obliged. The year before, Vermes explained, opponents had begun “parking the bus” against Sporting KC. That’s a term used when a team puts a lot of players behind the ball while out of possession.
The longtime manager figured a player like Feilhaber could help put an end to that tactic. Vermes had coached Feilhaber previously as an assistant with the U-20 national team and knew his capabilities. “We didn’t necessarily have somebody in the team that could unlock the defense a little bit,” Vermes told The Star. Was he the missing piece? “I don’t know if it was the solution,” Vermes said. “But (he was) a solution to that issue.”
A 24-HOUR FITNESS LEADS TO ONE OF BEST GOALS IN CLUB HISTORY
Feilhaber spent much of his early soccer career in Europe. He played as a true number 10, without much to do in the way of defensive responsibilities. That wouldn’t fly with Sporting KC. “In my team, everybody had responsibilities when we didn’t have the ball,” Vermes said. “You had defensive responsibility and you needed to work your ass off.” Feilhaber started the first nine games of the 2013 season before getting benched. He said the notion that his pro career in the U.S. could end if he didn’t turn things around was jarring. “This team had given me an opportunity and taken a chance on me,” Feilhaber said. “And I thought, ‘Man, if I don’t do well with this opportunity, my career might end at some point soon.’”
Feilhaber believed his biggest weakness as a player was endurance, so he came to a conclusion: “I’m not playing, I’m not getting overly worked on the weekends, I’m gonna do two a days (of training), every Tuesday and Thursday.” So, twice a week for four months, he went to a local 24-Hour Fitness and ran the equivalent of a 10K. While he earned more playing time down the stretch of the 2013 season, he fully recaptured his spot in the starting lineup during the 2013 MLS playoffs. And thus began his string of legendary moments in Sporting blue.
In extra time of the second leg of the Sporting-Revolution postseason series, Feilhaber made a tackle to win back the ball from New England’s Diego Fagundez. Feilhaber then drove toward the edge of the box and threaded a pass to Claudio Bieler for a one-time finish. To eliminate his former team, and to do so in a way that showcased his growth as a two-way threat … Feilhaber said that match was highly emotional. He simply hadn’t experienced anything like that before. The fire Feilhaber showed that day was precisely why KC wanted him. “He showed both sides of what he could do,” Vermes said. “He needed to. And we needed him to be a two-way player because our team was built that way. But we also needed that quality that he could give you in the final third, and he did.”
FEILHABER’S LEADERSHIP IN THE SPORTING KC LOCKER ROOM
Feilhaber continued to turn in massive moments — in Sporting KC’s next playoff series (vs. Houston), in the 2013 MLS Cup and in those two U.S. Open Cup championships. But it wasn’t just his play on the field. His personality in and around the locker room was also key in pushing Kansas City’s MLS club to great heights. “He is a little bit of a thorn in people’s side,” Vermes said. “He doesn’t allow comfort within the group … It keeps the team wound up, and I think that’s good.” Another former Sporting KC player, Ike Opara, is Feilhaber’s assistant with Sporting KC II — and his best friend.
Both arrived in KC ahead of the 2013 MLS season. “He was annoying,” Opara said with a laugh. “I’m like, ‘This guy doesn’t stop talking.’” The pair’s friendship blossomed, and they would eventually create “BSI the Podcast,” an active player-led audio series featuring the life of pro athletes and more. It was arguably ahead of its time. As a competitor, Opara said, Feilhaber’s will to win is a driving force behind everything he does. “What you see is what you get,” Opara said of his friend and former teammate. “You know where he stands. … I think every locker room needs a guy like that.”
BENNY FEILHABER IS A SPORTING KC LEGEND
When Feilhaber learned of his upcoming induction as a Sporting Legend, he said, he was overcome with emotion. That day, Vermes visited the Sporting KC II training site and told him in person. “At the end of the day,” Feilhaber said, “whatever you do in your profession, you give so much.” That’s when he recalled his earlier comment about his sometimes-balky knee. “The fact that I can’t walk, my knee is like not a normal knee, right?” he said in his easy-going manner. Feilhaber’s last touch as a pro soccer player was a goal against Portland: the “Shross,” he called it, or a cross that turned into a shot and goal. That’s when the issues with his knee developed. “It made me explode my thigh,” he said. On Saturday night, when he joins his fellow Sporting Legends on the wall of honor at Children’s Mercy Park, that pain might feel just a bit more bearable.
“You give so much from a physical perspective, from an emotional perspective — things that you live with for the rest of your life. And to be able to be honored in a fashion where all that you gave is appreciated, it feels like a perfect union: Me and Sporting Kansas City.” Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com. This story was originally published August 22, 2024, 2:28 PM.
