VANCOUVER, B.C.
Dom Dwyer has experienced the renaissance of Benny Feilhaber first hand. He is a keen observer and a notable beneficiary of Feilhaber's toil in Sporting Kansas City's midfield three this season. He sums up the contributions and the evolution of his teammate succinctly.
"Benny's the man," Dwyer told Inside MLS last month. "Benny's had a tough time: Guys are saying he's past it and he didn't make the World Cup squad. But I think he's proven everyone wrong and showed that he should have been there. To me, he's been our best player this year. He's been fantastic."
The path to this point -- a central role in Sporting's quest to repeat as MLS Cup winners and unqualified admiration from one of the league's top scorers -- required diligence and sacrifice. It also forced Feilhaber to assess himself starkly to adhere to a new approach and thrive within it.
Feilhaber, 29, joined Sporting prior to the start of last season after a frustrating spell at New England. The talent that drove him to that memorable goal to win the CONCACAF Gold Cup back in 2007, lifted him to the Olympics a year later and propelled him into a key role as a substitute at the World Cup in South Africa still remained. It just never fit within how the Revs wanted to operate. Both sides parted ways after never quite finding the happy medium required to foster mutual success. The separation left Feilhaber searching for a new home yet again.
Benny Feilhaber has played a key role in Sporting Kansas City's success this season after spending most of last year acclimating to the team.
Sporting manager Peter Vermes knew Feilhaber well from his time as an assistant coach with the U.S. under-20s and traded for his rights in December 2012. He thought Feilhaber could supply an additional element in his team with his creativity. He didn't expect it to take Feilhaber the better part of a season to settle into a side with a rather particular way of doing things.
Feilhaber flickered from game to game last year as he adapted to Sporting's high-pressure, 4-3-3 setup. His intermittent spells in the lineup as the season progressed – a couple of starts here, a couple of games on the bench there – reinforced the need to ally his precision on the ball with more consistent application off it. He slowly but surely accepted the examples set forth by his teammates and tailored his game accordingly.
"The style of play we play here is a huge influence on my game now," Feilhaber said. "I think one of the things I've always lacked is my fitness, being able to work on both sides of the ball. If you're not fit here, if you're not working on both sides of the ball, if you're not working your butt off, then you're not going to be playing. The attitude with this team is that it's the team first. I think that's helped me a lot in the last couple of seasons and helped me to gain that consistency."
The comfort level finally started to show toward the end of last season. Feilhaber emerged as a key figure in Sporting's run to MLS Cup and highlighted the importance of his adjustment period in the process. He did not succeed initially by his own admission, but he steeled himself for the task ahead and stuck through the hard times to influence matches consistently.
"If you look at the last maybe two or three games toward the end of the regular season last year and then all the way through the playoffs, he really got a feel for what it took to find success in our team," Vermes said. "It's one thing to know what your individual responsibility and role is and how that affects the team overall and how you fit in collectively. It is another thing to do it and then feel the success from it. I think he got a taste of it. He also realized that if he wasn't doing it, then he wasn't going to play."
Feilhaber's comprehension is readily apparent now. He grasps the demands imposed by Vermes and sets about meeting them match after match. His defensive work rate places him among the top 10 players in the league in obtaining possession in the middle third, per Opta statistics excavated by Tempo Free Soccer. He rarely flits in and out of games. He steadily operates at a high level whether he features in a holding role or functions further up the field. He is the linchpin in a side ravaged still recovering from the effects of injuries and international callups.
"He has that in his game," Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes on Feilhaber's willingness to accept defensive responsibility now. "He’s got the confidence and the understanding that he can do it on a regular basis.”
"He's been great," Sporting midfielder Graham Zusi said. "He's been great for our team. He's been a great player for years and years now. I was excited when we went and picked him up. This year, especially, he's really turned it up. He's probably been one of our best players this year."
In some ways, this is the season expected long ago from a player always capable of greater things. Feilhaber never quite found his place during his tour through Europe, that home where he could pull everything together and rely on his teammates to accentuate his best qualities without burdening them. It is no coincidence that his highest points as a player – the Gold Cup run, the World Cup appearance and this season with Sporting – place him in a position where he can perform as a talented component of a broader scheme rather than its sole instigator. A strong collective provides Feilhaber with the opportunity to shine.
"There's no denying that he's a very, very good soccer player," Vermes said. "I think he's one of the best American players in regards to being able to break down a team when it bunkers. He can play in between the lines. He can beat guys individually. He can give the final pass. He can score goals. But the thing is now that he has the consistency on both sides of the ball, which I don't think he had in the past."
Everything is steady for Feilhaber now. He and his wife, Michele, welcomed their first daughter, Sofia, earlier this year. He is settled in his new home and standing out within a team capable of lifting MLS Cup again and securing another berth in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. He won player of the month honors in July, but this resurgence is about more than just awards. It is about operating on this firm footing for the long haul and relishing the opportunity afforded to him.
"I think I'm playing the best soccer of my career," Feilhaber said. "That doesn't have to do with just this, that or the other. It all has to come together. Sometimes, it's just about the right timing and the confidence being there. Right now, it is. I'm sure there will be times – even with doing all of the hard work – where I'm not going to play so well. But the next game is going to be a chance for me to get back. The consistency is the biggest thing. That has changed me probably me as a person than as a player. I've been able to be consistent. That's the word I've most thought about to myself. That's what I want to be. If I am that, then I'm playing at a higher level normally."
“First and foremost, it’s the players we’ve got here," Feilhaber said. "It helps to have these kind of players around you. It always makes the individual player look better."
Those tenets may or may not make him the man, so to speak. It does, however, explain why he has scaled the challenges presented over the past couple of years and strengthened his resolve for the tasks still ahead.
