Sporting KC is still searching for wins. But it’ll have to do so without Erik Thommy

One key moment happened in Sporting KC’s 2-1 loss to the Portland Timbers on Saturday, and it took place before anyone put the ball in the net.

In the 17th minute, attacking midfielder Erik Thommy went down clutching his hamstring. He had to be subbed off, and Sporting missed his presence and decision-making in the final third.

On Tuesday afternoon, Peter Vermes revealed that Thommy, the team’s leading goalscorer in 2024, suffered a hamstring strain and would be out for the next few weeks.

Vermes wouldn’t give a set time frame but said, “I don’t think it’s gonna be a long one.”

What does that mean for Sporting moving forward?

Well, for a team that is desperate to get back in the win column (five straight losses in league play, eight matches without a win), it will have to do it without the player who arguably has been their best this season.

Sporting currently sits in last place in the Western Conference with a 2-7-5 record (11 points) through 14 matches, only one more point earned than last season’s Sporting KC through the same amount of games.

In the short term, Thommy’s absence is exacerbated by an injury that is still keeping Remi Walter out of action. And Memo Rodriguez is suspended for Wednesday night’s match against the Vancouver Whitecaps due to yellow card accumulation.

That leaves three healthy true midfielders on the roster: Felipe Hernandez, Nemanja Radoja and Danny Flores. Hernandez is arguably the most attack-minded of those three, but in a different position than the one Thommy typically plays.

So how does Sporting piece it all together?

“You’ll have to see tomorrow,” Vermes said. “We’re gonna have to be creative, and we may have to do some things differently. But that’s what we’ll do.”

There are a few options.

Sporting has mixed up its formations in a pinch in the past. When Johnny Russell was out — and with a lack of ready-to-play replacements on the wing — Thommy moved out wide and Alan Pulido played as the attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

That formation involved inverting the midfield triangle that sets up in Sporting’s usual 4-3-3.

While Vermes complimented Pulido’s play in that spot, he acknowledged it may not be the best use of Pulido’s skill set.

“I don’t necessarily know if it’s fair to him at times because his position is to be the nine (striker) and then play in and among everyone else and then also do what the game needs,” Vermes said. “It’s a little bit more difficult to do that, asking him to play-make and also score. It’s a lot more on him, and I just think it’s sometimes maybe a little bit unfair. But it’s what we’ve had to do to be a little creative.”

One of the benefits of the midfield depth at that time was that Sporting had a healthy Radoja and Walter, allowing the club to play with a more natural defensive midfield pairing.

While Hernandez is not an attacking midfielder, he’s not quite a defensive midfielder either. He admitted his unfamiliarity with the double-pivot system (two defensive midfielders) after he was subbed on to replace Walter in Sporting’s 3-2 loss to Inter Miami.

“Personally, I think I could’ve done better,” Hernandez said at the time. “Obviously, coming in as a double pivot, (it’s) not my main position. I think I was a bit confused on positioning.”

Flores can play as a defensive midfielder, but he’s only played more than 45 minutes with SKCII once this season — and has only logged six minutes in MLS play since he arrived last season.

Rodriguez’s return to the fold this weekend will help clear up some of the personnel issues Sporting faces in the midfield without Thommy.

As for how Sporting approaches tomorrow night’s 7:30 p.m. match against Vancouver? Well, it’s anyone’s guess.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.