KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For three consecutive seasons early last decade, Sporting Kansas City had no bigger rival, especially in the playoffs, than the Houston Dynamo.
Sporting KC won an Eastern Conference regular-season title in 2011 only to bow out against Houston in the conference final.
The next season brought an even more dominant run to another Eastern Conference crown, and nearly the Supporter’s Shield, only to falter again against the Dynamo in the postseason.
There was no love lost between Sporting KC and Houston, so it will be an odd sight indeed to see Paulo Nagamura — one of the team’s most steady midfielders and important stars from that era — decked out in Dynamo orange Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park.
Nagamura, who spent five seasons in Kansas City from 2012-16 and stuck around for six more as an assistant coach, played all 180 minutes during the two-leg Eastern Conference final in 2013 as Sporting KC finally exorcized its Dynamo demons in the march to the club’s second MSL Cup title.
Both teams have since moved to the Western Conference, but the clashes continue — only now it’s Nagamura who’s leading them in his first season as Houston’s coach after stints in the SKC Academy and as head coach for Sporting KC II.
“If he would have gone to an Eastern Conference team or something, I would probably root for him even more,” Nagamura’s former Sporting KC teammate, Jacob Peterson, said. “To come here and see him in that orange of our rival of Houston, that’s going to be a weird one.”
Peterson now serves as the color analyst for Sporting KC’s local broadcasts, including the club’s return to over-the-air broadcasts on 38 The Spot.
Nagamura, whose former teammates affectionately call “Naga,” is among the youngest head coaches in the league, but nobody is surprised at his meteoric rise through the coaching ranks.
“There are certain guys who you kind of know that they have that in their future,” Peterson said. “Paulo wasn’t a big rah-rah type of guy. He wasn’t a loud voice in the locker room, but when he did talk every single person listened to Paulo because he had that respect. ... We all kind of knew that he was going to be there. I didn’t see it happening this fast, but I’m so excited for him and happy for him.”
Not all former players are built for the coaching ranks, but Nagamura always had a studious mind for the game and an ability to easily translate practice theory into results on matchday.
“He has the ability to understand the game much different than just going through the repetitions of it,” Vermes said. He added, “It was always very evident to me that Paulo is a very conscientious guy. He thinks about the game. He’s a guy I could go and talk to, as a guy who played for me, and give him sort of a little nuance or an assignment for his role and responsibility in that upcoming game. He could always take it in and then go and actually execute it in the game.”
Still, it’ll be a strange sight for players used to sharing a locker room with Nagamura.
“It’ll be different, but I’m extremely happy for Naga,” Sporting KC right back Graham Zusi, now in his 14th season with the club, said. “This opportunity for him is incredible. Listening to some of his preseason interviews, he’s got a great mentality to turn that franchise around. He was an incredibly intelligent player, and I’m sure that will translate to coaching as well.”
Nagamura’s soccer IQ and unselfish style earned the respect and trust of his fellow players. He didn’t always have to say something, because he consistently showed what he was about on the field.
“He understands the game, he loves the game, but when you go on the road to a tough environment — up in Seattle — I know that playing next to Paulo that he’s going to do the work,” Peterson said. “He’s going to cover for me if I make a mistake. That translated to the coaching staff as well. If you know that that man has your back, then you’re going to give everything for him as well.”
To a man, everyone from his Sporting KC days is rooting for Nagamura to thrive — just not come 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at kickoff of the home opener at Children’s Mercy Park.
“I hope they win as many games as possible, just not the games against Sporting,” Peterson said.
Vermes, who believes Nagamura is “going to be a good coach in MLS,” expressed a similar sentiment Wednesday at Sporting KC’s media day, when he also publicly wished Nagamura a happy 39th birthday.
“He’s a good guy; he’s a really good guy, so I’m excited for him that he got the opportunity he wanted to,” Vermes said. “I just don’t wish him success on Saturday.”
Nagamura appeared in 252 games, logging nearly 20,000 minutes with 15 goals and 11 assists in 12 MLS seasons, and won two MLS Cups, including the 2005 title with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
The Dynamo played Real Salt Lake to a scoreless draw last Sunday in Houston in Nagamura's MLS head-coaching debut.