KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Between the constantly overlapping runs and the demand for shift-on-the-fly versatility, Sporting Kansas City’s 4-3-3 setup places a premium on both technique and fitness.

So far in preseason training, dramatic improvement in the latter category has enabled the team to focus on the former.

“I would say overall that this is the fittest the team has ever been coming back for preseason,” manager Peter Vermes said last week, before Sporting departed for its warm-weather training site in Tucson, Ariz.