Author: Brian Turrel

by Brian Turrel

Alan Pulido’s return to the Sporting Kansas City lineup helped fuel a masterful 4-0 win over the Colorado Rapids Saturday night at Children’s Mercy Park.

A measure of the achievement was that Colorado’s first shot came in the 76th minute of the game, and Sporting finished the game with a 23-5 shot advantage.

Sporting controlled the first half of the game, but was unable to tally a goal. The Kansas City offense had success playing up the middle, with midfielder Ilie Sanchez finding pockets of space near the center stripe and working diagonal passes to the front line.

Sporting tested Colorado goalkeeper William Yarbrough four times in the first half, with the most notable a Johnny Russell free kick that Yarbrough knocked aside.

Colorado was returning to game action after a month’s delay due to COVID-19 concerns. Led by former Kansas City forward Diego Rubio, the Rapids applied an aggressive high press on the Kansas City back line, but were unable to generate the offensive opportunities they were seeking.

Kansas City kept hold of the match in the second half, and the flood gates started to open on the Rapids.

Pulido, back from service with the Mexican national team and the required travel quarantine, scored first in the 54th minute. He took a touch from Roger Espinoza near the top of the penalty area, and dribbled slightly to his right to stretch out Colorado defender Lalas Abubakar. Then he fired a shot between Abubakar’s legs to collect his sixth goal of the season.

Defender Andreu Fontas put Kansas City ahead 2-0 in the 67th minute. He earned his MLS goal, volleying in a shot from the right side as the ball rattled around the penalty area off a Kansas City free kick.

Gadi Kinda was the next in line for a goal, putting Kansas City up 3-0 in the 88th minute. He made a long run from near midfield, and juked defender Danny Wilson off balance to get a shot from 12 yards out.

In stoppage time, Gerso Fernandes, on as a late substitute, got on the end of a long clearance near midfield and raced Wilson to the penalty area, where he chipped the goalkeeper for the 4-0 final score.

The win moves Kansas City one point ahead of Portland and Seattle in what has become a three-way battle for the Western Conference title in the waning days of the MLS regular season. Although the tight standings mean that they have not yet locked up a playoff berth, Kansas City is in a great position to host one or more post-season games at Children’s Mercy Park.

Only three games remain, the next on the road at Cincinnati on Oct. 28. They will play at home against Minnesota on Nov. 1, and finish at Salt Lake on Nov. 8.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Brian Turrel

Sporting Kansas City welcomed league newcomer Nashville Soccer Club with a 2-1 defeat at Children’s Mercy Park on Sunday evening. Sporting’s Erik Hurtado scored the game winner with an amazing long-range volley in the 80th minute.

Kansas City had trouble finding scoring chances in the first half, taking only a single shot through the first 20 minutes. Nashville had the initiative and scored first off a corner kick in the 15th minute. Defender Walker Zimmerman rose above the scrum near the back post to nod in the ball.

Kansas City’s offensive pace picked up at the end of the first half, but they were unable to break through, leaving Nashville a 1-0 halftime advantage.

Sporting seized and held the offensive initiative throughout the second half, possessing the ball nearly 70 percent of the period. They found the equalizer in the 53rd minute. Johnny Russell pulled two defenders deep into the corner before breaking toward the middle and crossing the ball. Gerso Fernandes was waiting at the far post and needed merely a tap-in to tally the goal.

Moments after play restarted, Gianluca Busio created another scoring chance, but he was taken down just outside the penalty area by Nashville defender Alistair Johnston. The foul earned Johnston his second yellow card of the match, and he was sent off, leaving Nashville down a man.

Despite the advantage, Sporting was unable to convert another chance until the 79th minute. Erik Hurtado, brought in just after halftime as an injury substitution, took aim at a cross from Amadou Dia and curled a soaring volley into the upper left corner of the Nashville net.

After the match, manager Peter Vermes pulled out the stops in his praise of Hurtado’s goal, calling it “world-class,” “unbelievable,” and “magnificent.” Johnny Russell laid on the praise as well, saying, “I told [Hurtado] it was one of the most outrageous finishes I’ve seen live in a game.”

The win, Kansas City’s third in nine days, pulls them within single point of the conference-leading Seattle Sounders, which dropped its match 3-1 on the road against Los Angeles FC. Kansas City will play road matches at Dallas, Chicago, and Colorado and then return home to face Colorado on Oct. 24.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Brian Turrel

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia gave away and then saved a penalty kick in the first minute on the way to earning a shutout in Sporting’s 1-0 victory Wednesday night over the Chicago Fire.

Sporting’s lone goal was scored in the 67th minute by defender Winston Reid. Forward Johnny Russell earned a corner kick from the Chicago defense and then curled the kick toward the back post where the tall, imposing Reid waited to head it in from close range for his first MLS goal. Reid also anchored the defense, leading the team with seven interceptions.

Kansas City struggled to find offense in the first half. Striker Alan Pulido, who scored twice in the previous match, was called up to the Mexican national team and will be away from the club until late October. Manager Peter Vermes placed midfielder Gadi Kinda into the striker role, but Chicago was able to prevent Kansas City from playing the ball forward to him.

In the second half, Vermes shook up the formation, moving Kinda back to a midfield role and pushing Khiry Shelton forward. The move paid off as Sporting quickly created more chances and put pressure on the Chicago defense.

As Reid explained after the game, “The first half was a bit back and forth and in the second half, even though they had the ball, we had numerous amounts of chances on the counterattack to score.”

The Chicago penalty kick was earned just 30 seconds into the game. Melia hit a weak clearance directly to Chicago’s Fabian Herbers and then quickly fouled Herbers to smother his shot attempt. Robert Beric took the penalty kick, but was denied by Melia, who dove low and to his right to parry away the shot. Having blocked 11 of the 25 penalty kicks he’s faced in regulation (and 4 of the last 5), Melia has the lowest career penalty conversion percentage of any MLS goalkeeper.

The win pushes Kansas City up to second place in the MLS Western Conference as the regular season winds down. Sporting will play again at home against Nashville SC at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.