Tag: Sporting KC

Sporting cools Fire, 1-0

Defender Winston Reid watched as his header sailed into the corner of the net for the game-winning goal in Sporting Kansas City’s 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire. (Photo copyright 2020 by Brian Turrel)
 

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.

Defender Jaylin Lindsey charged in attempting to block a shot by Chicago midfielder Djordje Mihailovic. (Photo copyright 2020 by Brian Turrel)

 

Goalkeeper Tim Melia dove to his right to knock away a penalty kick from Chicago’s Robert Beric. (Photo copyright 2020 by Brian Turrel)

 

Defender Amadou Dia slid in to take possession from Chicago defender Boris Sekulic. (Photo copyright 2020 by Brian Turrel)

 

Khiry Shelton struggled to get past Chicago defender Boris Sekulic. (Photo copyright 2020 by Brian Turrel)

 

Melia fouled Chicago midfielder Fabian Herbers, giving up a penalty kick in the game’s first minute. (Photo copyright 2020 by Brian Turrel)

 

Shelton won a header against Chicago defender Mauricio Pineda. (Photo copyright 2020 by Brian Turrel)

 

Chicago goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth came way off his line to challenge Shelton. (Photo copyright 2020 by Brian Turrel)

 

Felipe Hernandez won a header near midfield. (Photo copyright 2020 by Brian Turrel)

 

Lindsey gathered in the ball in the Chicago end. (Photo copyright 2020 by Brian Turrel)

Chicago Fire visits Sporting KC tonight

A compelling cross-conference battle beckons on Wednesday as Sporting Kansas City (7-5-2, 23 points) welcomes Chicago Fire FC (4-7-4, 16 points) to world-class Children’s Mercy Park for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
Tickets for the contest are available at SeatGeek.com with stadium capacity limited to 18% and comprehensive health and safety protocols in place.

FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX Sports Midwest and FOX Sports GO will provide three hours of live coverage on Wednesday starting at 7 p.m., while listeners can catch the action locally on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM with the Final Whistle postgame show airing immediately afterward on 810 WHB. Viewers outside of the FOX Sports Midwest footprint can stream the game live on ESPN Plus.

Momentum is running high for Sporting Kansas City after Manager Peter Vermes’ men dispatched the Houston Dynamo 2-1 on Saturday at BBVA Stadium.

On the cusp of his call-up to the Mexico Men’s National Team, striker Alan Pulido bagged both goals on assists from 18-year-old midfielder Gianluca Busio and claimed MLS Player of the Week honors for his game-changing performance. The result made Vermes the fifth head coach in MLS history to record 150 regular season wins and the first to hit the milestone with a single club.

Saturday’s triumph helped Sporting keep pace in the competitive Western Conference, four points back of leaders Seattle Sounders FC and six points above the playoff line. The club is currently amidst an unprecedented stretch of nine regular season fixtures in 30 days, the first such occasion in team history, with Wednesday marking the first of four remaining home matches at Children’s Mercy Park.

Although Sporting will have to atone for the absence of Pulido — who is tied for first among MLS newcomers with nine combined goals (five) and assists (four) in the regular season — the squad will be bolstered by the availability of midfielders Roger Espinoza and Gadi Kinda.

Espinoza returned from injury as a second-half substitute on Saturday, vaulting to third place on the club’s all-time charts with his 292nd competitive appearance, and became the sixth Sporting player to tab 40 career assists by notching a secondary assist on Pulido’s game-winner. Kinda served a suspension for caution accumulation in Houston and figures to play an integral role moving forward, as he is tied for third on the team with four goals in his debut MLS campaign.

Under the guidance of first-year head coach Raphael Wicky, Chicago endured a poor start to 2020 by winning two of their first 12 regular season matches. That spell included a last-place finish in Group B of the MLS is Back Tournament in Walt Disney World and, more recently, lopsided defeats to Eastern Conference contenders Columbus Crew SC and Orlando City SC.

The Fire look to be on the uptick, however, as they have posted two wins and a draw in their last three outings. Slovenian forward and Designated Player Robert Beric has sparked the resurgence with goals in five consecutive appearances, good for the longest scoring streak by an MLS player this season.

Midfielder Fabian Herbers has added two goals of his own over the last fortnight, while longtime Sporting forward C.J. Sapong opened his 2020 scoring account in a 4-0 throttling of Houston on Sept. 23. Another player hitting his stride is Spanish midfielder Alvaro Medran, who has a team-best four assists and previously plied his trade for the likes of Real Madrid, Valencia and Rayo Vallecano in his homeland.

Days after prevailing in the fourth head-to-head meeting against Houston this season, Sporting is set to host a pair of Eastern Conference teams for the first time in 2020. Vermes’ men last faced Chicago in July 2019, while expansion side Nashville SC will visit Children’s Mercy Park on Sunday night.

Sporting has notably won three straight regular season meetings versus Chicago dating back to 2017 — a period that includes a 3-2 home triumph in 2017, a 4-3 thriller in Chicago in 2018 and a 1-0 home result over a year ago. Sporting also boasts a 5-0-2 record in the Fire’s last seven visits to Children’s Mercy Park since 2012. This paints a bleak picture for a Chicago side that has gone 0-4-3 in road matches this season.

Wednesday’s showdown serves up a rematch of MLS Cup 2000 and the 2004 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which stand as two of Sporting’s seven major championships to date.

Kansas City edged Chicago by a 1-0 scoreline at MLS Cup 2000 in Washington, D.C., receiving a first-half goal from folk hero Miklos Molnar and 10 saves from MLS MVP Tony Meola. Sporting replicated the win in a dramatic, extra-time triumph at Arrowhead Stadium in the 2004 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, riding to victory behind Igor Simutenkov’s 95th-minute golden goal.

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Pulido, MLS player of week, to join Mexican national team

Sporting Kansas City striker Alan Pulido has been selected to the Mexican Men’s National Team for two upcoming matches in the Netherlands, the Mexican Football Federation announced earlier this week.

Pulido was voted MLS Player of the Week on Monday after bagging two goals in a 2-1 road victory over the Houston Dynamo on Saturday at BBVA Stadium.

Pulido will join a 26-player squad assembled by head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino for international friendlies against the Netherlands on Oct. 7 in Amsterdam and Algeria on Oct. 13 in The Hague.

Mexico’s showdown with the Netherlands will be shown live at 1:45 p.m. Oct. 7 on ESPN2, the ESPN app, TUDN and UniMas, while the game versus Algeria will air live at 2 p.m. Oct. 13 on Univision and TUDN.

Pulido, who joined Sporting Kansas City last December on a club-record transfer fee from Chivas de Guadalajara, has recorded five goals in 13 career caps for Mexico. He notably represented his country at the 2011 Copa America and 2014 World Cup and last played for El Tri in September 2018.

Following the friendly match against Algeria, Pulido will adhere to mandated health and safety protocols in accordance with international travel before rejoining Sporting Kansas City later this month for the final stretch of the MLS regular season.

Now in his first MLS season, Pulido has played an integral role for a Sporting Kansas City side that occupies third place in the Western Conference. The forward is tied atop the club scoring chart with six goals in all competitions, including a brace in Saturday’s 2-1 road victory over the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Stadium.

He also has a team-leading four assists, three of which came this summer at the historic MLS is Back Tournament in Walt Disney World. In Pulido’s nine regular season starts, Sporting owns a 6-2-1 record with an average of 2.2 goals per game.

Pulido, 29, is part of a star-studded Mexican roster that includes European-based forwards Jesus Corona (FC Porto) and Raul Jimenez (Wolverhampton) as well as MLS standouts Rodolfo Pizarro (Inter Miami CF) and Jonathan dos Santos (LA Galaxy).

A native of Ciudad Victoria, Pulido has featured for Mexico at the U-20, U-23 and senior levels. He led El Tri to the 2011 Concacaf U-20 Championship title, scoring three goals at the tournament, before making five appearances at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia as Mexico finished in third place.

In April 2012, Pulido and the Mexico U-23s hoisted the Concacaf Olympic Qualifying Tournament title at Children’s Mercy Park. The semifinal and final matches both took place in Sporting’s home stadium, with Pulido scoring in a 3-1 semifinal victory over Canada. He finished as the competition’s leading scorer with five goals, helping Mexico book their place at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and guided El Tri to the Toulon Tournament championship later that year in France.
Pulido made his senior international debut on Jan. 29, 2014, scoring a hat-trick in a 4-0 friendly win against South Korea in San Antonio, Texas. He added another goal in a 2-2 friendly draw with the United States over two months later and was selected to Mexico’s 23-man squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Pulido scored his fifth Mexico goal in a friendly win over Iceland in February 2017 and most recently featured in friendlies against Uruguay and the U.S. in September 2018.

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