Sporting KC
Sporting KC draw at LAFC
SKC and LAFC fought hard and settled for a draw
Sporting Kansas City earned their third straight result with a 0-0 draw at Los Angeles FC. Sporting KC traveled to LAFC for their third match of the season with a pair of 1-1Â draws under their belt in their first two matches. SKC faced a tough test at LAFC who were looking to bounce back from a tough result. The home team won their first match of the season 2-1 over Seattle in LA but lost 3-0 at Real Salt Lake in a highly criticized blizzard.
SKC Manager Peter Vermes left midfielder Remi Walter at home with an ankle injury sustained in the match versus the Philadelphia Union last weekend. Newcomer Memo Rodriguez started in Walter’s spot for Sporting KC.
In this together. #LAFCvSKC | @BlueKC pic.twitter.com/UHC9k8Gsqo
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) March 10, 2024
The first half started heavily in SKC’s favor in terms of possession and chances but LA’s opportunities were a little more dangerous and the stats reflected those differences. Sporting KC dominated possession early but despite LA closing the gap the half ended with a 57% advantage for the visitors. SKC also outshot LA but the home team led in XG 1.2 to .7 with one of their most dangerous chances requiring a big save from Tim Melia.
🎶 He saves our goal! 🎶
Fantastic from Tim Melia to keep it level.
Tune into #LAFCvSKC now on #MLSSeasonPass on @AppleTV: https://t.co/DmrFyMwLxj pic.twitter.com/gFplwostux
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) March 10, 2024
The second half followed the same template as the first with SKC having the upper hand with possession and LA having the higher percentage chances on goal. SKC did have good opportunities with shots off the crossbar and post. LA matched that with shots off the crossbar and shots just wide and high, including an opportunity from a rare restart inside the box.
LA was called off on a play and during the restart, there was confusion when Andreu Fontas played the ball to Jake Davis the referee signaled the ball was still moving. Melia thought Davis was giving him the ball to do the restart but the referee thought that Davis restarted it. When Melia picked the ball up, the referee gave the indirect free kick inside the box. Sporting KC does practice for that situation. LAFC did manage to get off a shot on a creative restart but the shot went wide around the wall and past the post.
“I’ve got to go back and watch it again,” Tim Melia told media post-game. “When (Andreu) Fontas hit the ball out, the ball was clearly moving and then the ball went to Jake and Jake paused it and kicked it back, and at that point, the ref had made a signal that the ball was moving. So when he played it back to me, I thought we were resetting the offside line. That was why I was walking forward, because I was trying to get closer to where the actual offside was. And then they started to run at me and I was like, ‘what’s going on here? I’m just going to pick this up.’ I got lucky. I want to go back and watch it. Hopefully, it’s one I can laugh about later, but we didn’t get scored on so moving on from that.
Melia made big saves in both halves and this one at the end of the game was crucial to preserve a road point.
When it matters most!
🎶 He saves our goalllll 🎶
And it keeps us unbeaten on the season.0-0 | #LAFCvSKC https://t.co/fMH7IIDEax pic.twitter.com/6O5tKU3JWz
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) March 10, 2024
The match was back and forth throughout both halves but Sporting KC started to slow down in the second half. The only substitution of the match was LA bringing in David Martinez to replace former SKC midfielder Ilie Sanchez. That almost paid off for LA as Martinez created a pair of shots that were worth .89 XG for LA.
“I think we could have taken two more points, but I don’t necessarily think that I would say that we deserved it. I think we gave up some counters due to our own mistakes, but we also created some really good chances. (Hugo) Lloris made a couple of really good saves. Tim (Melia) made an unbelievable save in the first half when (Eduard) Atuesta came in on the one-two. He made a great save there and then he made a couple more in the second half. Tim was outstanding in the game. We were very good tonight,” Vermes stated.
“Don’t get me wrong, we were very good, but they were also good,” Vermes continued. “I think, if you want to watch a game in MLS, that’s the kind of game you want to watch. Both teams play. There’s a little difference in the styles of both teams, but it was a good match. They probably think they could have scored a few. We probably think we could have scored a few. I think at the end of the day, the result is pretty fair and the goalkeepers deserved to get shutouts because they both played well.”
Sporting KC returns home to face San Jose next Saturday.
Sporting Kansas City:Â Tim Melia; Jake Davis, Dany Rosero, Andreu Fontas, Tim Leibold; Nemanja Radoja, Erik Thommy, Memo Rodriguez; Johnny Russell (C), Alan Pulido, Daniel Salloi
Subs Not Used:Â John Pulskamp, Zorhan Bassong, Robert Castellanos, Kayden Pierre, Robert Voloder, Felipe Hernandez, Stephen Afrifa, Willy Agada, Alenis Vargas
LAFC:Â Hugo Lloris; Ryan Hollingshead, Jesus Murillo, Aaron Long, Omar Campos; Timothy Tillman, Ilie Sanchez (C) (David Martinez 78′), Eduard Atuesta; Cristian Olivera, Mateusz Bogusz, Denis Bouanga
Subs Not Used:Â Abraham Romero, Sergi Palencia, Eddie Segura, Erik Duenas, Tommy Musto, Tomas Angel, Nathan Ordaz
Scoring Summary:
None
Misconduct Summary:
SKC — Memo Rodriguez (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 27′
LAFC — Omar Campos (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 31′
SKC — Andreu Fontas (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 49′
SKC — Dany Rosero (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 60′
LAFC — Eduard Atuesta (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 88′
SKC — Jake Davis (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 90+2′
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I actually agree with Vermes’s quotes on the game. What I don’t agree with is using zero subs on the night. If nothing else, where’s the harm in bringing on some young, fast legs up top to run at a tiring LA defense for the last 15 minutes? Also, has Hernandez fallen so far in the pecking order to not be able to spell any of the clearly gassed midfielders?
It’s not that KC’s attackers played poorly (though they did miss some passes in the final third), but it is also true that we’re 270 minutes into the season and Sporting has notched all of two goals and none from the forwards. Sallói should conceivably still be in his prime, but Russell and Pulido almost certainly are past that and so why would they ever go a full 90? I lauded PV for using all his subs in Houston…apparently he was just teasing me.
He doesn’t trust that certain players can close a game out. I’m sure in his head, despite the real culprit being a bad call plus dumb luck, the Philly game last week is evidence of that. Unless I’m misremembering, Agada and Afrifa were in when Bedoya equalized, right? As for Hernandez, I just don’t know. He’s really a #10 that they’ve been using as destroyer 8. Personally, I’d rather see him in there over Memo (and I like Memo), but since we’re scoring at such a furious clip, I’ll bite my tongue.
See, I would argue the margins of closing out the game between this week and last week are paper thin. Last week we were a bad call away from a win. Despite what people think, if that call gets made, its a throw-in, and the whistle is getting blown seconds later. So I don’t think the subs were even the main reason that collapse at the end. This week, from the 80th minute on, LAFC had 6 legitimate chances to go ahead, and if not for their own poor offensive play, they would’ve. PV might look at this as the team playing bend-dont-break defense, but tbh that defense was gassed and breaking, LAFC just wasn’t finishing off those chances.
Side note: Completely agree about Hernandez. I think Memo might be a slightly more experienced Hernandez with a far lower work rate. I think Felipe links-up well and make runs into the penalty box too (which Memo doesn’t do).
Josh,THIS is where I’m coming down. If LAFC finish any of those chances (and there were a lot) then it’s a whole different conversation. SKC were bailed out by bad finishing. I give them their plaudits for a well-played first half, but they didn’t take advantage. They just got lucky LA forgot their finishing boots in the 2nd.
It was emergency defending situation after emergency defending situation. Memo is getting a lot of credit for some good play, but he had some bad play. He was gassed at the end (arguably Vermes’ fault for leaving him out there). But he shouldn’t be the guy back on a corner kick if he’s that slow/tied. He also missed several passes with his teammates where he and they weren’t on the same page, and they yelled at each other. If any of those plays turn into goals, he’s getting crucified this week.
Melia made 2 very good saves. But he also made a play that is inexcusable for a veteran keeper that easily could have (probably SHOULD have) cost SKC the game.
The problem is the same to start last year. 60% possession looks nice. But there are no dangerous chances being created. None. 20 yard shots are, at best, half-chances. Normally lottery tickets. I won’t begrudge anyone for taking the shot when it’s there. But shots with an xG below .1 aren’t winning many games. None of the front 3 are beating players on the dribble. Thommy has to carry the ball too much to be expected to bring the ball into the box. And there is no creative outlet in the team.
This is made worse by the fact Leibold is a liability in the attacking half, and is routinely exploited. I would rather he inverted and stayed back and let Fontas carry the ball forward and play as the midfield anchor in possession. That would let Radoja hunt the ball more, and some freedom to support the attackers when we have possession.
I remain less than thrilled our most consistent defensive player is a converted midfielder. But he held up well until the game became too stretched for him to recover (Thanks to no subs.) I don’t care how much or little faith Vermes has in the bench, the midfield couldn’t sprint after 75mins.Any of them. And Russell was tapped before that.
It’s a good result. But it’s exactly the kind of result that can convince Vermes everything is OK, when 3pts from 3 games, with a team that supposedly had great continuity as its strength, isn’t good enough.