Sporting KC
Sporting KC falls at New England Revolution
Road to respectability runs into red card roadblock for Sporting KC
Sporting Kansas City came into the match with an eight-game winless streak. It was going to be hard for the last-place team in the Western Conference to right the ship at the top of the East. SKC had only scored twice in the first eight weeks, going on the road against a team scoring regularly.
Both Sporting KC and the New England Revolution had a couple of opportunities through the first 30 minutes but that is when it all started going wrong. New England’s Emmanuel Boateng broke down the left side before crossing it into the SKC box. Giacomo Vrioni’s left-footed shot bounced off Logan Ndenbe and past Tim Melia in the 31st minute.
THERE’S HIS FIRST GOAL OF THE NIGHT pic.twitter.com/BehQNQa7r3
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) April 23, 2023
It didn’t take long for the Revolution to extend the lead. A New England shot rebounded out to Vrioni who slammed it in to the goal from just outside the six-yard box to make it 2-0 for the home team.
Mamma Mia, here we go again! 🔁 pic.twitter.com/hwH4GonzkX
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) April 23, 2023
After the half, Sporting KC came out strong looking to climb their way back into the game. After Ndenbe was fouled outside the Revolution box, Daniel Salloi took the restart and picked out SKC captain Johnny Russell running onto the back post. Russell slid it back across the goal to score the third goal of the season for Sporting KC.
Johnny Russell opens his account this season! This also marks his 50th goal in all MLS competitions.
Watch #NEvSKC free now on @AppleTV: https://t.co/e99AnoxmhQ pic.twitter.com/NQGnjgt7L6
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) April 23, 2023
The goal seemed to rejuvenate the visitors and Sporting KC was starting to show some confidence. But as the season has gone, the game fell apart again Andreu Fontàs was left running back in defense after Dany Rosero was fouled at midfield. Referee Nima Saghafi initially issued a second yellow to Fontàs but after a VAR check, he issued the S porting KC center back a straight red.
With Sporting KC now playing short-handed, manager Peter Vermes brought off the two players still working back to full strength, Alan Pulido and Logan Ndenbe in exchange for Robi Voloder and Khiry Shelton.
Vermes brought Chris Rindov and Marinos Tzionis on to replace Salloi and Erik Thommy as SKC were still looking for an equalizer. Felipe Hernandez almost had that precious comeback goal right at the end of regulation, banging a hard shot off the post and back through the center of the box.
Sporting Kansas City is now winless in nine. Five losing efforts in the last six for SKC.
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This team is feckless.
I appreciate all Vermes has done for the club as both player and coach. Unfortunately, all things come to an end.
#VermesOut
#BlissOut
Feckless. Nice. And the fan base is f***less, as in we’re mostly done giving one.
(not sure what we’re allowed to type on this platform).
I don’t personally care if you cure. No idea how anyone else feels about it. As long as it’s not attacking other posters, I think it’s fine.
I’m happy to cure other posters. We grow a lot of medicinal plants!
*curse!
Ha!
I wasn’t cursing. I meant the word ‘feckless’… as in weak, ineffective, etc. … but agree with your take regarding the fanbase! 🙂
I know what feckless means, that’s why I praised your appropriate use of it. I was punning off of it, not correcting you.
My bad. Nuance gets lost on the interwebs.
Appreciate it, thx.
Well, I almost switched off this match at halftime, but I’m glad I didn’t. Outside of the red card (which was a bit BS I feel like), this felt like one of the better halves for SKC this season. I know it’s frustrating to have to settle for moral victories, but KC actually created some real chances and Melia had a ventage second 45. Defense continues to be…um…adventurous and the attack too often settles for long range shots or misses the final touch, but to come in to the second half down two and then soon also go down a player and yet keep playing with a lot of heart and energy was nice for me to see.
Very reasonable second yellow… What was a ‘bit BS’ about it?
The 1st was a dodgy yellow. Which seems to me why they reviewed the 2nd so they could safely say, “It didn’t matter. See?”
His first yellow was very soft. The second was a dogso red so it doesn’t matter. Vrioni knew exactly what he was doing and won that foul fair and square.
The fact that Rosero was fouled pretty clearly just before the breakaway. Fontas also got the ball and I thought it looked like the other dude initiated contact. You could see one the screen what the ref was looking at and he didn’t even go back to the foul on Rosero. You’re supposed to review the whole sequence and he just didn’t. SKC don’t need help losing but the ref sure gave it to them
I honestly thought Rosero was fouled live, but on replay I’m not really seeing it. They didn’t zoom in or anything, but what I saw from a distance was him trying to lean on him and losing his balance.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think it was a foul.
And I do think the second Fontas play is a foul. I’d have to see it super slowed down because some said Fontas got a touch, but it looks like to me Vrioni knew the contact was coming and touched the ball away and took the contact.
Probably a DOGSO red because it’s outside the box. Inside the box it’s a second yellow.
Even if he got a touch, he pulled Vrioni to make it. So that’s not getting him out of jail. And he’s too experienced to think he got away with it.
I’ve said on the Shades of Blue that i was Vermes Out curious. I’m not curious. I’m fully Vermes out. 3 shitty seasons in the last 5.
This team is barely even competing
That first half, I thought they quit. They showed some life in 2nd. But that’s a low bar.
They’ve showed flashes of quality all season. I was at the Galaxy game and they actually looked pretty good except for the finishing part. But it never strings together into anything meaningful, even as better players have started to return.
Hasn’t your argument (last year at least) been that the last 4 or 5 seasons haven’t been all that bad? I remember myself and others pointing out that the previous 5(ish) years haven’t been good, but you would bring up the 2020 & 21 season, etc. I believe you posed the “If not Vermes, than who?” statements as well. What changed your mind on this?
Asking because I genuinely am curious. I think the individual feelings (so obviously varying from person to person) that a lot of us currently hold are the same general feelings/opinions we’ve each had for a little while, so I’m curious to hear someone’s take on what changed their mind.
So, I’ll start by saying that I think the MLS Cup playoffs are stupid. I put way more stock into the Supporters Shield. So I value regular season success more than playoff success. I understand that’s a cup to win and that in the United States we love playoffs. But I love soccer and in basically every other league in the world, they don’t even have playoffs. I’m also a huge college basketball fan and I’ve watched KU have numerous 30 win seasons only to lose to a shitty team that got hot in March.
I think 2018, 2020, and 2021 were largely very good seasons. 2019 and 2022 were not fun. 2023 is the worst I’ve ever seen from this team.
At the time, 2019 was an aberration. 2018 we went to the WCF. 2020 we won the west in a weird year. 2021 we should have won the west if not for a brutally missed handball in the RSL box in Decision Day. Even last year, which was bad, we turned things around and got hot late in the year. We were missing Pulido and Kinda and struggled but when we signed a new midfielder and striker, things suddenly got way better.
But after watching this year, it’s clear that the patterns have changed. Certainly can’t point to the injuries. Even then, you’ve got PV as the sporting director who picked all these injury prone players.
I’d be fine suffering through a bad season if we were shifting to young players. But we’re instead running back the same old has beens and retreads. This team is devoid of any creativity and the technical staff seems unable to figure out a solution. We don’t bunker and counter. We don’t change tactics. We just run out the same dogshit over and over and over and expect things to change. We’ve made some changes (the 4-4-2 in defense), but even those are mistakes. I no longer believe that Vermes and Bliss can acquire top end talent. I no longer believe that Vermes, Z, and Kerry can make tactical changes to correct the sinking ship.
Thanks for the reply. I agree with all of the above; I just wasn’t sure if there was another specific point that was a definitive catalyst for you
The lack of action by the FO is my breaking point. Brian Bliss is fucking terrible. We don’t even ceremonially sack an assistant or someone on the technical staff. Nobody is even symbolically being held accountable.
I swear to god, and this isn’t just my hubris, that I could go get a roster full of players better than what Bliss and Vermes have done.
#VermesOut
#DGIn
#WeDeserveBetter
Bliss dismantled a Chicago Fire team that finally looked decent within 3yrs of taking the job.
He got this job because he was friends with Vermes. Despite destroying a franchise. And within 3yrs, he’s repeated the process.
He’s not from St. Louis originally, is he? He’d be the ultimate sleeper agent, destroying teams from that city’s two biggest regional rivals…
Interesting theory…
I’ve been on almost the exact same timeline as you.
I love your username.
Thank you kindly. Long time reader, first time poster.
Welcome!
Yeah, the thing is that PV is a good coach and if things are going well the team will be successful. But he has a few glaring flaws that we know from a decade plus of evidence that he has no intention of fixing. Worse, we can also see now that those flaws extend to the technical side. He doesn’t develop talent (i’d argue he more often does the opposite) and he doesn’t sell. A mid-major team can’t operate that way. He built it, but he can’t run it the way he designed it to be run!
Outside of one year with Fontas we haven’t had a good CB signing since Ike in 2013.
Like a true starting caliber guy. I like Ford but he’s not on the level of Besler or Ike.
Not good enough.
I don’t know if it’s a fluke or sign of a bigger problem, but we have got to stop picking up red cards. Credit to Melia and the whippersnappers tonight who showed some energy and will to play. Beyond that, it’s hard to find positives.
I still feel our tactics are atrocious. Particularly, I noticed when defending our own half, our midfielders were running all over the place instead of defending their zones, while our wingers were dropping so deep to defend that they were nearly at the corners of the penalty box. As a result, any time we won the ball back, we had little to no options on the counter attack. Having Pulido drop into a false 9 role (he was even popping up on the wing sometimes) was another headscratcher, why are we moving our goalscorer out of goalscoring position? And on offense, it’s still the same old beat-around-the-bush charade that is so completely broken.
Something’s gotta give!
Melia and the Whippersnappers is my new dad band name.
The 2nd half will be seen as a moral victory. And the fact this team looked moribund and heartless the 1st half ignored.
This entire technical staff needs to go.#VermesOut. #BlissOut.
That sucked. c’est la vie
I don’t understand the Shelton for Pulido sub at all. Thommy is still off and definitely needs a break and Salloi looks that way too. Espinoza for Hernández should have happened sooner. Tzionis looked lively. Ndenbe was a welcome sight. Duke is not a fullback. Ben Sweat still sucks.
I agree with all your other points, but I think it was just about saving Pulido a bit. He’s not 90 minutes fit and once again they are down a man. If Agada was available, he’s on and probably no one complains. But Khiry is the only option. I guess that’s why Dwyer is in on trial.
Red cards, IMO, have stopped him from subbing in (PV said this) against Seattle. And now caused him to sub off (potentially early) against two straight opponents.
Plus the playing on turf aspect.
I don’t have much to contribute, since it’s all been said by just about everyone for the past few weeks.
Just wanted to mention that with LA’s win, we are truly the bottom, worst, absolute last place team in the league. At least there was another team with the same issue of no wins, but that had to end at some point.
Guess who’s organization won’t be putting out any form of a statement to the fans though…..
Comparison time. Avert your eyes, ye faint of heart.
SKC likes to think of themselves as comparable to Seattle; Western Conference royalty always in contention, always dangerous, class of the conference, etc. Even the MLS writers have tended to present them that way.
Seattle misses the playoffs last year. Setting aside winning the friggin’ CCL as an excuse, how do they respond? By co-leading the Western Conference and being one point off the Shield.
And who else is co-leading the Western Conference and sitting one point off the Shield? Right, They Who Shall Not Be Named, who built a roster from scratch out of players all but the most hardcore global soccer fan has never heard of.
Who’s leading the Shield? New England, who plays in a terrible stadium and is all but invisible in their market with an absentee owner. They also have an Old Coach, but their version seems more flexible than our titanium I-beam.
Who else is leading the Shield? Right, Cincinnati, the poster children for incompetence for a couple years until they shook things up and rocketed into relevance. They give SKC no excuses for failing to sign players; southern Ohio’s no more attractive on a global scale than Kansas/Missouri and arguably Cincy’s even more anonymous as a city.
Who else is as pathetic as SKC? Well, there’s the Galaxy, who are actually struggling with an open fan revolt and who have at least spoken more openly about ongoing issues instead of telling their fans to shut up and celebrate the past. There’s Montreal, the most dysfunctional franchise in the league (depending on how you view Miami), and even they have two home wins, both over legitimate competition (Union and NYRB).
This season is nausea-inducing.
“southern Ohio’s no more attractive on a global scale than Kansas/Missouri and arguably Cincy’s even more anonymous as a city.”
I agree. I agree that Kansas City is a “small market” team, but we’re not Boonville in the middle of nowhere (fun fact: I always thought Boonville was a term for middle of nowhere, backcountry, etc. Turns out there’s a Booneville in Missouri. Figures).
I’ve met people in Australia, Ireland, and even Costa Rica that knew of KC, so I hate the pity story that Vermes tries to use as a “hard for us” type justification.
Hey now, don’t go knocking Boonville (not Booneville). It’s a nice riverside town with a ton of history. I’m not at all biased by living in the area!
I didn’t pay too much attention to the spelling when I came across it the other day; I wanted to stay ignorant to anything that could associate KC with backcountry haha
Boonville is far and away my favorite part of the KATY trail. Really pretty through there!
Yeah, Boonville through McBaine is just wonderful.
This is the worst coached team I have ever had the displeasure of watching. At this point I’m just watching to see how much worse Vermes can sink the team. If they dont beat Montreal next week there is a very good chance that the team in its current state won’t win a game until July, if ever.
Yeah, that feels like a must win. Even if it’s not a final. 🙂
Edit: Love your username!
I’m disappointed that management is staying quiet about everything that is happening with the team. I would like a voice telling us that this isn’t acceptable and things are changing and that becoming stagnant isn’t the Sporting way!
How bad do things need to get before management/ownership transition blame from the ref, players, circumstances to the other parts of the org?
I agree with you completely BTW.
Losing to Tulsa?
This “Peter blames the refs” thing is sometimes true, but I would say not always.
Most of the time, we ask him about it. Which sometimes gets him fired up. And those quotes are more sensational, so people get worked up by them. But I don’t know that’d he always bring it up, if we didn’t ask these questions.
He dedicated an entire paragraph of his interview to that Fontas foul not being a red, maybe a yellow but the first yellow was wrong. Most post game interviews he disagrees with a call. He may not be overtly blaming refs by saying, “That ref sucked and cost us the game.” But he certainly states that he disagrees with nearly every call that impacts the team. Not acknowledging these calls is nearly as frustrating as his inability to accept responsibility.
It’s just another manifestation of Vermes’ unwillingness/inability to take responsibility for any negative outcome.
With great power comes great responsibility. A combined Sporting Director and Manager has to realize, accept, and own that he, and he alone, is ultimately responsible for every result.
#VermesOut
#BlissOut
#WeDeserveBetter
At this point, I kind of hope we lose to Tulsa. That seems like the only result that would actually spur the ownership into action.
I’ve been thinking the same
I’d be afraid of us making a deep run in USOC and having PV lean on that for justification of his contract.