Sporting Kansas City continue their own form of “weird” in Portland

Two less-than-average MLS Western Conference sides – Sporting Kansas City (1-7-2) and Portland Timbers (3-6-1) – sought a win at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon, Saturday night. Kansas City has not tasted victory since Mid-March, whereas Portland have won two of the last four.

Make that three of the last five. Sporting Kansas City surrendered goals early and often and were behind four at the half. Though the second half had blips of light, the darkness continued to descend on Kansas City in a 6-0 loss.

The hope was that Sporting Kansas City could continue to solidify their defense following a 1-1 draw with perennial contenders Seattle Sounders last week and sneak three points. And just maybe someone not named Dejan Joveljic (five tallies on the season) could find the net. Only three other Sporting players have scored a goal, none more than one.

Kansas City Manager Raphael Wicky stayed with the same Starting Eleven from last week’s draw. To the chagrin of some, that meant Wyatt Meyer and Ethan Bartlow partnered in central defense. However, the pair have been at the center of all of Sporting’s positive results on the season.

The match got off to a banging start in the 6th minute. Given time 14 yards out just left of Sporting’s box, Portland’s Kristoffer Velde wound up and found the upper left corner of Sporting’s net. The wicked strike came four minutes later than the early goal Kansas City allowed at home last week.

Not only was Sporting failing to get appropriate pressure on the ball defensively, they were unable to get out of their own end. That inability left them down two in the 15th minute. Under pressure after receiving a pass deep in the left corner near the endline, Meyer’s attempted long ball was intercepted. The ball fell to Kevin Kelsey who found Cole Bassett who found David Da Costa. The playmaker backheeled for an on-the-run Kelsey, who slid the ball under Sporting goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland at the near post.

The performance, coming off a surprising draw with Seattle Sounders – was disheartening. The here-we-go-again reached new a new level of misery in the 22nd minute. Jacob Bartlett and Ethan Bartlow lost an aerial battle their own box in a tangle with two Timbers. Meyer then failed to clear as Bassett pounced to put the Timbers up three.

But wait… A through ball for Portland’s Brandon Bye inside the right channel found Bye entering Sporting’s box. His low entry pass across the box was cleared by Bartlow hit Meyer, sending the ball to the line beyond Cleveland. Jake Davis looked to save the goal, but the ball bounded off his foot into his own net.

Sporting created a glimmer of hope in the 39th minute as Joveljic created separation in the 39th minute on the left wing. As Capita Capemba crashed the back post for a low cross, the ball was swept away. Shortly after, the offside flag went up.

The halftime stats were, well, as expected: 1.03xg to 0.05 for SKC; 3 shots on target to 0; and 67% possession for the home side.

How would Wicky stop the bleeding? Would Portland simply take the foot of the pedal and help Sporting save face – to some extent – in the second half?

Wicky inserted Ian James and Calvin Harris into the lineup for Shapi Suleymanov and Manu Garcia for the second 45-minutes. The move allowed Davis to move up the field and for the pace available on the pitch to increase for Kansas City.

Off a feed from Jacob Bartlett in the 46th minute, Joveljic skillfully cut a shot on goal that led to an innocuous corner as Kansas City tried to find a way into the match.

More end-to-end action developed 10 minutes into the half as the match loosened. Then, Sporting were able to string some passes together and create some penetration. Harris, moving centrally, received and drove forward in the 56th minute. Harris played low across the box for Joveljic, who was unable to latch on.

Yet another bright moment came two minutes later as Berg Johnsen threaded for Joveljic just inside Portland’s half. The striker hit a ball behind the left back for a streaking Capita, whose shot was blocked away by Portland goalkeeper James Pantemis.

Shortly after, Johnsen left the pitch for Zorhan Bassong. The Canadien World Cup hopeful made only his third appearance of the season due to injury.

Timbers’ manager Gary Neville put on a litany of subs, and they had no intention on passively playing out the match.

Just before Taylor Calheira entered for Kansas City in the 72nd minute, the Timbers rang up a fifth. Ariel Lassiter ripped a free kick from 24 yards into the upper right of Cleveland’s goal. The beauty of the goal was just more salt in the wound for Kansas City. As all things go wrong for one, all things seem to go right for the other.

Why not another? Kelsy finished the scoring on the night with a back post finish. Alexander Aravena drove through the heart of Kansas City’s defense with Meyer hanging on his shoulder. Aravena found Lassiter top left of Sporting’s box. The son of MLS Legend Roy Lassiter found Kelsy on the other side for the finish.

In the 76th minute, Stephen Afrifa entered the fray for Capemba.

Sporting Kansas City created a number of good approaches in the last 10 minutes as Harris’ entry continued to add life to the attack. To their credit, the second half subs persisted in trying to make a difference in the match, and they showed well in a – let’s be real – cleanup role. It also was revealed, as anticipated, that Bassong’s presence on the field is beneficial for Sporting.

Sporting Kansas City will now host LA Galaxy in a midweek romp, followed by a visit to Austin FC on Saturday as the break for the World Cup nears.