Sporting KC
A lead, at home, squandered by Sporting Kansas City v RSL
Home sweet home.
“The life I love is makin’ music with my friends. And I can’t wait to get on the road again.”
Two prominent ideas clashed Wednesday evening at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, KS, when Sporting Kansas City hosted Real Salt Lake in a midweek MLS Western Conference battle. Neither side sang a righteous tune at the end as the teams finished level at 2-2, though Sporting Kansas City had taken command at home.
In 2023, Sporting’s home record has not exactly been sterling at five wins and a draw in 11 matches. Meanwhile, Salt Lake has been dominant with six wins and two draws in eleven. That includes a clean 5-0-2 in their last seven away games, not to mention a 5-0-2 in their last seven entire.
Yet, the two sides shared one plaudit – their six wins per side since May leads the West and they sit one and two in points since May in the West with 22 and 23 respectively.
To push for their second in a row at home, Sporting Manager Peter Vermes went with this eleven:
The Boys for #SKCvRSL #SportingKC | @BlueKC pic.twitter.com/ZZG7MzCh4G
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) July 12, 2023
Midfielder Nemanja Radoja came back into the Starting Eleven from last week, seeing Gadi Kinda take a seat on the bench.
Kansas City loitered in Salt Lake’s end in the first 15 minutes, often looking to play over the top or around the corners of the compact RSL shape.
The visitors hit the first venomous strike of the match in the 24th minute with a knuckling drive from Nelson Palaciori 26 yards out from Kendall McIntosh’s frame. The Sporting netminder deflected for an innocuous corner.
After RSL’s Bryan Oviedo rang McIntosh’s left post in the 28th minute, Sporting took command the rest of the half. The assault began in the 30th minute as Erik Thommy threaded a through ball for winger Johnny Russell, deputizing on the left wing. Russell drove deep and his lofted cross found companion winger Danial Salloi wide open at the back post for a volleyed strike past Salt Lake goalkeeper Gavin Beavers for the lead.
DANIEL SHOWTIME SALLOI: 1-0 to the good!
Watch #SKCvRSL live now on Apple TV 👉 https://t.co/35rItn1Lky pic.twitter.com/7mys65OqOn
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) July 13, 2023
Russell would feature six minutes later from the other wing. From Thommy, Russell drove in the box, put his defender in a blender, and rocketed a shot past the now very busy Beaver.
CAPTAIN'S GOAL FOR 2-0 😤#SKCvRSL pic.twitter.com/QaS1LyiQgY
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) July 13, 2023
RSL Manager Pablo Mastroeni made three subs before the second half to try and get his team back into the match.
The dividends were almost immediate.
Attacking through the inner right channel, RSL played long for Sub Cristian Arango. Arango fed Danny Musovski who lifted his head and chipped over a beleaguered McIntosh. As Musoviski had made a lost second movement to stay onside, the VAR official called over Referee Rubiel Vazquez. The goal was confirmed and much of the confident air the home fans were feeling deflated out of the stadium.
Deflation turned to indignation in the 72nd minute. Salt Lake’s Anderson Julio stripped Rosero inside Sporting’s half, seemingly fouling him in the process, and headed towards goal. As McIntosh challenged, the RSL attacker rolled the ball under for the match leveler and a mouths agape response from Sporting and a heated response from their fans.
How is this not a foul? Seems like a clear shove in the back. #SKCvRSL #SportingKC #InstantReplay @andrew_wiebe https://t.co/DProYYczaL
— Chad Smith (@PlayFor90) July 13, 2023
The current state reflected Sporting’s dubious pattern of having the second worst record in MLS when scoring first at 5-3-3 coming into the night.
Despite each side going close in the ensuing minutes, it was Sporting that would have to come up big.
Julio was put in on goal in the 89th minute, but this time McIntosh got a piece of the salvo, denying RSL the lead.
The 2-2 draw and the resulting single point was another dent in a series of dents in Sporting’s playoff chances. Lost leads and inconsistent performances at home make for costly damage.
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Most entertaining game of the season.
Wasn’t a foul from Juliao to Rosero. Rosero got loose with his touch, juliao got the ball and went shoulder to shoulder after winning the ball.
Yeah I’ll admit that I fully thought it was a fouls, or at least more of a foul than not, but I just watched the replay, and absolutely not a foul. Lazy and dumb from Rosero, and good pressure from Julio to press him.
Rosero is looking like he doesn’t even want to be out there. Not mentally in it, and not even making an attempt sometimes. Combine that with the stuck in quicksand pace of Fontas, and the inexperience from Davis, and our backline is dreadful.
As I said on Twitter, I could have seen it called a foul for excessive force and the jostling after. But the initial challenge was clean.
I also don’t think it’s a clear and obvious error. It’s a gray area challenge. Both players are “handsy.” Moreso than the laws permit. But they’re both scrapping for the ball, not going after the other person. So it’s not a clear foul. It’s not a “clean” play either. It’s a judgment call of the type that will never be removed from the game.
Huh? He plowed right over Rosero! I didn’t think it was a foul from the stands view but from the field level view in the replay it couldn’t have been clearer, Juliao comes in reckless and plows right over him.
I know that this is a different ref but my problem is that literally every single borderline call like this has gone against us this season. Kinda gets bowled over in StL and the goal stands, Rosero gets bowled over against RSL and the goal stands, Salloi gets pulled back by a defender against LA and no call, but Shelton makes incidental contact with long 30 seconds before a goal and it calls the goal back, Radoja makes no contact in StL and it’s a pen etc. The only thing that occasionally goes our way on those is offside, but literally every other borderline 50/50 call this season has gone for our opponent. I don’t think there’s some conspiracy or any nonsense like that and I know the old adage of “don’t put yourself in a situation where a ref decision costs you points” but in a league like MLS where most teams are super close to each other in quality one goal awarded to an opponent by a bad or 50/50 referee decision often does change the result for most teams. That these have been entirely stacked against us all season is a major factor in why we are where we are.
Even if you assume that StL wins without being spotted 2 goals by the ref that’s now 9 points dropped immediately after 50/50 referee calls went against us to allow goals for opponents or disallow goals for us. That’s ridiculous.
We have dropped 17 pts from winning positions. Stop blaming refs for our own incompetence.
That challenge shouldn’t even have happened. Rosero stood on the ball and invited a One Man Press to reach him. All he had to do was pass. But he couldn’t be bothered. And it’s not the first time he’s dawdled on the ball.
And dropping points to LAFC wasn’t on the ref. It was about deciding Carlos Vela could be left onside and unmarked while you’re supposedly playing an offside trap.
It’s not a conspiracy. It’s incompetence.
Right, and 9 of those 17 points disappeared immediately after a no-call foul or a disallow of one of our goals. I’m not letting the team off the hook but you can’t pretend like that hasn’t had an impact. Referee decisions have a direct, measurable impact.
I agree that Rosero is a liability and that he created that situation but if Julio doesn’t shove him away after winning the ball then who knows what happens? Maybe Rosero fouls him and prevents him from going 1v1 with McIntosh? Maybe he wins it right back? Maybe he buys time for help? But him being eliminated from the play by that shove directly put Julio 1v1 with McIntosh. Rosero was handsy in there as well though so it’s a 50/50. Some refs would give that as a foul, some won’t, and neither would be overrulled by VAR.
I explicitly said I don’t think it’s a conspiracy, so don’t go putting words in my mouth. But it IS noteworthy. And dropping points to LAFC was 100% on the ref. Salloi was pulled back in the box when he was charging in on goal and if that PK is given we’re likely up 2-1. Then later we scored a goal that put us even and the referee decided that Shelton getting bodied by 2 defenders didn’t matter but that Shelton incidentally clipping Long on a follow through of a ball he won did. The referee decided that recycling the ball all the way across the field and 21 more seconds passing before the ball into the box lead to a goal wasn’t a new attacking cycle and took a goal off the board. That’s 1 likely goal and 1 definite goal taken off the board by referee decisions that were either wrong, or judgment calls.
Also, you’re dramatically mischaracterizing what happened on LAFC’s second goal. Nobody decided to keep Vela onside and unmarked. It was a flukey thing. Shelton was flaring out to be an outlet for McIntosh, McIntosh decided to go long with it, Aaron Long cleared it forward, and it fell to Vela while Shelton was pushing up. It was a split second that Vela was onside behind the centerbacks and it happened to fall to him. It wasn’t like someone let him slalom through the midfield untouched. Should Shelton have pushed up faster, yes, probably, but it was a fluke.
“Shelton was flaring out to be an outlet for McIntosh, McIntosh decided to go long with it…”
Probably – or at least partially – because Shelton’s own teammates don’t trust him with the ball, and they consistently avoid passing to him. If I’m Mcintosh there, I’m booting it up too. No chance am I passing it to Shelton and hoping he doesn’t do something stupid and give it away.
This brings us to the Vermes roster construction and who he uses, when they’re used, and when.
Theres just so many faults that were being talked about during the beginning of the season that were kind of been brushed aside for the time being, but they’re showing up again. The bummer about these faults is that 90% won’t be changed or addressed in the offseason
*who he uses, when they’re used, and where they’re used5
I won’t argue most of your points, wet water. I didn’t think the tackle on Rosero was a foul so I’m not sure we can complain there, and although I do think going 30 seconds back to disallow a goal is excessive, it wasn’t merely “incidental contact.” Khiry mostly missed the ball and just kicked yer man across the knee a shins muay thai-style. At first I thought they went back so far because it was so blatant.
So 5-3-4 in games where Sporting has a winning position now?
Folks, that’s 18 dropped points. We keep half of those, we’re safely in the playoffs. Pushing top 4.
It’s not the refs. It’s not the schedule. It’s the fact this team cannot keep a lead. Those are questions of game management and mentality. And is doubly inexcusable in a team full of veteran “leadership.” People who supposedly know how to win games in MLS. This isn’t some group of youthful kids we know are going to get better. These are experienced professionals making mental lapses, game after game. But Vermes keeps trotting them out there. And he doesn’t correct the deficiencies either. How, with a 1 goal lead midway through the 2nd half, is SKC playing so wide open that teams repeatedly can run outnumbered transitions at our backline? He sets this team up to fail. And they do.
#VermesOut
My bad…17 dropped points. Multiplied wrong integer by 4. Still…hideous.
7 dropped points between Houston, LAFC, and RSL.
That puts us in 6th and pushing for a home playoff game.
Instead we will likely miss the playoffs again.
Half of those points hinged on a call by a referee though. It’s not NOT the refs. We definitely need to be better and not be in a position where those calls can change our position but those decisions HAVE had a significant impact.
I am definitely on the Vermes Out train but I don’t see how his coaching can be blamed for last night. Does anyone seriously think Castellanos or Voloder is a better option than Fontas or Rosero? A Castellanos mental lapse literally just lost the team points one game ago, and Voloder has to have lost at least 80% of the back post battles he’s had as a pro. Also trying and failing (miserably) to run a low block literally just cost this team points one game ago. And the fact that these ARE experienced professionals making this mistakes runs kinda counter to the “why isn’t Vermes fixing them” thought process, does it not? At that point in your career you kinda are who you are and no coach is going to change you. The only thing we can really say negatively about Vermes the coach about last night is that he only used 2 subs despite it being the second 1000 degree sauna they’ve played in over the course of 5 days but even then you can kinda justify it.
I mean the dudes he brought in at Houston absolutely crapped the bed and literally lost them 3 points with their ineptitude. It’s 2021 all over again where you’re kinda damned if you do, damned if you don’t with subs.
Which takes me to my biggest Vermes gripe: roster construction. A big part of that is on Bliss. He is the head of scouting and is responsible for identifying the types of dudes that Vermes tells him to go find and selling Vermes on them but Vermes is the one who keeps bringing in these retreads and NOT firing Bliss who has a history of ruining once-great franchises with his technical directing. Either way I think it’s time to clean house. Hiring a new sporting director and technical director and head coach should be priority 1 for ownership for the rest of the year.
Vermes out
It’s hard to ask for the crowded standings and results to be more favorable for SKC to own their destiny in at least making the playoffs. The last two games are hilarious in that view, but at least they have been entertaining.
Entertaining used to be all I want from SKC, but Vermes’ post-brewhouse rant caused a fermenting thing inside of my fandom to simmer and bubble its way to the kind of petty resentment that inevitably and always kills relationships. The podcasts will blame players for making mistakes and not playing while missing the forest for the trees (the pitch for the goals? the stadium for the seats?) but after this large of a sample size, it’s on the coach, and both his management as well as his relationship with the players in the locker room. Much of the time the team looks like they don’t want to play for him.
Like last year, I am starting to calculate what SKC needs from other teams to make the playoffs. If VAN does this, if RSL loses that. Unlike last year, I care much less. Again, if someone guaranteed me that SKC losing out the rest of the season would result in Vermes leaving the club, I’d take it. Better for every party in the long run.
Oh, we can spread the blame to the players. After all, these were all signed by Vermes too. There isn’t an aspect of this team he isn’t involved with. So there is no one to look at for collective incompetence but him.
You can’t say “the team doesn’t want to play for him” when they have all, emphatically, stated the opposite. There are a ton of things wrong with Vermes but losing the locker room isn’t one of them. He does bare a huge chunk of the responsibility for this as one of the 2 guys constructing the roster and as the guy refusing to sub and running guys into the ground but the tactics were sound. The execution was poor. That’s a player problem.
A player problem is a coaching problem when the execution isn’t just one or two games, one or two seasons, nor one or two players. Also, I didn’t say what you quoted, I said “much of the time the team looks like they don’t want to play for him.” I think that’s true (and couched as an opinion).
And were I wear a modest conspiracy hat, I’d argue it’s productive to glance at Toronto FC. How dark did that locker room get before player(s) felt comfortable speaking publicly about the discord and disagreement that existed? Of course you can find examples of them saying otherwise (because they wanted to keep their jobs).
Vermes often adjudicates players into the crowded SKC doghouse on whims fans never understand (nor deserve to one could argue). Why would any player say anything but how much they love their coach/employer? Why risk riding the bench or worse? Of course they state the opposite–and emphatically so!
But hey, I believe it’s true for some of them.
It wasn’t until TFC players knew a change was coming that they began saying the good stuff. Maybe we’ll see that same thing with SKC months or years from now. (I hope months).
As you said, he does bear “..a huge chunk of responsibility.” I think it’s bear, not bare, right? Dammit!
Yeah, it’s so hard to say what the players really think. If PV were fired tonight and the team was still schilling for him tomorrow, that would make things easy to interpret. As it stands, he’s a part of the team and the team will defend him until he’s not.