Sporting KC
Sporting KC falls 4-1 to St. Louis CITY as playoff hopes dim
Sporting KC fell 4-1 against St. Louis City who scored four goals in 17 minutes to earn the victory and win the first season series.
With just three games remaining in the 2023 season, Sporting Kansas City traveled to St. Louis on Saturday night with their playoff lives on the line. Needing to make up at least two points in the last three matches to even have a shot at the playoffs, Kansas City didn’t have any room for error. They certainly couldn’t have a repeat of the inaugural match between these two sides when STL won 4-0 back in May.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned for Sporting KC.
The first 30 minutes of the match didn’t have much action as both teams largely seemed to be feeling each other out. Tim Melia did have two important saves after some defensive mishaps and a loose ball in the box, but other than that it was a relatively calm affair.
Things took a turn after the half hour mark. Saint Louis really started asserting their attack, and fullback Anthony Markanich sent a ball across the face of goal that Klauss got a foot to but couldn’t quite redirect on frame.
Moments later Sporting KC answered with a couple chances of their own, coming in the form of a Daniel Salloi shot near the side of the six yard box and a Felipe Guttierez shot about 15 yards out from goal. Burki had to pounce on both shots to keep the game scoreless, but neither tested the Swiss international with too much vigor.
In the final seven minutes of the half the game started to turn very chippy. STL forward Samuel Adeniran took down Jake Davis with a very hard tackle that multiple Sporting KC players took exception to, most notably Erik Thommy. While Adeniran probably should have been shown a yellow card, Armando Villarreal let him off with just a warning.
Minutes later Davis returned the favor as he tackled Markanich with a bit of fervor. The St. Louis fullback popped up and shoulder checked Davis to show his displeasure, which caused Villarreal to show the first card of the game in an attempt to cool things down.
The game remained scoreless despite some end-to-end play for the rest of the half.
The second half stared similar to the first half with both teams easing into it, but as soon as the game hit the 60 minute mark things took off again. Daniel Salloi had a chance for Sporting KC that went off the underside of the cross bar yet somehow didn’t go in. Moments later, a nearly identical situation happens on the other end of the field, but this time it was Klauss who put the shot over the cross bar.
Sporting continued to fight but the pressure from St. Louis began to mount after 65th minute. It suddenly seemed as if St. Louis smelled blood in the water, and it seemed only a matter of time before they found it.
In the 73rd minute Sporting KC gave up a set piece in the attacking third, and STL forward Samuel Adeniran perfectly got a head to the ball that went just over Alan Pulido and redirected it past Tim Melia to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead.
Samuel Adeniran heads in a perfect cross from Eduard Löwen to put @stlCITYsc on top! pic.twitter.com/yWMKR2ai8g
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 1, 2023
A mere three minutes later, Jared Stroud dribbled around the Sporting KC box until he found just enough space to double St. Louis’ lead with a shot to the right of Tim Melia.
Two goals in three minutes for @stlCITYsc.
Jared Stroud makes it 2-0. pic.twitter.com/Q5mzWB2kot
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 1, 2023
If two wasn’t enough to seal the three points for St. Louis, striker João Klauss perfectly volleys a cross to give St. Louis their third goal in seven minutes.
João Klauss hits this volley perfectly! 💥
It's raining goals @stlCITYsc as they score three goals in seven minutes. pic.twitter.com/jbZ688L5uH
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 1, 2023
And if you wanted to re-live the nightmare that was May 20, when Sporting KC lost their first match here by a scoreline of 4-0, Klauss made sure you could do just that as he poked this ridiculous shot past Melia for St. Louis’ fourth goal in of the night.
João Klauss hits this volley perfectly! 💥
It's raining goals @stlCITYsc as they score three goals in seven minutes. pic.twitter.com/jbZ688L5uH
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 1, 2023
Right before the game ended forward Willy Agada did head one past Burki to give Sporting KC their lone goal across two matches on the road in St. Louis.
Willy Agada pulls one back to salvage some embarrassment for SKC. 4-1 loss goes final. #SportingKC #STLvSKC pic.twitter.com/mxxgF0oceO
— Chad Smith (@PlayFor90) October 1, 2023
Sporting have now finished their first two matches at CITY Park having been thoroughly shellacked by a combined 8-1, something that will certainly sit with Peter Vermes for the entirety of the offseason. While St. Louis CITY fight for first place in the West, Sporting seem to be going in the opposite direction.
Even though there just two games left in the season, there’s still mathematical hope left for Sporting to make the playoffs, but they’ll have to win on the road in Salt Lake City and at home on Decision Day against Minnesota and then hope the rest of the chips fall in their favor. It won’t be easy, and it’s a very uphill battle.
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This team doesn’t deserve playoffs.
You forgot to mention the part where Fontas passed the ball from the end line to an unmarked Stroud at the top of the box for the second goal.
It was a great assist from Fontas, to be fair! (joking so I don’t cry instead lol)
He is known for his passing.
He probably couldn’t keep up with the flood of goals that happened over so few minutes.
I understood that reference dot jif
Yeah I really don’t understand people trying to blame Fontas or Rosero for any of this. They both made quite a few crucial interceptions and clearances up until that point. Sporting was just completely out coached in the second half. STL made a number of tactical subs who all contributed to goals immediately. Vermes made one like for like, went down 2 goals, made another like for like sub and then sat on his his hands until the game was already over. Past time for Vermes to go.
Rosero played a great game. Fontas did his normal thing of playing 90-95% solid and then 5% of “why are you still employed as a soccer player” game. That’s fine if you’re Daniel Salloi but not if you’re a CB.
On the subs, kinda for Radoja is not “like for like” FYI but I get what you’re trying to say
Hard not to blame Fontas on the second one. Play it out for a corner. I get that he mishit it, but he was aiming where it went, just way beyond that.
I honestly didn’t think the defense was terrible on any of them, weirdly. At least not the defenders, besides the Fontas one.
The first is Pulido (I guess Ndenbe committed the “foul” leading to the free kick, but it was soft as hell).
2nd is Fontas.
3rd and 4th I guess Ndenbe is getting beat by Klauss, but the midfield (outside of Remi) didn’t get back to help. Thommy, Kinda and the wingers don’t come back after the turnovers. They quit out there IMO.
That cemented it for me, I think it would be better for the franchise to miss the playoffs at this point even if a magical qualification would be fun in the short term. PV has had “his” lineup for quite a while now and it’s wildly inconsistent and underperforming. Significant changes are needed. Many of the pieces are good but the whole is lesser than the parts.
I’m still flabbergasted that Shelton is starting over all the various options on the bench.
Has anyone else thought that Gutierrez is not only a shadow of his former self since returning, but actively seems like he doesn’t really care? I just get this weirdly uninspired vibe from his body language and play. He feels like a liability, which is a bizarre and sad way to experience one of my favorite former players.
I think a lot of that has to do with Pulido constantly taking up his space in the midfield, it throws off the rhythm and created quite a few bottlenecks when they were both trying to occupy the same space. Take last night’s game for example, Pulido spent nearly the entire game in behind Guti in the midfield position forcing Guti to play in the forward spot. (In fact he was in behind Redoja for much of the game as well).If Vermes wants Pulido to play in the midfield, take Guti out, start him in the midfield and put Agada up top.
This needs to be discussed. I noted that pulido took up all of gutierrez’s space and movement. It made it so Gutierrez didn’t have a clear movement path and their CBs were free to help their FBs. Combine this with pulido’s inability to dribble a single soul and what was the point of him being on the field. This was a perfect game for ahada to excel in what he does best but vermes wants to play vermes ball, no matter the cost.
I really feel like Pulido’s positioning is the ripple effect of Thommy. Every 8 on the roster, except him, drops back to be an outlet for the buildup a few times a game, regularly. Thommy practically refuses. He wants to play like a second striker and it forces other guys to go back and help.
Would they have been better off last night starting Thommy at RW instead of Shelton?
This is how I feel. Especially looking at our roster vs. STL. Burki is the only guy on that team who I think would be a nailed on starter for SKC (even though I love Tim). They’ve got other players who are good (Lowen would play) but I don’t know that any of their guys are head and shoulders better than our best XI. But STL gels as a team and are all on the same page, whereas any rotation from SKC = a massive drop off and we seem so disjointed and disconnected.
I won’t delude myself into thinking that Vermes is going to be fired. But roster and front office changes NEED to happen. Bliss needs to go. And Fontas, while some may feel like he’s being scapegoated, needs to go.
This team needs a reset.
I’d include Klauss. But your point is solid.
TBH, I don’t really rate Klauss. I don’t think he’s particularly good with his feet but has gotten some really lucky goals (ATX literally passing him the ball for a 1v1 with the keeper).
I’d rather have Pulido.
If I can only have one, I’d choose Pulido too. But Klauss who be a wild change of pace. Both literally (he seems faster than Pulido, who isn’t pacey) and he is just so big it’s something KC have lacked for years (Shelton is large, but he doesn’t use his body well when it comes to winning headers/attacking — he has decent hold up play, but that’s it).
This line from PV typifies his inability to accept responsibility, “ the game wasn’t a 4-1 game as far as I’m concerned”
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…yeah, sure. The score line disagrees. I guess SKC can now play well for 72 minutes and that negates any other factual data in his mind.
PV and this team look lost and I don’t believe PV has the ability to fix it.