Recap: Sporting KC falls 3-0 to Minnesota

Sporting KC had the chance to level it before halftime when Joveljic and Toye combined beautifully. Toye was played into the box by Joveljic but Dayne St. Clair blocked the resulting shot at close range.

That goal could have changed the complexion of the match, but the 59th minute goal by Pereyra definitely changed the tone. A poor giveaway in midfield by Voloder led to a quick counter for the Loons. Robin Lod drove towards the box before unleashing a shot that was initially saved by Pulskamp. The ball went to the side, right where Pereyra was making his run. Pulskamp scrambled quickly but could not close the distance in time to prevent Pereyra from putting the ball back into the net.

Markanich put on the second portion of a clinic in heading in the 63rd minute. With SKC scrambling, Pulskamp made a stop but the ball rebounded out to Nectarios Triantis. The Loon midfielder crossed it back across the box to Markanich, leaping over the SKC defense. Markanich headed the ball down to the inside of the post, out of Pulskamp’s reach.

Zavagnin had planned for changes around the 60th minute, “We didn’t need the goal to start the second half and as we’ve come in from halftime down in a lot of games this year, we felt in the second half, as we started adding more bodies into the game around the 60th minute, we thought that we’d be in that position to now put our foot on the gas and now go in the last 30 minutes. But unfortunately, I think the second goal really hurt us. If I’m not mistaken, it was around the 59th minute, right before we were going to add a few guys into the game. That changed a little bit of the game plan, but they didn’t have much in the game and the longer they went with that, I thought we defended actually pretty well in that formation in the first half. So I decided to stick with that a little bit longer to try to draw the game out, hopefully get it into the last 30 minutes and then start adding attacking players.”

Sporting KC could not find their first goal of the match. They hoped it would trigger a comeback after their subs came into the game. They return home to face the Houston Dynamo FC on October 18th in their final match of the season.

Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Ian James, Alan Montes, Robert Voloder; Jake Davis, Memo Rodriguez (Erik Thommy 64′), Nemanja Radoja (Santi Munoz 74′), Zorhan Bassong (Jacob Bartlett 88′), Logan Ndenbe (Tim Leibold 74′); Mason Toye (Daniel Salloi 75′), Dejan Joveljic (C)

Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Jansen Miller, Khiry Shelton, Stephen Afrifa

Minnesota United FC: Dayne St. Clair; Jefferson Diaz, Morris Duggan, Michael Boxall (C), Anthony Markanich (Nicolas Romero 75′); Bongokuhle Hlongwane (Julian Gressel 86′), Nectarios Triantis (Dominik Fitz 82′), Wil Trapp (Hassani Dotson 81′), Joseph Rosales; Robin Lod (Owen Gene 81′), Joaquin Pereyra

Subs Not Used: Alec Smir, Alisa Randell, Kieran Chandler, Mamadou Dieng

Scoring Summary:
MIN — Anthony Markanich 8 (Joaquin Pereyra 11) 25′
MIN — Joaquin Pereyra 5 (unassisted) 59′
MIN — Anthony Markanich 9 (Nectarios Triantis 2) 63′

Misconduct Summary:
SKC — Zorhan Bassong (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 53′
SKC — Jake Davis (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 90′

Referee: Natalie Simon
Assistant Referee: Jeremy Kieso
Assistant Referee: Ian McKay
Fourth Official: Sergii Demianchuk
VAR: Kevin Stott
AVAR: John Krill