Sporting KC misses the mark in Music City

The mid-week match-up saw Sporting Kansas City fall 4-0 on the road at Supporters’ Shield leaders Nashville SC. The match featured two teams on opposite ends of the MLS standings. Nashville tied the MLS record for single-season home wins (14) and consecutive wins (10), and remained the only unbeaten home team in the league this season.

Nashville was always going to be a tough match; they sit on top of the table, have allowed the fewest goals and have the best goal differential. It did not take long for the Boys in Gold to show their quality. Nashville stars Hany Mukhtar, Sam Surridge, Andy Najar and Cristian Espinoza all contributed to a commanding 3-0 lead in the first half.  Forward Warren Madrigal added a goal in the second half on a penalty.

“Today, especially in the first half, we were miles away from them,” head coach Raphael Wicky told media. “I think, in a lot of moments, we defended not at all like we did in the last two and a half or three months. Not at all. I think we defended like kids. We defended like a very immature team. The goals we conceded are crosses in the box where we have bodies around but no one touches the opposition. No one is in body contact with someone and that is just not good enough against a team who is flying, who has a very good roster, who has a very good style of play and who are in big confidence. We have to, in those moments, compete better.”

With three games this week, head coach Raphael Wicky  needed to make several changes to the lineup after a tough 3-3 draw at home on Saturday. “Obviously, Justin Reynolds is out. That made me put Ian James as a right back. Emir (Karic’s) body has given us also signals in the recent weeks that it’s a lot for him right now. So I gave him a rest. I think Stephen Afrifa and Taylor Calheira have done a great job. They have played a lot of minutes. I think they have rarely played that many minutes in MLS and we felt like we needed some fresh legs up front there because in the last game as well, Ruben (Ramos Jr.) and Seymour (Reid) came in and brought a lot of energy. That’s also why you have these players to give them chances, opportunities and rotate. And with Calvin (Harris), it’s the same. Calvin has played so many minutes this year. He always has a big output and he has a little problem with his knee sometimes, especially when there’s congested games. So we said, ‘hey, let’s rest some guys and give opportunities to other guys.’ That’s how we had five changes, which is a lot I agree but certain changes were actually a must do. I think with Emir and Justin, I had to actually change them.”

Starters for Nashville.

In the tenth minute, Nashvile crossed to the far side of the box, Shapi Suleymanov tried to chest the ball and clear it, but Andy Nájar was able to body the ball away and centered the ball. Hany Mukhtar spun in the air and fired a shot home from close range.

Sporting KC went down 2-0 in the 17^th minute. Reed Baker-Whiting slid the ball to Mukhtar as the SKC defense collapsed around him; he knocked the ball to a wide-open Sam Surridge to knock it in with his left foot.

Nashville made it 3-0 in the 29^th minute.  Cristian Espinoza’s corner kick whipped in to six-yard-box. Najar’s run met the cross where he headed it past Stefan Cleveland at close range.

Sporting KC held on through most of the second half until second-half stoppage time when Nashville was awarded a penalty kick. Video Assistant Referee called for a review for a handball on Jansen Miller. A shot hit his arm from point-blank range. After review, referee Joshua Encarnacion awarded Nashville a penalty kick. Warren Madrigal put it home to make it 4-0.

Sporting Kansas City: Stefan Cleveland; Ian James (Jake Davis 69’), Jansen Miller, Wyatt Meyer, Jayden Reid (Emir Karic 81’); Andre Luiz (Calvin Harris 46’), Zorhan Bassong (C) (Jacob Bartlett 46’), Kwaku Agyabeng, Shapi Suleymanov; Ruben Ramos Jr., Seymour Reid (Taylor Calheira 53’)

Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Ethan Bartlow, Stephen Afrifa, Capita Capemba

Nashville SC: Brian Schwake; Andy Najar (Daniel Lovitz 68’), Maxwell Woledzi, Jeisson Palacios, Reed Baker-Whiting; Matthew Corcoran (Bryan Acosta 76’), Edvard Tagseth, Elias Saad; Cristian Espinoza (Shak Mohammed 68’), Sam Surridge (Alex Muyl 83’), Hany Mukhtar (C) (Warren Madrigal 76’)

Subs Not Used: Joe Willis, Josh Bauer, Jack Maher, Patrick Yazbek

Scoring Summary:
NSH – Hany Mukhtar 15 (Andy Najar 9) 10’
NSH – Sam Surridge 17 (Hany Mukhtar 8, Reed Baker-Whiting 5) 17’
NSH – Andy Najar 3 (Cristian Espinoza 14) 29’
NSH – Warren Madrigal 6 (Penalty Kick) 95+

Misconduct Summary:
None

Referee: Joshua Encarnacion
Assistant Referee: Ryan Graves
Assistant Referee: Justin Howard
Fourth Official: Drew Fischer
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero
AVAR: Cameron Blanchard