SKC v TFC Player Ratings: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

The title is hyperbolic but allow me to explain!

That was a really fun game to watch, and what was maybe surprising but maybe not is…. Sporting Kansas City came out attacking! Again! And it worked. Again! Except for this weird ten-minute aberration, which we have talked about enough and I will not acknowledge further, it’s almost as if Peter Vermes has figured out that you can win games both by denying your opponents the chance to score many goals, AND by scoring many more goals than your opponent. Even during away games that works!

This was the prevailing narrative, and no, I don’t think it’s actual genius, I think it’s PV adapting to his team as player availability, fitness, and such would suggest. But I think lots of people were talking about how well it worked and why SKC may stick with it, and then they did, and then it worked! It looked a little dicey at times perhaps, especially during the opening 0-0 moments, but those kind of road wins are huge, and you love to see it.

So, let’s call it genius!

Heartbreaking?

The last-minute goal, ugh. Honestly can’t say Toronto FC didn’t deserve it, and if you told me that we would win this one 3-1 before it started, I’d have been thrilled, but that last goal did feel like a last gulp of sour milk after finishing off some delicious fresh baked cookies.

In any case, you were promised player ratings, so let’s go. A little harsh to SKC I feel, but it’s largely because the fantasy point system gives extra points to defenders for a clean sheet, which, alas, we did not have. I feel like Melia had a better game than this says.

Jake Davis. Yeah! That was awesome. apart from the lower ratings to Melia and the subs, I can’t fault this too much. I think we played a full point better than TFC. They did stay in it and it kind of had that odd feeling that whoever scored the first would score a second. I just didn’t envision us 3-0 up at any point in this away game this early in the season.

I feel like this is a positive trend though. If Vermes can find a great blend of attacking soccer with classic KC defending, this year could be better than last. And last year wasn’t that bad (we don’t talk about those first ten games either).