MLS Sporting Kansas City

Busio Strikes as Sporting Ties Orlando 1-1

Published on April 23, 2021 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Gianluca Busio marked his 50th career regular season appearance with a goal to help Sporting Kansas City (1-0-1, 4 points) to a 1-1 draw against Orlando City SC (0-0-2, 2 points) in an exciting Children's Mercy Park home opener on Friday night.

Sporting's two longest-tenured Homegrown Players combined on the cusp of halftime as Busio notched his sixth MLS goal off an assist from Daniel Salloi, but Orlando responded in the 79th minute through Nani to split the points in the first match at Children's Mercy Park since December. VAR notably intervened three times throughout the contest, with Nani's equalizer awarded after video review and both teams having goals disallowed for offside.

An unchanged Sporting Kansas City lineup from last Saturday's 2-1 road win over the New York Red Bulls saw two midfielders reach notable landmarks. Just as 18-year-old Busio played his 50th regular season game, 34-year-old veteran Roger Espinoza moved into fourth place on the club's all-time chart for regular season minutes. The biggest milestone of the night, however, belonged to Sporting Manager Peter Vermes, who became the second person in league history to participate in 600 MLS matches as a player or a head coach (regular season and playoffs).

Making his Children's Mercy Park debut after collecting his first MLS win last weekend, 20-year-old goalkeeper John Pulskamp was called into immediate action after an Orlando long ball was pegged into the air by Sporting defender Nicolas Isimat-Mirin and fell to the foot of Tesho Akindele. The Orlando forward fired goalward with only Pulskamp to beat, but the Homegrown keeper produced a fine reflex save to keep the game goalless.

Isimat thought he had punctuated his first Sporting home match with a goal in the 13th minute. The Frenchman buried a close-range rebound after his fellow countryman Remi Walter forced a save from Pedro Gallese, but Video Assistant Referee Chris Penso prompted head official Joseph Dickerson to reexamine the play. Isimat was then ruled to be in an offside position, marking the first time VAR has overturned a Sporting goal since March 2019.

Orlando enjoyed a strong spell midway through the first half and threatened with chances from Ruan and Andres Perea in the 17th and 23rd minutes, but Espinoza and Sporting center back Andreu Fontas made crucial defensive plays to keep the visitors at bay. Shortly thereafter, Benji Michel slotted home a rebound after Pulskamp saved Nani's blistering turf-trimmer, but the Orlando midfielder was flagged offside.

Pulskamp delivered once more in the 40th minute, racing off his line to win the ball cleanly off the feed of advanced defender Rodrigo Schlegel near the penalty spot.

Sporting broke the deadlock in impressive fashion seconds before intermission. Salloi did brilliantly to apply pressure and create an Orlando turnover on the left edge of the box before pulling the ball back to Busio. The Sporting KC Academy product took a composed touch, swiveled his hips and cannoned a low drive inside the near post past Gallese. The well-taken goal gave Salloi his first assist since September 2019 and extended Sporting's home scoring streak to 18 regular season matches.

The Lions wasted no time swinging for an equalizer in the second half and looked to have restored parity in the 49th minute when Perea settled a pass on the left side of the box and hammered a shot in off the crossbar. VAR resurfaced, however, and Perea was deemed to be offside when the ball glanced off his teammate Antonio Carlos in the buildup.

Club-record signing Alan Pulido entered for Sporting as a halftime substitute and almost doubled his side's lead in the 54th minute, receiving a clever pass from Luis Martins and dragging a left-footed effort inches wide of Gallese's left-hand post. Fontas nearly bagged a long-range stunner five minutes later, only to see his admirable attempt cast aside by the fingertips of a diving Gallese.

Orlando gained traction in the late stages and ultimately drew level with less than a dozen minutes remaining. Nani's impudent backheel finish was initially disallowed for an offside infraction in the attack's leadup, but VAR ruled in favor of the Lions this time around and the game-tying goal was given.

With four points from their first two matches this season, Sporting will continue their 2021 MLS campaign next Saturday with a 1 p.m. CT visit to rivals Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium. The Western Conference clash will be shown live on Bally Sports Kansas City Plus, Bally Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports GO.

QUOTES

Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes

Thoughts on the match...

My overall thoughts on the game are that a point probably was a fair result but we should have been able to close the game out at the end there. I'm not happy with the goal we gave away. I thought in the first half they probably were a little better. In the second half, I thought that we were better. I thought that we were smarter in the game and I think it was very hard for them to break us down.

On the play of Gianluca Busio...

He's done a great job. He's done an excellent job. The goal he scores - people aren't going to look at this way, but from my perspective - I look at it as being an incredibly high-level goal. You could even say world-class from the perspective of the tight space that he receives it, he turns, and the quick release to hit it to the near post and overpower the keeper. It was tremendous. The play itself was really good too because we work on that pressing moment. The other piece is, when Daniel (Salloi) won the ball, he was really good to recognize that Busio was the guy furthest advanced in the field and the goal itself was, again, just tremendous.

On whether Busio still surprises him...

I've very proud of him because I love his attitude. I love the way that he goes about his business. He's always up for a challenge. That's what's great about him and he can find his way. He is just a pure soccer player. That's why he can move around the field like he does and perform the way he does. He's just an incredible kid. He's got a great mentality and he's got a great soccer IQ. I'm always proud of him.

Positives from the performance...

Our second half performance was good based on the tactical change that we made. I thought that we were a lot smarter, especially defensively. I thought at that point they were having a tough time. They weren't finding the game like they did in the first half. I think the tactical adjustment we made for the second half and the way the guys implemented it and executed it was really good. The other thing is that I think we kept our wits about us, but I'm just disappointed about the goal that we gave up at the end. I know they were pushing forward and getting a lot of players in the attack. They moved at one point to having five players on the front line. But we've got to be able to handle that. We just made some mistakes and I think it would have been really simple for us to deal with.

Sporting Kansas City midfielder Gianluca Busio

On his 45' goal...

We had a good high press and Daniel [Salloi] did well there and got to the end line and cut it back. I took a good first touch and the defender was kind of shading the front post, he was cutting off the far post and I didn't want to try to dribble around him, so I looked up and saw the goalie and hit it front post. I hit it low enough and hard enough where it would be hard for him to save it and in the end, it went in.

On his new role in the team...

I can get used to any position. I just want to be on the field and win games. Scoring goals is what I always want to do no matter if it's from forward or midfield or left wing, I want to score goals. I think I was unlucky not to get one the first game but this game I got one. I always want to score from anywhere on the field.

Thoughts on his goal...

I think it was a good finish. I have the technique to hit balls like that and I always have confidence in myself that I can score goals and it feels good to get one in the second game of the season. As soon as I took my touch, I knew I was shooting. It was either far post or front post and he was cutting off the far post, so I decided to take it front, and it was a really good strike.

Thoughts tactically on false nine position...

I think it's just however the game's going. With Orlando, they did a really good job with the midfielders dropping back and I didn't want to run all over the place, they had really good movement. In those moments, I have to drop back more and help the midfielders because they can't run all over the place and they don't have unlimited energy, so I feel like I need to drop back and help. There are triggers where we can step up and time it right. Being on the frontline, we have to figure out when we go and when I go, hopefully the whole team has to follow and today we got a goal out of it.

On space and time with the ball compared to previous game vs. New York Red Bulls...

In the second half, I felt like there was more space. Playing as a forward, I've learned that there's always someone on your back and I'm still getting used to that. It felt the same for me although New York did it with a little more energy and their game plan was to press more. I think Orlando was similar to New York also with there always being someone on my back. I don't know if that's what comes with the position of if that's just the team's we've played. They were intense and, on my back, the whole time.

On what he's taken away from switching positions...

I've always been a midfielder so going back to midfielder after playing nine isn't that much of a difference for me. You definitely have to play a little different at striker. There's somebody on your back so you're looking to combine more and play back and then go forward. At midfielder, it's more space and you can see the game more. When you get it as a midfielder you can turn and get more but as a forward you have to connect the game more. I think it was just a little different mindset when I switched to midfield, like I'm going to go and create more and a striker going to combine more.

On Daniel Salloi's form to open the season...

He's always had it in him. Obviously, he's had a tough couple seasons but the thing with his is he's always in the right spots He does everything well and even when he's not scoring as much, he's still always there. Major props to him, he's a good player and I've been playing with him for a while now and we're really good friends, so we have that connection. I'm more than happy to see him playing this well but it's what I expected from him.

Sporting Kansas City is owned by Sporting Club, an entity founded by a group of local business and community leaders comprised of the Patterson Family, Cliff Illig, Pat Curran, Greg Maday and Robb Heineman. Sporting prides itself on a commitment and vision to provide high-performance experiences. Sporting Club purchased the team from the Hunt Sports Group in 2006, and under its direction has opened Swope Soccer Village, Children's Mercy Park, Compass Minerals Sporting Fields and Compass Minerals National Performance Center while investing in the Sporting KC Academy and Sporting Kansas City II for developing local youth into homegrown talent. A charter member of Major League Soccer, Sporting are two-time MLS Cup champions (2000, 2013) and four-time winners of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2004, 2012, 2015, 2017).

2021 MLS Regular Season | Match 2

Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas

Weather: 55 degrees and cloudy

Score 1 2 F

Sporting Kansas City (1-0-1, 4 points) 1 0 1

Orlando City SC (0-0-2, 2 points) 0 1 1

Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Jaylin Lindsey, Nicolas Isimat-Mirin (Roberto Puncec 63'), Andreu Fontas, Luis Martins; Remi Walter, Gadi Kinda (Alan Pulido 46'), Roger Espinoza (C); Khiry Shelton, Gianluca Busio, Daniel Salloi (Johnny Russell 74')

Subs Not Used: Kendall McIntosh, Kaveh Rad, Cam Duke, Felipe Hernandez, Grayson Barber, Wilson Harris

Orlando City SC: Pedro Gallese; Ruan, Antonio Carlos, Rodrigo Schlegel, Kyle Smith; Benji Michel (Chris Mueller 57'), Sebastian Mendez, Junior Urso (Alexander Alvarado 77'), Andres Perea; Tesho Akindele (Matheus Aias 77'), Nani (C) (Joye Dezart 89')

Subs Not Used: Brandon Austin, Michael Halliday, Rio Hope-Gund, Joao Moutinho, Jordan Bender

Scoring Summary:

SKC -- Gianluca Busio 1 (Daniel Salloi 1) 45'

ORL -- Nani 1 (Chris Mueller 1) 79'

Misconduct Summary:

ORL -- Kyle Smith (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 12'

ORL -- Sebastian Mendez (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 61'

SKC -- Roberto Puncec (yellow card; unsporting behavior 86')

Stat SKC ORL

Shots 9 11

Shots on Goal 5 4

Saves 3 4

Fouls 16 12

Offsides 3 4

Corner Kicks 3 4

Referee: Joseph Dickerson

Assistant Referee: Kyle Atkins

Assistant Referee: Kathryn Nesbitt

Fourth Official: Brandon Stevis

VAR: Chris Penso

AVAR: Peter Balciunas

Check out the Sporting Kansas City Statistics



Major League Soccer Stories from April 23, 2021


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