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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Earns 1-0 Win over Chicago

October 8, 2020 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Winston Reid's 67th-minute header propelled Sporting Kansas City (8-5-2, 26 points) to a 1-0 victory over Chicago Fire FC (4-8-4, 16 points) on Wednesday night at Children's Mercy Park.

The veteran center back's first MLS goal, paired with a second-minute penalty save from goalkeeper Tim Melia, helped Sporting vault to second place in the provisional Western Conference standings and gave the club its 250th all-time home win in all competitions. Manager Peter Vermes' men have now won four straight meetings against the Fire, who are winless in their last eight trips to Children's Mercy Park dating back to 2012.

Two changes adorned the Sporting Kansas City lineup from Saturday's 2-1 road win versus the Houston Dynamo. Returning from a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation, Gadi Kinda was notably deployed as the center forward in Sporting's three-man attack, while veteran Roger Espinoza replaced Felipe Hernandez in the midfield for his first start since Aug. 29 after missing the month of September through injury. Striker Alan Pulido, who bagged both goals in Houston, missed out Wednesday due to national team commitments with Mexico.

The game's first flashbulb moment came within 30 seconds of kickoff, when Fabian Herbers won Chicago a penalty kick following a costly Sporting giveaway in the defensive third. Robert Beric stepped to the spot for the Fire, having scored in each of his last five appearances, but Melia dove right to cast aside the forward's attempt and improve upon his brilliant penalty-saving resumé. Melia has stopped four of the last five penalties he has faced in MLS action and has 11 total regular-season penalty saves since 2016, six more than any other goalkeeper during that time.

Sporting responded positively after the early scare and carved out their first opening in the 18th minute as Gianluca Busio-making his 50th career appearance for the club in all competitions-received a pass from Kinda and curled marginally wide from the edge of the box. Right back Graham Zusi was injured on the play's buildup, suffering the brunt of a rash Francisco Calvo sliding challenge, and 20-year-old Academy product Jaylin Lindsey was summoned in his place.

Johnny Russell was next to ask questions of the Chicago backline in the 28th minute, gathering possession off a deflected Espinoza strike and cutting past a defender before hammering low through traffic. His shot was destined for the far left corner, but Fire midfielder Alvaro Medran was stationed near the goal line to make the clearance. Calvo then produced a vital block of his own seven minutes later, putting his head in front of a well-hit curler from Khiry Shelton that was bound for the top shelf.

Chicago and Sporting traded a flurry of opportunities on the cusp of intermission. Herbers snapped an open header wide of target off Boris Sekulic's cross, Busio narrowly missed the mark after cutting centrally from the left side, and the Fire's Djordje Mihailovic saw his chip shot carom back off the woodwork after the hosts committed another turnover in a dangerous position.

The second half delivered fewer clear-cut scoring chances, but the decisive breakthrough would come with 67 minutes on the clock. Russell whipped a tantalizing free kick into a crowded penalty area, where Reid shrugged off Brandt Bronico and nodded the ball powerfully off the left post and into the net past helpless Chicago goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.

Reid's game-winner was his first goal in a Sporting uniform since joining the club ahead of the 2020 campaign and gave Russell his 27th career assist for the team in all competitions. It also extended Sporting's team-record scoring streak to open an MLS campaign, as the club has found the back of the net in all 15 regular season matches this year and remains the only side yet to be shut out.

A resolute defensive display prevented Chicago from finding any legitimate look at an equalizer, with Reid notably becoming the first Sporting player since 2015 to notch a goal and record seven interceptions in an MLS match.

With a second successive triumph under their belts, Sporting will look to continue their winning ways Sunday when expansion club Nashville SC (4-5-6, 18 points) makes an inaugural visit to Children's Mercy Park. Kickoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. CT with tickets available at SeatGeek.com and live coverage on FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports GO, ESPN 94.5 FM and La Grande 1340 AM.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On the team conceding an early penalty...

I wasn't happy with the start of the game. I think the chances that we gave up, they were based off of our mistakes. The good thing is for some reason today the soccer gods were with us and they kept the ball out of the back of the net. The great thing is that we found a way to get three points. We've been on the wrong side of that many, many times - even recently. So to get the result like we did today was tremendous. It's a great three points.

On the tactical shift to the attack at halftime...

I think the biggest thing is they did a good job of clogging up the middle so it was hard to play the ball underneath to him. I think that was the biggest difficulty. They just did a good job of clogging up the middle. I think when we made the change and we moved the team around, it started to cause them quite a bit of problems in the game. I thought Gadi was much more effective in that place. Obviously, that's where he should play but I appreciate the fact that the guys tried. It didn't work but we've got to be able to make the adjustments and I think in the second half we were actually a lot better. It happens because of what we did and the changes we made. We put the players in the positions where they feel really comfortable.

On Tim Melia's penalty save...

Today I was saying, 'He better save it.' He's very good at penalty kicks. He's been excellent at it. I don't know what he does. I don't ask him. I leave him alone. I know that he realized he made a mistake with the clearance. Sometimes you've got to come up big and he did. That was good.

On the team's defensive performance in the second half...

I think the biggest thing was that we talked about having really good starting positions from our shape and that was the difference. I think that our shape was much better in the second half and I thought that we were a lot more disciplined. I've said it before, it's not easy in this league to break teams down. That was tough for them, as well.

Sporting Kansas City defender Winston Reid

On scoring the game-winning goal...

Obviously, I'm really happy but I'm most happy for the team to get another win and most importantly to keep a clean sheet. That's something we needed to do - we haven't kept one for a while. We've won two games in a row now and we have another game Sunday. Hopefully we can keep it rolling. I'm happy to score and happy to get the win, as well.

On Tim Melia saving an early penalty...

Tim probably thought there should be a little bit of entertainment for the first couple of minutes so that's why he decided to do that. All jokes aside, he came back and saved the penalty. He's done it on numerous occasions, so it didn't surprise me. All in all, we didn't start the game as well as we would have liked in the first ten minutes. The first half was a bit back and forth and in the second half, even though they had the ball, we had numerous amounts of chances on the counterattack to score. We got the win and that's what's important.

On the team's strong play in the second half...

Playing a new team is different and you have to also feel yourself into the game and figure out what your opponent's trying to do as well. They're a good team. They're good on the ball. They try to make runs in behind, and if not they come to feet. So we had to figure that out. The second half was much better. Even though they had the ball, I thought we limited them to very few chances - just shots outside of the box and Tim dealt really well with that.

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia

On his early penalty save...

Sloppy play from me. My feet were pretty poor all game if I'm being honest. Ultimately, I was lucky to make the save and I think it gave us a little bit of momentum, woke us all up in some twisted way, but I'm happy I was able to make the save and keep the shutout.

On his success facing penalty kicks...

We do a lot of work, all of us -- whatever position it is, whatever action it is, whether it's watching film, studying individual players, practicing things. We all put in a lot of work before the games start and it's something that we've been very fortunate with. With penalties, my surrounding staff does a really good job of preparing me and giving me all the tools I need to make a good decision in the game.

On the clean sheet and the play of the defense...

I think the last two games we've been a lot better and a lot more compact. I think the game before we were really calm coming out of the back and that gave us a little bit more confidence. Not as much this game - this game was scrappy and ugly but those are the types of games that kind of build the camaraderie in the group because it allows us to show that we can overcome poor things. We weren't clean on the ball. We were making mistakes, but we came together, we were compact defensively, guys were putting in effort all over the field. For me, Johnny Russell is possessed almost with how much effort he's putting in, he's buzzing around the field and he's been phenomenal for us. Everyone is bought in right now and it's something we need to do to make sure we're accumulating these points in a really important part of the season.

2020 MLS Regular Season

Match 15 of 23

Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas

Weather: 78 degrees and clear

Post-match Links

Download: Full match highlights

Watch: Winston Reid scores second-half winner

Download: Reaction from defender Winston Reid

Download: Reaction from goalkeeper Tim Melia

Download: Reaction from Manager Peter Vermes

Score 1 2 F

Sporting Kansas City (8-5-2, 26 points) 0 1 1

Chicago Fire FC (4-8-4, 16 points) 0 0 0

Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Graham Zusi (Jaylin Lindsey 21'), Roberto Puncec, Winston Reid, Amadou Dia; Ilie Sanchez, Roger Espinoza (Daniel Salloi 46'), Gianluca Busio (Felipe Hernandez 69'); Johnny Russell (C) (Erik Hurtado 87'), Gadi Kinda, Khiry Shelton

Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Andreu Fontas, Graham Smith, Cam Duke, Gerso Fernandes

Chicago Fire FC: Bobby Shuttleworth; Boris Sekulic (C.J. Sapong 73'), Brandt Bronico (Johan Kappelhof 73'), Francisco Calvo (C), Jonathan Bornstein; Mauricio Pineda, Alvaro Medran; Djordje Mihailovic (Micheal Azira 79'), Fabian Herbers (Przemyslaw Frankowski 58'), Ignacio Aliseda (Elliot Collier 79'); Robert Beric

Subs Not Used: Connor Sparrow, Wyatt Omsberg, Andre Reynolds, Brian Gutierrez

Scoring Summary:

SKC -- Winston Reid 1 (Johnny Russell 2) 67'

Misconduct Summary:

SKC -- Tim Melia (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 1'

CHI -- Francisco Calvo (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 19'

CHI -- Fabian Herbers (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 19'

SKC -- Roger Espinoza (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 24'

CHI -- Boris Sekulic (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 58'

SKC -- Winston Reid (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 62'

SKC -- Johnny Russell (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 77'

SKC -- Khiry Shelton (yellow card; simulation) 80'

Stat SKC CHI

Shots 13 10

Shots on Goal 3 3

Saves 2 2

Fouls 16 14

Offsides 2 5

Corner Kicks 7 4

Referee: Marcos de Oliveira

Assistant Referee: Cory Richardson

Assistant Referee: Brian Poeschel

Fourth Official: Ismir Pekmic

VAR: Jorge Gonzalez

AVAR: Sean Hurd

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Major League Soccer Stories from October 8, 2020


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