MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Earns 1-0 Win over Chivas

Published on August 1, 2023 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City punched a ticket to the Leagues Cup 2023 knockout stage on Monday by claiming a convincing 1-0 win over Liga MX powerhouse Chivas Guadalajara at sold-out Children's Mercy Park.

Captain Johnny Russell was the difference maker, hammering home a ruthless strike in the 27th minute that cemented victory and, more importantly, sealed a second-place finish in Central Region Group 3 that kept Kansas City's title hunt alive in Leagues Cup.

The result sets up a mouthwatering Round of 32 clash between Sporting and Central Region Group 4 winner Deportivo Toluca FC on Friday night at Children's Mercy Park. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. CT with live coverage on Apple TV and tickets available at SeatGeek.com beginning Tuesday at 10 a.m. CT.

Credential Application: The accreditation application is open to media for Leagues Cup 2023 and the deadline to apply for Sporting KC's home match against Deportivo Toluca FC is at 4 p.m. CT on Wednesday.

With the much-needed victory-one that saw the dominant hosts enjoy 63% of possession and limit Chivas to a single shot on target-Sporting defeated a Liga MX opponent for the first time since ousting Toluca in the 2019 Concacaf Champions League.

Boosted by a sizeable contingent of fans inside the stadium on Monday, Liga MX leaders Chivas were swiftly eliminated from Leagues Cup after suffering their second defeat in four days, having fallen 3-1 to FC Cincinnati late last week. The club has now lost its last five matches against MLS opposition dating back to 2018.

Manager Peter Vermes made one change to his starting lineup from Sporting's previous Leagues Cup match at FC Cincinnati on July 23. With forward Alan Pulido serving the first of a two-game suspension in the tournament, attacking midfielder and fellow Designated Player Erik Thommy returned to the starting XI as a false nine up front. Sporting's bench, meanwhile, had two notable inclusions with striker Willy Agada and goalkeeper Tim Melia available for selection after overcoming long-term injuries.

An electric Children's Mercy Park atmosphere fueled a frenetic start on the pitch as Sporting concocted the game's first chance after 14 minutes. Russell found a pocket of space on the edge of the penalty area and sent a venomous blast inches over the crossbar, much to the relief of helpless Chivas goalkeeper Jose Rangel. In the buildup to the play, Sporting defender Tim Leibold appeared to have been fouled inside the box, but referee Lukasz Szpala was never summoned to the VAR monitor.

Russell remained a menace and intercepted a pass in Sporting's attacking third in the 17th minute, setting up Gadi Kinda for a swivel and strike that was blocked. Eight minutes later, the duo combined again as Kinda ran onto Russell's sumptuous backheel pass only to see his close-range dink shot cleared off the goal line.

Sporting's captain gave his side a well-deserved lead in the 27th minute. Kinda whipped in a tantalizing service from the right channel that Thommy attempted to bicycle kick goalward. The German made the slightest of touches by caroming the ball toward Russell on the left side of the box. With an emphatic strike low into the far-right corner, the Scottish winger rippled the back of the net to ignite celebrations among the Sporting faithful and give the hosts an invaluable 1-0 advantage. Russell now has goals in back-to-back home appearances at Children's Mercy Park, while Thommy has a team-best eight assists this season in all competitions.

Hungry for more, Russell nearly bagged his second goal in as many minutes by swiftly beating Chivas right back Alan Mozo and smashing his near-post effort just wide into the side netting. Shortly thereafter, the all-action Russell curled a free kick marginally over the bar from distance. That play preceded another intricately worked attack from Sporting, with Gutierrez and Thommy interplaying neatly before the latter had his shot deflected aside.

Sporting's rampant dangerman was at it again 10 minutes into the second half as Kinda set Russell free down the left side, but his ensuing shot at full stride sailed high and wide.

Chivas seldom threatened Sporting over the course of 90 minutes, but 17-year-old forward Yael Padilla brought a spark off the bench and thrashed a hopeful shot high of the mark in the 82nd minute.

Homegrown forward Daniel Salloi entered the fray in the late stages, logging his 200th career appearance for Sporting in all competitions, and forced a save from Rangel with a 30-yard piledriver on 88 minutes. At the opposite end, Chivas center back Antonio Briseño nearly latched onto a half-cleared corner kick by nodding a header a few feet wide.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On Sporting's dominant performance in the 1-0 win...

You guys have heard me say in the past that it's very important that when we step on the field, we play the best version of who we are, not necessarily what the other team is doing. And we can't, as much as we have to be very respectful of our opponent, we always have to try to play our game. And our game has always been that we're a possession-oriented team. We're a team that wants to try to break you down and create chances based on that possession. And I thought that we actually did that. We created a couple of really good chances. I thought the possession was important, but I also think possession was important for the entirety of the 90 minutes. The reason being is because when you're able to keep the ball as much as we did in the first half, I thought that we took a lot of steam out of them. You could see that they were tired. We had a few guys that were tired, but they're still trying to get back fit. Felipe Gutierrez played very well in the first half. Khiry Shelton did as well. They're two guys that need to get 90 minutes fit. But heck of a performance from both of them and the rest of the group. I think the ball movement was very important to the overall win in the game. And then the other thing I think that we did really well is we managed the game over the course of 90 minutes. We managed it really well.

On the several thousand Chivas fans in attendance...

We've been very fortunate to have a lot of finals in this stadium. And so we have learned in the early years and the times that we were in finals, you have to understand that even though you're playing at home, if you win, you move on. If you don't, you're done. And so it was the same thing for them. And instead of us worrying about entertaining tonight, the most important thing was to get the win. But based on our style of play, I think we entertained and we won. And so that's a good thing. But I go back to it. The first thing was that, as I said to the guys, the only thing that's important is us winning. You don't have to worry. The crowd's already here for you. Our fans are here for us. If the other fans are here for the team, it doesn't really matter to us. Just keep doing your thing and the game will end in the correct way.

On Erik Thommy playing the false nine and Sporting winning without Alan Pulido...

I think we've kind of had to do that over the last 20 months just because of the injuries we've had to our team. So I think the group has mentally handled that piece better and better as time has gone on. What I would say is that everywhere else in the field, I wasn't so surprised. And I don't mean this in a bad way, but I mean in a very good way. I thought Tommy was excellent in the way that he played the position because he was a very good reference point as a number nine who came underneath. He had a lot of similarities to Alan because Alan plays very good in between the lines. But the other part of it is that he stretched the game. He was very good at putting the back line under pressure. And then the other thing is between our center forward and especially our two attacking midfielders in Gutierrez and Kinda, they pressed their backs really well and put them under pressure and didn't give them a lot of time on the ball. And I think those two things were very important for us over the course of 90 minutes.

On Sporting's fluidity in attack...

I think the guys started to feel it. I think what happens is that when you start moving the ball and you're keeping the ball as we were, all of a sudden you get a level of confidence and then you start to play very instinctively as opposed to thinking about, hey, I've got to be here. I've got to be there. You just start to move into the places based on your spatial awareness in the game. And I thought you could see the confidence just exude as the game went on. And even the way we started the second half, I thought it was much better than we've started a lot of other second halves where we're in the game. And then we picked the moments where we had to maybe play the ball over the top and not be so set on trying to keep the ball in certain actions when sometimes you just got to kick it as far as you can away from your goal and reset and start again. The guys were efficient in that regard.

On Sporting's defense earning the shutout...

It's (down to) concentration. We've taken these last few weeks of training and spent a lot of time just on our defending and our shape, our continuity from side to side, east to west, north to south, and our compaction. We've worked a lot on that and we've got to keep doing. And I think there's a real focus. And then the last piece is that you have to make good decisions at the right time. There are times when you've got to keep the ball. There are other times when you're in the back and it's not on. When you're trying to come out, you can't play. Sometimes, like I said, you've just got to put it over the top. You've got to go counter-press them and see if you can use field position. It's almost like you're playing like the NFL at that moment. It's all about field position with the ball.

On if this win will help Sporting beat more Mexican teams in Leagues Cup...

Every game is different. Every game is different. Every team is different. We had a great start in Cincinnati. It was unfortunate because with Alan's red card, he didn't mean to do what he did. He slipped, he fell. But unfortunately, things changed. Within the game, we played very well. And so when we come to this game and play Chivas, I have the utmost respect for Liga MX. I think the players, number one, are of high quality, I think they have street smarts within the game. And so I think for us, it's great experience because our league continues to mature. You can see in the games that we're playing, our teams are getting good results, but I don't think it's because we're lucky. I think it's because there's a high quality of players within our league as well. And I also think that the style of play, the way that our teams play, the athleticism within our players, lends itself to good results. And obviously, tonight was another one of those situations. I'll finish on that point and just say again, the management of the game is so important against Mexican teams because they're incredibly smart on how to find moments to steal something from you even when you're not paying attention. And tonight, our focus and concentration was very good for the 90 minutes.

Sporting Kansas City captain Johnny Russell

Thoughts on the match...

I think you've seen it last week as well when we went to Cincinnati and the way we started the game. We came out flying, controlled it and then obviously the red card happens and it makes it a lot more difficult. But I thought even after that, we played some nice stuff. We knew tonight going into the game, it was a must win. It's a win or out situation, so we didn't want it to get to the PKs and then it's luck what happens there. The mentality going into the game was to start the way we did in Cincinnati and I think we did that. That's probably our best performance all year and that's what people expect of us and that's what we expect of ourselves. That's why this year's been so disappointing, because we've shown the last two games what we're capable of as a team and we haven't done it enough this year. It's been disappointing up until now but when you get nights like that and you play like that, you've got to enjoy it.

On continuing the momentum...

We have just got to have confidence. We've just shown (it against) two of the best teams in each league and the way we played in both games. It's obviously disappointing conceding the last minute goal last week and then losing in PKs. But I think we've shown over the two games how good that we can be when we're at the top of our game. So we have to have the confidence that we're more than capable of doing it against anyone. We've just shown it. We have to have a mindset going into next game on Friday and hopefully beyond that and then when the league comes back around, we have to do the exact same.

On playing on the left...

It was something that obviously we did in Cincinnati as well, something that we've worked on, just something a little different to mix it up a little bit and keep teams guessing. We swapped a little bit throughout the night, so we've kind of got license whenever you end up on one side to sort of stay there. It's just good to mix it up. You don't want anything to get too stale or people start reading games or trying to shut your game down. So it's good to mix it up a little bit. And I feel I would rather come in from the other side then when I cut in on my left foot, I've got the whole goal. I managed to connect really well. We've been doing a lot of training drills and finishing drills and we've actually been doing a lot of that stuff when you're hitting across goal. So it paid off tonight.

On the fluidity with the front three...

It wasn't really the game plan, but we knew it was going to happen. We didn't have a natural number nine there, so we knew that we would all find ourselves in those positions. I think you can see when one guy dropped out of one position, the other guy covered and we did it without even thinking. When you've got that kind of movement, that kind of fluidity, it causes teams so many problems because they don't know who to take. We knew that they were going to try and come in man mark a little bit. So when you start drifting all over the field like that, they don't really know who to take. So that worked to our favor, especially in the first half. I thought we were so good in the first half and then second half, obviously, they had a bit of a reaction, but when you move like we do, we moved the ball like we did, it was going to be difficult for anyone tonight.

Sporting Kansas City defender Jake Davis

On if he expected the team to dominate possession like they did...

Well we knew Chivas is a team, like us, that likes to play with the ball, like to maintain possession throughout the game and I don't think that changed how we went into this game. We just wanted to play our game.

On keeping Chivas star Alexis Vega quiet...

Some people on the team tell me his strengths, weaknesses - I knew that he likes to cut inside. I tried to keep him outside, and when he was facing his own goal, facing the ball backwards, I tried to put pressure on him so he wouldn't be face up with me because I know it's dangerous like that. I think I did a good job.

On the team's defensive performance...

I just think that we were really focused on keeping the ball out of the net and it wasn't just the backline, it was everybody, which obviously helped us get a result.

On dealing with the atmosphere created by the Chivas fans...

I mean, obviously it's different. I would say we have a good atmosphere here, and I kind of liked it. It was a loud stadium, I didn't have an issue with that at all. I liked it, it brought a good atmosphere.

Sporting Kansas City midfielder Remi Walter

How was holding them to a clean sheet...

I think we played well with the ball. We just kept our confidence. I think the last game we played in Cincinnati was very good also with the ball and we have to do that again and again because we are at home and we have to show that we have quality. We are a very good team and I think we showed everybody that we can play very well. So, it's very good because we didn't take any goals, we defended well, we kept possession, we kept position, and we were good with the ball. So, I think everything was almost perfect tonight.

What was the key to the control this game...

To play with confidence is the key. We just have to understand that we have quality and we can play and we understood that so we just have to keep going. For sure I think that was the most important part for tonight we were very good at that. It was because when we lost the ball we just want to get the ball back very fast. So, we put them under pressure and they can do nothing. When they lost the ball again, we kept the position, so it was good.

How do you take the hold you had on this game going forward...

I think we have to continue on this way because it's a good way for us. We have been trying for this for quite some time and now we just get it. We have to keep going together, move for each other and the result will come. We are thinking about this tournament for now and about the playoffs and all the nine games we have left, but it's not the time to be thinking about that. We are in this tournament and this is the priority for the group. So we just have to be at our best that we can be and we keep going.

Chivas Guadalajara Manager Veljko Paunovic

Thoughts on Sporting KC...

They did well with the ball. It was hard for us to get back in (our) shape and recover the ball. We gave away a lot of balls and that was the key. I think I said that yesterday in my press conference. It was going to be a battle for the possession and who's going to have the ball more. In the first half, they absolutely dominated and we sucked. It was terrible to watch the team like that, suffering behind the ball. But it's part of the game. We also, at least, were capable of not conceding more than one. But in the second half, we improved. We improved with the changes. We improved also with the overall mentality and the importance of keeping the ball and not giving it away, which is our main issue that we have in our games. When this team becomes possession oriented and dominating our games, we are going to be a very strong team, a very strong side. So far in our competition, in Liga MX, we did well. So we need to recover that identity. Other than that, again, it's on us.

Thoughts on Leagues Cup...

I think it's obviously a very nice competition. It's young. I think there are things that must improve. I also believe that the excitement for all the clubs and the importance that everyone gives to this competition is generous and it's obvious. I do like it so far, but there are things that I think could be done better always.

Leagues Cup 2023 | Central Region Group 3

Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas

Attendance: 20,373

Weather: 81 degrees and cloudy

Download: Johnny Russell scores first-half goal

Download: Manager Peter Vermes post-game press conference

Download: Manager Veljko Paunovic post-game press conference

Score 1 2 F

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

Chivas Guadalajara (0-2-0, 0 points) 0 0 0

Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Jake Davis, Dany Rosero, Andreu Fontas, Tim Leibold; Remi Walter, Felipe Gutierrez (Roger Espinoza 62'), Gadi Kinda; Khiry Shelton (Daniel Salloi 74'), Erik Thommy, Johnny Russell (C)

Subs Not Used: Kendall McIntosh, Tim Melia, Robert Castellanos, Kayden Pierre, Logan Ndenbe, Robert Voloder, Cam Duke, Willy Agada, Marinos Tzionis

Chivas Guadalajara: Jose Rangel; Alan Mozo (Isaac Brizuela 79'), Antonio Briseño, Jesus Orozco, Cristian Calderon; Victor Guzman (C) (Yael Padilla 67'), Fernando Beltran, Erick Gutierrez (Pavel Perez 66'); Roberto Alvarado, Ricardo Marin (Ronaldo Cisneros 79'), Alexis Vega (Juan Brigido 57')

Subs Not Used: Miguel Jimenez, Oscar Whalley, Alejandro Mayorga, Raul Martinez, Jesus Sanchez, Fernando Gonzalez, Alan Torres

Scoring Summary:

SKC -- Johnny Russell 1 (Erik Thommy 1) 27'

Misconduct Summary:

CHV -- Erick Gutierrez (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 56'

CHV -- Antonio Briseño (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 67'

CHV -- Cristian Calderon (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 85'

Stat SKC CHV

Shots 14 7

Shots on Goal 3 1

Saves 1 2

Fouls 9 16

Offsides 1 0

Corner Kicks 3 3

Referee: Lukasz Szpala

Assistant Referee: Nick Uranga

Assistant Referee: Jose Carlos Ojeda Sequeira

Fourth Official: Kwinsi Williams

VAR: David Barrie

AVAR: Tyler Wyrostek

Check out the Sporting Kansas City Statistics

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Major League Soccer Stories from August 1, 2023


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