MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Earns 1-1 Draw at LAFC

Published on May 18, 2023 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Johnny Russell scored the 50th regular season goal of his MLS career as Sporting Kansas City (2-7-4, 10 points) extended the club's unbeaten run to three MLS matches in an entertaining 1-1 draw against reigning MLS Cup champion LAFC (6-1-4, 22 points) on Wednesday night at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.

LAFC drew first blood on an early goal from MLS Golden Boot leader Denis Bouanga, but Sporting responded coolly as Russell found the back of the net midway through the first half. Both sides traded chances for the remainder of a hotly contested midweek battle, giving Sporting seven points from their last three league games.

To cap a busy stretch of five matches in 14 days, Sporting will now travel directly from Los Angeles to St. Louis on Thursday ahead of Saturday's highly anticipated showdown against expansion rivals St. Louis city SC (6-4-1, 19 points) at CityPark. Kickoff is slated for 8:55 p.m. CT with live coverage beginning at 8:30 p.m. CT on FS1, Apple TV, Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

In his 450th regular season match as Sporting Kansas City manager, Peter Vermes deployed a familiar lineup that featured just one change from Saturday's 3-0 home win over Minnesota United FC. Goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh deputized between the posts in place of the injured Tim Melia, earning his first start of the season and equaling his MLS career-high with six saves.

The reigning champions were first to threaten inside three minutes, stringing together a silky series of passes on the periphery of Sporting's penalty area before left back Diego Palacios lashed a shot high and wide of the near post. Seconds later, Sporting striker Alan Pulido snuck in behind LAFC's backline and tried to beat veteran goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic from distance, lobbing his shot over the bar and onto the roof of the net.

The top goal scorer in MLS fired LAFC ahead after 13 minutes. Forward Kwadwo Opoku was afforded space on the right side of the box and played the ball centrally to Bouanga, whose blistering strike from the edge of the area beat McIntosh for his 10th league goal of the campaign and his 16th goal of the season in all competitions. Bouanga was inches away from bagging his brace a few minutes later, running onto a long diagonal ball, cutting onto his right foot and curling a shot just wide of the far post.

Undeterred, Sporting conjured a savvy reply in the 20th minute. Pulido received a throw-in 35 yards from goal, powered into the central channel and slipped a pass to Remi Walter near the top of the box. The Frenchman then laid it off to Russell, who promptly slithered past a slew of defenders before slotting a left-footed shot under Jakupovic for his second goal of the campaign and his 50th regular season tally in a Sporting uniform. Walter has notched assists in consecutive matches for the first time in his MLS career, while Pulido has scored or assisted in each of Sporting's last three league matches.

With momentum on their side, the visitors looked for more and almost found it in the 32nd minute as Walter dragged a turf-trimming strike marginally wide from the left side of the box.

Mcintosh was called into action immediately after the restart, leaping to touch the ball over the bar after Bouanga's attempted cross took a wicked deflection off the outstretched foot of Sporting midfielder Nemanja Radoja. A few minutes later, LAFC forward Carlos Vela collected a pass from Opoku and unleashed a low shot that deflected wide before bending a 20-yard free kick a foot over the woodwork.

Sporting winger Daniel Salloi entered the night with a team-high seven goal contributions in all competitions and tried his luck at adding to that total in the 65th minute. The Hungarian international did well to spin past a defender 40 yards from goal and barrel into the attacking third, but his long-range sledgehammer lacked the direction to beat Jakupovic.

The hosts thought they had grabbed a late winner when veteran substitute Ryan Hollingshead smashed a shot home off the underside of the crossbar, but VAR came to Sporting's rescue. Referee Armando Villarreal took a second look at the play and deemed MLS debutant Nathan Ordaz to be in an offside position in the buildup to LAFC's goal, keeping the score tied at 1-1.

The game's final chance fell to Sporting deep into second-half stoppage time. Making his MLS and Sporting debut as a late sub, rookie striker Stephen Afrifa won possession 25 yards from goal, held the ball up and found fellow substitute Marinos Tzionis, who swiveled and fired low from near the penalty spot. Jakupovic produced a reflex save but failed to secure possession as LAFC desperately scrambled to clear the ball from danger.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On the team coming back to get a road result...

Games go like that all the time. Team's score and then you have got to try to claw your way back. And the guys did that very quickly. I think there's a couple of things. Again, I'll say their mentality is in a really good place. We're building confidence week after week. This was a massive point and a massive performance against a really good team.

On the play of Logan Ndenbe...

I think today's game proved how important fitness is for a player at a very high level. If you want to be dominant, if you want to find success in your craft, you have to be fit. He worked very hard when he was out and he knew he needed to because he wasn't coming into the preseason. But I give him a lot of credit because he took the challenge. He worked really hard when he was injured and it's shown in his ability to play in the games the way he is. Today, he made some 60, 70 yard runs with the ball. His recovery and his defending was very, very good.

On the play of Kendall McIntosh...

He made some tremendous one on one challenges where he stole the ball right off the attacker's feet. He's so quick off the line. He's like a cat. He's so quick off the line. I think he was really good. I thought he managed the game well. He picked his moments when we were going to play out of the back, which was probably moreso than just us hitting a long ball. But he also made good decisions because there were times when it was time to just not try to play pretty out of the back and hit the ball far down the field and try to get field position with one of our guys fighting and maybe winning the second ball. He was very intelligent in those situations, but like I said, he made some really good saves that kept us in the game.

On the team's defensive performance...

I would start off by saying it's a little bit like the Seattle game where, when we had to defend, we were rock solid. The line was good today. The back line was good and I say the back line was good also in the way that they kept the game compact. It's one of the reasons why the goal was disallowed based on the offside. I would add that we also had enough in us, as you said, to almost get a winner in the 95th minute. So a good mentality and a good attitude by the guys.

On the substitutions making an impact...

Within the group right now, there's a very strong understanding of everybody's role and responsibility within the group. So if they get a chance, they're going to come in and they're going to fight for the group. That's the most important thing. It's great to see the subs. Marinos (Tzionis) had his chance there at the end. He was lively. He got back and defended well. The introduction of those guys is crucial, especially with the fact that we have the midweek game and St. Louis doesn't and now we have got to go there. We're going to be a tired bunch but we're going to do everything we can to try to get recovered and have a good performance there. It's going to be tough but we're playing again, flying away from home, coming all the way across country and trying to now get set for that but the guys put a good shift in.

On the play of Nemanja Radoja...

First off, he's a gamer. Second, what I really like is he's got a physical presence in there. He always wants the ball and he really has a good understanding. He's elusive in there to take the ball from one side of the field and open up to the other. He just really has a good comfortability on the ball, which helps relieve a lot of pressure as we're building out of the back. It's nice to see that. And when you can complement that with a few of the other guys we have in midfield, it looks pretty good. The fact that he was able to go 90 and the kind of work he put in, the shift he put in, was tremendous.

Sporting Kansas City forward Johnny Russell

On the team's mentality to comeback after going a goal down...

I think it's completely shifted. I think you see that a lot of teams, not just us, go a goal down here and it's panic stations. They find it difficult to get back in the game and they think the game's over. But we've managed to turn a corner recently. We managed to build on every game so it was huge. I think it's another step in the right direction that we can show that we can come from behind and especially against a team like that. I said it during the week, I think that's the best team in the league and for large parts of the game we more than matched them. So I think every guy in there has got to take positives from that. It's a good point on the road. This is a difficult place to come. Obviously you want to win it but we got a little bit lucky with the VAR call at the end. That was much needed. A lot of positives to take from that game so we take them and we move on to Saturday.

On his goal and the team's focus...

Before their goal, I thought we were playing really well and we knew they were going to try and hat us on the counterattack. We've seen them do it so many times this year, so that's disappointing that we allowed that. But to bounce back so quickly and get the goal as well, I just tried to get good contact and keep it low. I'm not sure if it went through both of their legs so I'll take that. I'll take them any way they come. We're playing catch up at this minute. So everyone is locked with what we're trying to accomplish. I think you've seen, even the guys that came on knew their job and done it well. It was a real team effort tonight.

On the team's potential and if he doubted it...

No. I mean, it was frustrating. I was angry. There was a lot of things that were going wrong and it took us a while to actually sit down and look at the root problem of it and, effectively, that was us. We took that on board. It's been spoke about. We had a really good team bonding session. A lot of lot of things were said in a sort of safe environment. Whatever was said there didn't leave the group. That was a sort of promise we made. I think you can just see that now. We're fighting for each other everywhere. And the pennies dropped. It was only us that was going to get us out of that situation. So it took us a while, but I totally agree. We've shown over the last couple of weeks in this little stretch that we've been on, how good we can be and we do have the potential to be a great team, but it's up to us to continue to show what we have in the last few games.

On becoming the first MLS team to get a road result at LAFC this year...

I think the rest of the league know what we are capable of. We've just not shown it. But I think results like that, performances like that, it does put people on notice that we're starting to put things right. And when we do, we are a very dangerous team.

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh

On making his first start of the year...

It felt great. It felt great to be chosen. It felt great to be in the group and it felt great to contribute. That beginning was a little scary, but I'm glad that the boys picked me up. We all had really good responses. It was an awesome game to be a part of and obviously an awesome group to be a part of, and I'm really happy we got the points.

On the goal from Bouanga...

He's got a cannon. I definitely should probably do better on that one. But the boys really rallied around me and made a lot of the stuff after that more predictable. I felt like, for the most part, I rose to the occasion with the boys and I was just happy to be able to finally contribute in the way that the boys believe I can and I believe I can.

On his confidence...

Going into the match, I knew I had the confidence of the boys. They all kind of came up to me and were like, 'We believe in you.' The coaches came up and said, 'We believe in you. That's why you're out there.' So, going into the match, I already felt confident. And then even after that, the rally and the response from the boys showed that they have my back no matter what. That kind of galvanized me into, not necessarily more confidence, but being like, 'If they have my back, I have got to have theirs.' And that's kind of how I play the position. Not only is it my job to save shots, but I feel like when things kind of break down, I have their back. That's kind of how I see the position and how I see myself. It was good to have that kind of reciprocal relationship with the boys tonight.

On the team's defensive performance...

An unbelievable effort from the boys. There was a stretch there where we were pinned back, and there was a stretch where Johnny was in the back line clearing balls. You see your captain and right forward back there grinding. It gives you that extra emotional bump to do whatever it takes to get the point and to get out of the match with something. Honestly, being a part of it was awesome. I hope that we can continue to have that kind of energy on both sides of the ball moving forward.

On the team's mood and mentality...

We're just focusing on each game as they come. I feel like we definitely had a bit of a come to Jesus, if you will, a few games ago and the boys really rallied together and have come together more as a family. I feel like you're starting to see that in the results. Hopefully we can continue to put out the performances and get the results that we've been having the past few games.

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Major League Soccer Stories from May 18, 2023


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