MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Earns 2-1 Win at Houston Following Pulido Double

Published on October 3, 2020 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Forward Alan Pulido scored a pair of goals to lead Sporting Kansas City to a hard-fought 2-1 road victory against the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Stadium on Saturday night. Homegrown midfielder Gianluca Busio provided assists on both goals as Sporting improved to 7-5-2 (23 pts.) on the season, with the Dynamo dropping to 3-5-7 (16 pts.).

In Sporting's first game in 10 days following the postponement of last Sunday's match with the Colorado Rapids, it was the Houston Dynamo that started on the front foot and created the first two chances of the game. In the seventh minute, Adam Lundkvist's cross from the left was diverted narrowly over the bar by Mauro Manotas before the Colombian striker again missed the target when well placed in the 16th minute.

Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia was forced into a pair of saves early, including a stop to deny Darwin Quintero what would've been his third goal of the season against SKC. At the other end, Busio - playing in a more advanced position on the night - threatened for the first time as he curled a left-footed effort just wide of the post.

In the 25th minute, Sporting KC earned a free kick approximately 30 yards from Houston's goal and Johnny Russell almost produced a spectacular strike but his effort skimmed the roof of the net on its way over the bar.

Sporting KC took the lead in the 34th minute after a devastating counterattack. Ilie Sanchez picked off a loose pass in the midfield and fed Busio who in turn played an inch-perfect pass into the path Pulido. The Designated Player found himself alone dribbling at Kiki Struna and, after turning the Slovenian inside out, fired a low shot into the corner to give Sporting KC a precious lead heading into halftime.

Houston controlled the opening period of the second half but the introduction of Roger Espinoza turned the tide in the 61st minute, with the Honduran make his first appearance since Aug. 29 after recovering from injury.

Espinoza's presence gave Sporting KC added impetus in the midfield and the chances soon started flowing for the visitors. First, Pulido surged at the Houston backline before slipping Khiry Shelton in alone with Marko Maric, but Shelton's low strike was well repelled by the Houston goalkeeper before Russell's follow-up was parried away. Two minutes later, Pulido again showed his creative tendencies as he played Russell in on goal but the Scotsman's right-footed effort was blocked by Maric.

The second goal was coming and it finally arrived in the 73rd minute. Espinoza slipped a lovely pass into the path of Busio who found Pulido with a brilliant first-time pass and the Mexican striker did the rest, lofting an excellent finish over Maric and into the side-netting to make the score 2-0. At just 18 years of age, Busio now has three assists on the season and is the youngest player in MLS to have multiple assists in 2020.

With the game getting increasingly testy in the closing stages - nine yellow cards were shown on the night, including seven after the 70th minute - Houston found a route back into the game when Sam Junqua headed home his first professional goal off Quintero's corner in the 84th minute.

The Dynamo piled numbers forward in the closing stages looking for an equalizer, but aside from substitute Niko Hansen's effort that flew high and wide, Sporting held firm to clinch all three points and improve to 3-1-1 on the road in the 2020 regular season.

Sporting KC now returns home to prepare for a Wednesday night clash with Eastern Conference foe the Chicago Fire at Children's Mercy Park. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT on FOX Sports Kansas City and Sports Radio 810 WHB.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On the play of Alan Pulido...

He's a deadly assassin around the goal. He's a special player. Two unbelievable goals - the first one was an individual action, just him carving them up and finishing it off. The second one: so many players hit that ball right at the goalkeeper. For him to just slide the way he did and finish it off the way he did, he's a world-class player. His play between the lines was tremendous for us today. It's a big thing we talked about in this game and playing against this team and how we were going to find opportunities against them. And we did. It was huge.

On the connection between Alan Pulido and Gianluca Busio...

When Busio is in that advanced position, he finds really good balls in between the lines but more importantly he knows how to eliminate players and he can give a final pass. Busio is very good like that. I think the difficulty for Busio tonight was a little bit in that he has been playing the number six for as much as he did, it's a different fitness than playing as a number ten or a number eight like he did. He put a lot of work in tonight. I could tell he was getting tired there the last 5 or 10 minutes. But he found a way to bang out the result and grind it out. He did a really good job.

On Busio's role as a playmaker...

He's got good creativity in his head. He's got good improvisation depending on what's in front of him. He's just very good in and around the box. Obviously, you've seen he can score but he also can make those final passes like he did tonight. He's got good timing with that. I think those relationships will get stronger with him playing more and more.

On the central defense...

I thought we were really good defensively. I think we were hard for them to break down. We were behind the ball and we were organized. I also think that we were really good with the intentions of the opponent. When the opponent had the ball, we dropped off well. We stepped up at the right time. We made good tackles. We were good in the box with service. I thought both central defenders did really well. Robbie did well. He made a great clearance there at the end of the game inside the box. Winston is a beast. He played really big for us tonight. We needed that presence and it was great.

On the team closing out the game...

Obviously we did a really good job because we got the three points. I don't like the fact that we gave up the goal on the set piece. I would have really liked to walk away with a shutout. Roger (Espinoza) brought us another level of experience in the middle of the midfield which helped us tremendously. He also brought us a little bite and I think the other guys they feed off of that. Roger has that ability as he has a strong presence within the team. It's definitely something that we've missed for quite some time with him being out as well. It's good to get those guys back. It helps immensely when you have experienced players and they use that experience to help the team get a result.

On not winning the possession battle..

We didn't expect to come here and out-possess them. We came here for one thing and that was to get a result and three points. We wanted to be efficient in the way that we played. I thought that the guys did a great job. It happens to us all the time. Teams want to try to sit back and they want you to break down 10 or 11 guys with the goalkeeper. It's not an easy task to do. Our guys did a really good job of defending and winning the ball and getting out on the attack. We scored two really, really good goals in those situations. We've got 10 games left. This was the start of the first of 10 so getting the three points is a very good start away from home for us. It was huge. Now we just have to continue to keep fighting and grinding away and trying to get these results.

Sporting Kansas City forward Alan Pulido (via interpreter)

On scoring two goals in his first start since August...

It felt really good to be out there. It felt good to get the two goals, but more importantly is the triumph of the team - what's most important is how the team does so I'm really happy with the win.

On the two assists from Gianluca Busio...

Busio is a great player. Without a doubt, he has a lot of talent. He gets better as a footballer every time he plays. He learns as a footballer every time he plays. If he continues with this trajectory, he will go a long ways because he is a really talented footballer. The passes were incredible to put me in those positions.

On his first goal...

When the team recovered the ball, I saw the space that I could run into. Busio saw the space, as well. I made the run and Busio made an incredible pass into the space. From there, I was able to beat the defender and score the goal.

Sporting Kansas City midfielder Gianluca Busio

On being part of a youth movement for American soccer...

It's pretty cool to be a part of that group that's hoping to bring U.S. Soccer into their prime years. It's obviously cool that I can do it with my friends especially Gio (Reyna) and many other guys. He's one of the biggest ones right now because he's doing it at the highest level and he's playing well. I'm happy for him. It's awesome that I can be a part of that group. Hopefully it's a group that can compete in World Cups for the future. I think we have a really, really bright future ahead of us.

On playing as an attacking midfielder...

It comes with its pros and cons. I'm more of an attacking player. I like to be attacking. It showed with the two assists. I think that's the pros of it - I get to go forward more. But there are also things I like playing as the six also. I get to touch the ball more and help in possession. I'll do whatever the team needs. If they need me to play the six, if they need me to play the ten, I'll play wherever. I enjoyed playing the ten again so I can be more attacking, but it's also a lot more up and down running then side to side so it's different for your fitness level. Hopefully I can play wherever and keep on getting on the scoresheet.

On playing with Alan Pulido...

It makes it a lot easier when you're playing with such a good player like him. He's a finisher and he moves well. His movement is unreal. It makes it a lot easier for me just to make a simple pass and he'll do a lot with it. With a lot of the good players, it makes everything a lot easier. We think the same and we can play off each other and it showed. He's such a good player, I think any midfielder could look pretty good with him playing in front of them. Hopefully I can give him more assists and maybe he can return the favor to me.

On getting a road win...

These next couple weeks are going to be really congested with all the games. Each game matters. It feels good getting a win on the road -- we're going to need a lot more of those with these future games -- especially against a team that has beaten us a couple times since the restart, so this one felt good. But it's time to put it in the past and we move on to Wednesday.

2020 MLS Regular Season

Match 14 of 23

BBVA Stadium | Houston, Texas

Weather: 77 degrees and sunny

Score 1 2 F

Sporting Kansas City (7-5-2, 23 points) 1 1 2

Houston Dynamo (3-5-7, 16 points) 0 1 1

Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Graham Zusi, Roberto Puncec, Winston Reid, Amadou Dia; Ilie Sanchez, Gianluca Busio, Felipe Hernandez (Roger Espinoza 61'); Johnny Russell (C) (Gerso Fernandes 88'), Alan Pulido (Erik Hurtado 80'), Khiry Shelton

Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Andreu Fontas, Jaylin Lindsey, Graham Smith, Cam Duke, Daniel Salloi

Houston Dynamo: Marko Maric; Zarek Valentin, Kiki Struna, Maynor Figueroa, Adam Lundkvist (Sam Junqua 77'); Matias Vera, Darwin Ceren (Marcelo Palomino 77'), Boniek Garcia (C) (Niko Hansen 58'); Ariel Lassiter (Nico Lemoine 69'), Mauro Manotas (Christian Ramirez 69'), Darwin Quintero

Subs Not Used: Cody Cropper, Jose Bizama, Victor Cabrera, Tomas Martinez

Scoring Summary:

SKC - Alan Pulido 4 (Gianluca Busio 2) 34'

SKC - Alan Pulido 5 (Gianluca Busio 3, Roger Espinoza 1) 73'

HOU - Sam Junqua 1 (Darwin Quintero 8) 84'

Misconduct Summary:

SKC - Amadou Dia (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 39'

HOU - Kiki Struna (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 46+

HOU - Matias Vera (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 72'

SKC - Winston Reid (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 77'

HOU - Darwin Quintero (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 77'

SKC - Ilie Sanchez (Yellow Card; Dissent) 81'

SKC - Roger Espinoza (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 90'

SKC - Tim Melia (Yellow Card; Time Wasting) 93+

HOU - Maynor Figueroa (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 95+

Stat SKC HOU

Shots 11 13

Shots on Goal 6 5

Saves 4 4

Fouls 13 11

Offsides 2 2

Corner Kicks 2 4

Referee: Kevin Stott

Assistant Referee: Logan Brown

Assistant Referee: Matthew Osterhouse

Fourth Official: Rosendo Mendoza

VAR: Jon Freemon

AVAR: Jonathan Johnson

Check out the Sporting Kansas City Statistics

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Major League Soccer Stories from October 3, 2020


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