MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Earns 3-0 Win Over Tulsa

Published on April 26, 2023 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City progressed to the 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 with a dominant 3-0 third-round victory over Tulsa Athletic on Tuesday night at Children's Mercy Park.

In a one-sided encounter that pitted four-time Open Cup champion Sporting against National Professional Soccer League side Tulsa, the hosts used goals from Daniel Salloi, Alan Pulido and Marinos Tizonis to secure the club's first win of the season in cathartic fashion. Goalkeeper John Pulskamp also saved a first-half penalty to preserve the shutout, while midfielder Gadi Kinda made his long-awaited return to the field for his first appearance since November 2021 after overcoming a knee injury.

Sporting has now prevailed in 12 consecutive Open Cup home matches dating back to 2015 and will learn its opponent in the Round of 32, scheduled for May 9-10, later this week. Before then, Manager Peter Vermes' men will continue their MLS regular season campaign on Saturday by hosting CF Montreal at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are available at SeatGeek.com and the action will air live on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV, Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

Jake Davis, earning the second start of his Sporting career, created the game's first chance in the seventh minute. Latching onto a delectable diagonal ball from Remi Walter, Davis volleyed a first-time delivery across the face of goal that narrowly evaded the outstretched foot of Open Cup debutant Pulido.

An inspired start from Tulsa was rewarded in the 17th minute when forward Jordan Watson raced behind Sporting's backline and drew a penalty, falling to the turf under a challenge from Sporting goalkeeper John Pulskamp. Undeterred, Pulskamp atoned for the play by saving Chris Taylor's subsequent penalty kick, diving low to cast aside the strike and keep the contest goalless.

At the opposite end, a pair of Sporting's Designated Players combined as Kinda slipped Pulido into the box in the 24th minute. The Mexican international muscled past his defender and fired from a tight angle, sending his shot marginally off target. Less than a minute later, Salloi dragged an open look inches wide.

Kinda's long-awaited return to the pitch concluded at the half-hour juncture when he was replaced by fellow midfielder Ethan Bryant, one of three Sporting Kansas City II players called up on short-term loans for the match alongside Academy products Mo Abualnadi and Sebastian Cruz.

Salloi provided Sporting's deserved breakthrough in the 32nd minute. Dispossessing Roman Torres 25 yards from goal, he unleashed a low drive that beat Tulsa goalkeeper Bryson Reed at the near post. Salloi extended his club-record Open Cup scoring haul to eight goals on the play and now has 50 goals for Sporting in all competitions.

Bryant was quick to involve himself in Sporting's attack and nearly doubled Sporting's advantage two minutes before halftime, settling a square pass from Salloi and bending a shot just over the crossbar from 15 yards. Shortly thereafter, Pulido again went close as his thunderous blast near the edge of the penalty area went begging.

A lively start to the second half saw Salloi clip a delightful ball across goal to an unmarked Felipe Hernandez in the 47th minute, but his venomous volley was blocked by a host of Tulsa defenders camped inside the six-yard box. Salloi was then on the receiving end of Walter's diagonal through ball three minutes later, side-footing his shot agonizingly wide.

Pulido lifted his side ahead 2-0 in the 54th minute. Salloi did brilliantly to receive a pass with his back to goal, swivel to create space and whip in a cross for Pulido, who made no mistake by hammering a first-time finish into the roof of the net for his first goal at Children's Mercy Park since June 2021 and his first goal for the club in any form since August 2021.

Midfielder Erik Thommy-one of three Sporting substitutes to enter at the hour mark alongside Cruz and veteran Roger Espinoza-almost added a third in spectacular fashion on 63 minutes, his superbly struck free kick dipping over Tulsa's four-man wall and smacking off the inside of the post before skipping out of play.

Tzionis opened his 2023 scoring account in the 68th minute, exploiting acres of space by running onto Thommy's penetrative pass and finishing low inside the near post from an acute angle for his third career Sporting goal. Hernandez then tried his luck a few minutes later, robbing a Tulsa defender of possession and slicing his shot inches wide of the target, before Tzionis' bid for a brace was denied impressively as Joseph Ruiz retreated to clear the Cypriot international's strike off the goal line.

In a game of one-way traffic, Bryant, Cruz and Abualnadi each contributed to dangerous attacks over the final quarter-hour. The clearest of the chances came in second-half stoppage time when Thommy's cutback pass met an open Cruz, whose side-footed shot spun a fraction wide.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On conceding the penalty in the first half...

Obviously at that point it wasn't going to be easy. There have been a lot of things in the last nine games that haven't gone our way and you can say it falls on us and it does. But big credit to John (Pulskamp) to be in the moment and make the save. We were obviously in and around their box the whole time. And then that ball goes right up to middle. (It was) good that we got the goal. And then from there, I was actually going to take a couple guys off at halftime. But I just thought for continuity it was probably better to play another 15 minutes for those guys, which to be honest with you and I don't mean this in regards to them, but the amount of time that they were playing was really like a training session. And the fact that we're playing on Tuesday and not Wednesday, we have an extra day rest. So all that worked out well. I would say that I had a feeling that tonight was not going to be easy. I just had a feeling. And I don't think it was. But I think there was some good things for us tonight as well and especially breaking the seal of the net a little bit and being a little more creative in the final third.

On Alan Pulido getting on the scoresheet...

I'll give a lot of credit to him because after the game on Saturday, on the plane he came to me right away and he said, 'listen, I really want to play on Tuesday. I have got to keep increasing not just my minutes, but I've got to keep getting around the ball and be in the game and be around 11v11.' At the time, I was not even considering him for the game. So the fact that he wanted to play just, again, it tells me that he wants to be on the field and he wants to be on the field effective for the team. It was good to get Gadi (Kinda) the 30 minutes today. It's interesting because even though he's been training, even just that environment, you could tell there were some things happen around him that he was not ready for. But it was good. It was good for him to get the 30 minutes. It was actually really, really important for him to get that 30 minutes as he continues to grow back into the team.

On the play of Jake Davis and Ethan Bryant...

I actually think that those are two really important guys in the game. I thought that Jake actually played really well in the game. He was smart for the most part. There were a couple of things where he was a little overzealous, but I thought he played really well. He was good on the ball. He was calm. He wasn't trying to rush things. Because a lot of times in games like this, when you have the ball a lot, you can get impatient and then the next thing you know, you want to serve the ball in the box right away and we don't have the numbers. You just want to do things a lot quicker and he really kept his patience. His positioning was good. Like I said, there were a couple of times maybe on tackles where he was a little bit overzealous, but outside of that I thought he had a really good game.

And then Ethan, from the midfield, I think he was probably our best player of the night. I really do. I think he did a lot of really good things. I think his activeness within the game was excellent and his ability to see things on the field. He made a great pass. I think it was to Daniel (Salloi) cutting through or Alan (Pulido), I can't remember, but it was a great little pass where he saw him out of the corner of his eye and he hit the ball. And he's got a really good engine. He's got great timing to make runs in the game. So, yeah, really impressed with that kid.

On carrying over confidence from this game into league play...

Well, I hope it does. We had to change the team up again. That's normal; other teams are doing the same thing. You lose some continuity. We haven't had a lot of that as well. But it was good for those guys, like I said, to hit the back of the net. I think that part was important. It's one thing for John (Pulskamp) to make the save. I also think for John to come up in that moment was very important for the group. But, again, getting the goals is a big deal. And the guys who got them, that's a big help for the group.

On limiting chances defensively...

I think you're always trying to read the intentions of the opponent and I believe that, it's unfortunate but I say it this way, I think both guys were a little gun shy. In the last two games, they were the two guys that got the red cards. So I think, from that perspective, they just had to get over it. I thought in the second half they were completely different, but we also had a little talking about that at halftime. So I think it sort of sorted itself out at halftime. I don't want to say they weren't paying attention, it's just that they were on the back foot and they need to be on the front foot in those situations. I think they were totally different in the second half.

On Gadi Kinda's return from injury...

He's been doing it in training as well. You can see that he brings something different to the group. But again, he needs games. He needs to play. And obviously an MLS game is going to be completely different than this pace of the game as well. So we have got to find those minutes. The reason why we had to start him tonight is because you don't know in games like this, sometimes they can go to overtime and I can't control the minutes in the second half. So not knowing how the game would go, it was probably better to start him and then I could control his minutes and I could take him off the field. Then whoever went on could actually finish off the game. It wound up being that I made the right decision. This is my first one, so that's good.

On the play of Erik Thommy...

He was playing as a false nine because we didn't have anybody else to put up there. But he actually did a lot better than I thought he would. I thought he was going to be more in the midfield, but he actually played more as a center forward and I thought he was actually pretty good. I think it's good to get a chance to actually see that because with (Willy) Agada out for the next three months, we're going to have to have a little bit of a solution in there at times. So it was good to see him actually in that place. The good thing too is that Gadi has played in that position a few times as well. I'm not saying that's the answer, but it can be a help in situations.

Sporting Kansas City midfielder Gadi Kinda

On his return to the field...

I feel good, very good. I was very excited. I'm very happy to be back. It's been a long time for me. I have worked very hard. I have waited for this moment a lot of time so it's a good feeling.

On getting back to match fitness...

Not yet. I feel that I need a little bit more games and more training, but I'm happy for the win and I'm happy that I got some minutes. I just want to keep going.

On building chemistry with his teammates ...

There are some players that I didn't even train with them and play with them yet. But I need to know everything. I feel like I start from the beginning now. It's very exciting, but I need to keep working hard and to get back my instincts. It's not there yet, but I believe that this will come with hard work and with winning with the team.

On if he was worried about returning to play...

I'm still thinking about the injury. It's always there because it's not like before. But I'm happy with my place now. I need to be smarter with this and how I manage the time and the minutes. But it will come back. I feel very strong now, very healthy. I'm not 100%, but it will be there.

On if he doubted he would get the chance to play again...

I was dreaming about this moment a lot. It was a really long time and a tough moment, especially mentally. It was not easy. I've never had a long time outside (the team). It was hard for me to say outside of the team and that we didn't win and everything. But I hope that from this win we get more confidence because we have a very good team. I'm very happy now.

On going through the rehab process with Alan Pulido...

It helped a lot because I talked with him a lot and we become more close. We talked a lot about the injury. He gave me more advice about the injury which was good, but I wish for us to not have the injury. But it was easier to do it with him and doing all the recovery with him was better.

Tulsa Athletic head coach Jason Rogers

Thoughts on the match...

Of course it's not the result we all want, but we understand the differences in quality. We can talk about records, we can talk about how good our group is, but you can see the levels. We train maybe three times a week from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Our guys come from work and taking care of their kids. I'm super proud of my group. I think it shows that our club and the town of Tulsa has some ability in the game. We are as an organization and as a club from administration down, we pride ourselves on big moments like this and we're super proud of our group.

On playing an MLS side for the first time...

How often do you see, after a 3-0 loss, guys smiling and hugging and just excited that they got to experience something? The only one that has played at that level for Portland Timbers in Chris Taylor and he's 34 with two kids. I think it's a great experience that they obviously will never forget. It's one of those that, besides the ones that do have kids, they can tell their children when they start to have those. Like I said, I'm just super proud of the group. Some of them are disappointed just because they have high expectations as a club. Over the last 10 years, every year our expectations are higher for our club and for our season. If you ask us, nothing less than the national championship even in our league. Like I said, we're four tiers below these guys that we showed up today and a 3-0 loss gives the club notoriety not only in Tulsa and in the state of Oklahoma, but nationwide. I think when you go and play this group for our league, we're not going to be able to sneak up on anybody in our league in NPSL. We're not going to be able to sneak up on those guys. They know what our club is about and that it's a very prideful club.

On his message to the team before the game...

We told them over and over to go have fun, but it's still business. We're not going to go out there and roll over. That's one thing I expected from the guys was to come out and, as you could see, they gave everything. I would hope that people watching, whether it's you guys or fans in the stadium and a lot of our community and fans back home, that they're proud of us. I'm beyond proud of the boys. I'm just telling them that when we get out there, they are humans just like we are. They just happen to be a little better at the game and just to have fun.

Sporting Kansas City forward Alan Pulido

On scoring in the 3-0 win...

Good. For us, it is a very important match in this tournament, the Cup. We are happy for the team because this is the first win for us. So I am happy.

On his desire to play tonight...

I comeback this season from my injury so I spoke with him. If I have the opportunity to play tonight, I want to play because I need to take more rhythm in the field and more confidence. This match, I feel like it's a very good opportunity for me to score and for us to in. So I am happy about this decision. I respect the coach that he put me tonight in the 11.

On how it felt to score...

Good. I tell you I am happy because this is the mentality. This is important for building confidence. I needed this goal because I have been out a long time and I returned from my injury so I am very happy for my goal but the most important for me is the team winning.

On Gadi Kinda returning...

He had the same injury as me last year, so I spent it with him. He needs to be confident in the field. So I am very happy for him because he has comeback to play and now he is healthy. He will help the team a lot this season.

On the play of Ethan Bryant...

He's a very good player. Tonight, he played very well. He supported a lot of the team. He plays smart. When he played tonight, he didn't play crazy. Normally, young (players) want to surprise the coach or the people in the stadium, for his first match so I think he controlled his emotions and he played very good. He played very hard and he supported the team. So I am very happy because it's the first match for him and he supported the team in this moment.

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