MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Earns 4-1 Win Over Austin

Published on June 11, 2023 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City (5-8-5, 20 points) vaulted above the playoff line for the first time this season by surging to a 4-1 victory over Austin FC (5-8-4, 19 points) on Saturday night at Children's Mercy Park.

Striker Alan Pulido led the way with two goals and one assist, totaling three goal contributions in a game for the first time since joining MLS in 2020, while defender Robert Castellanos and impact substitute Khiry Shelton also etched their names onto the scoresheet. Austin salvaged a second-half strike from 2022 MLS MVP finalist Sebastian Driussi, but it would not prevent Sporting from securing a result that pushed the club from 12th to eighth in the Western Conference table.

Boasting a 5-1-2 record since the start of May, Sporting will continue their home-heavy month next Saturday, June 17, by hosting reigning MLS Cup champion LAFC at Children's Mercy Park. Tickets for the marquee showdown are available at SeatGeek.com with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m. CT and live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.

Multiple injuries across the backline prompted Sporting manager Peter Vermes to make two changes from last weekend's 1-1 road draw against Vancouver Whitecaps FC. German duo Robert Voloder and Tim Leibold replaced center back Andreu Fontas and left back Logan Ndenbe, respectively, with defender Dany Rosero and captain Johnny Russell also sidelined because of hamstring ailments. Holding midfielder Nemanja Radoja hit a notable milestone by logging the 300th appearance of his professional club career, while Pulido played his 50th match for Sporting in all competitions.

Contested amidst steady rain showers, Sporting's 250th competitive home match in club history produced its first flashbulb moment inside 10 minutes when Austin wing back Jon Gallagher-who entered the night with a team-best five goals on the season-flashed a long-range curler inches wide of Kendall McIntosh's left-hand post. Shortly thereafter, Austin threatened again as Emiliano Rigoni's clipped cross from the endline was nodded narrowly amiss by Driussi.

Austin were left ruing their missed opportunities when they fell behind in the 19th minute. After the visitors failed to clear a Sporting corner kick, Leibold lofted a looping cross from the left wing to the far post, where Castellanos did well to outjump his marker and cushion a header back across the face of goal. Pulido was first to react and promptly cashed in by slotting low past Austin keeper Brad Stuver for his second goal in as many games and his first MLS home tally at Children's Mercy Park since June 2021.

Sporting breathed a sigh of relief at the half-hour juncture as Gallagher's 22-yard bomb off a half-cleared corner kick deflected and dipped just over the crossbar. Eleven minutes later, however, the hosts nearly doubled their advantage with Pulido turning provider, combining neatly with Leibold inside the box before the latter's left-footed drive was cast aside by Stuver for the first save of the game.

The opening 15 minutes of the second half belonged to Sporting, who stamped their dominance with another two goals to spring a 3-0 lead. A well-executed set piece yielded their second strike of the game in the 47th minute as Erik Thommy's in-swinging free kick was glanced across the six-yard area by Pulido and bundled home by Castellanos, who bagged his first Sporting goal on the play and his first MLS goal since debuting for Nashville SC on Aug. 1, 2021. Thommy tabbed a secondary assist on the play and has recorded assists in back-to-back matches for the second time since the start of May. It also marked the first time that Pulido has scored and assisted in the same MLS game since Aug. 14, 2021.

Ten minutes later, Vermes' men compounded Austin's troubles with Pulido's second goal of the contest on a delectable delivery from Leibold, whose pinpoint cross was prodded home with poise to ignite delirious celebrations across the stadium. Pulido produced his first multi-goal game since May 16, 2021, and his five goals in all competitions this season are tied with Daniel Salloi for most on the team.

Under the guidance of head coach Josh Wolff and assistant coach Davy Arnaud-two members of the Sporting Legends hall of honor-Austin grabbed a lifeline in the 61st minute off the foot of Driussi. Chaos in Sporting's box saw the ball pinball off multiple bodies before Gyasi Zardes secured possession near the right endline and pulled the ball back to Driussi, who buried his first-time into the roof of the net. Austin's star Argentine has scored in each of the last four meetings between the clubs, the first three of which resulted in Verde victories. Driussi then spurned a golden chance to make the score 3-2 in the 68th minute, blasting a point-blank strike over the bar after Sporting failed to extinguish the danger in their own six-yard area.

Shelton relieved Pulido at the 77-minute mark and excelled in his cameo. He thought he had scored in the 85th minute when he did well to round Stuver and finish into the gaping net, but the play was called back for an offside infraction. Undeterred, Shelton made sure of opening his 2023 scoring account near the end of normal time. Galloping free on the breakaway, Thommy had a left-footed shot saved by Stuver, but Shelton was there to smash home the rebound to give Sporting it's fifth four-goal home game since last August.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On Alan Pulido's performance...

I guess I'm stating the obvious. It's simple. When I originally spoke with him, I remember saying to him that when I sit back and I imagine in my mind how a center forward plays on our team, he fits perfectly. I know it because I'm around them quite a bit obviously. I know that it's been very frustrating for him because he's a guy that wants to play and wants to be on the field. It's his passion. It's what he loves to do. There are players that sometimes they want to try to get out of everything, right? They don't want to train. That's not him. He's never been that way from day one. When he was injured, obviously very serious surgeries that he had, but he put his head down and he worked extremely hard. I think he's seeing the fruits of that labor that he put in. I think you're also starting to see again the player that we originally had in the beginning. I always knew it was going to take a little bit of time, but he's been building and building and building and he's getting better week after week.

Thoughts on the result...

I think what was good is that it was a different way to win the game and I mean it from this point of view. We conceded a little bit of possession tonight because, again, there was a part of their game that we wanted to try to take away, which I think the guys did a really good job of taking away. I thought in the second half, actually, we were even better at it than we were in the first half. We were incredibly energetic to get out on the counter. I think we put them under a pressure a lot, which then what it does is if you get a couple of really good quality chances -- and obviously where we score -- then all of a sudden what it does is it puts a little bit of trepidation in the other team. So now they're not as confident to send numbers forward and now they start to doubt themselves a little bit. I thought that today we managed the game pretty well. Like always, I wish we would have gotten a shutout because I think we were in a good place, but we lost the ball in a bad place, which then put us in a place where we shouldn't have been. They got a corner kick and now we had to defend that. We didn't. But outside of that, I thought everything else was pretty good by the group. To score four goals is never easy against any team.

On the team's turnaround...

When a team is missing as many guys as we were in the beginning of the year, what happens is that - and it's never any disrespect to the other players -- it's just that they're key players within the group. So once those guys get into the team and then the team starts to play, not just win, but their performance is good, you have good form within the group. It's the reason why I said that Felipe Hernandez came in the game against Minnesota and scores a goal. It's because the team is in form, and now Felipe doesn't have to come into the game and carry the game. An example was we went to Philadelphia. I said this when it happened. Nobody really gave us too much credit for that result. But that's a really difficult place to go in and play and to get a result like we did. Now, if we had already won one game or two games at that point, everyone would have been like, oh, great point on the road. But nobody was thinking about it that way. And we made changes in that game and the guys adapted and adjusted to that game, and the game plan worked. It's because they executed really well. It's the same thing now. Guys can jump in because the other guys are in form and, more importantly, they're not overcooking it. They're not trying to do too much in their position, which then ultimately affects the whole team. They're being more efficient with their game. They're being more efficient within the group, which then ultimately gives the rest of the guys confidence to be able to come in and do the job. And that's why the guys were able to get the result tonight.

On Khiry Shelton scoring tonight...

It's great. And I think that he should go like this to the crowd because he gets a lot of criticism. But the bottom line is that he's trying. He's been out of form, but he's been working really hard to get back in form. And, at the end of the day, we're not just a team. We're truly a family. Every day, we're working together and trying to overcome certain things. Sometimes I get a little bit upset with the fact that there's criticism thrown in a way where I know that the guy is working. So I'm very happy for him that he got that goal for the group.

On Daniel Salloi captaining the team...

He's been basically in every game. He's been working very hard. This is the only professional club that he's really been with. And so I just felt it was a good reward for him tonight. As I told him, he's 1-0 as a captain so that's great.

On the team's mentality...

I think the word is believe. I've said that from the beginning. I believe in the group. I said that I was probably going to have to be the most patient person within the organization just waiting for guys to get back and not putting them in harms way. So I think it all comes down to the fact that there is a belief in the group. Everybody believes and everybody believes in what we were doing and working towards the right goals. Our trainings, our gameplans, we were there. We just at times were falling short, but we knew that it was going to come. We still have a lot of work to do. We haven't even come close to where I believe we can be.

Sporting Kansas City defender Robert Castellanos

On his performance...

Obviously we had a couple of injuries throughout the squad, but I feel like the coaching staff and everybody within the institution has treated us well and prepped us really good for any opportunity that comes up. Tonight was the night that I had to show up and just be there for the team. I got a couple of chances that normally I don't get in other games, but it was just good to get the win and the three points.

On his connection with Alan Pulido...

I think, overall, it was a team effort. First and foremost, it comes with the team. The coaching staff always puts in some plays for us. We go week in and week out practicing those. This week we got some fruits out of it. It was just good movement and us following our jobs. Alan, like I said, he's a very sneaky player around the box. He knows where to position himself. I just saw him kind of leaning towards the penalty box and I thought if I put this ball there, we can have a chance to put a goal in.

On the team's mentality...

I would say we've been at it since the beginning of the season. To add on what the coach has told you guys, we've been at it. Unfortunately, some things didn't go our way. But we have a lot of trust in the guys in the group, in and out, whoever gets injured. Now we have something to prove. And I feel like this group is very special and we're a family here. We know our responsibilities. Whenever our name gets called up, we have got to do our job. I feel like now we're getting ourselves into the rhythm that we need to be in and guys are doing great together. I think we just keep doing our jobs and focusing on the things the coaching staff tells us to do and then just believe in each other.

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