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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Earns Huge 1-0 Win at Minnesota

September 16, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Gadi Kinda came off the bench to score a crucial late winner as Sporting Kansas City (9-12-8, 35 points) earned a gritty 1-0 road victory over Minnesota United FC (9-9-10, 37 points) on Saturday night at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Kinda conjured the decisive goal in the 84th minute, settling a long diagonal pass from fellow substitute Roger Espinoza before cutting centrally and slotting home to give Sporting three precious points in the club's postseason push. The 1-0 result propels Sporting into the ninth and final playoff spot in the provisional Western Conference standings with a month of the regular season still to play.

Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia made four saves-including a jaw-dropping stop in the second half to keep the game goalless-en route to his 75th career shutout for the club in all competitions. His performance was key to Sporting's first road clean sheet since April 1 and the team's first 1-0 away win since Oct. 28, 2020.

Coaching his 550th match for Sporting in all competitions, Manager Peter Vermes made one change to his team's starting lineup from a 3-2 loss at Inter Miami CF last weekend as Nemanja Radoja replaced fellow midfielder Felipe Gutierrez.

The visitors enjoyed a vibrant start by conjuring the first two scoring chances of the night. In the sixth minute, Erik Thommy played a clever backheel pass down the left side to Alan Pulido, who earlier this week had signed a new contract with Sporting through 2026. The Mexican Designated Player squared up his defender and pulled the ball back to the top of the box for Remi Walter, whose first-time effort was deflected wide.

Shortly thereafter, Homegrown forward Daniel Salloi chased down a booming delivery over the top and gathered possession near the left corner flag. His searching cross into the mixer found Johnny Russell on the opposite side of the box, and although the Sporting captain did well to chest the ball down to his feet, his booming strike lifted marginally over the bar.

Minnesota weathered the early storm and gained a foothold at the 20-minute juncture. Midfield Talisman Emanuel Reynoso slipped a through ball into the attacking third for former English Premier League veteran Teemu Pukki, but his shot on the run was repelled by retreating center back Dany Rosero. Melia then produced his first save of the contest, dropping low to swallow a shot from D.J. Taylor.

Both sides exchanged punches near the 35th minute. Thommy forced Minnesota goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair into a diving stop by unleashing a venomous, long-range blast that was touched behind for a corner kick. Pulido latched onto the ensuing delivery, but his header missed the mark by a matter of inches. At the opposite end, Reynoso's sweetly struck free kick was parried away by the outstretched Melia to keep the game goalless entering halftime.

Caginess continued to characterize proceedings after the restart. Sporting's Logan Ndenbe and Minnesota's Franco Fragapane exchanged speculative efforts at the hour mark. Vermes' men then breathed a collective sigh of relief in the 63rd minute when Loons winger Bongokuhle Hlongwane shook free of his marker and fizzed a low ball across the face of goal that evaded a host of Minnesota teammates.

Sporting right back Jake Davis spared his team's blushes in the 66th minute with a season-saving intervention on the goal line. Minnesota substitute Ismael Tajouri-Shradi was on the end of Reynoso's incisive low cross and pinged a shot goalward, but the ball caromed off the back of Davis' head, looped inches over the crossbar and nestled onto the roof of the net.

Melia was equally heroic in the 74th minute, stymying the opposition by diving right at full extension to cast aside a shot from a wide open Pukki at the penalty spot. Five minutes later, Reynoso whipped a free kick into the box for defender Michael Boxall to head past Melia, but the offside flag was rightly raised and the goal was disallowed.

Having survived a slew of second-half scares, Sporting put Minnesota to the sword with six minutes remaining. Afforded space on the left side of midfield, Espinoza sent a pinpoint ball diagonally to Kinda, who maneuvered past his marker on the right side of the box. The Israeli international eluded a defender near the penalty spot and tucked a clinical finish past St. Clair to give Sporting a 1-0 advantage the team would not relinquish.

With three gigantic points in the bag, Sporting will return to Children's Mercy Park for a pair of colossal home matches next week. Vermes' side will host Nashville SC on Wednesday and Houston Dynamo FC on Saturday, with both games kicking off at 7:30 p.m. CT and tickets available on SeatGeek.com.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On the team's performance...

Right now the whole objective was to try to get some points on the road. In these last two games, it could have been one and one or it could have been stealing three points. I feel like today was a very mature performance from our team. In this game, you have to be organized, you have to be disciplined, you have to at times be able to put out fires, but you also have to have a little bit of luck. We found ways to keep trying to protect the goal. I think we made some good changes into the team that kind of gave the team a little bit of a spark and they were hungry. Roger (Espinoza) plays a really good ball to Gadi (Kinda) and Gadi does a really calm movement in the box and finishes it off well. I would say this is a mature performance by us. It's really nice to see, with all the different ups and downs that we've had over the season and at a time when we needed a mature performance, guys executed on it.

On the play of Tim Melia...

Tim was solid, but I also think the guys were defending in front of him. They were getting in front of balls. I think Jake (Davis) took that one off the face that went over the goal. The one save that he made where (Emanuel) Reynoso kind of cut inside and he played it across to (Teemu) Pukki, I'm thinking on the sideline that this is a goal and it's fantastic on Timmy's side to get back in and make the save again. He was very good, but I think defensively we were pretty good today.

On the team's perseverance in the playoff push...

Well, it's really the only thing we can do. As everybody knows, and it's been well documented, we didn't have a very good start to the season for so many reasons. But at the end, as I told the guys, we have just got to try to keep ourselves alive when we got to the Leagues Cup so that we can make a push at the end. We've had four games now with three wins and a loss and that loss as on the road. One of those wins is on the road. That's pretty good. But we haven't really accomplished anything yet. We have got some more to get after here. We have got some other games, some important games and some big teams we have to play and they're all going to be difficult. We have got to fight for it.

On the match-up with Adrian Heath...

I think I'm very fortunate. I have got a really good relationship with Adrian. We've known each other for a long time and in 2013 I loaned him Dom Dwyer and he was definitely up for it. He took him and he really helped build his confidence. So we just had a really good relationship ever since then. I have a ton of respect for him and what he does and how his teams play and how he assembles teams. So it's always a good match between us, but I also appreciate where we both compete but we also can talk to each other after the game as well because we understand that, at times, it's an unforgiving profession. We have a lot of respect for each other from that perspective so I can't say enough good things about him and his staff.

On Gadi Kinda scoring after returning from international duty...

We talked about it when he got back. I've always maintained that, in my profession and who I am, I have got a big heart and a short memory. So I told Gadi, 'It's behind us, let's move on. And when you play, you need to go give it your all.' And he did that. It's obvious. He went and did what he had to do. He knows where we stand and it's all good.

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia

On his save on Teemu Pukki...

I have to initially step to the attacker to kind of cut down the angle because when he's at an angle extended off the six and pretty close to the goal, that's a fairly easy finish. I thought our guys did a good job covering back in because it forced him to have to pull the ball back just a little bit further because (Andreu) Fontas was dropped into my right. That allowed me the time to kind of get across goal and make myself as big as I could.

On the road win...

I think it's got to give us confidence. Overall, that was just a gritty, gritty performance. Guys were making plays all over the field. Jake Davis gets hit in the back of the head saving a goal. The amount of tackles that Fontas and Daniel (Salloi) made and the commitment from all our midfield to block shots. This is a talented team. They line up four guys in front of our back four and it's a difficult team to defend against. Then when you have someone like Reynoso who is special and can kind of create those magical moments, we just have to take a ton of confidence from this game because this is no easy place to play against a very good team. Overall, just a massively gritty performance that we should be proud of.

On the team's effort...

Commitment, right? I think that's what we've kind of missed throughout the year is we have a good performance, we don't have a good performance, but you can see tonight everyone understands how important these games are. We need wins and it doesn't make a difference if it's home or away. We need wins to get into the playoffs and tonight we played like a team that is trying to do everything we can to get in the playoffs.

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