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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Earns Resolute 0-0 Draw at NYCFC

May 7, 2022 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


A resolute defensive performance propelled Sporting Kansas City (2-6-3, 9 points) to a 0-0 draw against New York City FC (4-3-2, 14 points) on Saturday evening at rain-drenched Citi Field in Queens, New York. New York City FC entered the chilly night on a torrid three-game winning streak that had produced 14 goals, but the reigning MLS Cup champions were stymied by a disciplined Sporting outfit that snapped its seven-match road losing streak dating back to 2021 and secured its third consecutive draw.

Goalkeeper Tim Melia collected his fourth shutout of the season and totaled three saves-reaching 600 regular season saves during his storied career in Kansas City-and Sporting picked up a valiant result ahead of Tuesday's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup clash versus FC Dallas at Children's Mercy Park. The Round of 32 matchup will kick off at 7:30 p.m. CT with tickets available at SeatGeek.com.

Diverting from his trademark 4-3-3 formation against Sky Blues, Sporting Manager Peter Vermes assembled his side in a 4-3-1-2 setup with captain Johnny Russell deployed as a central attacking midfielder behind forwards Daniel Salloi and Khiry Shelton. The midfield trio of Roger Espinoza, Remi Walter and Uri Rosell remained unchanged from last weekend's 2-2 home draw with FC Dallas, while Sporting's backline featured one fresh face as Academy product Cam Duke replaced the injured Graham Zusi.

A rip-roaring start saw Sporting nearly score twice within the first two minutes. Salloi dashed onto Melia's booming delivery over the top and smashed a venomous volley that New York City gloveman Sean Johnson parried aside. On the ensuing corner kick, center back Kortne Ford latched onto Remi Walter's in-swinging corner kick and glanced a header inches wide of the left post.

An end-to-end spectacle continued to unfold enticingly as NYCFC landed their first threat in the seventh minute. Right back Tayvon Gray was afforded space to swing in a low cross that midfielder Keaton Parks steered high and wide of the mark near the penalty area.

Salloi and NYCFC striker Heber exchanged audacious scoring attempts on either side of the 15-minute mark, with Ford doing well to block the latter's volley inside the box.

Sporting had Melia to thank for the game remaining scoreless in the 34th minute. NYCFC created a turnover near midfield and broke forward with pace as Santiago Rodriguez darted his way into the box and sliced past Ford before pulling the trigger. Melia advanced off his line, sprawled low and spread himself to make the all-important save and keep the hosts off the scoreboard.

Undeterred by the scare, the visitors punched back by going agonizingly close to breaking the deadlock themselves. With 40 minutes on the clock, Shelton separated himself from his marker and whipped in a cross to Salloi for a lunging strike that was bound for the back of the net, but Johnson reacted wonderfully with a right-handed stop by touching the ball onto the post and allowing for a subsequent NYCFC clearance.

Diminutive NYCFC playmaker Maxi Moralez was summoned at halftime to replace Thiago Andrade and was involved in the buildup of a fleeting chance for the Sky Blues. Talles Magno was isolated on the left wing and cut the ball back to Rodriguez, whose long-range belter screamed wide of Melia's left-hand post. Not long later, Talles Magno saw the ball drop fortuitously to his feet on the edge of the six-yard area, but center back Robert Voloder intervened crucially by sticking out his foot and extinguishing the danger.

Following a pedestrian quarter-hour of action, both sides had goalscoring bids narrowly thwarted. In the 75ht minute, Russell emerged from a scrap and unleashed a shot that took a wicked deflection goalward, but Johnson reacted well to smother the ball with both mitts. At the opposite end, Parks uncorked a left-footed sledgehammer at the top of the box that sizzled marginally wide of the frame.

The match remained goalless into the dying embers and although NYCFC substitute Gabriel Pereira had a decent look from 20 yards in the 90th minute, his shot lacked the pace and direction to beat Melia.

QUOTES Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On playing a new formation...

We played a 4-1-3-2. We just felt, based on the size of the field, that it was going to be imperative that we had numbers in the middle, especially how they like to play through the middle. We tried to clog that up on them. The other piece was we wanted to bring Johnny (Russell), Daniel (Salloi) and Khiry (Shelton) inside a little bit more because of the size of the field. We thought we'd be able to get some chances and opportunities in behind them with those guys running off the ball and into spaces. It was good and the guys did a good job.

On the play of Cam Duke...

He played a good game. He's played midfield and also wide right like he's doing right now. This is a position, for sure, that he can play as we always knew. So could he do in the future? Yeah, he's doing it now.

On the importance of the road result...

It was a big point, massive point for the guys. For our growth, it's important as we continue to move and play game after game and keep trying to get back to who we are. So yeah, (it was) really good. Big point.

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia

On gaining confidence from the result...

It should give us a lot of confidence because we came in here with a little bit different of a shape than we normally play, a little bit different of a game plan. We executed it I thought very well. We had that extra midfielder. We tried to clog up the midfield because they're so good at connecting passes through their midfield and then getting their very good attackers through. All in all, the guys sacrificed their bodies all over the field. To get out of here with a point is something we should be very happy about.

On the team's three straight results...

I think, at this point and based on some of our results, we need to make small steps forward. I know that our job is to win every game, but right now we've got to kind of zoom out a little bit and understand we are missing a lot of guys and we have a lot of pieces missing and we're playing a lot of new players and a lot of new positions. We need to make little incremental improvements every game. I think we have been doing that since the LAFC game, even though we've had results go against us. We need to make a little bit of improvement. We need to come together as a group and tonight is the game where we came together, we fought, we competed for everything. We have to have confidence that we're capable of playing like this. As we start to drip in new guys and guys get more comfortable -- and we know we already have the guys up top who can score a ton of goals for us -- that will work towards that, but right now we just need to continue to move in a positive direction, which we did tonight.

On the backline finding chemistry...

It takes time. I think Logan (Ndenbe) has been a beast for me. He has so much speed and so much athleticism. He reads the game well. There were so many times tonight he was isolated 2v1 and he just kind of shuffled over there, stopped the play. Kortne (Ford) has been a monster. The amount of balls he blocked and the aerial presence that he's won. It's been great. Robbie (Voloder) has been sliding in really nice. Robbie made a phenomenal tackle tonight in the second half. The guy was right in the middle. He's right in the middle of the goal. That's a goal if he doesn't hit me. But the effort from Robbie and then to have (Cam) Duke come in and play out of position against a very lethal attacking team as such a young player, those are things that are going to help him grow immensely. If he's going to be this player that's that versatile that you can slide him into the back, slide him into the midfield or slide him up top, that's only going to make him more valuable. He's going to continue to grow and make great contributions to this club.

Sporting Kansas City defender Kortne Ford

On keeping the clean sheet...

Peter has been preaching it all week. It's the mentality just to show up and come here every game. If we can make sure that we're bringing our mentality, the rest will take care of itself. So as a defense, it's great to come here and get a shutout. It's not an easy place -- small pitch, conditions were tough -- but I'm just proud of the group that we came here and put in a performance.

On gaining confidence from the result...

We don't necessarily look at the opponent, but when you look at the results over the last couple of games, (we've) been able to get points. We had a rough start to the season, but it's momentum in the right direction. We're not happy with the start to the season. Our fans aren't happy with the start to the season, but we are looking to build off of these games, keep getting results, taking points where we can get them and keep building on it. At the end of the day, we're going to have enough momentum going into the end of the season where we're going to get in playoffs and compete.

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