MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Eliminates St. Louis with Playoff Win

Published on November 5, 2023 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City earned a pulsating 2-1 win over archrival St. Louis City SC on Sunday at electric Children's Mercy Park, advancing to the Western Conference semifinals of the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs in historic fashion.

Logan Ndenbe fired Sporting ahead on the stroke of halftime and Daniel Salloi dispatched the match-winner in the 73rd minute as Kansas City swept the Round One Best-of-3 series and became the second No. 8 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in MLS postseason history. St. Louis salvaged a late consolation goal through Celio Pompeu, but after suffering a 4-1 smackdown on home soil in Game 1 seven days ago and falling short once more on Sunday, the expansion club saw its inaugural campaign end abruptly against a superior Sporting side.

Victorious in five straight MLS matches since the start of October, upstart Sporting will now begin preparation for the single-game conference semifinals on the weekend of Nov. 25-26 against either No. 4 seed Houston Dynamo FC or No. 5 seed Real Salt Lake. Manager Peter Vermes' men-who will play on the road for the remainder of their 2023 playoff journey-have now progressed to the conference semifinals four times since 2018, tied for the most in MLS.

Children's Mercy Park welcomed a record-equaling crowd of 21,650 on Sunday and provided the perfect setting for a heavyweight bout between bitter adversaries. Sporting's lineup featured just one change from an emphatic 4-1 triumph in Game 1 last weekend as captain Johnny Russell returned to the fray in place of Khiry Shelton. The visitors, meanwhile, made three changes along the backline as defenders Kyle Hiebert, Akil Watts and Josh Yaro moved from the bench to the starting XI in addition to target forward Sam Adeniran replacing Aziel Jackson.

Gadi Kinda, an unplayable midfield force who racked up two goals and two assists in the two-game sweep of St. Louis, was involved in Sporting's first two chances within the first half-hour. The Israeli playmaker had a 25-yard curler deflect marginally wide before sending a long diagonal ball to the equally impressive Salloi, who left Watts in the dust along the touchline before unleashing a shot that Roman Burki saved at the near post.

After a cagey and disjointed start to proceedings, the game opened up nicely with Kinda, Salloi, Pulido and Russell putting St. Louis on the backfoot. Sporting would draw first blood on the final consequential kick of the first half, surging ahead 1-0 off the foot of Ndenbe. An intricately worked attack on the left side of the penalty area saw Salloi slither past a defender and play the ball to Pulido with his back to goal. Pulido then flicked a clever pass into the path of Ndenbe, who finished into the far corner with his weaker right foot. The Belgian left back, who on Sunday made his 50th appearance for Sporting in all competitions, has now scored in back-to-back matches after scoring zero goals in his first 93 professional games. Pulido, meanwhile, has assisted on three of Sporting's six playoff goals after tabbing three assists during the entire 2023 regular season.

Staring elimination in the face, St. Louis committed numbers forward during a frantic if not exasperating second half. Sporting center back Andreu Fontas did well to block a dangerous shot from Indiana Vassilev in the 50th minute before midfield talisman Eduard Lowen sent an audacious curler inches over the bar from distance shortly thereafter.

Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia, making his 250th MLS start in the regular season and playoffs combined, was seldom tested on Sunday but produced a crucial save in the 58th minute, dropping low to cast aside a powerful header from Joao Klauss off Vassilev's teasing cross. Vassilev then had another effort blocked through traffic in the 67th minute, this time off the head of staunch center back Dany Rosero.

Salloi blew the roof off Children's Mercy Park in the 73rd minute, giving his team a 2-0 advantage on a breathtaking counterattack goal. Springing free down the right channel, Russell slipped a perfectly timed through ball into the path of Kinda, who scurried into the box and nutmegged Watts with a perfect square pass to Salloi at the far post. The homegrown winger applied the finishing touch with a shot that was almost saved by Burki, who got his mitts to the ball but was unable to keep it from crawling over the goal line.

Salloi now has nine career goal contributions (five goals, four assists) in the MLS Cup Playoffs-passing teammate Graham Zusi for second most in club history behind only Preki (12)-and his 22 goal contributions this season (10 goals, 12 assists) are the most on the team in all competitions, one ahead of Pulido (15 goals, six assists). The Hungarian also has a goal and an assist in back-to-back MLS matches for the second time in his career after doing so in August 2021, the year he was an MLS MVP finalist.

St. Louis grabbed a lifeline through Pompeu in the 86th minute. The substitute's hopeful cross into a crowded penalty area sailed over all heads, beat Melia and caromed into the back of the net off the left post. The fortuitous goal gave St. Louis a fleeting glimmer of hope, but Sporting showcased defensive solidarity from that point onward. Referee Ismail Elfath allowed a whopping 15 minutes of extra time to be played, but the visitors were unable to find a last-gasp equalizer as Sporting joyfully booted their rivals out of the postseason.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

Opening comments...

St. Louis had a fantastic season. As an organization, they started things off right with a great atmosphere in their stadium. It was unbelievable when we played there a week ago and obviously the other two times that we played there as well. They should feel very proud. It's great for the league. It's great as this competition between both cities continues to grow. It's awesome for our sport. The last thing I'd say is that the last two games that we played, I think they were very high-quality soccer games. I've been in a lot of these games over the years, but that is as intense as I've seen it over the years. Even the MLS Cup final, U.S. Open Cup finals, all of them. Those always wind up being intense and tough games. This was a battle on both fronts there and here. So I think it's great for MLS and, again, I congratulate them because they've done a great job with everything.

On how good the win feels for the team...

I told you guys this time and time again as we were going into this series. This is not about a rivalry. It's about the playoffs. It's about trying to get as close as we can to winning the MLS Cup. That's our objective, so all that other stuff goes off to the side. We have to win the game and that's what's most important. If you win the game, all the other stuff lines up as well. It's the playoffs. That's really what it meant to us. The guys worked so hard. As I said many times, they worked so hard to get to the playoffs. It's a great reward, but it makes me even more pleased that they're not just satisfied with getting to the playoffs. They want to try and go for it. You can see with the way the guys are playing and the way different guys are coming in the game and giving us different things. I told (Robert) Castellanos after the game, I said it took some big cajones to go in at that point in the game knowing everything is getting thrown at us. He did a really good job of just solidifying his position.

On Logan Ndenbe...

He is again another guy that I'm very, very proud of from the point of view that he didn't start off in preseason all that good. He wasn't fit enough. He was different and we had a long talk, just a heart to heart. I have a lot of those and I've had a lot of those over the years and not everybody really listens. I'm always having those. If I have them, they're for the best for that person. Sometimes you get through and sometimes you don't. He took it to heart and he really committed himself. He was disciplined and he brought himself back to this place. Not me, him. He did a great job and he has done nothing but been on this steady climb up for the season. I'm proud of him, I really am.

On the team's resolve after the first 20 minutes...

I think when you play in these games, when you enter into the arena like this, the first thing you have to understand is there's a lot of nervous energy that you already burned before the game even starts. As I told the guys when we were going into the game, it's not 90 minutes. It's 45. Right now that's all we're worried about. We gotta get through the first 45 and then we'll do what we have to do for the second 45. We knew immediately that they were going to just launch the ball and we're going to have to be really good not only on the first duel but also the second opportunity. We also talked about where, once we won the ball, where the space was and I thought that for the most part we did a really good job of executing that. We also found really good situations where both Daniel (Salloi) and Johnny (Russell) were 1v1. With them being on the front foot, they pushed so many numbers forward on the first ball that if we won it and we're able to play, then all of a sudden it was 1v1. That was really good for us, but again, you have got to give credit to our guys for being able to really deal with those situations because it's constantly coming at you, coming at you. One bad bounce, one header that nicks off a guy, hits him in the back and ricochets and goes somewhere else can lead to something. Our concentration in those moments was really good.

On the play of his outside backs...

Both guys have really good instincts to join the attack and I think what's very evident as well is when they read a play. Even though we don't have the ball, the other team is playing the ball and they kind of step in front and win the ball and then they're in charge. They have great instincts for that stuff. Those are the situations where a guy like me in my position just says let it go, let it fly, and that's what you have to do. It's not one of those things where I'm telling them what to do at that moment. They have to play to their instincts. They've been playing the game for a long time. I do think the other part of it is that they really have a good ebb and flow. They don't necessarily both go at the same time so there's balance at the back. They have a good understanding of that as well.

On the team's confidence heading on the road...

I think we all know that playing on the road is really difficult in soccer. We all know that, but we have to find a way in our next game because it's on the road. We're going to have to find a way to get a result. I look at it as, wherever we go it's going to be a final for us and we have to go and play it that way. We have to try to do the best we can to understand that we're in the lion's den and we have to become a lion.

On how the season has gone...

Did it go the way I thought? No. It didn't go the way I thought. It wasn't the start of this season. It was still a holdover of last season because our main guys were out and everybody was carrying this load. It was tough because you recruit players to do a job and when those guys aren't available, you either have a replacement or you have somebody else that has other assets. We missed those guys and certain players missed the opportunity to do what they do best as opposed to trying to carry other things. What I would say is that we struggled early, but I always maintained that I always believed that we had a very good team. Not a good team, but a very good and possibly a great team. But we had to get everybody first off on the field and we had to get everybody fit and then back in form and it took some time to do that. What I would say is that the fact that we had to go through a lot of scraping, scrapping, biting, and fighting and all the things that you do, I think we're ready for games like this. I think that's where the difference is that I've been in the place where you win your conference and then all of a sudden you're playing against a team that has been playing a lot of intense games to try to get into the cup or into the playoffs and those matches are really hard. What I would say is I believe that the guys were capable of doing what we're doing for sure. I believe in the roster. I believe in the players.

On the break in the schedule...

I'll have to think about it. I'm going to take a couple of days to do that because it actually is incredibly new and it's going to be very difficult to navigate because for us it's going to be three weeks. There is an international break where probably Gadi (Kinda) will leave. I'm going to have to manage that in a very unique way. I have some ideas but I'm not ready to share what those are. It's going to be an interesting three weeks to try to keep the guys tough. This is not going to be an easy thing to navigate, especially depending on what everybody else does and who we wind up having to play. If they're playing a third game, then they have less time than we do. Two weeks is good to have off, but three is going to be tough to navigate.

On playing in front of the fans...

I was over at the Budweiser Brew House earlier. This is obviously our last game here. Not a bad way to have the last game in your own stadium. Not a bad way, but at the same time, we're going to need support on the road. We need a section, for sure, on the road. It'll be really important for us to have a section because I learned this in 2011. You need somebody to share the enjoyment with, not just yourselves, but with your fans. Even if it's a small group and they have your colors, it's very important.

On continued support from the fans...

You have to remember I was a player at one point, right? And I was a player here as well. I think the relationship between the fans and the team, to me, it's a family. And I think you have to stand by your family when things are going tough as well. That's what I believe. It's easy in anything you do to stand by somebody or be happy when things are going well, it's when things aren't going well, what do you do? And it's the one thing I told the guys every single day we would come to training, I was like, 'look, in the end, the only people that are going to get us out of this is us. And right now, if we're the only ones that believe that, no problem. We're the ones who are going to make it happen.' And credit to those guys. They did. Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of fans who obviously support us and I appreciate the fact that they've been with us all along. I would say probably 95% of the fans are always with us and that was great. I think this is a reward to them as well.

On the second goal...

It was a little bit of combination play from them and we won the ball. Johnny (Russell) has a great first touch out in front of him and he sees Gadi (Kinda) and he plays outside of his left foot. He plays a nice little ball into space for Gadi and this is where Gadi is at his best. Because when he's in those moments where you need a little bit of creativity in that final pass, he has the ability. He took enough of the space and also the touches to get into a place where the goalkeeper had to commit towards him. The player had to commit across to him and he was able to play the ball across to Daniel. Just a great, creative, instinctive type of action. And sometimes those are hard. It's like a putt, you hit it a little too long, you hit a little too short and you hit the defender in front of you. He just put it into the right space. And then for Daniel, he just tapped it in. He didn't crush it. He put it in a place where the goalkeeper was never going to be able to make the save.

On the team's reaction to St. Louis' goal...

I think it was an important moment in the game. I think that the guys understood that now the onslaught was going to come. They're just going to hoof it even more than they did earlier. I think that we kept our heads. We didn't lose our composure, which I think was incredibly important. As I said, emotionally you could have lost yourself in this game and we did not do that. A tremendous finish by the guys. Additionally, with the changes in the players as well, to have to go in and even Roger (Espinoza) getting in there and fighting for everything, I tell him I don't know how he does it at his age anymore.

Message during halftime...

I had told them that they were going to come in the second half and from the kickoff we have to be ready because they're going to send even more players forward. They're going to take more risk. We have to be prepared for that. And the final thing is that at that point I said to them it was 0-0. We have got to do one of two things. We have got to get a shutout or we have got to get the second goal. It was good to get the second goal.

On the break in the schedule...

I think the three weeks are going to be difficult to navigate. I'm glad that we don't have to go to a third game, that's for sure. I do think these next three weeks will be difficult to navigate. We'll do our best. I think it's interesting because I don't think we've ever faced this before. I'll have to find a way to keep the guys fit, hungry, healthy, everything. It's going to be interesting.

Sporting Kansas City captain Johnny Russell

On advancing to the Western Conference semifinals...

It's such an incredible feeling to go from where we were and to fight back and scrape into the playoffs and then winning a Wild Card game. No one gave us a chance against the top seed. St. Louis have been incredible all year. What they've managed to do this year coming in as an expansion team has been incredible. But we had that chip on our shoulder. Everyone wrote us off. We went into that game, especially the one away from home - that was one of the best performances I've seen since I've been here - and then tonight we knew that they were going to come after us right from the start. I think you saw that in the first 30 minutes. They gave everything. We get the goal. (It's) Logan again. Playoff Ndenbe. Roberto Carlos back there. Incredible. What a way to score your first two goals against rivals in the playoffs. Incredible. And then obviously to get the second one. It makes it a little bit nervy when they get one back, especially when you see 12 minutes (of stoppage time). But every single guy stuck to their job. We knew that we were going to have to defend those last 10-15 minutes. They were going to throw everything forward. We were getting on the end of crosses, getting blocks. I think you could see how much the guys wanted it out there. It's just such an incredible feeling. We want to celebrate this one long into the night, I can assure you that. To get it done in two, especially when they had the two home games, people would have wrote us off. An incredible, incredible feeling. It's so well deserved for every guy in this locker room, the staff, everyone that's sacrificed this year. I couldn't be more proud to be a part of this team, be the leader of this team, a captain. Just to be a part of this when the guys have done everything they can to turn the season around, honestly it's up there with the most enjoyable things in my career.

On the playoff run...

We still haven't done anything. I think we've proved a lot of people wrong, but why stop now? We've shown that we can go away from home, especially the last couple of weeks in the season and then into the playoffs. We can go away from home and we can get results. We know it's going to be away from home the whole way out now. We'll probably still be underdogs the whole way, but we want to go the whole way. We know it's going to be an incredibly difficult game with whoever it is we get next. We need to see how that plays out. Either one, we've been there and we know how difficult it's going to be.

Sporting Kansas City forward Daniel Salloi

On his goal...

Shout out to Gadi Kinda, a great assist. They play a certain style and you have to match that. That's what's difficult about it. Possession is a crazy thing because when you go up 2-0 you're going to get pushed back. At one point, they were throwing everything at us and 12 minutes is a crazy extra time, to be honest, but happy that we held strong.

On his celebration...

It just happened to be right there. Their fans always show up so you have got to give it back to them and celebrate in front of them. I'm sure they are proud of their team and the way they did in the season but we take this one.

On the upset...

This is great. Probably nobody believed that we would be in the playoffs. Nobody bet on us that we would take St. Louis out. It happened and we keep going. Love being the underdogs. It's going to be a long break now so we just have to be ready in three weeks to play either Houston or Salt Lake.

On Logan Ndenbe's goal...

Amazing. Roberto Carlos we call him. He's doing amazing and I'm so happy for him.

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Major League Soccer Stories from November 5, 2023


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