Sporting Falls 3-0 at San Jose
April 16, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release
Sporting Kansas City (0-5-3, 3 pts.) fell to a 3-0 loss against the San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-2, 14 pts.) at PayPal Park on Saturday night. A brace from Jeremy Ebobisse following Cristian Espinoza's opener was enough for San Jose to top Sporting, who saw defender Robert Castellanos sent off after receiving a first-half red card.
Manager Peter Vermes rolled out an unchanged lineup following last week's match against the Colorado Rapids and the team started on the front foot, causing multiple turnovers high up the field and seeing a number of shots charged down by the San Jose defense.
Sporting's bright start lasted nine minutes when San Jose took the lead with their first attack of the match. Jamiro Monteiro freed winger Cade Cowell down the left wing and the young USMNT man cut onto his right foot before whipping in a cross that was converted at the far post by star forward Espinoza.
Trying to find a foothold back in the game, Sporting almost found an equalizer when the high-press once again paid dividends, this time with Graham Zusi dispossessing Monteiro and rifling a half-volley from 25 yards that JT Marcinkowski managed to tip over the bar in the 35th minute.
Sporting's night got worse in the 38th minute when Robert Castellanos was adjudged to have fouled San Jose forward Ebobisse in the penalty area, with referee Tim Ford awarding a penalty and showing the Sporting center back a straight red card for denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Ebobisse stepped up and slotted home the penalty kick making the halftime score 2-0 in favor of the 'Quakes.
The second half began much like the first half ended and San Jose added to their lead as Ebobisse tucked away his second of the game in the 51st minute to make it 3-0.
Five minutes later, Daniel Salloi appeared to be fouled in the area by Carlos Akapo, but referee Ford deemed no foul on the field and the VAR, Luis Guardia, did not intervene.
In the 61st minute, Cowell found some space behind the Sporting backline down the left but his low effort was tipped around the post by Tim Melia. Moments later, Johnny Russell cut inside on his left foot and lashed a thunderous effort that was palmed onto the crossbar by Marcinkowski.
Sporting remains on the road next weekend to take on high-flying Eastern Conference side the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Kickoff is set for 6:39 p.m. CT.
QUOTES
Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the team's performance prior to the red card...
I thought we were pretty good actually. I am not even sure it's a penalty. Red card? No chance. The player is goal side. I have no idea how it becomes a penalty at that point. He recovers on the player I don't know how to go from a situation where you give the penalty, the guy's goal side and then you also give a red card. I don't know. It definitely changed the outcome of the game.
On the team's response after the red card...
Again, when you're playing a man down, it's never an easy situation especially when they went up 2-0 at that point. But we defended well and we tried our chances to counter quite a few times. I know 100% there's a penalty on Daniel (Salloi) that doesn't get called. I'm shocked. The whole play finished and it went out for a goal kick. I'm surprised that the play was not reviewed. Obviously, it wasn't because you would hold the game for just a moment, but obviously they felt, I don't know, that it didn't need to be reviewed. But it's 100% a penalty. I don't know how it's not. But that's their decision that they made.
On how the team can turn things around...
I think the guys had a good mindset going into the game. I really do. Obviously, when you're in a situation, you doubt yourself a little bit. I thought the mindset was actually really good. Right now, some things just aren't going our way. We're in the game. We're playing away from home obviously, but then getting the red card change things. I do know this. The guys didn't walk into the game feeling sorry for themselves and that's a good thing. We have got to try to keep that mentality. You can turn things around, and I believe that these guys can.
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