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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC Earns 2-1 Win over Colorado

May 19, 2022 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Daniel Salloi struck in both halves as Sporting Kansas City (3-7-3, 12 points) snapped a seven-match winless skid by claiming a 2-1 triumph over the Colorado Rapids (4-5-3, 15 points) in a hotly contested Western Conference clash at Children's Mercy Park. In a heated battle that boiled over with an MLS-record four red cards, all coming in second-half stoppage time, Salloi dazzled by conjuring two convictive strikes for his first multi-goal home match since last June versus the same opponent. The homegrown forward has bagged five goals in six career appearances against the Rapids, who on Wednesday dropped to 0-5-1 on the road this season and 1-4-3 in their last eight meetings with Sporting.

With multiple goals in four of their last five matches across all competitions, Sporting will aim to continue their winning ways on Sunday when they visit the San Jose Earthquakes for a 6:30 p.m. CT kickoff at PayPal Park. The match will be shown live on 38 The Spot, the Sporting KC app and SportingKC.com while also airing on ESPN 94.5 FM and La Grande 1340 AM.

Looking to bounce back from a road loss to the Portland Timbers on Saturday and navigating a seven-game stretch in the space of 22 days, Sporting Manager Peter Vermes deployed a revamped lineup that featured four changes. Striker Nikola Vujnovic replaced the injured Khiry Shelton, midfielder Felipe Hernandez and center back Andreu Fontas filled in for suspended duo Roger Espinoza and Robert Voloder, respectively, and veteran Ben Sweat was deployed as a right back as Cam Duke dropped to the bench. In the center of the park, holding midfielder Uri Rosell hit a milestone by making his 50th regular season appearance for Sporting.

The visitors were first to forge an incisive attack as Jonathan Lewis slipped a pass to the overlapping Esteves on the right side in the fourth minute, but Sporting center back Kortne Ford-squaring off against his former club-did well to stretch out a foot and block the ensuing shot attempt from a tight angle.

Salloi vaulted Sporting ahead with a magical display of individual skill in the 24th minute. The 25-year-old winger surged down the left channel, slalomed through Colorado's Lalas Abubakar and Jack Price and sent a low drive past Rapids goalkeeper William Yarbrough for his third goal of the MLS campaign. Rosell also tabbed an assist on the play, his first for the team since 2013.

Sporting's 1-0 advantage lasted only five minutes. The Rapids offered a quick reply near the half-hour mark when Esteves prodded home at close range after Colorado striker Gyasi Zardes kept the ball alive amidst a goalmouth scramble after Lewis' swept a low cross into the box from the left wing.

Vujnovic was forced to exit with a calf injury in the 34th minute and Colorado nearly compounded Sporting's misfortune two minutes later as former Kansas City striker Diego Rubio secured possession following a blocked Colorado free kick and rifled a sizzling shot narrowly wide of Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia's righthand post.

Tzionis provided a spark upon his introduction and almost helped Sporting reclaim the lead on the stroke of intermission. The diminutive Cypriot found a pocket of space 30 yards from goal, cut the ball onto his patented right foot and curled a shot inches over the crossbar.

Salloi's brilliant performance carried into the second half as the Hungarian international struck again in the 50th minute. Ford's searching diagonal ball skipped across the turf, past the outstretched foot of Abubakar and fell invitingly to Salloi, who took a touch inside the penalty area before finishing coolly past Yarbrough for his team-leading fourth tally of the season. The Sporting KC Academy product is third in MLS since the start of 2021 with 18 goals from the run of play and has now scored 43 times for Sporting in all competitions, tying Chris Klein for sixth most in club history.

Colorado midfielder Bryan Acosta gave the hosts a scare in the 72nd minute, but his screaming free kick from 25 yards dipped high and wide by the slimmest of margins. Shortly thereafter at the opposite end, Sporting captain Johnny Russell saw his audacious long-range blast deflect behind for a corner kick that Colorado defended successfully.

The game's first save would come with nine minutes remaining as Melia dropped low to corral Rubio's low piledriver off a Colorado set piece. Sporting's keeper did even better to deny Lewis in the 87th minute, producing the finest save of the night by stretching right to cast aside the winger's bouncing shot from 12 yards.

The Rapids were left frustrated by their floundering bid for a late equalizer and suffered another blow in the first minute of second-half added time when center back Auston Trusty received his marching orders from referee Drew Fischer after picking up his second yellow card of the evening.

Despite its numerical disadvantage, Colorado threatened once more on the cusp of full time, but Melia tipped Mark-Anthony Kaye's off-balance header over the bar. The incident preceded a malicious altercation between the teams as Esteves, Salloi and Fontas were shown red cards for violent conduct.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes On Daniel Salloi's performance...

He's been playing well all season. He just hasn't had the breaks in the games and I think at times we haven't been able to find him on some of the movements he makes off the ball. He's got the ability, as he's shown tonight to do an individual solo and score on the first one. The second one was a little bit more opportunistic, but you have still got to finish it. Great two goals by him. It was important.

On bouncing back after Saturday...

That game is over with. You lost three points. Nobody wants to lose by the number of goals we did. Whether we lose by one or five or seven or whatever it is, at the end we lost three points. So for us it's trying to get three points and keep trying to get as many points as we can at home and on the road. I credit the guys for fantastic attention to the game plan tonight and the fight for them to be able to deal with all the set pieces that were called, especially in the second half. They are a very big team and right now we have a little bit of a smaller team at the moment. We've just got some guys that normally are in those positions to help us, but the guys competed and that's what you have got to do in those situations and we did a great job of it. They did a great job of it so a tremendous mentality in the game and a great way to close it out and still to remain under control.

On the effort from Johnny Russell...

He's a warrior. It's one of the biggest reasons why he's the leader. He's a warrior. He was banged up from the game in Portland and so for him to be on the field tonight was a stretch. He fought all the way through to the end. So a huge credit to him and it just shows what he thinks and cares about the club and the team and just the way he fights. As I said to him, I said he's a warrior. I appreciate the way he goes out and goes about his business.

On how Russell's message resonated with the team...

Character is defined in difficult moments and he's a guy that doesn't shy away from adverse situations. It's easy to be a captain when everything's going well. It's the difficult moments where you have got to step up and be a leader and he's done a really good job of that.

On players being out of position in the match...

I would just say that the team played very well. They fought for everything. They competed. They were organized and they played to the game plan.

On the play of Tim Melia...

He needed to come up big. That was a good save. There were a few others. But as I said, I think as a group, the group itself was committed and they fought for it. It's not easy coming off the game you played in Portland. It's not easy coming off of that and then fighting from there. But that was a good mentality tonight. It's good to see. It's something that we have got to continue to keep getting stronger and stronger with.

On seeing the team's response...

I think you're always interested to see how your team is going to respond to all kinds of different situations. I have more belief in them than they do, but that's always the case.

Sporting Kansas City forward Daniel Salloi

On the win giving the team a sense of belief...

It helps, obviously. It always builds confidence. This is the reaction we needed to have because you can't go into the back-to-back losses and stuff like that because that's when you lose control of your team. I'm very happy what we did tonight because this is a big three points for us.

On the team's mentality...

These are the situations that test the team and how you react. This is big. I'm not saying we made up for it, but this is how we have to react and move on.

On his brace giving him more confidence...

It builds it. It's nice to score as many goals as I can. I'm trying to do my best and help the team. Big plays like that will take us to places.

On how his first goal unfolded...

Uri (Rosell) rolled me the ball and there was just so much space that I just had to start running at him. It just kind of opened up and I could push through two guys and just place it in the corner. I'm very happy that it worked out and I got to open the scoring.

On Nikola Vujnovic drawing the foul before his first goal...

I hope he's okay. He got hurt and had to got subbed off. I hope he's doing well. We can't really afford to lose more guys.

On the play of Marinos Tzionis at center forward...

I like playing with him. He's a very intelligent player. He knows the game and I think we've been combining well. It was tough because we were kind of tired and pushed back. We have many, many games now, but we move on and I am very happy for the three points and the reaction from the team.

Sporting Kansas City defender Kortne Ford

On bouncing back with a win...

Although it's very important as a team to get over that and move on past it, we were going to let it fuel us and motivate us in this game. We talked about it all week. It was going to be a quick turnaround and we need to show grit and character, be tough in tackles and show mentality on the field. And that's what we did tonight.

On the team fighting for each other...

I think there's been a couple of performances this year where that hasn't happened and it doesn't feel good out there. Whether you're winning or losing, it doesn't feel like we're a collective or a unit. Red cards always suck but when we're battling together and we have each other's backs like that, we'll take the suspensions head on and we'll deal with it. I'd rather be a team and battle together than to not have that at all.

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