Sporting KC Falls 2-0 at Minnesota United FC
Published on May 7, 2017 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release
Sporting Kansas City fell to second place in the Western Conference with a 2-0 defeat to Minnesota United FC on Sunday at TFC Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Miguel Ibarra assisted first-half goals to Abu Danlade and Christian Ramirez as the Loons (3-5-2, 11 points) claimed victory in the inaugural MLS meeting between the regional foes. Sporting Kansas City (5-2-3, 18 points) had a two-game winning streak snapped and conceded multiple goals in an MLS match for the first time since Oct. 1, 2016.
With his team playing its third game in nine days, Manager Peter Vermes made three changes to Sporting Kansas City's starting lineup. Defenders Kevin Ellis and Igor Juliao earned their 2017 debuts - filling in for the rested Graham Zusi and Ike Opara - while Soony Saad replaced Jimmy Medranda on the left side of the three-man attack.
Both sides exchanged speculative efforts within the first three minutes. Ramirez ran onto Molino's diagonal ball and struck a thunderous volley from the right side of the box that sailed narrowly wide into the side netting. On the opposite end, Dom Dwyer marauded into the final third and muscled off multiple challenges before seeing his left-footed attempt smothered by Bobby Shuttleworth. The Minnesota goalkeeper would finish the afternoon with a club-record seven saves.
The hosts drew first blood in the 22nd minute with a sweeping move down the left side of the field. Ibson sprung Miguel Ibarra free down the flank with a long ball over the top, allowing the midfielder to swing in a cross from the endline. Danladi was on hand to slot low into the left corner from 10 yards, recording his first career MLS goal in his first league start since joining Minnesota as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. It would be Sporting Kansas City's first goal conceded before the 75th minute in 12 MLS matches dating back to last October.
The Loons doubled their advantage on 39 minutes, finding further penetration down the left wing. Molino exploited space and picked out an open Ibarra, whose far-post delivery was headed home by Ramirez for his team-leading sixth goal of the campaign.
Sporting Kansas City responded positively and almost halved the deficit in the final minutes of the first half. Juliao's right-footed rocket was palmed wide by Shuttleworth, then Gerso received a clever pass from Dwyer and rounded the goalkeeper but was unable to pull the trigger before the ball rolled out of play.
Zusi, Medranda and Daniel Salloi entered the fray during a second half largely controlled by the visitors. Seth Sinovic forced Shuttleworth into action with a swerving, long-range effort in the 55th minute following a patient spell of possession on the periphery of Minnesota's box. After Danlade had a goal disallowed for offside, Shuttleworth thwarted Dwyer and Medranda just past the hour mark.
Referee Alan Kelly notably showed Dom Dwyer a yellow card in the 72nd minute for a physical tackle on Sam Cronin, ruling Dwyer out of next Saturday's road test at Orlando City SC due to caution accumulation.
Vermes' men continued to rue their luck in the 80th minute when the Loons survived a major scare. Medranda's curling cross was cushioned across the face of goal by Dwyer, where Salloi's strike was blocked amidst heavy traffic. The ball fell to Espinoza at the top of the box, but his blistering attempt also caromed off a mass of bodies in the penalty area. Three minutes later, Espinoza found Zusi in a pocket of space on the right side of the box, but the U.S. international's blast was straight at Shuttleworth.
One last chance fell to the foot of Dwyer deep in second-half stoppage time, as the striker's one-time volley off Melia's booming ball downfield was hammered over the crossbar.
Sporting Kansas City will look to bounce back Saturday when they visit the the brand-new Orlando City Stadium, where the Lions are a perfect 5-0-0 this season. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT on FOX Sports Kansas City Plus .
QUOTES
Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes
What did Minnesota show you today?
They were the more aggressive and the more intense team. They deserved the three points. I think it was very evident to see that they were very aggressive, and very intense. I think in the end they displayed early on that they wanted it more. And from that point on we were trying to play catch-up.
There was a lot of rotation in your defense from the game the previous weekend. What was the thinking going on in those decisions and what were you hoping to see from your backline?
We had a couple of guys that had some nagging injuries, we just wanted to try to give them a rest if we could. Especially when you're playing three games. The fact that we actually played on Wednesday we had to take that in to consideration especially also that it's early in the season.
What about the decision to start Igor Juliao out at right back over Graham Zusi?
The fact that he had some nagging injures.
There have been some speculations about Abdul-Salaam as far as the trade window? Comments on that?
If there was, I wouldn't comment on it anyways. So nothing.
Thoughts on the scuffle between Dwyer and Calvo? Does that add to the relationship of these two teams to possibly become a rivalry?
No. Not at all. It was a joke of an action; it was a drop ball. I don't know what you're supposed to do. You have two men sitting there and it's kind of like two bulls getting ready to tee off against each other. I don't even know why that action was even called anything. I still don't understand it.
Can United follow in Sporting Kansas City's footsteps?
It's hard for me to say, I'm not here and I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. I know Manny [Lagos] really well; I know Adrian [Heath] really well. They're good guys and they're good with what they do. And I'm sure that they're trying to strive not to be supporting Kansas City, but actually to be better than us. That's one of the great things about our league right now with the individual ownership. As many teams as we have, what's happening is the competition between all the teams - and its not just on the weekends, its everything else everybody's doing is raising the bar for each organization to try to be better. I'm sure they're going to push towards trying to be the best they can be.
How do you feel about how the first ten games have gone, and what do you hope to see in the 11th?
I think we have done a lot of good things. I'd say more good than bad. But there are always lessons to learn. The whole thing is that in this business you have to week-to-week, game-to-game, look at it as how you're evolving. I think the evolution up to this point has been good, but there are still a lot of things not only do we have to work on, but get better at. As long as we maintain our focus in trying to do that, hopefully towards the end of the season we'll be competing like everyone wants to be for the playoffs and those types of things.
Sporting KC defender Seth Sinovic
Third game in eight days is this the result of this congested schedule?
I don't think so. We just let our guard down a couple times in the game and they took advantage of it. This team can take advantage of you if you give them opportunities and we gave them too many. You can't afford to do that especially on the road so we have to regroup for the game next week and we will be ready to go.
This is your first time playing here against Minnesota here in MLS play, what did you think of the atmosphere today?
It was a good atmosphere. I think they were off to a slow start at the beginning this year but they made a few moves and they've really been strong the last month or so. It's a tough team to play and it's a tough place to play.
On the changes to the starting lineup...
There are no excuses. We have to be better as a whole. For guys who haven't been playing a lot of minutes, it's on us to pick guys up. It's a team effort. As a whole we have got to be better and like I said we expected better results.
Sporting KC midfielder Soony Saad
Thoughts on the match...
I thought we created chances and we came close to scoring. In the first half, we just had a lack of concentration and were unable to come back from it.
On the team's offensive effort...
Yeah. We ended up having a lot of shots and created chances but it didn't fall our way.
What did you think of the atmosphere here?
I thought the atmosphere was crazy at first, seeing the stadium empty and then seeing it fill up. The bottom half was cool and I look forward to seeing Minnesota when they get their stadium.
Major League Soccer Stories from May 7, 2017
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- Earthquakes Blank Timbers 3-0, Earn Second Consecutive Win - San Jose Earthquakes
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