Sporting KC Falls 2-0 in Seattle
September 15, 2024 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release
Sporting Kansas City (7-15-7, 28 points) fell 2-0 to Seattle Sounders FC (13-9-7, 46 points) on Sunday at Lumen Field. The hosts inflicted their damage in the first half, receiving goals from Jackson Ragen and Paul Rothrock as Peter Vermes' 500th regular season match as Sporting's manager ended in defeat.
The upcoming MLS matchweek will see Sporting host a pair of familiar foes at Children's Mercy Park, welcoming the Colorado Rapids (14-9-5, 47 points) on Wednesday and Minnesota United FC (11-11-6, 39 points) on Saturday. Both fixtures are slated for 7:30 p.m. CT with tickets available at SeatGeek and live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.
Taking the field for the first of five matches in 14 days, Sporting deployed a lineup that featured just one change from last weekend's 1-1 road draw at the New York Red Bulls as Remi Walter replaced suspended midfielder Jake Davis.
The visitors carved out an early opening as Erik Thommy forced a save from Sounders captain Stefan Frei on the breakaway, but the German playmaker was flagged offside by a narrow margin. Sporting went even closer in the 16th minute when center back Dany Rosero latched onto a Johnny Russell corner kick and steered a short-range effort goalward off his thigh, but Cristian Roldan performed a heroic clearance off the goal line to keep the game scoreless.
Three minutes after Roldan spared Seattle's blushes, the Sounders struck on a corner kick of their own. Goalkeeper Tim Melia did well to save a powerful Jordan Morris header off Albert Rusnak's out-swinging delivery, but Ragen was on hand to slam home the rebound for his third goal of the season. Sporting then breathed a sigh of relief midway through the half when Rothrock dragged his shot fractionally wide under the duress of Khiry Shelton.
The Sounders thought they had doubled their advantage in the 24th minute when Cristian Roldan's header fortuitously skipped past Morris, beyond the reach of Melia and into the far corner of the net, but the goal was rightly disallowed on VAR intervention due to Morris impacting the play in an offside position.
Vermes' men found their footing as the first half rolled onward and manufactured a good look in the 35th minute. Left back Tim Leibold-logging his 50th appearance for Sporting in all competitions-clipped a searching cross into the box that Russell cushioned into the path of Thommy, whose low drive near the penalty spot was swallowed by Frei.
Rothrock pushed the scoreline to 2-0 five minutes before intermission. The breakout performer finished from close range to culminate an incisive attack involving Roldan, Rusnak and Morris, bagging his third goal of the MLS campaign and his sixth of the year in all competitions.
The outlook went from bad to worse for Sporting when Seattle was awarded a penalty kick in the 44th minute, but Melia dove right to cast aside Rusnak's attempt and stop the bleeding on the cusp of halftime. Melia has saved 17 penalties in regular season play since 2015-the most in MLS during that time-and his .575 goals conceded percentage on penalties is the lowest in MLS regular season history among keepers with at least 15 spot kicks faced.
Eleven minutes after the restart, Seattle threatened again with Rusnak firing high from a tight angle to cap off an attack spearheaded by Rothrock and Morris. The chance came shortly before Sporting introduced three substitutes in midfielder Memo Rodriguez and attacking duo Stephen Afrifa and William Agada.
Sporting extinguished another fire with a dozen minutes remaining, Rosero and Shelton retreating to snuff out a breaking move into the box from Morris and Rothrock.
QUOTES
Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
On Sporting's 2-0 loss to Seattle...
I actually think we started off the game really well. We had maybe three or four corners in a row, we were keeping them in their end, and we really didn't give them anything in our end. They got their goal off us being in a position to play forward but we play backwards. (Robert) Voloder gets kind of stuck, plays a ball out for a throw-in and off the throw-in they get the corner. Off the corner, Tim (Melia) makes a great save and we're not there to protect and defend the goal. I think they were the better team today overall. In the first 25 or 30 minutes, I thought we were actually really good. We were for sure the better team at the time, but when they scored, I don't know if it put us back on our heels a little bit or what. But I don't think that we played with the same confidence in possession that we did prior to that. Especially in the first half, I thought we had some great opportunities going to goal. We just didn't have the final knockout blow on a really good chance at goal. We got into great positions and decided not to serve it when we should have. Then we'd knock it around again and we would think about serving it, but then they would get all their guys behind the ball. Our recognition was slow today.
On Cristian Roldan's goal line clearance when Sporting nearly scored early...
We could have gotten rewarded for what we were doing in that period of time. We needed to get rewarded, and the fact that we didn't sometimes changes a game in soccer. That's just the way it is. I don't think we played bad. I just don't think that we took advantage of the stuff we had going early in the game. Then there were just a couple of situations where we didn't protect the goal well enough. Tim Melia played very well.
On Sporting's substitutions in the second half...
We do have a lot of games coming up, so that for sure was part of it. The other part was to bring those guys in to bring something else to the game-to try and bring a spark. The whole thing was that if we could just get one goal, we'd get a little momentum and get going. But we just couldn't do it.
On Sporting's reaction after falling behind...
We lost a little bit of our confidence and our rhythm after they scored, but we were still in the game. We just didn't have the final punch in the final third. We could have taken more space but we shot too early, or we held onto the ball one touch too many before we shot and they were able to block it. We just weren't crisp enough in that final phase on goal. Everything else was actually very good for a while. We were dominating early and we were in their end, but we never rewarded ourselves for it.
On Tim Melia's penalty kick save...
He's great at (saving penalties). It should have been a great confidence builder for the team at that moment. It should have been huge. I had a feeling he was going to save it and he did. It was good for us, but we just didn't take advantage of it.
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia
On Sporting's reaction after falling behind...
It's really difficult giving up goals off set pieces. It's something we've done a lot this season. We just put our head down a little bit rather than saying, "We got scored on, who cares?" It was always going to be a difficult game in a difficult environment. Instead of coming together in that moment, we kind of dipped a little bit and started to let them have the ball a little bit more. Then they took advantage of it.
On Seattle's second goal before halftime...
We were just sitting back too far and giving up that tight space between the six and the 18. When the guy is chipping a ball into the six, at that time we have to step up as a group and leave all of those players there. That eliminates them (in an offside position). We got that jab and we didn't really recover, and after that we were chasing shadows for a few minutes.
On what goes into saving a penalty kick...
A lot of things go into it. It's a lot of studying before the game. it's understanding the player, It's understanding the score in the game. There are so many variables that go into it-his approach, where they are looking, which way their plant foot is going, which way their hips are going. There are just a lot of things that all come together to give the goalkeeper a potential edge to go the right direction.
Sporting Kansas City is owned by Sporting Club, an entity comprised of local business and community leaders. Sporting prides itself on a commitment and vision to provide high-performance experiences. Sporting Club purchased the team from the Hunt Sports Group in 2006, and under its direction has launched Swope Soccer Village, Children's Mercy Park, Compass Minerals Sporting Fields, Compass Minerals National Performance Center and Central Bank Sporting Complex while investing in the Sporting KC Academy and Sporting Kansas City II for developing local youth into homegrown talent. A charter member of Major League Soccer, Sporting are two-time MLS Cup champions (2000, 2013) and four-time winners of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2004, 2012, 2015, 2017).
2024 MLS Regular Season | Match 29
Lumen Field | Seattle, Washington
Attendance: 31,898
Weather: 64 degrees and sunny
Score 1 2 F
Sporting Kansas City (7-15-7, 28 points) 0 0 0
Seattle Sounders FC (13-9-7, 46 points) 2 0 2
Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Khiry Shelton, Dany Rosero, Robert Voloder, Tim Leibold; Remi Walter, Zorhan Bassong (Memo Rodriguez 58'); Johnny Russell (C) (Stephen Afrifa 58'), Erik Thommy, Daniel Salloi (Alenis Vargas 80'); Alan Pulido (William Agada 58')
Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Robert Castellanos, Andreu Fontas, Danny Flores
Seattle Sounders FC: Stefan Frei (C); Alex Roldan, Yeimar Gomez Andrade, Jackson Ragen, Reed Baker-Whiting (Jonathan Bell 66'); Cristian Roldan, Obed Vargas (Josh Atencio 77'); Georgi Minoungou (Pedro de la Vega 66'), Albert Rusnak (Danny Leyva 85'), Paul Rothrock; Jordan Morris
Subs Not Used: Andrew Thomas, Nathan, Leo Chu, Dylan Teves, Raul Ruidiaz
Scoring Summary:
SEA -- Jackson Ragen 3 (unassisted) 19'
SEA -- Paul Rothrock 3 (Jordan Morris 3, Albert Rusnak 13) 40'
Misconduct Summary:
SEA -- Reed Baker-Whiting (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 29'
SKC -- Daniel Salloi (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 37'
SKC -- Zorhan Bassong (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 46'
Stat SKC SEA
Shots 13 17
Shots on Goal 2 4
Saves 2 1
Fouls 10 9
Offsides 2 2
Corner Kicks 11 9
Referee: Drew Fischer
Assistant Referee: Felisha Mariscal
Assistant Referee: Eduardo Jeff
Fourth Official: Elton Garcia
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
AVAR: Joshua Patlak
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