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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC Falls 3-0 at Real Salt Lake

July 18, 2022 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City (5-12-5, 20 pts.) closed out a three-game road swing with a 3-0 defeat against rivals Real Salt Lake (9-6-6, 33 pts.) at Rio Tinto Stadium on Sunday night. After a scoreless first half, Sporting were reduced to 10 men in the second half following Roger Espinoza's red card and RSL fired home three second-half goals to deal Sporting a loss on the road.

Sporting Manager Peter Vermes made three changes from Wednesday's draw in Minnesota, with defender Robert Voloder in for Andreu Fontas who was suspended through yellow card accumulation, while veterans Roger Espinoza and Johnny Russell replaced Felipe Hernandez and Cam Duke, respectively.

That meant second straight starts for 21-year-old Homegrown goalkeeper John Pulskamp and U-22 initiative signing Marinos Tzionis - each of whom impressed during Wednesday's draw at Allianz Field.

The first action of the match saw young Pulskamp called into an excellent pair of saves within seconds of each other in the 10th minute. First, he sprung off his line to deny Sergio Cordova who was in on goal before moments later diving to his left to palm away Jefferson Savarino's venomous strike from the edge of the area.

Four minutes later, Sporting showed their teeth as the team moved through the gears up the field with the ball eventually finding Kayden Pierre on the wing whose cutback found Tzionis 12 yards from goal, but the recently turned 21-year-old scuffed his effort into the arms of Zac MacMath.

Pulskamp continued to show his quality in the 15th minute as he once again stood tall with Justin Meram through one-on-one, blocking the close-range effort with his body. In the 26th minute, Pablo Ruiz whipped a brilliant free kick attempt on target that forced Pulskamp into another save, diving to his right to push the ball out for a corner. From the ensuing delivery, Pulskamp produced another stunning stop, denying Savarino's volley through traffic.

In the 39th minute, it was Sporting's turn to threaten as Russell cut inside of two RSL defenders before sending a fizzing effort wide of the post from 25 yards as the teams headed for the halftime interval with the game scoreless.

Real Salt Lake took the lead early in the second half when Cordova headed home his fourth goal of the season after being picked out by Andrew Brody's cross from the left wing. Cordova should've added a second goal in the 56th minute when he was picked out by a tempting cross from Aaron Herrera, but he glanced his header inches wide of the post.

The pivotal moment in the match came in the 61st minute when Roger Espinoza went into a strong challenge with Jasper Loffelsend near midfield and referee Joe Dickerson showed Espinoza a straight red card, leaving Sporting to try to find a way back into the game down a man for the final 30 minutes.

Real Salt Lake took immediate advantage of their numerical superiority, with Pablo Ruiz stroking home from the edge of the area after being found by Savarino to double the host's lead.

RSL added a third in the 71st minute when Justin Meram picked out Savarino's run inside the area with a pin-point cross, leaving the Venezuelan with a simple task to glance a header into the back of the net and make the final score 3-0.

Sunday's contest closed out a three-game road swing over the last eight days and a stretch of five road games in the last six MLS matches. Sporting will now prepare for a home-heavy portion of the schedule, with eight of the next 11 matches taking place at Children's Mercy Park, starting with next Saturday's clash with Supporters' Shield leaders Los Angeles FC. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT with tickets available via SeatGeek.com.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

Thoughts on the match...

We gave up the first goal early, six minutes into the second half. And then the red card-we tried to chase the game and they knocked two in after that. It's really hard for us to get into the game after that, and the game opens up. We were trying to get back into it from that point on, but it wasn't like we were in position to defend a lead or anything, so the game got opened up.

On Roger Espinoza's red card...

I saw the action. If it's not a straight red, it's a second yellow card. Roger gets to the ball first, but unfortunately the guy comes in late and Roger steps on the guy's leg. They are going to give that (call) to him every day of the week.

On Sporting conceded goals off crosses...

You've got to attack the ball and in two of those occasions tonight, we just didn't attack the ball. Their guy beat our guy to the ball. It's pretty simple.

On playing three road matches in nine days...

I think the guys performed well in the other two games. It was good to get four points. Unfortunately with this one, we've just got to get ready for the upcoming week-get a good week of training and get prepared for the next.

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper John Pulskamp

Thoughts on the match...

It's a hard one to swallow-very, very frustrating to lose by that amount after it was 0-0 at half. Coming into the locker room, we felt good at 0-0. We knew it maybe wasn't our best 45 minutes but being 0-0 it was our game to win our lose, and we knew that. We just came out flat in the second half, and it's not good enough by any of us.

On Sporting conceded goals off crosses...

It's tough to pinpoint the exact problem. From a goalkeeping perspective, defending crosses is largely a mental thing. It's an aggression thing. It's a desire to win the ball and a commitment-no hesitation going for a ball when you decide it's yours. I can't exclude myself. I haven't watched it back yet, but maybe I need to come out for the third (RSL goal). The cross is coming from a higher position at the near post. In the moment, it didn't feel right, but maybe that's one I need to come out for. So I include myself when I say this, but it's a mentality thing. It's a desire to win the ball and an aggression-expecting guys to be coming in and challenging you. Right now it seems like we're almost going slow at the ball, like we're just expecting it to be a free header for us. No, attackers are going to be crashing the box. You've got to be 100% aggressive to win the ball, so I think it's mostly a desire to defend.

On what he learned from Sporting's second-half performance...

Not a lot of good things. When something goes wrong, you need to be able to take hits in a soccer match. In 90 minutes, not everything is going to go perfectly. The second something goes wrong, it's a test of character and a test of mentality to see how you react to those things. That's something we have done phenomenally in the last two games-going down 1-0 in Montreal, no problem. Keep playing our way and we come back and find a way to win. Playing great soccer in Minnesota, same thing-go down 1-0 to a fluke play that hurts even more, but we kept our head down and kept playing and got a point from the game and play a good match. In this game, it's 0-0 and we concede that first goal. That was just kind of a gut shot and it just deflated us.

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