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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC Falls to Nashville SC

September 21, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City (9-13-8, 35 points) suffered a 3-0 defeat to Nashville SC (12-9-7, 43 points) on Wednesday night at Children's Mercy Park. Fafa Picault, Hany Mukhtar and Jack Maher scored for the visitors as Sporting sustained a costly loss in the club's push for the postseason.

Sitting marginally below the playoff line with four matches left in the regular season, Manager Peter Vermes' side will look to bounce back Saturday when Houston Dynamo FC (12-10-7, 43 points) visits Kansas City for a 7:30 p.m. CT kickoff on Apple TV with tickets available at SeatGeek.

Participating in his league-record 700th MLS match as a player or coach, Vermes fielded an unchanged lineup from Saturday's 1-0 road win at Minnesota United FC. Captain Johnny Russell and defender Andreu Fontas both hit notable milestones, logging their 150th and 100th starts in MLS competitions, respectively, while Daniel Salloi earned his 150th regular season appearance for the club.

A positive start for Sporting saw forward Alan Pulido threaten inside the first 10 minutes, but his left-footed curler off a feed from right back Jake Davis was corralled by Nashville goalkeeper Joe Willis. A dozen minutes later, Russell lifted a shot over the crossbar following a lovely exchange involving Davis, Erik Thommy and Daniel Salloi.

Nashville drew first blood in the 29th minute. Left back Daniel Lovitz's in-swinging corner kick was met by an umarked Picault, who snapped a header into the back of the net for his fifth MLS goal of the season and his second in his last three appearances at Children's Mercy Park.

Sporting sought an injection of creativity at halftime and replaced Nemanja Radoja with midfield playmaker Gadi Kinda, who came off the bench to score the late winner on Saturday in Minnesota. The Israeli international made his presence felt on the ball as Sporting went close to equalizing in the 54th minute. Russell's teasing free kick into the mixer went untouched by a slew of bodies but carried fractionally wide of the far post.

At the opposite end, Mukhtar showcased his MLS MVP credentials with a turf-trimming shot that Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia did well to palm away in the 49th minute. A quarter-hour later, Mukhtar's lofted ball into the box was laid off by Alex Muyl to Sean Davis, whose first-time effort missed the mark by a slim margin.

Head coach Gary Smith's men doubled their advantage in the 66th minute. After Sporting had cleared its lines off a Nashville set piece, Willis sent a booming ball over the top for center back Walker Zimmerman to chase. In an advanced position from the set piece situation seconds earlier, Zimmerman sent a driven cross into the six-yard area from the right channel. Fontas repelled the delivery only as far as Mukhtar, who hammered a shot inside the near post for his 15th MLS goal of the campaign.

After Russell nearly pulled a goal back for Sporting with an attempted cross that almost beat Willis at the near post, Nashville added a third off another set piece with Maher glancing a header into the corner of the net off Mukhtar's pinpoint service.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On where the frustration lies...

Well, I would say that all three of them were off set pieces. The ball was from the outside, we didn't clear it. So I'd say all three. I don't think that they actually created many chances other than the set pieces, and that's where they killed us. They had a lot more energy. We were tired. We looked tired, we looked slow. I think the game on the weekend probably took a lot more out of us. I wouldn't have said I would have figured that to be the case yesterday, no chance. There were some changes we were going to make to the lineup, but unfortunately a couple of guys got sick and we couldn't do it. Just a couple of different things happened, but I just think we were tired. On the set pieces though, it still doesn't matter. We shouldn't give those up.

On the physical play of Nashville...

I've seen it. The guy pushes (Logan) Ndenbe from behind. Which way does it go? I mean, we've had games where we get called for the push and it's no goal or what have you. So sometimes that stuff goes your way. Everybody does what you just talked about. Everybody puts guys in front of the keeper, all those types of things. I don't think, in those situations, that was the problem. I think it was more of us attacking the ball. Like on the first goal, I think one of our guys is out of position. The other one doesn't attack the ball. That's an easy one. Again, we have got to attack the ball on the second one. We have got to clear on the third one. Those are set pieces. They had much more energy than we did. Obviously, they've been off for a while, but we looked slow tonight.

On a potential interference for the first goal...

I don't know if it was. I mean he was standing in front of the keeper the whole time. Again, it winds up being a referee's call so it doesn't really matter what I think. That's the unfortunate aspect. I'll give you an example. We played in Miami. Miami gets the free kick, puts it down, plays it and goes. Just at the end of the game on the far side, he calls a foul. The ball's dead. It's probably three yards behind where the play occurred. We play it forward, we're going off on the attack, and he calls it back. I mean, you want to talk about losing your mind, that's the kind of stuff. That' what happens normally to us. But then we go to Miami and they get the benefit of the doubt. That's the frustrating thing to me.

On bringing Gadi Kinda on at halftime...

I was trying to move the guys around to give them some rest because we have three games in eight days. So I just wanted to make sure we were moving guys around. It wasn't anything that he did. He had been sick prior to that, even in the last game. That's why I've been trying to give him some time to get fit again. Maybe not so much fit, but just ease him back into it as much as I could. That really was the main thing.

On what the tiredness is attributed to...

There's no doubt that it was the game on the weekend, for sure. It has to be. We didn't really train all that much the last couple of days. It was more just recovery. Some of the guys that haven't played or maybe didn't play as many minutes in that game, we had a little bit of training, but it wasn't long. I just think the team was a little dead.

On how aware the team is of the standings...

They know. We know where we're at. It's the same thing this past weekend. Obviously, you could see the reaction of the guys after the game. They knew those three points were big.

Sporting Kansas City defender Andreu Fontas

On if the team was tired...

Probably, but obviously that's not an excuse. We know how they are. We know how good they are. They defend well. They are a strong team and they use their chances very well. I think it's exactly what they did tonight. I don't think that we were bad. Yes, a little bit tired, but I think we created chances. We were pretty good with the ball. I don't think we conceded a lot. But again, they are the team that every single mistake that you make, they punish and that's exactly what they did every time they had the chance. I think we didn't defend well on set pieces. We know that they were strong and they scored the first one there. Second one is another coming from a set piece. Everybody, I think, thought that the second one was offside. I don't know if it was or not, but they scored another goal there and then I think the team went down and that was it. I think the details against these very good teams matter and I think they were the better team because of that. They just punished us on every single mistake that we made.

On defending set pieces...

It's difficult to say. At the end, on set pieces, if you clear the ball and the same mistakes happen or you clear the ball and nothing happens. You know what I mean? At the end, they were ready. You can say that he probably came too free from the second line. Somebody could have probably blocked him or we could've stepped to the free man. We could have obviously fought for the ball and cleared it and then none of this (would have) happened. It's small details. And then on the second one, we're obviously stepping the line and being altogether would be problem solved. We all thought that (Walker) Zimmerman was offside and he probably wasn't and that's it. It's just frustrating. On the third one, I think he can call a foul on Logan (Ndenbe). I think he pushes him, but again, not an excuse. We need to be better and stronger in those situations, especially against a team that we know that is what they use. It's very difficult to come back because they feel comfortable being a goal up and defending well and going into counters.

On the playoff push...

Obviously so frustrating because we knew that being strong at home, it was one of the keys of being able to make the playoffs. We started well after the break. We won two games and then we won one of the two on the road, which is always difficult. We got the points in Minnesota. It's a very difficult field, but we knew that we had to finish the job here. We all know that we come from a very bad beginning of the season that is making us not having a lot of chances to miss games or to lose games. Obviously today was a very important one. We failed and now it's time to think about Saturday. We have a quick turnaround. We have to be focused and try to win on Saturday and probably have to win another away game. It's difficult, but we won't stop fighting.

On the preparation for Saturday...

I think resting, getting better, obviously knowing that we need to compete better in those actions and that, when we are in our best, we can beat any team. Houston is another great team, but I think we can beat them and we have to just rest and then be ready for Saturday. It's very soon. We have just a couple of days to recover and get ready.

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia

On what went wrong...

I needed to make an adjustment on the corner kicks right off the bat and I just didn't make it until halftime. We needed to get our guys in better zones to allow us to be able to attack the ball versus trying to block people away from me. It's not something we traditionally do, so that's on me. Overall, I think Peter nailed it on the head at halftime when he just said we look stale. It's incredibly difficult to be in the situation we're in currently, and when it's our own doing, when you're paying a team that hasn't played in weeks and we're coming off these games that mean a lot to us. It's just difficult. We just didn't bring it tonight, and there's no excuse for it, but that's the reality of it.

On if there was interference on the corner kick...

My argument with that is it's the initial contact that starts the play, but that didn't make a difference. It's not a play he should call. I'm trying to make a point of, in those moments, he has to give me the opportunity to not be blocked and to not start in that position. But that's not why we conceded that goal.

On if the team was tired...

Three games in a week and our games probably carry a little bit more weight than their games do at the moment. They are a team that wants to come out and counter you. So, it's a lot of extra running and we're trying to press up and we're moving the ball fast, but we weren't moving the ball fast. We were almost playing into their hand, allowing them to continue to counterattack and making us run more. So I think we just kind of played into their hand a little bit and just further fatigued us in a situation where we were already tired.

On the shifting focus to Saturday...

My message has been that we don't need to win everything consecutively. You don't need to win five games in a row. We need to win three more games. Would it be nice to do it at home in order and provide a little bit of relief at the end of the year? Of course. Has that been our year all season? No chance. It's not going to happen now. So, I think our mentality has to got to be that this is behind us. The biggest thing we need to do is rest so we can be ourselves against Houston. If we're fatigued and we're tired and we can't be ourselves against Houston, we've shown all year that we're going to struggle. When we're rested and we feel good and we're playing our game, we've shown what we're capable of. That needs to be our target for Saturday.

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).

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