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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC Slips to Frustrating 1-0 Loss vs. Red Bulls

July 3, 2022 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City (4-11-4, 16 points) slipped to a maddening 1-0 loss against the 10-man New York Red Bulls (9-5-5, 32 points) on Sunday night at Children's Mercy Park. U.S. international defender Aaron Long scored the lone goal of the game in the 53rd minute, and although Sporting dominated the late stages after Red Bulls defender Sean Nealis was ejected for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity in the 70th minute, the visitors emerged with all three points to take first place in the Eastern Conference. Sporting, meanwhile, suffered their third straight home defeat as Manager Peter Vermes' 500th match as the club's head coach ended in bitter frustration.

A holiday atmosphere permeated Children's Mercy Park as the world-class venue played host to its 200th MLS match, pitting a pair of MLS originals who were squaring off for the 58th time in regular season action. Sporting's lineup featured just one change from last weekend's road loss at Seattle Sounders FC as 19-year-old right back Kayden Pierre earned his first career MLS start, replacing injured veteran Graham Zusi.

Felipe Hernandez provided the game's first flashbulb moment within 60 seconds of kickoff, curling a well struck free kick from the left wing that carried inches over the crossbar. Less than three minutes later, left back Logan Ndenbe won Sporting another set piece that Remi Walter sent to captain Johnny Russell on the far side of the penalty area, but the Scottish winger's shot under duress skipped wide.

The hosts carved out an even bigger chance off a set play in the 13th minute. Andreu Fontas glanced Hernandez's out-swinging corner kick across the face of goal to Daniel Salloi, whose first-time side volley skipped marginally high of the frame. Shortly thereafter, Russell embarked on a breathtaking solo run into the box, swiftly beating two New York defenders, only to see his low drive blocked by Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel.

Salloi asked further questions of the New York defense midway through the first half, combining with Ndenbe on the left edge of the box and forcing Coronel into a save at the near post. The Red Bulls gloveman made another stop a moment later, dropping left to corral Khiry Shelton's 20-yard strike from a central position.

Inclement weather in the Kansas City area prompted a 45-minute delay before play resumed at the half-hour mark. Sporting were then desperately unlucky not to take the lead on the cusp of intermission, with Russell's low blast off a clever Salloi feed repelled by Coronel's outstretched foot.

New York opened up Sporting's defense twice inside the first three minutes of the second period, but neither Cristian Casseres nor Tom Barlow tested goalkeeper Tim Melia with their wayward attempts. Melia sprung to Sporting's rescue in the 51st minute, however, diving right to smother Barlow's volley.

An end-to-end spectacle continued to entertain as Sporting instantly traded another punch at the opposite end, but Coronel stuck out his mitt to thwart Russell on the breakaway. The Red Bulls then saw a speculative long-range effort go begging, with Melia making a brilliant save to deny Luquinhas.

The Red Bulls capitalized on the chaotic sequence with 53 minutes on the clock. Luquinhas took a short corner kick to Lewis Morgan, whose lofted ball to the back post was headed home by Long for his career-high equaling third goal of the MLS campaign.

A contentious moment unfolded in the 70th minute when referee Marcos DeOliveira consulted VAR to determine whether a handball infraction from Nealis prohibited Cam Duke from breaking free on goal. After marching to the midfield sideline and checking the play, DeOliveira overturned his initial yellow card decision and issued Nealis a straight red.

New York entered the weekend ranking last in MLS in effective playing time at under 50 minutes per match, and the time-wasting tactics of the 10-man Red Bulls were on full display during a choppy and disjointed final half hour. Even so, the head official added just seven minutes of stoppage time for Sporting to find a last-gasp equalizer. It nearly came at the 95-minute juncture, but Nicolas Isimat-Mirin's leaping header from Russell's corner kick was cleared off the goal line.

Sporting will look to bounce back on Saturday as the club begins a three-game road swing against CF Montreal. Kickoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. CT with live coverage on 38 The Spot, SportingKC.com and the Sporting KC app.

QUOTES Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On the Red Bulls tactics...

It shouldn't have been difficult if the game was managed properly. It just wasn't. It obviously then has an effect on the game, because what happens is you get free fouls. An example, if I pass the ball away and then you come in and kick me afterwards, it's usually a yellow card. But that happened five times down our left side in the first 30 minutes, easily five times and not one guy got a yellow card. So my point is that every one of those is a freebie for that guy, because if he does get a yellow card then he's got to play the game completely differently. Unfortunately, that never happened in the game. It happened only very late, which the guy he gave the yellow card actually should have gotten a second yellow card for, again, kicking the ball away. This is where it always frustrates me and in one sense it also makes me laugh because the way the game is it's really simple. If there's a foul, it's a foul. You call it. It is what it is. It doesn't matter what score of the game is. It doesn't matter what the magnitude of the game is. It doesn't matter what minute it is. It doesn't matter. You call it. And when you do, you keep consistency in the game. Look, they won. They scored. We didn't. We had a lot of chances at the end. So congrats to them from that perspective. But the perspective for a fan to watch that game, I'll tell you right now, I wouldn't want to watch that kind of game. That's a mockery what took place on the field. Just the antics, I don't believe in it. I have no respect for it. I think those things have to be different in our league. And I think that the people who are supposed to manage that is the team in the middle. It's not the team you're playing against, it's the team in the middle.

On the team's missed chances...

We had great chances tonight. We were very busy from the opening whistle, but we just couldn't hit the back of the net. We're off. The reason? I don't know. But we had great chances in the game, more than enough to get three points for sure.

On if there were any silver linings in the match...

We lost. I don't look at it as a silver lining. We lost. We didn't take our chances. We gave up a set piece goal.

On the play of Cam Duke...

He's progressing, for sure. He's progressed immensely since the start of this season. But he still has a lot to work on. An example, the ball gets played to him in the second half to the back stick. He's wide open. He receives the ball and then he slips. You can't slip there. As simple as can be, you can't slip. But he's progressing. He's getting better with his turns and attacking the defense. He's getting better with those types of things. His decision making still has to get better on the field, but he's growing for sure. He's evolving.

On the play of Kayden Pierre...

He's playing very well. For his age, he's playing very, very well. He really has something. He's still got a lot of work to do, but he is really doing a good job. In the last couple of games that he has played, other than one game, he has played very well, very consistent. And I told him after one of the games, I said the standard that he hit that day was what he had to keep up going forward. And he's doing that. He's making big strides. He's got a good future in front of him.

On the sense of frustration from Johnny Russell...

He's a competitor. He competes like you wouldn't believe. I think he's also frustrated because he had some good chances in the game too and he didn't stick them away. That's his nature for sure.

Sporting Kansas City captain Johnny Russell...

Thoughts on the match...

Just completely frustrating, obviously. I've got to take at least one of my chances. The first one, it was stuck under my body a little bit. The second one, I just tried to go back across goal. And then the third, the defender gets back well. I knew the other guy was there, but I had no idea that the other guy was coming behind me and I just took a little bit too long trying to compose myself. That's on me. I need to take one of those chances. But at the same point, we limit them all game and then it's the same old thing where we allow runners to get off us at the back post. We've conceded way too many goals like that as a team. That's something that is so frustrating because we've been working on it so much and we've been doing it so well in training. But it doesn't mean anything if we don't do it in a game. Overall, it's frustrating. I feel that's three points dropped because I feel like we completely dominated the game.

On the frustration from New York's tactics...

It only adds to the frustration when it's not dealt with properly, which I don't feel it was today. I think you only have to look at the first tackle of the game on Felipe (Hernandez) on the far touchline. It doesn't matter how early it is in the game. It is a yellow card. And then we have to sit through the meetings every year and they're like, oh, we're going to clamp down on people kicking the ball away. I think they've done it like four times tonight without getting a yellow. Obviously that doesn't help that when you're already frustrated. We created chances but didn't take them. I had a couple. Daniel (Salloi) had a couple. We normally put those away. We expect to put those away. So it's just a frustrating night. And then you get caught with one clipped ball at the back post and everything you've worked so hard for just goes away. Another wasted night, another wasted game and another three points gone.

On his communication with the referee...

You try and ask them, but I don't know if they feel like they don't have to give you an explanation or they just don't want to. Honestly, I don't know. And it's not just tonight and it's not just us. It's every team. I think that's been a lot of frustration this year. They didn't lose us the game. We didn't defend the set piece properly, so I'm not going to use that as an excuse. But as you say, it just adds a little bit more frustration to what was already a frustrating night.

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