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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC Soars to 3-0 Win Over Orlando

August 25, 2024 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City (7-14-6, 27 points) returned to MLS action with a sizzling 3-0 win over Orlando City SC (9-10-7, 34 points) on Saturday night at Children's Mercy Park.

A brilliant opening goal from Jake Davis vaulted Sporting ahead just before halftime, setting the table for Daniel Salloi and Remi Walter to put the result out of reach with strikes of their own in the second half as MLS regular season play resumed Saturday after a five-week pause for Leagues Cup.

With an emphatic victory in the bag-and with MLS Cup champion Benny Feilhaber inducted into the Sporting Legends hall of honor as part of a momentous evening-Sporting will now prepare for a pivotal home tilt against USL Championship side Indy Eleven in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals on Tuesday at Children's Mercy Park. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. CT with tickets available via SeatGeek and live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.

German midfielder Erik Thommy wasted literally no time asking questions of Orlando goalkeeper Pedro Gallese, unearthing a 50-yard bomb straight off the kickoff that carried only a foot off the crossbar. At the opposite end, Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia-who jumped to fourth in club history with his 292nd career appearance for Kansas City-was seldom tested against Orlando but did well to cast aside an early effort from Lions striker Ramiro Enrique as a breathless start to proceedings saw both teams commit numbers forward.

The hosts threatened twice near the half-hour mark. Davis sprayed the ball down the right side to Afrifa, who slipped a pass through to Thommy inside the box. The midfielder's near-post effort was destined for the back of the net, but Gallese reacted impressively to keep the game scoreless. Three minutes later, Salloi's 25-yard sledgehammer was punched away by the Lions keeper.

Sporting's go-ahead goal came a minute shy of halftime, but not before Thommy dragged a shot inches-wide from the edge of the area and Agada saw his lunging effort go begging after Afrifa curled a teasing cross to the back stick. Davis then lifted his side into a deserved 1-0 lead, showcasing his dogged work rate by winning possession at the top of the box, taking a few dribbles to his left and rifling a phenomenal finish into top right corner for his third goal of the season.

Seven minutes into the second period, Sporting doubled their advantage on a superbly worked team goal that culminated with Davis sending a diagonal ball through to Thommy, who dinked a clever ball into the path of Salloi on the overlap. Salloi made no mistake from there, rifling home inside the near post for his second tally of the season and his 60th career goal for the club in all competitions. Salloi now has 100 total goal contributions for Sporting in all competitions, becoming the fourth player in club history to hit that milestone alongside Preki, Graham Zusi and current teammate Johnny Russell.

In a match dominated by manager Peter Vermes' side, Sporting suffered a setback in the 70th minute when forward Willy Agada received a red card for a violent foul. The forward was initially handed a second yellow card on the play, resulting in his ejection from the game, but VAR prompted Tim Ford to take a second look and Agada was officially given a straight red card that will rule him out of Sporting's MLS trip to the New York Red Bulls on Sept. 7.

Walter added gloss to the triumph in second-half stoppage time, picking out the left corner with a sublime strike from 22 yards after substitute Alan Pulido teed him up with a pass to the top of the area. Walter has equaled his MLS career high with three goals in 2024-all of which have come from outside the box, helping Sporting amass a league-leading 12 goals from beyond the penalty area this season.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On securing the win down a man...

It was good to get to 2-0. We go down a man. It's a combination of two things. You have got to really compact the field. We have got to stay as almost two lines. It's not three really, it's two. And the wingers have a big job in that situation. That is, they have to become outside backs at times when the ball is on the weak side. What I thought we did was we really clogged the middle and for us to get out on the counter like we did a couple times was huge. There was a great fight in the team from the opening whistle. We take the shot from the kickoff, which right away we go and press high. All of that was part of the intensity. It's definitely a replica of what has been happening over the last couple of weeks in the way that we've been training as well.

On managing the match down a man...

I've coached a lot of those situations. I've never been on the field. So it's the players first. In those moments, you sort of get galvanized. You become upset that your guy got thrown out and now all of a sudden you want to prove to the ref and everybody else that, 'hey, you're not going to break us.' And the guys had a great mentality for that. They were covering each other. Guys were running back with good tackles. It was very smart on our part. We did a great job a couple of times keeping the ball in the corner. I thought we managed the game really, really well, even though that the referees were trying to hurry us up. For what reason, I don't know. Because we never changed our pace. They changed their pace. They were slow in the first half. And now all of a sudden, for some reason, the scoreline changes the game. It makes no sense to me that it happens that way. We were the same pace the whole entire time we played the game.

On Daniel Salloi's goal...

The thing about Daniel is that he has goals in him. He doesn't probably get a lot of credit for this. He has very good work ethic in the game. He really does -- and he's learned over the years -- on both sides of the ball. We were talking about getting to the back post, especially when you're the weak side. Because there was one in the first half, another one, that he could have gotten on to the end of that he didn't. But he was good. He was really in the box in the second half when Johnny (Russell) kind of broke through and the guy cleared it off the line. He was right there. A lot of it has to do with the commitment to get to those places. That's why he scored and he had a really good game. Defensively he was very good and very disciplined when we went down a man.

On Benny Feilhaber being inducted into Sporting Legends...

At the time when we got Benny, we needed something in our team. At that time, teams started to park the bus on us back then and we didn't have somebody to unlock the defense. So Benny became a really big priority going into 2013. So we got him in the off season and he surpassed, I think, what the expectation was. It took him a little while to get there, though. It was some pain for him because he wasn't in a place where he was playing on both sides of the ball and so he needed to learn. And sometimes the bench was the best coach, but he got it. He figured out that he had to be a lot fitter than he was. But when he got it, he became instrumental, especially in the playoff run because he gave the game-winning assist against New England to win that series and also the same thing against Houston to eventually get to the final. He was a very important player during that time period. He had a good mentality and he always wanted to win. And Benny has one other quality that it's hard to find in guys these days. That is he loves the game. Some guys play the game because they're good at it and they make a good living, but he loves the game. And that was a big reason why I think he we got out of him maybe even more than maybe he thought he had in him.

On the team's mentality tonight...

I think there have been moments in a lot of games prior to the last couple of weeks. But I think in these last couple of weeks, however you want to put it -- whether it's some time off, a little break mentally, physically, whatever -- they've been playing with a different energy. There are times when certain things happen within the team and I'll give an example like today with Jake (Davis) and (Zorhan) Bassong together in the midfield. They were workhorses. And because they're doing what they do, it helps everybody else also in the game. That was a big part of our success today, those two guys.

On rotating the lineup...

As I said before, we put a team out on the field to win tonight and we got the result. The other thing you have to understand is usually we play a Saturday then Wednesday. We're playing Saturday then Tuesday. The game is incredibly important on Tuesday for us. We want to get to the final. You can't get to the final unless you win the semifinal. And you have to manage minutes on players. There are a few guys that are a little bit older and I thought that certain guys have had a steady go. An example is (Erik) Thommy. He has been very reliable for a long time during the season and he's a guy that could go 60 minutes. Stephen (Afrifa) is a young guy. He can go and he can push himself. So it was good to be able to give those guys a little bit of rest and now give ourselves an opportunity to make sure that we have another good lineup to go and try and win on Tuesday.

Sporting KC forward Daniel Salloi

On reaching 100 goal contributions for the club...

That's amazing. I always keep count of these stats and I wanted to hit this earlier but I'm so glad it happened. I want to keep going and writing myself in the history of Sporting KC. It means a lot. This club is everything to me. It's just amazing. I hope to keep going and get a couple more this year.

On his goal...

As I cleared the ball, I just took off and started sprinting. I was hoping the ball would find me. As soon as Jake (Davis) played that ball, I was screaming Erik (Thommy)'s name. He looked back and saw me and set me up. It was a good finish and I think that was necessary to win the game so I was very happy for it.

On the finish...

I took a touch to slow the game down and the goalie usually wants to read the far post on that one so low on the first post was a good option.

On scoring as a No. 10 on the night Benny Feilhaber was inducted into Sporting Legends...

First of all, congrats to him because that's amazing that he got on the wall and it looks great. I wish he was more in the middle but it looks great. Yes, I definitely felt his spirit. I always said I thought he was the best number 10 at this club and I could feel his presence today.

On the team's intensity...

The league gets very congested and when you are in a losing streak, you can get lost in it a little bit. I thought the break did good to us. A couple of us went out of town and tried to turn off a little bit. That's when you are a little bit hungry to get back. So I felt that today on the team and we looked fresh. We looked good. Tuesday is a big game for us. It's the most important game this season so far and we have to make it to the final. That's the goal.

On his defensive play...

Peter has always said that when you're doing everything but the goals are not coming, the bare minimum is always to put the defense in so you help the team. I think I keep focusing on that every year, but this year especially. I wish I had more goals this year and more assists, but hopefully from now on I can help more with the team. This goal felt great and honestly it's a good accomplishment for me.

On playing down a man...

I think the team has grit and we fight for each other. I need to watch that play back. I don't know if it was a red card or not. I still need to watch it back, but that's tough. It's tough to go down. If they score early right after that, you get caught up in defending way too much. I thought we were very strong to finish the game and then scoring another goal at the end. An unbelievable goal by Remi (Walter). It's a great way to finish it at 3-0. A great win.

Sporting Kansas City defender Zorhan Bassong

On playing in the midfield...

The last time I played there in an official game, it was in Romania actually. So it's been almost a year. It's been a couple weeks now in training that he's trying to put me as a midfielder, especially since (Nemanja) Radoja's injury. I think I've been doing good. I've been showing some good things. Me and Jake (Davis) especially, we're running a lot in the midfield. I think that's what the coach wants. So I think he gave me my opportunity today and I'm happy we got the win. We win 3-0. I think it's one of the best games we have played so far this year.

On his partnership with Jake...

It's funny because I know Jake, too, was a midfielder before and he was playing as a right back in the beginning of the season. It's funny to see two outside backs playing together in the midfield, you know? Lately in training, we've been together a lot. We talk a lot. We're always trying to support each other. If somebody is making the run, the other one is trying to cover for the other one. I just think that we have got to build on that and the more we play together, I think the stronger the connection will get between us.

-- SportingKC.com --

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