Sporting KC Suffers Late 1-0 Loss at Seattle
March 8, 2014 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release
Sporting Kansas City fell 1-0 at the Seattle Sounders on Saturday in the opening match of the 2014 Major League Soccer season. Second-half substitute Chad Barrett, acquired by Seattle in the Re-Entry Draft this offseason, scored in the game's final minute to mark his Sounders debut in dramatic fashion in front of more than 39,000 fans at CenturyLink Field.
Three months after winning MLS Cup 2013, Sporting Kansas City returned to MLS action and nearly struck for the game's opening goal within two minutes of first kick. Graham Zusi's shot from 25 yards out was spilled by Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei, who recovered in time to turn away Dom Dwyer's follow-up effort.
On the opposite end, Sounders forward Kenny Cooper sent his shot wide of the near post a minute later. Eric Kronberg, making his debut as the team's No. 1 goalkeeper, made a diving stop to his left in the 31st minute to deny Marco Pappa's attempt from outside the penalty area.
Dwyer did well to find space at the top of the box and forced a sprawling stop from Frei in the 33rd minute. The third-year striker threatened again minutes later as his shot was deflected and skipped inches wide of the far post.
With a steady rain continuing to pour down on the artificial surface, Seattle asserted its attack in the second half. Lamar Neagle broke through on the right side in the 53rd minute only to see his shot kicked away by Kronberg. Cooper came close to breaking the deadlock in the 69th minute, collecting a header from Djimi Traore and trying a tightly-angled attempt that carried just wide of the far post.
In a match that featured 40 fouls whistled by referee Alan Kelly, Sporting Kansas City threatened to capitalize on a free kick from Benny Feilhaber in the 78th minute. His service was whipped toward the back post with Lawrence Olum looming, however the Sounders defense did just enough to clear from danger.
With the clock ticking toward full time, Barrett's left-footed shot was saved in the 88th minute and Sporting Kansas City - missing Seth Sinovic, Chance Myers and Paulo Nagamura due to injury -- were minutes from earning a result on the road to start the season. Instead, it was the Sounders who again left it late to manufacture the game-winning goal in a series that has seen similar scripts play out over the past five seasons.
Clint Dempsey started the scoring sequence with his header off the crossbar leading to a scramble inside the six-yard box. Dempsey was first to the rebound, sending the ball back toward goal with an acrobatic attempt and setting up Barrett, surrounded by six Sporting Kansas City players, to squeeze his shot over the goalline.
Sporting Kansas City will open the team's 2014 home schedule at 7 p.m. CT on Wednesday against Cruz Azul in the opening leg of the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals live on FOX Sports 2 (English) and the Univision Deportes Network (Spanish). A limited number of tickets are available and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com.
FAST FACTS
- Sporting Kansas City opened the 2014 MLS regular season on the road at CenturyLink Field on Saturday with 1-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders FC. - Sporting KC is 1-7-1 against Seattle all-time during the MLS regular season and 1-3-1 on the road. - Sporting KC has not won a match in Seattle since April 11, 2009 -- the first time the two team's met in MLS play. - Chad Barrett scored the lone goal of the match in the fourth minute of second half stoppage time. - Seattle now has seven wins against Sporting KC in MLS play and five of those have come courtesy of game-winning goals in second half stoppage time. - Barrett subbed into the match in the 79th minute to replace Kenny Cooper, marking his debut in a Sounders uniform. - Sporting KC and the Seattle Sounders met one time in 2013 and that game also finished as a 1-0 victory for Seattle with a 94th minute goal. - In the last eight meetings between the clubs, Seattle has scored seven goals after the 86-minute mark. - Seattle Sounders move to 4-2-0 in openers all-time since joining the League in 2009. The Sounders have started all six seasons in MLS with a home match. - Sporting KC is 12-5-2 in season openers all-time. - Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Eric Kronberg, a nine-year veteran of the team, started in net (replacing the retired Jimmy Nielsen). - The match marked the sixth MLS regular season appearance for Kronberg as he begins his ninth season in MLS. - Stefan Frei, in his sixth MLS season, joined the Seattle Sounders after spending his previous five MLS seasons at Toronto FC. - Sporting KC defender Matt Besler wore the captain's armband on Saturday. Besler is in his sixth season after joining Sporting KC in 2009 as the eighth overall pick in the MLS SuperDraft. - Sporting Kansas City winger Sal Zizzo made his Sporting KC debut on Saturday entering the match in the 59th minute to replace Jacob Peterson. Zizzo spent his previous three seasons playing for the Portland Timbers and joined Sporting KC during the offseason. - Seattle Sounders defender Dylan Remick earned his first MLS start on Saturday after joining the team in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft out of Brown University. - Sean Okoli entered the match in the 87th minute for Lamar Neagle, marking his MLS debut since signing as a homegrown player for the Sounders on January 8. - Sporting Kansas City homegrown defender Kevin Ellis started Saturday's match at right back, marking the second MLS start of his career and third appearance during MLS competition. - Sporting Kansas City was without Chance Myers (right groin strain), Seth Sinovic (right hip sprain) and Paulo Nagamura (left ankle sprain) on Saturday. - Sporting KC concluded the preseason 8-1-1, with the lone loss coming against the Columbus Crew in the Disney Pro Soccer Classic final. - The Seattle Sounders FC went undefeated in the preseason with a record of 6-0-3. - Sporting KC plays their first match of the 2014 season at Sporting Park on Wednesday against Cruz Azul in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League. The match will begin at 7 p.m. CT on FOX Sports 2 and the Univision Deportes Network. - Sporting KC will continue the 2014 MLS regular season at 7:30 p.m. CT next Saturday against FC Dallas at Sporting Park. The match will be shown live on KMCI-TV (38 the Spot) and the Sporting KC Television Network. - Sporting Kansas City was whistled for 25 fouls on Saturday, the second most fouls committed by the club in an MLS match in team history.
QUOTES
Peter Vermes - Sporting Kansas City Manager
(On the game ...) "I thought we played very well. Coming in here, this is not an easy place to play being the first game of the season and their home opener. I thought we played very well for 93 minutes and 43 seconds. We did a really good job on both sides. Defensively we were very disciplined. We had one lapse in our defensive shape overall, and that was in the last 17 seconds. It's unfortunate. We probably should've gotten a lot more coming out of this game because we had some really good chances as well, but that's the way it goes. We've had this happen to us before. Four times. It is what it is. We always do a good job of rebounding and we'll do the same thing again."
(On what he saw develop on the last play ...) "In midfield, we got ourselves out of shape. Two of our guys - out of the two of them, one of them should be at least holding. Both extended themselves and opened up the middle of the field. From that point on, it created a bit of a snowball effect. The ball goes out wide, everybody is trying to recover. It was good service into the box. The ball's not cleared, bounces around and ends up in the back of the net. We almost had one very similar on their end earlier on in the game so it just fell to them."
(On goalkeeper Eric Kronberg's play ...) "Played a great game. He has nothing to even be thinking about other than the fact that he played a very, very good game for us."
(On roster choices going forward ...) "We have five games in 15 days so we have to be able to use everybody at this time to get us something in all these games from a physical perspective. We're trying to make sure we're rotating our roster around."
(On the message to the team to get ready for Wednesday's Champions League game ...) "We just go on to the next game. We have to learn from what happened."
(On some No. 2s stepping in to play this early in the season ...) "Like I said, the team played well. I don't have any criticism for any of the guys, other than the fact that we had one lapse in the midfield late in the game. We should've been very smart and kept things compact, and at the end it fell apart, but outside of that, the team played really well."
Graham Zusi - Sporting Kansas City Midfielder
(On the team's performance...) "I thought for 90-plus minutes we were excellent, very hard to break down, had a couple chances of our own. Just a stupid mistake by me in the 93rd minute punished us and something that can't happen."
(On his involvement in Seattle goal...) "To be honest, a stupid play by me. There's no need for me to try to split the D there and play a square ball in their half. That ball should be 20 rows into the stands. Just not a smart play by me."
(On games being decided late against Seattle...) "Just the way the games between us go. It always seems to come down to the wire between us and for one reason or another they've been the team to come out on top."
(On using this game to prepare for Wednesday's game...) "I think we can take positives from it. If we're that hard to play against and that hard to break down we're going to come out on top in games like this more often than not. Defensively I thought we were very good; we can take that into Wednesday."
Eric Kronberg - Sporting Kansas City Goalkeeper
(On the goal...) "It was a tough one. It was a cross into the six, so Besler's right in front of me and I figured if he's going to win it, he'll hit it out so I went for it too and unluckily he kind of beat me to it and hit it straight up in the air. It's just one of those plays where everyone has a little part in it and a breakdown, but I think for the most part the performance was solid and we have something to build on."
(On the team's performance...) "I think we were definitely pretty hard to break down and coming into a place like Seattle-it's always a tough place to play-we had our chances too. I'm looking forward to the year. I think we definitely have a good team to build on and this performance was pretty solid all around."
(On the opportunity to start the opener for the first time...) "It was almost amazing. A lot of excitement for sure, some nerves, but once you get out on the field you feel like every other day and you feel comfortable and confident. It's a great place to play and just wish we could've gotten a result."
Sigi Schmid - Sounders FC Head Coach
(Opening Statement...) "Obviously I am happy we got the win. One of the things we talked about going into the season was we wanted to be a team that would fight, scratch, and do everything we could until the end of the game and today was a good snapshot of that. The guys continued to fight and battle-I am very pleased we got a shutout. Shutouts were a little harder to come by at the end of last year than they normally are for our team, so I was pleased with that. I was pleased we played them to zero and pleased we came out with the victory."
(On Chad Barrett's debut...) "It's one of the reasons we brought him in-he is an experienced forward and he has shown he can score goals in this league. He ended up getting two shots in the limited minutes he played. Not just him-Sean, Clint (Dempsey), and Sean Okoli-were all subs that came in and had an impact on the game for us. Chad's one of those players who should know what to do in front of goal and he was able to do it today."
(On Sean Okoli's debut...) "I thought Sean was good. I talked to Sean before he came and said, 'Look, try to get behind their defense'... I think he did that, got in behind [the defense], and on the goal he was involved in that initial build up as well... He has been improving all preseason. We knew he had some speed that could give Gardner some problems, that's why I wanted him on the right. He's gotten better each preseason game. He played as a forward at Wake Forest, so he's learning a little more how to play wide. You're not old or young; you're either a good player or a bad a player."
(On Clint Dempsey's performance...) "I thought he was alright. He hasn't really trained with us, but I like that him and [Obafemi Martins] were definitely looking for each other, looking to combine with each other, and that is something that will continue to get better as well."
(On the importance of a season-opening win...) "I think it helps everybody. We had a number of guys out there-Dylan Remick, it was his first big test here at home. For Stefean Frei it's been a while since he's been in goal so it was a big test for him. For (Marco) Pappa, (Chad) Marshall, it was their first test out there in front of our crowd. I thought they held up very well. Wins like this are always great-it helps build momentum, it helps build confidence."
(On the difference between this team from previous seasons...) "We didn't sometimes play intense enough, sometimes not direct enough at the end of games... When you play a team like Kansas City, when you look at the number of fouls they committed, the other team steps up and puts pressure on the spaces behind the defense, and we didn't really do a good job of exploiting that until the last 10 or 15 minutes of the second half. That's something it took us a while to figure out, but we eventually figured out that is a way to get to them. That's something that is different from teams in the past, maybe we didn't figure that out."
(On the emotional impact of the win...) "It sets a great tone. Whenever you have a dramatic victory like this, it pumps everybody up. You saw the players' reactions on the field, you saw how thrilled they were. It's just an indication for all the hard work they did during the game."
(On another stoppage time game-winner...) "It seems to happen for us a lot against them. It's what Peter Vermes said to me after the game, 'You guys do this to us every time.' Again, it's a reflection of how close the league is. These guys are the defending champions and they haven't been able to beat us in a number of years. The game they did beat us in was in penalty kicks. The parity is very, very close, but it's also very satisfying for us to win... We really didn't talk about it in terms of before the game or anything like, 'Hey, this is a team we've scored late goals against.'"
(On Stefan Frei's performance...) "I thought it was good. I thought there were some mistakes; there was a little miscommunication once between him and Djimi (Traore) on a ball. I thought he did well in terms of challenging and cutting off some crosses. For his first game there is going to be some nerves, for sure. But I thought he did well."
(On Dylan Remick's first MLS start...) "He did alright. I think he can play better. He would say that to you, as well. He knows he can play better than he played tonight. A little bit of nerves, a little bit of uncertainty, but that is something with more games it will go away."
(On second half adjustments...) "I think we did a better job in the second half of keeping track of (Graham) Zusi. I thought in the first half Zusi slipped in behind our center midfielders a few times, and they did a better job of getting second balls. In the second half, I thought we did a better job of getting control of second balls in the midfield, especially. We had a better handle of where Zusi was, so when he got the ball he wasn't as free to pick and choose his passes."
(On replacement referee Alan Kelly...) "I thought he did well. I don't have any complains about how he handled his job. I think KC was happy about it as well. I think they are just a team that commit something like 120 more fouls than we do in the season."
(On using three subs up top...) "Our desire was to get fresh legs in-I thought (Martins) was doing alright, it was a little hard for him sometimes because he was a man on island out there-but by bringing on Dempsey, Barrett, Okoli we got fresh legs in the attacking position so we could maintain our pressure. With each guy, I told them to play in the space behind them and eventually that paid off for us."
(On his immediate reaction to the goal...) "Instantaneous happiness. Joy. And a few other words I can't say."
(On Chad Marshall's performance...) "I thought Chad did well. Obviously he is a guy that wins a lot of balls in the air for us. He had a little bit of an injury, so weren't 100% sure he was going to play, but he played through that for us very well, but I think Chad was solid.... I think one of the things (Frei) brings to the game, as Chad does, is that they are very calming guys. They aren't hyper guys and as a result it gives your team a calming effect that things are taken care of, which is good."
Chad Barrett - Sounders FC Forward
(On the stoppage time history against Kansas City...) "I just heard all about it. Wow. That's kind of cruel and unusual against Kansas City, but I really don't care. I'm glad to be a part of that. We were fighting to the end. We really pushed in the last 10-15 minutes. I thought the guys that did come on really did a great job. Clint Dempsey did a great job. Sean Okoli did a great job and really provided a real resurgence that we needed. We were pressing. Obafemi martins did a great job to win that first ball. He took about four guys out including the keeper. Clint kept it alive and the ball just fell to me. I'll take 10 of those a year."
(On his first game with the Sounders...) "I was excited to just be on the bench, you know. The pregame festivities and just to see the crowd and the Emerald City Supporters' section just yelling the entire game, it's so loud, and then when I scored I couldn't even hear myself screaming. I'm pretty sure I was screaming or I was going through puberty, one of the two. I couldn't hear myself scream. I was telling the guys that haven't scored here yet that it's just an unbelievable feeling, especially with all 40,000 people staying until the very end."
(On what he was thinking during the goal...) "You don't think, just shoot. I just put myself in front of the goal. Clint Dempsey was unfortunate to miss the first time and the ball came right back to him and Lawrence Olum came back and he tried to not let Dempsey get a clean shot and it just came right back to me. I'm calling that one the white guy's bicycle kick."
Clint Dempsey - Sounders FC Midfielder
(On the win...) "Yeah, it was good for us to get the goal. Happy with the win, happy with the points."
(On contributing to the goal and building some momentum...) "It was three points, that's the most important thing. It was good to play a part in the goal-happy for Chad [Barrett] to get his first goal with the team. The momentum is the three points, that's where you get the momentum from."
(On being back in Seattle and playing at CenturyLink Field...) "Yeah, it's great to be back in Seattle. The fans were awesome today. Even in the cold and rain, they came and showed their support, really pushed us on, and helped us keep fighting to the last minute. They played a part in our goal, as well."
(On the win setting the tone for the season...) "It's always good to start on a positive note, and three points is the best you can start, so we're excited about that."
(On coming into the game in the 60th minute...) "It was just up to Sigi [Schmid] and what he wanted to do, but with all the travel and stuff-getting in on Thursday after flying so much-we wanted to be a little bit smarter because if you look at the history of myself and some of the other players, people pick up injuries if you push too hard too quickly after long travel."
(On playing all over the field...) "I was at the same position. I was a withdrawn forward the whole time. I get freedom to move around and impact the game in whatever way I can. I found some good spots on the field and was able to make some plays happen and, like I said, was happy to play a part in the goal."
(On the depth of the team...) "It's important for this team to have depth. That's what's going to help you to go far into the season and be successful because there will be times when there will be injuries and there will be times people will be called away for international duty, and players will need to step up. Depth will be an important part in how well we do this season."
(On being scrappy and fighting to the end...) "You have to have that if you want to win something. It's still early days, but getting a goal in injury time does show that you're fighting to the end, but it's a long season. I think your true character shows over time and I think it's clawing your way back after conceding goals and also it's being able to get goals in the final few minutes and hopefully we can do that this season."
(On what he thought when his header hit the crossbar...) "Just try to get a foot on it. I tried to do a scissor kick, but I think I barely got anything on it. I was trying to score, to be honest with you, and was happy that it fell to Chad [Barrett] and finished it off."
(On his early assessment of this year's team...) "It's too early to tell, but it's a positive locker room, everybody is happy and in good spirits, fighting for each other, but it's too early to tell. I've only been here two days."
Brad Evans - Sounders FC Midfielder
(On team chemistry...) "Kansas City has very defined roles, anytime you keep a group of 10 or 11 players, you win a championship, you don't make any changes you're going to find yourself playing against a good team. Even if they're playing with different players and a couple of guys who don't play too regularly for them but they still know what's on going on at that position. For us, I think we're a little bit different, especially going into the first game this year I think we made a number of changes, style of play, formation is a little bit different than what we've done in the past. In saying that I thought there were good points today, created a number of chances. What I said yesterday I think you'll see our best soccer five, six, seven games down the road when everybody starts to jell and click."
(On Okoli's pro debut ...) "He's definitely surprised me, all the young guys have, Kovar as well. I've seen these guys for the past four years when they've been training with us. Last year I called it, those were the two guys we we're going to sign. You've seen it, they both put extremely hard work this preseason staying after practice, getting extra work in and making sure they're fit and game ready. No matter what you tell yourself coming into a MLS game, it's that first breath and it's difficult. But tonight I thought he made an impact, he knows the game, he's athletic and fast; definitely got a bright future."
(On first impressions of Sean Okoli...) "I came in a little bit late, but I heard positive things from the other guys that Okoli is tearing it up in a couple of games. Early on in the preseason I think it was a little bit of an adjustment. From what I saw coming in Tuscon, Charleston, came in the games made an impact, drew a penalty kick first game in Charleston. He's been confident and I think that helps as well."
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