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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC to Open Playoffs at New York on Thursday

October 26, 2014 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City concluded the 2014 MLS regular season on Sunday with a 2-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls at Sporting Park. Bradley Wright-Phillips scored both goals for the visitors, tying the MLS single-season goal scoring record with 27 goals in 2014.

The two teams will meet again at 7 p.m. CT on Thursday, Oct. 30 at Red Bull Arena in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. The winner will advance to host No. 1 seed D.C. United at 3 p.m. CT on Sunday, Nov. 2 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Tickets for Sunday's potential home playoff match at Sporting Park will go on sale at 10 a.m. CT on Monday via Ticketmaster.com.

Four days after a 2-0 loss in Costa Rica to close out the CONCACAF Champions League group stage, Sporting KC fell by the same scoreline on Sunday in the regular season finale. Wright-Phillips put an exclamation point on a historic season with goals in the 15th and 70th minutes to claim the MLS Golden Boot.

His first of the match came with a right-footed finish past Eric Kronberg for the game-winning goal. Eric Alexander earned the assist, his ninth of the season, as Wright-Phillips scored his first road goal since July 16.

The Englishman doubled New York's lead with 20 minutes to play and in doing so became the third player in MLS history to record 27 goals in a season. Winning the ball from Aurelien Collin deep in his attacking third, Wright-Phillips cut inside and placed his shot into the back of the net for his sixth multi-goal game of the season. Wright-Phillips, 29, nearly completed the hat trick in the 83rd minute but was denied the the record-breaking goal on a point-blank save by Kronberg.

Sporting Kansas City's lone shot on goal in the game came in the eighth minute. Graham Zusi skipped past Dax McCarty in the midfield and fed Dom Dwyer in the left channel, however Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles did well to get a hand on Dwyer's well-struck shot. Dwyer finishes the 2014 regular season with 22 goals, second most in MLS and a single-season team record.

Robles was called into action again for two important interventions in a five-minute span. In the 38th minute, Paulo Nagamura's effort from outside the penalty area was palmed away with a full-extension dive. Nagamura came close again two minutes from halftime with a full volley that deflected in the goalmouth and was smothered by Robles.

Sporting Kansas City, who will compete in the postseason for a fourth consecutive year, finish the regular season with a 14-13-7 record and in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind New York for the second straight year. The Red Bulls went unbeaten against Sporting KC in 2014 (2-0-1) and the two teams will now meet in the postseason for the first time in their 19-year history.

FAST FACTS

- Sporting Kansas City lost 2-0 against the New York Red Bulls on Sunday night, falling to fifth place in the Eastern Conference to conclude the 2014 MLS regular season. - The fifth-place finish means Sporting KC will play at New York on Thursday in the Eastern Conference knockout round. The winner will advance to face D.C. United in the Eastern Conference semifinals. - Sporting KC concludes the regular season with a 14-13-7 record and 49 points. - Bradley Wright-Phillips scored both goals in Sunday's match. With two goals on Sunday, Wright-Phillips tied the all-time single-season MLS scoring record set by Roy Lassiter (1996) and Chris Wondolowski (2012). - Wright-Phillips has now scored a goal in all three matches against KC this season. - Wright-Phillips' two goals on Sunday mark the sixth multi-goal game for him this season, the most in MLS and one more than Dom Dwyer's five. - Sporting KC is 8-2-5 in regular season finales and 10-2-3 in home finales since 2000. - The team that scores first between New York Red Bulls and Sporting KC has not lost since June of 2007. - Dom Dwyer finished the season in second place for MLS goals scored with 22 goals. - Dwyer finished the season with the most left-footed goals (14) and headed goals (5). - The New York Red Bulls finished the season with 55 goals and 54 assists. Both rank first in the Eastern Conference. - Matt Besler returned to the starting lineup on Sunday, making his 150th MLS regular season appearance. With 150 appearances, Besler moved into sole possession of eighth place on Sporting KC's all-time chart. - Peter Vermes is the first Sporting KC coach to guide the team to four straight winning seasons. - Graham Zusi also returned to the lineup after missing Sporting KC's Thursday night CONCACAF Champions League match due to yellow card accumulation. - New York forward Thierry Henry missed Sunday's match due to inflammation in both Achilles. Henry scored 10 goals and tallied 14 assists this season. - Sporting KC was without goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum (calf strain) and Benny Feilhaber (ankle sprain) due to injury. - Attendance on Sunday was 19,188 -- the 53rd consecutive sellout at Sporting Park dating back to 2012. - Sunday's match was nationally broadcasted on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. - Sporting KC is 1-1-2 on ESPN/ESPN2 this season. - Sporting KC is 19-20-12 all-time against New York (14-9-4 at home). - With the start on Sunday, Eric Kronberg became the sixth keeper in club history to start 25 regular season games. - Jacob Peterson led all players with four chances created. - Kevin Ellis led all players with six interceptions. - Aurelien Collin was tied with New York's Jamison Olave with seven aerial duels won. - Collin and Ellis led all players with 12 duels won. - Besler led all players with 65 successful passes. - Sunday's match was sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. The first 500 people to check-in at the Blue KC table on the Sprint Plaza prior to the match received a Dom Dwyer poster. The first 100 were invited to a meet and greet with Dwyer after the final whistle. - To conclude fan appreciation week, 18 Season Ticket Members were selected at random to receive a player's game worn jersey. The STM's were presented with the jersey by the players after the game. - Sporting KC's knockout round match against the New York Red Bulls will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Thursday, October 30. The match will kick off at 7 p.m. CT.

- Thursday marks the first time Sporting Kansas City and the New York Red Bulls have ever met in the playoffs. QUOTES

Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes

On Sporting KC's 2-0 loss to New York... The season is over and now we're in the playoffs. Our mindset has to be is getting recovered. The difficulty we have at the moment is that we've played a boatload of games with a squad that's already been depleted, and we keep trying to plug holes and it hasn't been easy. I don't know if some guys are going to be available for Thursday as well. The only thing I can say is that I think that everyone on staff will try to do everything that they can to get the guys as physically and mentally prepared as we can with the short turnaround. There are certain guys that, as I've said before, weren't brought into the team to be starters right off the bat and on a regular basis. That's a process-we don't want to just throw them to the fire, and that's why some of the guys received injuries. But like I said, we'll get them mentally and physically prepared for the game on Thursday.

On the team's mentality heading into the playoffs... I was playing for Colorado in 1997 and we made the final playoff spot and we played Kansas City four times that year. They won all four and outscored us 15-2. Our first game in the two playoff games was here (in Kansas City). They were the No. 1 seed and we beat them 3-0. So I can tell you that I think anything is possible when you step into playoffs, but at the same time, we're a team that has some things to overcome. Our team is tired and you can tell. We're tired in a lot of different ways. When you look at some many different guys that have been injured-guys who've had to play way too many minutes when they were fatigued-it's taken its toll. We just need to try and get ready and recover and get there on Thursday. Really, our focus is on the pool of players we have currently that we believe are healthy enough to hopefully be ready for Thursday's game.

On the challenges of playing New York this year... We don't have a full compliment of our team. We're not playing our full compliment of players. It's been that way for probably seven months now, and like I said, it takes a toll.

On Lawrence Olum's substitution in the first half... He was dead. You could see he just had nothing in the gas tank.

On how this loss compares to recent losses... To me, this isn't a bad loss from the point of view that the guys fought and tried, they're just tired. One is you make technical or tactical errors and the other is you make psychological errors when you're tired, and the guys are. There was really nothing we could do. I'm not sure if I'm not being clear, but when you have as many guys out as we do, at some point you have to understand you can't replace those guys. We have a salary cap. So we're asking guys that are not regulars, not ready yet, to be 34-game times 90-type players. And they're having to play like that on a regular basis. And not just through one competition, it's been multiple. I've painted those examples before, but I don't walk around with the guys and paint excuses to them based on that. We have to get healthy and I think that if our guys are recovered and healthy, we can give any team in this league a good game.

Sporting KC goalkeeper Eric Kronberg

On Sporting KC's 2-0 loss to Sporting KC... We definitely lost the ball in bad parts of the field. We've got to sharpen up our attack because we didn't create very much either. They're super dangerous on the counter attack, so we have to all be on the same page when we have the ball. We have to make sure we're aware of every player on the field. They're a quick, counter-attacking team and they're good at what they do. It's going to be a battle on Thursday and we'll have to bring everything we've got.

On New York's attacking performance and Bradley Wright-Phillips' goal record? They're very dynamic in attack. They keep going-they didn't ever take the balls to the corner; they kept charging at us. [Bradley Wright-Phillips] is a great finisher. He only needs a second on the ball, he's great at placing his shots and he has great anticipation. He's a great player and he was great tonight.

On Sporting KC's mindset heading into the MLS Cup Playoffs... We've just got to play together, play our game and do what we're good at. In the postseason, everything is magnified. It's going to be a battle, but we're battle-tested for sure. All of our players have been in battles and have been successful. When we go out on the field, we just have to go out and give it our all.

Sporting KC midfielder Jacob Peterson

On Sporting KC's energy level in a 2-0 loss to New York... I can't speak for everybody else, but my legs were a little heavy, and I think some other guys' [legs] were as well. But that's not an excuse-we have to adapt and make adjustments, and we didn't do that tonight. They were straight up the better team and they deserved to win.

On the challenges of playing against New York... I actually thought that we played pretty well when we went (to New York in September). Since I've been here the last three years, they have done a very good job of countering against us at home. They did that again tonight. Eric [Kronberg] had a couple good saves at the end there. They probably could have won going away. Now it's a different game going to their place. It's a quick turnaround and we have to be smart about our recovery, especially with all this travel with the Champions League trip last week. We'll get it right, but tonight's a disappointing result.

On the keys to playing better at New York on Thursday... I think it's very important for us to recover. It's been a very long season, there's no doubt about that. It's been a difficult season in some ways with all the injuries. I know that's not an excuse because we've got good enough players. We need to get our legs back and take these three or four days to really recover and refocus. We said after the game to remember this feeling. We were outplayed tonight. We have to remember that and take it with us into Thursday's game.

New York Red Bulls Manager Mike Petke

On New York's performance in a 2-0 win... I'm extremely proud of these guys for one fact: they played like a team tonight, and that was our game plan. Last weekend against Columbus we were completely out of sorts. Kansas City is a very similar team to Columbus-they enjoy having the ball, they enjoy stretching teams out and they're very good with the ball. We knew we had to be patient coming in here. Credit to these guys, they bought into what we want.

On Thursday's playoff game against Sporting KC... I'm happy for the result but that means nothing because Kansas City is a great team. It doesn't matter if we're playing here or at home at Red Bull Arena Thursday, it's going to be very difficult. They're going to be up for it for sure.

On the MLS Cup Playoffs format... It's something I'll scratch my head about. You play 34 games and from preseason to the 34th game, it's 9-10 months and then you cram three games for the playoffs into a week. It doesn't make sense to me. But it's what you have to do.

New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles

On New York's performance in a 2-0 win... I think everyone is really excited. For 90 minutes we fought as a team. The only thing that stuck out was defensively we limited Kansas City's chances. It was a performance that we could really be proud of.

On Bradley Wright-Phillips tying the MLS record with 27 goals in a season... We were trying so hard to get him that third goal. We were joking beforehand that he was going to break the record. He went out there and scored two very important goals for us, because both goals came against the run of play. And it not only took the wind out of their sail but made the task more difficult for them. I know towards the end I got a ball and I didn't even think twice: I just chucked it as hard as I could, hoping to get him into space. Unfortunately he couldn't get that third goal, which is bittersweet because he came so close, but at the same time he has been huge for us all season. If it wasn't for his performances, we wouldn't be in this position.

On tonight's match having a bearing on Thursday's Knockout Round game... Last year, we felt we had some momentum going into Houston and it didn't work out at all. We need to take it for what it is. It's nice we get to go back and we don't have to stay in Kansas City for four days. In the end, I know they are going to be pretty pumped up. It's one and done. Of course there are things we can take away from this game, but we know they are going to be up for it for sure.

New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips

On tying the MLS record with 27 goals this regular season... I went into [the game] quite cool because I knew we needed to win, and as a striker if I score, it works. If I score, it gives a better chance of winning, but I go into every game trying to score goals and trying to help out my team. It didn't feel like the service was coming easy. But my teammates have been like that all season. They depend on me to make runs and show up when I can, so I've never had a complaint. They're top drawer. Like Mike said, I think we came together as a team. Everyone bought into it. We got the clean sheet and the win. Me being me, I'm kind of upset. I think I had a chance to get No. 28. There are two great players that hold that record. I'm just delighted to be in and amongst it with them.

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