Sporting KC Tops Orlando City SC 2-1
Published on May 15, 2016 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release
Sporting Kansas City bounced back into the victory column Sunday with a thrilling 2-1 win over Orlando City SC at sold-out Children's Mercy Park.
Dom Dwyer's 50th goal for the club in all competitions drew Sporting Kansas City level in the 74th minute, setting the stage for substitute Jacob Peterson to cap his heroic cameo with the match-winner five minutes later.
A national television audience on ESPN saw Sporting Kansas City unleash an offensive barrage to the tune of 34 shot attempts, an all-time club record and third most in MLS regular season history. Sunday's result gave Manager Peter Vermes his 100th MLS coaching win (including playoffs) and lifted his side into a tie for sixth place in the Western Conference (5-6-2, 17 points). Orlando City SC (2-3-5, 11 points) saw its winless streak hit six games as the Lions dropped to seventh in the East.
UPHORIA: The day after Sporting KC wins, Sporting KC Uphoria users can enjoy a complementary appetizer with a $20 purchase at No Other Pub in the Kansas City Power & Light District (1370 Grand Blvd.).
PAPA JOHN'S: The day after Sporting KC scores two or more goals, use promo code SPORTINGKC at papajohns.com to get 50% off each regular menu price pizza in an order placed with participating KC area locations.
In a game chalk-full of scoring opportunities, Peterson proved to be the difference maker with his first-ever one goal, one assist performance in an MLS match. The 11-year veteran came off the bench in the 69th minute, two minutes after Sporting KC fell behind through a Jimmy Medranda own goal, and twice helped breach the Orlando City defense to give his side its first win since April 9 and bring a seven-match winless skid to a halt.
Vermes fielded a strong lineup against the second-year MLS club as captain Matt Besler, midfielder Benny Feilhaber and winger Graham Zusi earned starts after missing Wednesday's 1-0 loss at the Colorado Rapids. Brad Davis logged the 379th regular season appearance of his MLS career, moving into second place all-time among field players.
Sunday's contest entertained from the start as both teams came within inches of scoring by the seven-minute mark. Vermes' men threatened first when Medranda tried to pick out Dwyer inside the penalty area. The ball took a deflection and fell kindly to Zusi, whose curling effort from 20 yards rattled the crossbar. At the other end, former FIFA World Player of the Year Kaka slipped a perfectly weighted through ball to Brek Shea, who dragged a left-footed shot wide of the right post.
Dwyer nearly bagged his milestone goal much earlier in the match, latching onto the end of Nuno Coelho's low-skipping cross and poking just clear of the near post in the 23rd minute. Davis tested Joe Bendik five minutes later, while Medranda's long-range blast swerved marginally high shortly thereafter.
Orlando City weathered Sporting Kansas City's 16 first-half shot attempts without conceding, thanks in large part to Bendik's impressive showing between the posts. The goalkeeper denied both Dwyer and Zusi on the stroke of halftime - the latter coming at full extension to push the ball wide of goal - and ended the game with a career-high 10 saves.
Sporting Kansas City kept its foot on the pedal after the break. The tireless Roger Espinoza created a game-high six chances on Sunday, including a looping cross in the 56th minute to Dwyer, whose volley was blocked by Rafael Ramos. Espinoza was at it again on the hour-mark, lofting a square ball to Benny Feilhaber, but the snap-header was saved by Bendik.
Despite failing to register a shot on goal, the Lions created chances of their own and almost went ahead in the 61st minute, only for Shea's curling strike to carry wide past the outstretched Tim Melia.
Following a near-miss from Zusi, Orlando stunned the home crowd with a goal against the run of play. Kaka's high-arching corner kick resulted in a frantic goalmouth scramble before the ball nestled into the back of the net. Medranda was credited with an own goal as the Lions continued their 10-game streak of scoring in every match this year.
Sporting Kansas City responded to the setback with vengeance, and their domination in the attacking third finally paid off in the 74th minute. Feilhaber scooped a delectable ball into the box for Peterson, whose cushioned header across the face of goal allowed Dwyer to nod home from close range.
Children's Mercy Park was on its feet, and 19,080 spectators were treated to another goal in the 79th minute as Sporting Kansas City completed the comeback with its 34th and final shot attempt. Saad Abdul-Salaam found Espinoza on the right edge of the box, allowing the Honduran to clip a pinpoint pass to the far post. Peterson was on hand to send a diving header past Bendik, scoring his 17th career MLS goal and his 10th with Sporting KC in all competitions. Espinoza tallied his first assist of 2016 on the play, while Abdul-Salaam moved into the team lead with his fourth helper of the season.
The visitors managed one final opportunity in the 87th minute as Carlos Carlos Rivas' side-volley whistled narrowly wide. Sporting KC midfielder Paulo Nagamura made his 2016 debut in second-half stoppage time, moments before final whistle condemned Orlando City to a sixth straight game without a win dating back to April 8.
Next Saturday, the first 2016 edition of Major League Soccer's Heineken Rivalry Week will see Sporting Kansas City host Real Salt Lake (5-3-2, 17 points) at Children's Mercy Park. The match is set for 7:30 p.m. CT and a limited number of tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 888-4KC-GOAL.
FAST FACTS
Sporting KC Team Facts
Sporting Kansas City defeated Orlando City SC 2-1 on Sunday at Children's Mercy Park.
The victory snapped a seven-game stretch for Sporting KC without a win.
Sporting KC outshot Orlando City SC 34-7 on Sunday and Sporting KC maintained 55 percent of the possession.
Prior to Sunday's win, Sporting KC had last won a match on April 9.
Sunday marked the first ever MLS match at Children's Mercy Park between Sporting KC and Orlando City SC. The Lions won the inaugural meeting 3-1 last September in Orlando.
Orlando City has visited Children's Mercy Park twice as a USL side, facing Sporting KC in the 2012 and 2013 Open Cup.
Sporting KC is 6-0-1 at home against Eastern Conference clubs since moving to the West in 2015.
Sporting KC's 16 shots in the first half are most by any MLS team in the past two seasons.
With Sunday's victory, Peter Vermes notched his 100th win of his MLS coaching career.
Sporting KC's 17 points and five wins would both be the most in the Eastern Conference.
Sporting KC Player Facts
Dom Dwyer scored his 50th career goal for Sporting KC in all competitions in the 74th minute of play on Sunday against the club he went to on loan in 2013.
Jacob Peterson and Benny Feilhaber earned the assist on Dwyer's goal.
Peterson then notched the game-winner in the 79th minute. Peterson's goal was assisted by Roger Espinoza and Saad Abdul-Salaam.
Abdul-Salaam leads the team in assists in 2016 with four.
Brad Davis made his 379th MLS regular season match, moving into second place all-time among field players.
With 90 minutes played on Sunday, Matt Besler has played exactly 20,000 minutes for Sporting Kansas City.
Orlando City Player Facts
Orlando City SC got on the board first via an own goal by Sporting KC defender Jimmy Medranda.
Orlando City SC was without Head Coach Adrian Heath on Sunday after being assessed a one-match suspension and an undisclosed fine for entering the field of play in the 54th minute against the New York Red Bulls on May 6.
Orlando City Team Facts
Orlando City SC has scored in all 10 matches this season but has kept just one clean sheet.
Orlando City SC last won on April 3.
General Facts
Sporting KC wore a patch on their jerseys today in remembrance of fallen KCK Detective Brad Lancaster. All proceeds in Sunday's 4-3-3 raffle will go to the Brad Lancaster Memorial Fund.
Sporting Kansas City players Tim Melia (30) and Diego Rubio (23) celebrated birthdays on Sunday.
The match was nationally televised on ESPN with Adrian Healy, Taylor Twellman and Monica Gonzalez on the call.
Children's Mercy Park welcomed 19,080 fans on Sunday, marking the 76th straight sellout at the stadium in MLS competition.
QUOTES
Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes
On Jacob Peterson's performance...
I appreciate the fact that Jake [Peterson] hasn't played a lot of minutes this year, but the fact that he comes in to and holds true to the first value we have to this group which is the team is first. Whether he holds a grudge or not, he didn't show it on the field. If he did, he displayed in a fashion that was professional. Not only was he calm and cool on the assist, but more importantly, it was a great finishing play to be in the position that he was. We needed guys in the box late in the game like that, because you expect the other team to make a mistake and we were going to put the pressure on them. Credit to him for all those things.
On dominating the first 70 minutes and not scoring...
The way I look at it is the great thing is that now I don't have to listen to all these questions about whether or not we are winless in so many games. At the end of the day, the focus should be on how good of a team we are when we play the way we did tonight. We have that in us and when we do, I think it's very tough to play against us. I give a lot of credit to Orlando. I think they have a lot of good qualities on their team. But at the end of the day, we absolutely outworked them. We were a stronger team, physically, all the way to the last minute of the game. Because of that, that's why we deserved the result. And I think the effort is the No. 1 reason why we were able to come out on top tonight. When we do that, when we play with our DNA of who we are, pressing the game, running forward, going at teams, getting numbers in the box, when we do that we are going to create chances. Sometimes they don't always go in, but when you do that you are going to give yourselves a chance to win. When you don't bring effort, when you don't bring fight to a game, you are not going to win. Tonight we did that, in Colorado we did that and sometimes it doesn't go your way but I'm very proud of the team from that point of view.
On the team not letting down after Orlando score...
I didn't want that to happen but you could see right off the kickoff that we started to go again and the substitutions that we brought on, all helped us in regard to what we wanted to do late in the game. I thought we got enough out of the payers that we needed to. Take Brad [Davis], he has played in our last three games and has played a little bit in each one of them. It was good to get a change in there. We had some guys that could come off the bench and give us a lot of enthusiasm and I think that started to become infectious with the rest of the guys.
Sporting KC Forward Jacob Peterson
On the team's performance...
I thought the team played well overall. I thought we created a lot. 33 shots is a crazy amount of shots. I thought we were in good spots the entire time. We just lacked maybe a little bit of the aggressiveness in the box and that's what Peter [Vermes] and the coaching staff told me. I thought that the guys were excellent and it was only a matter of time before we scored.
On not getting frustrated without a goal...
I think to echo what Peter said, there was a belief. Even when we were warming up on the sidelines, everyone was really positive. We knew we were getting chances. We knew that eventually we would finish one off. But the most important thing is if we outwork the other team, we have the players to break teams down. Recently, we are getting back to what we were. I thought it was an excellent performance overall.
On if the goals get a monkey off the back...
In sports, if you win you are great and if you lose you are terrible. I don't think that mentality has creeped in to the group. We knew we were having some good performances, maybe not all of them, but we were creating some shots and chances. Our possession has been pretty good but we just needed to put it all together. There is no doubt that a win is going to instill more confidence in the group but I don't think that was lacking. We all understand what we need to do to be the best team we can be and if we do that, as we did tonight, these next two home games will be very important for us to continue this momentum we are on.
Sporting KC Defender Matt Besler...
On how it felt to come away with the win...
We needed it. We were going through a stretch where for a number of different reasons, we couldn't come away with results. I think everybody was at the point where we had done enough talking and done enough analyzing, and it was really about just going out and getting the job done, and that's what we did tonight.
On how it felt to go down and then come back for three points...
I think that's probably what we can be most proud of. After they scored, it would have been easy just to say, "Alright, this is a familiar feeling. Here we go again," with the kind of stretch we were going through. But we didn't do that. We responded. We scored the goal what felt like a couple minutes after theirs, and then we got the winner. It was a big, big win for us, and it was a great response for us after their goal.
On what it's like seeing Jake Peterson score after not having much playing time...
We're all happy for him. Jake comes in to work every day and he puts it in, and he's got a good attitude whether he's starting or coming off the bench or supporting from the stadium. Today is a perfect example. He got his chance and he made the most of it, and he contributed. We're all super proud of him.
On how it felt initially going down a goal...
I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that the way we were playing and the amount of shots we were getting that they scored and that they had a chance of beating us. But it didn't last very long. We turned it around.
Sporting KC Forward Dom Dwyer
On how it felt to finally get a win...
It felt great. It was a very solid performance. We were very pleased. I think we were very good in the back. We created a lot of opportunities, and we probably should have put more away. I think we played well and it's good momentum for us with two more home games coming up.
On how it felt to have all those chances in the beginning with no payoff...
We were unlucky. Sometimes you look up at the scoreboard and you wonder if it's going to change, and we kept fighting and it did. I think we'll run with this momentum now, and we showed the team we actually are today.
What did Jake Peterson add when he came into the match?
Jake was quality today. He came in and completely changed the match. I think to head it across to a guy on the six yard line when you have a header - there's not many guys that do that. So that's big from him, and I was very glad he had a goal today. He headed it perfectly to me.
Orlando City SC Assistant Coach Mark Watson
How he feels about the team's performance in the game...
We knew the way they were going to play - their team loves to have a majority of the possession. I thought the first half was pretty good - they had a majority of possession but I thought we defended well when it was necessary, and had four or five really good opportunities on the counter. But later we were too careless once we regained possession. Some of the chances to go forward were good, and we started gaining some time, but we just didn't move the ball with enough quality or quickly enough.
On Orlando's seven shots to Kansas City's 34...
They're a good team, they have good players, and they have good movement. We didn't have enough of the ball. When we defended and regained the ball, we gave it away. I give credit to them. They're a good team. They've got good players and they put the ball up.
On how it feels to go up and then come away with a loss...
It's frustrating. You get the goal and you think, maybe we could steal this, and you hope to hold on and defend those last 20 minutes. But in the end, they just had too many opportunities in the box. It was just a matter of time.
On Cyle Larin's lack of touches in the first half...
It shows he's not getting enough of the ball. We knew most of it would be on the counter attack - he's the focal point on that. We have to bounce stuff off him before we go forward, but we didn't give him good service. I didn't think it was his best night holding the ball. But that's not enough touches for someone like Cyle.
Orlando City SC Midfielder Kaká
On how he feels about the loss...
It was a tough result for us again because the result could have been better, and we were winning. After that we conceded two goals. It was a tough game. They have a very good team and good supporters. The only thing I have to complain is that we had the result in our hand.
On how going up early changes the game...
I think we could defend better in that situation, and the goal that we conceded was so easy, so we need to improve in that case - two goals the same way. We have to work on that.
What do you think your defense needs to do to improve?
I think we need to - and I'm not just talking about the four defenders - I think when you defend, the whole team needs to defend better. I think when you defend, the whole team needs to defend better. The defensive system of the team needs to be better, and most of that comes to pressure. We can pressure a little bit more. They're midfield had too much time to think where to play, how to play. This doesn't happen with us. So there is something we need to change.
On Orlando's offense not capitalizing on opportunities created by Kaká...
Well I think we had a very good opportunity on that side because Brek [Shea] was very good. We created a lot of chances there. And when we are in the box, we need to be a little more convicted, because we could score a lot of goals in those situations.
Orlando City SC Defender Luke Boden
What was allowing Sporting KC to take so many shots on the back line?
We watched the video and the full backs push up really high so they had a lot of numbers in wide areas. I don't think we coped with it well enough. It was a very end-to-end game. They had chances. We had chances. It was just going to be who put the chances away. We went up 1-nil and I think we sort of took our foot off the pedal and tried to defend the lead to early, and it's difficult. They're playing at home, their fans are screaming them on and we tried to defend the lead for like 15 or 20 minutes, which is never going to happen. They're going to get chances. And they go and score two goals and come away with three points.
But now we have to regroup quickly because we've got three games coming up in the next week. They're coming thick and quick. We have Montreal to look forward to, so we've got no time to sit and sulk. And maybe that's a good thing. Maybe having the game coming up against Montreal is a good thing. We haven't got time to dwell on today. All the lads are disappointed, obviously. We don't go out there intending to lose. We go out to win.
On how he felt his first game back...
It's always difficult coming off the bench to get up to the speed of the game, but I felt okay. But at the end of the day, we're just disappointed to lose. That's the big thing.
On Orlando getting its own stadium next season...
[Children's Mercy Park] is a fantastic stadium. I've played here twice before this. So this is my third time here, so I know what the atmosphere is like. They've got great fans, they've got a great facility, and they use it to their advantage. And hopefully that will be the same for us.
Are you frustrated with the winless streak?
Yeah, we're professional soccer players. We don't like losing. And everybody gets frustrated, but we haven't got time to play the blame game. We can't blame anybody but ourselves. We haven't got time for that. We have no time to be frustrated. We've got to get back on the training field and prepare for Montreal. So we just need to work towards that game and hopefully start putting some points on the board.
Major League Soccer Stories from May 15, 2016
- Sporting KC Tops Orlando City SC 2-1 - Sporting Kansas City
- Orlando City Falls 2-1 at Sporting Kansas City - Orlando City SC
- Dynamo Defeat Real Salt Lake in Weather-Delayed Match - Houston Dynamo FC
- Charlton Alonso, 13, of Paramus, New Jersey Wins Allstate "Good Hands" Top Goalkeeper Award - MLS
- Quakes Pre-Academy Returns from Memorable UK Trip - San Jose Earthquakes
- JUMA, Earthquakes Partner to Provide Better Futures for Local Youth - San Jose Earthquakes
- Philadelphia Union Loan Matt Jones to Bethlehem Steel FC - Philadelphia Union
- Thiam, Accam look to move forward following positive first shifts - Chicago Fire FC
- FC Dallas Shuts out Seattle Sounders, 2-0 - FC Dallas
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
