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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Soars to 4-0 Win over Houston

March 8, 2020 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Two goals on both sides of halftime propelled Sporting Kansas City (2-0-0, 6 points) to a comprehensive 4-0 victory over rivals Houston Dynamo (0-1-1, 1 points) in an electric home opener at sold-out Children's Mercy Park on Saturday night.

A rampant display saw red-hot newcomers Alan Pulido and Gadi Kinda score for the second straight match, while veterans Roger Espinoza and Khiry Shelton also found the back of the net to give Sporting an early perch atop the Western Conference standings. Between the sticks, goalkeeper Tim Melia secured his record-breaking 46th career MLS regular season shutout, surpassing Jimmy Nielsen for the most in club history.

Saturday's scintillating performance -- which treated supporters to the first match at Children's Mercy Park in 160 days -- equaled Sporting's largest margin of victory in a home opener and marked the first time ever that the club has opened an MLS regular season with back-to-back wins by multiple goals.

Presiding over his 350th regular season match as Sporting's manager, Peter Vermes fielded an unchanged starting XI from last weekend's 3-1 triumph at Vancouver Whitecaps FC as Pulido, Kinda and Croatian defender Roberto Puncec made their Children's Mercy Park debuts.

A pulsating atmosphere created by the largest season-opening crowd in stadium history set the stage for Sporting's early dominance, and the hosts were duly rewarded in the 16th minute. Kinda settled a clever diagonal service from Graham Zusi and exploited space in the central channel, bursting forward and squeezing a pass inside the box to Shelton. The ball then bounced loose to Pulido, whose predatory first-touch strike beat Dynamo goalkeeper Marko Maric, caromed off the far post and nestled into the net.

Houston was on the back foot throughout the evening but managed to carve up an opening in the 19th minute when Mauro Manotas -- seeking his 50th career MLS goal -- cut onto his right foot and had a shot blocked by Sporting captain Matt Besler. The fleeting chance was one of few looks for the visitors on their turbulent visit to the Heartland.

Espinoza doubled Sporting's advantage with 26 minutes on the clock, prodding home after Johnny Russell's free kick deflected off a Houston defender in a congested penalty area. The goal was Espinoza's ninth of his heralded MLS career and his first since a Decision Day victory over LAFC on Oct. 28, 2018. Russell then went agonizingly close to blowing the roof off Children's Mercy Park, racing onto Maric's failed clearance and nearly punishing the advanced keeper with an empty-net attempt that bounced marginally wide from 45 yards.

Sporting's all-time regular season shutout leader was called into action four minutes after the restart. Houston midfielder Memo Rodriguez unleashed a low shot from the left edge of the box that dragged across Melia, prompting him to dive at full extension to apply the slightest finger-tip touch to carry the ball inches wide. Not long later, Dynamo winger Thomas McNamara spurned an open look with a shot that blazed high.

Active and involved, Russell was involved in two scoring opportunities near the hour mark. He fleeced a defender on the right wing and teed up Kinda for a blistering shot that was saved from 15 yards, then latched onto a beautiful cross from Luis Martins only to miss the mark.

Kinda solidified Sporting's lead in the 65th minute on a play crafted by Russell and Pulido. The Scottish international picked out Pulido on the edge of the penalty area, allowing the Mexican to create separation and clip a low ball across the face of goal. The Israeli Kinda was on hand to take a touch and poke low past Maric to ignite further celebrations across the stadium. Alan Pulido and Kinda are now the third and fourth newcomers in Sporting history to score goals in each of the team's first two matches of an MLS regular season, following Miklos Molnar in 2000 and Claudio Bieler in 2013 -- two forwards who set the tone for what became MLS Cup-winning campaigns in Kansas City.

Sporting's relentless pursuit of a fourth goal saw Shelton on the breakaway and substitute Gerso Fernandes float an audacious chip shot narrowly over the bar. Shelton was nevertheless rewarded for his industry in the 77th minute, applying a cool finish after Houston was unable to clear 17-year-old Gianluca Busio's in-swinging corner kick.

With two emphatic wins under their belts, Sporting will now prepare for a mouthwatering showdown next Saturday at Eastern Conference powerhouse Atlanta United FC (2-0-0, 6 points). The cross-conference clash at Mercedes-Benz Stadium is slated for 6 p.m. CT with live coverage on FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports GO.

QUOTES Sporting Kansas City Manager and Sporting Director Peter Vermes

On a 4-0 win in the team's home opener...

It was a great exhibition by the players. As I told them, they prepared really well in this offseason, in the preseason and the first couple of weeks starting the season. All they had to do was go and execute. They were excellent and it was great for the fans.

On closing out the game...

I think the clean sheet was really important. When you play games like this, sometimes when you score quite a few goals, you can take your foot off the gas pedal a little bit. I thought we were good. We were still dangerous at the end. I thought all of the guys that came on, they also gave a really good energy and that's important.

On the newcomers contributing early in the season...

They're special players and quality. The biggest thing is they're team guys. They've been working as hard off the ball, defensively, everything. That's what is most important. Obviously, we brought those guys in to give us a little bit more in the attack. They're pulling through on that, as well, but I can't say enough about their defensive responsibilities and how they're putting a shift in each game.

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia

On opening the season with a big win...

It was an electric environment. For the fans to come out after the year we had last year and support us right from the beginning, it's special. I always say that. This is a very special place to play. They proved it here tonight. We're happy. We were able to give them a good performance.

On the team's defensive performance...

These are my favorite type of games. I don't want to do anything every game. It was a relentless effort all over the field. It was something special to see. We were pressing everywhere. We were smothering the ball. We weren't giving them any time. Even when we misplayed a ball, they were under so much pressure and they were giving the ball back to us. This should be something that we're really proud of, this performance. We're going to build off of this one.

On becoming the club's leader in regular season shutouts...

It's special, but it's down to all of the people on the field and everyone in this organization. They gave me this opportunity to succeed. It's not me. It's something that goalkeepers hold but look at the game tonight. I didn't do anything and I was able to break the record. I'm just happy to be here and happy to be part of this club. It's special to me.

Sporting Kansas City forward Alan Pulido

On his first game at Children's Mercy Park...

It was great. I can't complain. I was able to score my second league goal and I was able to do it here in front of all of my fans. I'm even more happy because the team was able to win and that is the ultimate objective.

On opening the year with two goals and two wins...

This is all in relation to the effort that I put in individually and also as a team. This is also obviously due to the thanks of God. He's the one that strengthens me. Yes, this is a dream start and it shows that our hard work as a team is paying off.

Sporting Kansas City forward Khiry Shelton

On his return to Children's Mercy Park...

It felt amazing. For a home opener, it couldn't have been any better. That's what we wanted. We came out and did our thing.

On being among the team's four different goal scorers...

Every week, we work hard in training and everyone scores. So it's not a surprise to me. I think we could do it every game. We have the talent and the motivation and the determination to do it. That should be expected every week.

On his goal...

It was a corner kick. I didn't see the ball actually. It just fell in my lap and I was able to settle it and put it away. It's amazing. I'm so grateful.

Houston Dynamo head coach Tab Ramos

Thoughts on the match...

I think, the first thing is, you have to learn from your mistakes. Today we had a really tough time handling Kansas City's press. I thought we didn't play fast enough. But in the end, I thought we were still in the game until about the 65th minute. Unfortunately, we couldn't put away the chances that we had. We forced them to make a lot of mistakes on their side of the field and unfortunately we couldn't capitalize on that. Then obviously when they got the third goal, it became a little bit chaotic. We were trying to get one back and obviously we were throwing numbers forward which forced us to give up a lot of chances. Overall, up until the 60th minute, I thought that if we could have played a little bit faster we would have been right in the game. We have to learn from this one, that's for sure.

On looking forward to Seattle...

We have to keep learning. We have to keep getting better. I know that some guys are adapting to the way that we want to play. I think there were a lot of things that were good on the attacking half of the field. I think, in the end, we didn't create enough clear chances to score although I think we had about 10 shots on goal. We've just got to look ahead to the next one. We'll put this one away tomorrow.

Houston Dynamo defender Zarek Valentin

On rebounding from the defeat...

I think, first and foremost, it's a tough result but we have to do our due diligence as a club and as professionals to go back and look. Obviously, when you lose like that, it's not good enough. There were a few different places where we can go back and try to get better.

On putting the loss in the past...

We're going to go back and watch the film, because we definitely can get better. There are still things we can build off of. MLS is a game of inches in a lot of different ways. The margins are very, very small. That was shown tonight. They scored off of two set pieces and they took advantage of a few of the chances that they had. Obviously, I think we could have defended better in certain spots. We had a few ourselves. When we were down 2-0, we had a chance or two to maybe get ourselves back into the game. It was obviously going to be difficult but there are definitely things to build upon and we have to focus on that going into a big game against Seattle.

Sporting Kansas City is owned by Sporting Club, an entity founded by a group of local business and community leaders comprised of the Patterson Family, Cliff Illig, Pat Curran, Greg Maday and Robb Heineman. Sporting prides itself on a commitment and vision to provide high-performance experiences. Sporting Club purchased the team from the Hunt Sports Group in 2006, and under its direction has opened Swope Soccer Village, Children's Mercy Park, Wyandotte Sporting Fields and Pinnacle while investing in the Sporting KC Academy and Swope Park Rangers for developing local youth into homegrown talent. A charter member of Major League Soccer, Sporting are two-time MLS Cup champions (2000, 2013) and four-time winners of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2004, 2012, 2015, 2017).

2020 MLS Regular Season

Match 2 of 34

Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas

Attendance: 21,188

Weather: 57 degrees and clear

SportingKC.com Links

Score 1 2 F

Sporting Kansas City (2-0-0, 6 points) 2 2 4

Houston Dynamo (0-1-1, 1 points) 0 0 0

Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Graham Zusi, Roberto Puncec, Matt Besler (C), Luis Martins; Ilie Sanchez, Roger Espinoza, Gadi Kinda (Gianluca Busio 75'); Khiry Shelton, Alan Pulido (Erik Hurtado 84'), Johnny Russell (Gerso Fernandes 71')

Subs Not Used: Richard Sanchez, Botond Barath, Jaylin Lindsey, Daniel Salloi

Houston Dynamo: Marko Maric; Zarek Valentin, Aljaz Struna, Maynor Figueroa, Adam Lundkvist; Tomas Martinez (Darwin Quintero 57'), Matias Vera, Boniek Garcia (C), Thomas McNamara (Christian Ramirez 73'), Memo Rodriguez (Michael Salazar 78'); Mauro Manotas

Subs Not Used: Cody Cropper, Alejandro Fuenmayor, Darwin Ceren, Niko Hansen

Scoring Summary:

SKC -- Alan Pulido 2 (Khiry Shelton 1, Gadi Kinda 1) 16'

SKC -- Roger Espinoza 1 (unassisted) 26'

SKC -- Gadi Kinda 2 (Alan Pulido 1, Johnny Russell 1) 65'

SKC -- Khiry Shelton 1 (unassisted) 77'

Misconduct Summary:

HOU -- Aljaz Struna (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 14'

HOU -- Maynor Figueroa (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 25'

SKC -- Ilie Sanchez (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 30'

HOU -- Matias Vera (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 31'

HOU -- Adam Lundkvist (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 35'

SKC -- Gadi Kinda (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 56'

HOU -- Michael Salazar (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 89'

Stat SKC HOU

Shots 17 9

Shots on Goal 7 1

Saves 1 3

Fouls 12 13

Offsides 3 1

Corner Kicks 5 7

Referee: Allen Chapman

Assistant Referee: Brian Dunn

Assistant Referee: Jason White

Fourth Official: Lukasz Szpala

VAR: Chico Grajeda

AVAR: Tom Supple

Check out the Sporting Kansas City Statistics

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