MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Takes Home Loss to Houston

Published on August 26, 2020 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


In the club's first home match at Children's Mercy Park since March 7, Western Conference leaders Sporting Kansas City (5-2-0, 15 points) suffered a 5-2 defeat to rivals Houston Dynamo (1-2-4, 7 points) on Tuesday night.

Johnny Russell and Gadi Kinda scored for the hosts on either side of halftime, but Houston used a Darwin Quintero brace and strikes from Alberth Elis, Christian Ramirez and Niko Hansen to secure their first victory of the season and their first triumph at Children's Mercy Park since 2014.

Sporting remains four points clear at the summit of the Western Conference despite the loss and will look to bounce back Saturday with a trip to the Colorado Rapids (2-3-1, 7 points) at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The contest will kick off at 8 p.m. CT and air live on FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports GO, Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

Manager Peter Vermes made two changes to Sporting's starting XI from a 2-1 win at Minnesota United FC last Friday. Gerso Fernandes replaced Khiry Shelton on the wing, earning his 100th career MLS appearance for the club, while center back Matt Besler stepped in for Graham Smith and in the second half became the first player in team history to eclipse 30,000 minutes played across all competitions.

Operating as a deep-lying midfielder for the second straight match, 18-year-old Gianluca Busio provided the first flashbulb moment in the sixth minute by unleashing a 35-yard thunderbolt that Houston goalkeeper Marko Maric was forced to parry over the crossbar. Not long later, Russell fired inches high of the mark after Alan Pulido did well to flick a header into his teammate's path.

Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia entered the night with a perfect 4-0-0 regular season record in 2020 but was decidedly busy in the early stages, producing a fine save to deny Ramirez in the 15th minute. Houston would land their first punch two minutes later, however, as Quintero slithered past a pair of defenders and squared to Elis for a simple finish. Vermes men' avoided a further blow just before the 20-minute mark, as Elis' cross was turned onto the post by Sporting center back Winston Reid and dribbled safely into Melia's mitts.

Russell drew his side level in the 26th minute. Gerso's low delivery from the right wing was met by Pulido, whose first-time shot deflected high and looped goalward, only to be headed off the line by Zarek Valentin. Waiting for the rebound was Russell, who hammered home at close range for his second goal of the campaign and the 23rd of his Sporting career in all competitions.

The visitors restored their advantage a minute shy of halftime when Elis' driven ball across the face of goal was steered into the back of the net by Ramirez. Elis would exit at intermission and Niko Hansen was summoned in his place, impacting proceedings almost immediately by racing down the right side and chipping past Melia to extend Houston's lead to 3-1.

An instant reply from Sporting saw Kinda bag his team-leading fourth goal of the season in the 49th minute. A wild sequence in Houston's goalmouth culminated with an acrobatic overhead finish off the underside of the post from Kinda after Pulido nearly scored off a Graham Zusi cross. Sporting leads MLS with 17 regular season goals in 2020, good for a clip of 2.43 per game.

Any momentum Sporting had was extinguished near the hour mark when Houston struck twice in the space of four minutes. Quintero settled a Darwin Ceren backheel pass and curled an impressive shot into the far corner before adding his second on a through-ball assist from Hansen.

A flurry of second-half substitutions resulted in a milestone moment for the Sporting KC Academy. With the introductions of Cameron Duke, Felipe Hernandez and Daniel Salloi-who joined Busio and right back Jaylin Lindsey on the pitch-Sporting fielded five Homegrown Players in a competitive match for the first time in team history.

Tuesday's game was the first for Sporting at Children's Mercy Park in 171 days, dating back to the club's home-opening 4-0 win over the Dynamo in early March. The sides will meet for the third time this season on Sept. 5 at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On the defensive play of Gianluca Busio...

I think it's very hard to critique one player in tonight's match. This is one of those times where you say it's a bad day. It happens sometimes. For the first 30 minutes, I thought we were good. We were in the game. We were creating some great stuff. We were on them. What I think transpired is that after 30 minutes, we started chasing shadows a little bit as a team. I think that was the big thing.

In regards to Busio, he's growing every day. Every day he's getting better and better. It's not one thing you work on. You're working on all aspects of the game and defending is one of them. He's growing and he's always getting better. I wouldn't use today's match to evaluate that aspect of his game.

On opponents having breakaway opportunities...

Tonight, it happened. But I wouldn't say that it's an ongoing issue by any means. Not at all. I wouldn't say that. I think that, as a team, I think we've dealt with those situations pretty well. Is there sometimes a team does well on the counter? Sure. If you're talking about the Philly game, those were set pieces. That was a totally different situation than what this run of play was tonight. They were also good in those moments. They stuck it home and they got out after the ball. We didn't have a good day. They had a really good day. It's one of those nights.

On the defensive lapses...

After the first 30 minutes, we were just late to everything. We got stretched out. You start having guys that are late or hesitant within the game then all of a sudden they find the seams and they start building through us. That's what they did. They were cutting through us and building through us at will, especially late in the game. In the second half, we were too man-oriented at times, we were late in situations. Sometimes that happens. I've been in a few of those games myself. It feels like, you go left, they go right. You go right, they go left. You go forward, they go backward. You're just chasing shadows. I think we were doing that for a good majority of the game after the first 30 minutes.

On having fans in the stadium...

Having (fans) in the stadium is definitely a help. It really is. It gives something of an ambience in the stadium. I appreciate the fact that those people came tonight. I apologize for the fact that we didn't get the result. I don't think tonight was for a lack of effort. We fell short. We had a bad day. We'll be back. In situations like this, you've got to respond and I believe our guys will. I think it was good to have people in the stadium. It was much appreciated.

On Houston's success on the right side...

I think that (Alberth) Elis is a tough mark for anybody in this league. He's an important player for them. I think that when you look at the third goal, (Jaylin Lindsey) gets a little man-oriented in that situation and maybe over commits a little bit. There are some learning curves that go with opportunities. That's the way it goes sometimes. I have a lot of faith in him. I think he has a lot of room to grow and this is one of those experiences for him tonight.

Sporting Kansas City midfielder Roger Espinoza

Thoughts on the match and Gianluca Busio's role...

I thought we started the game pretty well. The first few minutes, we were doing great, we were driving the game. Their goal came out of nowhere, but it was a great goal for them. Then we came back again and it was 1-1. At that moment I thought we were going to drive the game again but for some reason the game went south for us, but sometimes it happens. I'm very happy for the work of the guys. With the way this year is going, we've been training a lot but sometimes we're not match fit. I'm happy to work with the guys and hopefully come back against Colorado. It was a tough game for us. For Busio, it's great that Busio is getting all these minutes. He's doing great. Tonight, I thought it was a great night for him. I thought he had some great passes. Obviously, as a team, it didn't go so well but for being 18 years old and being on the field and taking the responsibility that he's doing, it's great for us.

On the team's marking defensively...

That's not the way we play. That's not what this club is about. There was definitely something wrong there. We were a little late to everything. Maybe not at the beginning, but as the game went on, we did things that we usually don't do as a team here. It happened and now we just have to move forward and remember the things that make us successful so hopefully that happens from now on.

On playing with fans...

We were ready to come back home and play. We did not know at the beginning and didn't find out until a few weeks ago that we were going to have fans. We are thankful for that and our fans have always been supportive throughout the game. Even when we were down 5-2, I could hear the fans. Everybody stayed throughout the whole game and that shows a lot of what our fans are all about. I'm very thankful for what the fans did for us. I appreciate and am I'm humble about the whole thing. Our fans have always been there for us. Unfortunately, the game didn't go well tonight but we're going to pay that back to them because they're always there supporting us and I'm very happy that they were there for us. We need to move forward and play for them next time.

On being match fit...

I don't like to give excuses. I just thought it was a bad day for us. I don't think it was the quick turnaround. We just didn't play well. We started playing well the first 30 minutes and we were driving the game because we were on their heels. That goal came for them and I think it gave them a little bit of confidence. They started figuring out how to keep up with us at that moment and we started missing passes. The way we were pressuring was off and all that. We have to move forward. This is just another game that we just played and hopefully we feel better on Saturday. As this keeps going into the next few games, we're going to feel better. We're only two games into a six-game round.

On Busio's defensive skills...

I've seen a side of him that I have not seen before. I think that now he's been given the responsibility as a number six to defend more and I think he took it very well. He's very disciplined and he's going to learn more. At some point in my career, my game was the same way. When I came out of college, I didn't defend as much. As more games were given to me, I think I got better at that and I'm pretty sure he will. He's a guy that listens, he's a guy that watches everybody, has a lot of respect for everyone and he's learning very fast and it's great to give him advice. Many times, there's a lot of older guys that are always with the young guys and as you can see, they're playing more and more now so that's great to see.

Sporting Kansas City midfielder Gianluca Busio

On his growth over the past few years and the switch to a defensive midfield role...

Obviously, I'm still getting used to it. It's a different position for me as to what I'm used to attacking and staying back a little more. There are some things I'm still trying to learn and I'm trying to get stronger and more physical. Two years ago, I was probably getting pushed around a lot more than now and I'm kind of growing and now I can hold my own a little more. There's a lot to learn from the position and I'm happy to be on the field and try to help the team.

On defensive instincts...

I've always thought about going forward more so it's hard to switch your mindset into defending. It's something that I'm still working on and learning as I'm playing a new position right now that focuses on defending more. I'm trying to work on that still but it's definitely a little difficult when you go from always thinking about going forward to defending and stopping. It's not what I'm used to, but I definitely am trying to get used to it.

On social justice and the players calls for change...

It's sad. It just hurts a little bit especially being a young black man to see people with my skin tone getting killed. We're trying to bring light to the situation with any little things we can do like wearing these shirts and bringing light to the situation. If it continues to happen then we're going to have to continue to bring our light, especially with our platform. It hurts everybody and I think everybody should educate themselves on the situation and hopefully we can make a change with more and more people educating themselves.

On fine tuning his distribution...

I'm still learning so obviously there are times where it's not the not the right time to go forward and try to play that that pass. I've always been an attacker, so I'm used to trying to make that pass so I'm still educating myself on the position and that's reading the situation and keeping the ball or going forward and trying to thread the needle. I'm trying to learn it and it's up to me to read the situations. Sometimes I think I'll get caught out trying to thread the needle when we need to keep the ball which can lead to bad situations. I'm trying to learn a lot more and I haven't played a lot so I'm trying to get used to the position. It's going to come with good and bad.

On the difference between a reduced capacity and full capacity crowd...

I don't think it really affects me. I try to block out the crowd noise no matter what. Obviously, it helps a lot now that we have fans when you go from playing in empty stadiums where you can hear everybody talking. Having an atmosphere and a bunch of fans really helped and I'm happy that we could fill a stadium with safety in place. You can hear a little more, a few more shouts, but it's usually all good stuff, especially with our fans. We have great fans so it's never anything negative. It helps us a lot more with fans.

2020 MLS Regular Season

Match 7 of 34

Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas

Weather: 90 degrees and sunny

Post-match Links

Watch: Full match Highlights

Postgame: Manager Peter Vermes

Postgame: Midfielder Gianluca Busio

Postgame: Midfielder Roger Espinoza

Watch: Johnny Russell scores in first half

Watch: Gadi Kinda scores in second half

Score 1 2 F

Sporting Kansas City (5-2-0, 15 points) 1 1 2

Houston Dynamo (1-2-4, 7 points) 2 3 5

Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Graham Zusi, Winston Reid, Matt Besler, Jaylin Lindsey; Gianluca Busio, Roger Espinoza (Felipe Hernandez 58'), Gadi Kinda (Cameron Duke 72'); Johnny Russell (Daniel Salloi 64'), Alan Pulido (C) (Erik Hurtado 64'), Gerso Fernandes (Khiry Shelton 58')

Subs Not Used: Richard Sanchez, Amadou Dia, Roberto Puncec, Graham Smith

Houston Dynamo: Marko Maric; Zarek Valentin, Aljaz Struna, Maynor Figueroa, Adam Lundkvist; Darwin Ceren (Nico Lemoine 90+1'), Matias Vera (C), Memo Rodriguez (Tomas Martinez 80'); Darwin Quintero (Boniek Garcia 66'), Christian Ramirez (Mauro Manotas 66'), Alberth Elis (Niko Hansen 46')

Subs Not Used: Cody Cropper, Jose Bizama, Alejandro Fuenmayor, Sam Junqua

Scoring Summary:

HOU -- Alberth Elis 3 (Darwin Quintero 3, Memo Rodriguez 1) 17'

SKC -- Johnny Russell 2 (unassisted) 26'

HOU -- Christian Ramirez 1 (Alberth Elis 1, Darwin Quintero 4) 44'

HOU -- Niko Hansen 1 (Christian Ramirez 1, Zarek Valentin 2) 48'

SKC -- Gadi Kinda 4 (unassisted) 49'

HOU -- Darwin Quintero 2 (Darwin Ceren 1) 57'

HOU -- Darwin Quintero 3 (Niko Hansen 1) 61'

Misconduct Summary:

HOU -- Matias Veria (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 25'

SKC -- Gianluca Busio (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 38'

Stat SKC HOU

Shots 14 12

Shots on Goal 5 8

Saves 3 1

Fouls 11 9

Offsides 3 3

Corner Kicks 10 1

Referee: Joseph Dickerson

Assistant Referee: Jason White

Assistant Referee: Diego Blas

Fourth Official: Lukasz Szpala

VAR: Jon Freemon

AVAR: Cory Richardson

Check out the Sporting Kansas City Statistics

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Major League Soccer Stories from August 26, 2020


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