Diving into a Sporting Night in Kansas City
It was a sports evening Wednesday in Kansas City that seemed likely to be completely defined by an important match for Sporting KC. The Royals were playing, and losing again, in Chicago, with the Tim Anderson sideshow, and ejection, and Ned Yost’s pointless grousing after the game, more the story than the 37th loss in 55 games for the Boys who are Blue.
The final evening for college hoops players to decide whether they would enter the draft provided a bit of a Twitter distraction. Kansas fans were glad to get Devon Dotson back, and fifteen minutes later found out that Quentin Grimes was returning to college ball, but not at Kansas, as he entered the transfer portal. From a Kansas standpoint they pretty much ended up in the backcourt with what they thought they would when the season ended, although Dotson danced a bit more with the NBA than expected. His return means the Jayhawks have plenty for 2019-20, even if their top recruiting targets have not been landed.
But from a press box vantage point, my focus was on the pitch at Children’s Mercy Park. There was a tipping point feeling in the air on a gorgeous Midwestern evening. Sporting KC was playing the third game of a big homestand, and the second game of three in just seven days. It was also the last home match for weeks, as Sporting will play all four June games on the road. After a draw and with an emotional win over Seattle that snapped a nine-game unbeaten streak thus far on the homestand, and with Zlatan and the L.A. Galaxy in town, there was a palpable buzz around the grounds.
Sporting no doubt entered the match hoping to build on the previous outing, despite being still a compromised bunch, with Kristian Nemeth’s red card suspension extended to two, and other nagging injuries, although for the first time in a while, Sporting could actually field a full eighteen. But they were down to their fourth-choice striker. Yohan Croizet had done a fine job as a false number nine in the previous game, but against L.A.’s defensive structure he would have to be a true nine, and that would become an issue.
Come along and go the full ninety with me….
The possession, and general play, was fairly even in the first fifteen minutes, but the best chances fell to Sporting. Seth Sinovic and Yohan Croizet heavy-touched a couple away, and L.A. survived a scramble involving Croizet and Gutierrez at the sixteen minute mark. Sporting then hit the jets for a while, causing problems but not clear chances, with their best opportunities coming from distance. L.A. had some of the ball, but put no distress on goalkeeper Tim Melia through the first 22 minutes, as Imbrahimovic languidly cruised around and waited to strike.
A bad giveaway by Sporting led to four consecutive corners for the Galaxy, the final of which created a clean header for defender Dave Romney, forcing Melia into a difficult safe, and fueling several strong minutes for the visitors. Sporting had lost the juice of the strong start and L.A. had settled in.
Meanwhile, it is quite a bit of fun to observe Zlatan. At this point in his career he is not an active player. He makes sure he is in the right place, but is in no hurry to get there. However, whenever the ball gets in his area, it is trouble. He basically never makes a worthless touch, but he is every bit the diva. He expects a lot of his mates and doesn’t always get it, and isn’t afraid to let them know it. But if a counter pops up, he is still capable of getting his giant frame into high speed. Late in the first half, he was a constant concern for Sporting.
Sporting almost closed the first session with a bang, creating a couple of solid chances, but Galaxy keeper David Bingham came up strong on both. At the scoreless half, both teams likely felt pretty good. L.A. had withstood the initial Sporting surge and didn’t merely sit back and park the bus in any way, although their defense played deep. Sporting had kept the lethal Zlatan mostly under wraps, and had more dangerous opportunities, but most from outside the box. The same tipping point feeling that was there at the outset of the evening was still palpable at the break. A draw wouldn’t be a bad result for Sporting, and even a better one for the Galaxy, but it was all sitting there on the table.
The teams parried away in the early part of the second half. Sporting had a couple of dangerous crosses with no one in the box to take advantage of them, but mostly it was cat and mouse. Gutierrez had a fairly clean look off a corner, but couldn’t get on top of it, and sent it thirty rows up. Minutes later Giancarlo Gonzalez popped open off an L.A. corner and forced Melia to be solid on a clean header that was pretty much right at him.
Then the ticking time bomb that is Zlatan struck in the 56th minute. He flicked a perfect little header of a cross right into the path of Favio Alvarez and Melia had no chance. Matt Besler would likely tell you he could have been quicker to the ball, but the nifty feed led to 1-0 Galaxy. L.A. was solid right after the tally, but the nervous crowd now was moaning on every call as Sporting got more physical and picked up a couple of fouls. But thirty minutes is a looong time to try and hold a one goal lead on the road. Gutierrez had a golden clean header at the 61st marker, but just barely lobbed it over the bar.
After a tic tac toe play created a corner for Sporting, the crowd got energized as Daniel Salloi entered after an injury absence, but almost were sent to dismay as a counter resulted in a good look for Zlatan. The fans then had their fun after he misfired.
Sporting was now dealing with a packed in Galaxy defense with the looming Zlatan counter. It came in the 69th minute and the superstar should have put the game away with a clean breakaway from midfield in. But Melia came out aggressively, and a rare unclean touch from Ibrahimovic betrayed him. Sporting still alive. But L.A. was forcing enough pressure that it was anything but one-way traffic the next few minutes and time was dripping away.
As the 80th minute approached a hand ball just outside the box created a dangerous free kick situation for Sporting, but it was handled rather easily. Salloi took a rip from 35 yards out a bit later and it wasn’t miles over the crossbar as the crowd groaned. Uriel Antuna was a large part of the hustling L.A. defensive effort, running his cleats off as part of the packed in defensive effort.
Sporting was fighting hard but not creating much, and the looming counter was still there, and in the 86th minute there was no escaping it this time. Antuna turned his defense into offense, roaring out into a two on one with Zlatan, and lofted it to him in the box. He calmly chested it down and buried it from eight yards out. Game, set, match.
It was a disappointing result for Sporting, but a well-earned victory for L.A. Peter Vermes postgame comments were a bit more upbeat than the match itself in my mind. He said Sporting should have been up early easily, but only the Guitierrez chance was from in the box, where Sporting produced only three shots all night long.
A season that has produced challenges only doubles that down with the loss. Sporting could use better health, but four of their fit players head off for international duty soon. Surviving the brutal June road setup without being in a huge hole is the goal now. It would be very easy for the club to feel snakebit, but they can’t afford to let that happen.
The effort begins Saturday in Houston.