Sporting Kansas City’s home opener against the Vancouver Whitecaps started strong long before the opening whistle. Children’s Mercy Park sold out with a record-breaking crowd of 20,178 and the club’s hype game was strong. The lights turned out, the music turned up, and the fans screamed for the lineup announcement. Dom Dwyer described the feeling as “goosebumps again coming out [on the pitch] tonight.” It didn’t take long for Sporting KC to capitalize on the atmosphere.
The last time these two clubs met, Sporting were down 2-0 at the half and came back to win 4-3 in stoppage time. This time, Dwyer started the game off with a rocket strike off his left foot from outside the box to put Sporting up 1-0 within five minutes. Sporting KC came out pressing and did not let up.
Saturday’s lineup was unchanged from last week’s season opener in Seattle in name alone. They played like a completely different group. Instead of looking nervous to attack, they pressed high and with pace. At times, it seemed like they were telepathically linked. Granted, Vancouver didn’t give them too much difficulty, but this link up between every man on the pitch is a good sign. SKC’s second goal highlighted this link up. Graham Zusi to Chance Myers to Dwyer in front of goal in a series of one-touch passing buildup that was “just tremendous,” according to manager Peter Vermes. “The timing all the way around from everybody was big time.” You couldn’t choreograph that buildup.
Matt Besler and Nuno Andre Coelho have formed the center back partnership SKC have been lacking. They played as bumpers in a high line for most of the game and kept the ball in Vancouver’s defensive third, but were quick to recover when Vancouver went on a break. Tim Melia wasn’t called upon much, but he did make a couple praiseworthy saves.
Graham Zusi played like his pre-foot injury self. His set piece deliveries had pinpoint accuracy and his runs down the right side caused trouble for Cristian Techera and Jordan Harvey. Roger Espinoza, the “Honduran train,” ran circles around the ‘Caps midfield and defense. He was all over the pitch for the full 90 minutes. If both these players can stay fit this year, they’ll only get more dangerous in the attack. Vermes had nothing but praise for Espinoza afterward saying:
“He just keeps going. And it’s hard for players because he just never stops. When guys are taking rests, he’s still going. He’s also very strong, which I think in the end since this is a very physical league, you have to be a man on the field – you can’t be a little boy. He’s definitely a man.”
Connor Hallisey and Jordi Quintilla have both vastly improved over the offseason. Quintilla could work on his tackles, he picked up his second yellow card of the season, but he’s adjusting well to the league. Hallisey put in work all over the pitch. “I think this is one of the best games that he’s played with us thus far, so all in all, I think it was a great performance,” Vermes said of Hallisey. Quintilla’s improvement could be seen every time he turned around a defender to thread a forward pass for the attack. There was hardly a misstep.
SKC were running circles around the Whitecaps before Jordan Smith came in late behind Zusi to earn a red card, but tactics changed a little in the second half and Vancouver scored on a deserved penalty kick. The debut of Brad Davis in the 77th minute gave all the momentum back to Kansas City, though. Davis was greeted by what he was told by teammates was “the loudest ovations they’ve heard since their time here.” It was well deserved, too.
The preseason partnership between Davis and Dwyer has grown, and will continue to grow. “Dom’s always hungry for more goals and I think we’ll work well together this season,” Davis said. Vermes spoke very highly of this relationship before the season started and there were glimpses of magic between them for the last 20 minutes of the game. Dwyer is optimistic for the season as well. “I think we have nice momentum going into next week,” he said.
They did have a man advantage for the second week in a row, but this was a better overall performance from Sporting KC in spite of the penalty. They’ve had difficulty maintaining their form late in the season the past two years, but they’ve started strong across the board, from last season’s rookies to newly acquired veterans, and currently sit at first in the western conference.
Main Photo: Kyle Rivas, Getty Images
