Sporting Kansas City came back from the international break missing their captain Matt Besler to a concussion, but they gained a healthy Benny Feilhaber. Brad Davis made his first start and newly acquired Young Designated Player Diego Rubio got a spot in the 18. It looked hopeful for the only remaining unbeaten side in Major League Soccer, but Real Salt Lake had other plans. Sporting KC were dragged down to the a slow murky level of soccer and weren’t able to crawl out of a 2-1 hole.
RSL came out with a gameplan, and they executed it. They played the offside trap often, catching SKC players offside eight times, and employed the tactic of time wasting at every opportunity. It was all about frustrating SKC and keeping the tempo down, and it earned them three points away from home.
Sporting dominated possession throughout the first half at 67%, but they got pulled into RSL’s slow play and then gave away one dangerous free kick in the 29th minute. That free kick led to an unmarked Justen Glad scoring his first goal of his MLS career. “With that free kick we put ourselves in a bad position,” Feilhaber said afterward. “It wasn’t organized and it wasn’t as good as it needed to be.”
There was a free kick in SKC’s favor after a foul on Feilhaber not long after that goal. They tried a cheeky training ground routine, but RSL read it well and blocked the pass that would have put Dom Dwyer in on goal. Salt Lake made a few saving blocks, but goalkeeper Jeff Attinella wasn’t called upon at all until the end of the first 45.
The chances were there. The build up was there. The creativity was there. Davis and Feilhaber sent numerous crosses and through balls into the box. Fullbacks Chance Myers and Amadou Dia timed their overlapping runs perfectly. The finishing was not there. SKC didn’t have a shot on target until the 44th minute of the game when Dom Dwyer just barely got his head onto a cross.
The lack of finishing wasn’t the only thing missing. Roger Espinoza’s absence was well noticed in the center of the park. Soni Mustivar is not the attacking midfielder Espinoza is. Besler’s presence was also missing in the backline and his leadership could have cleaned up the mess that lead to Luke Mulholland scoring the second goal for RSL in the 79th minute.
The second half had continued to look strong for Sporting but still looked off their game in the final third. Davis sent a perfect cross into the box but no one was there and Attinella had to stretch to get a hand on it. A minute later he took a shot from outside the box and sent it into the stands.
This is when manager Peter Vermes made his substitutions to try to speed the game up. Jimmy Medranda came in for Jordi Quintilla, who was not having his best game, either, and Davis made way for Rubio. Rubio only played 15 minutes of a dying game, but he showed skill, speed, and knowledge. Sporting looked sharp in the attack and the game was finally getting into the pace they wanted. Rubio brought the attack to life and earned the penalty kick that Feilhaber converted in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Feilhaber immediately ran into the net to get the ball to restart and prevent any more time wasting from Attinella, but that urgency came too little too late for SKC. This game was a lesson. Both Feilhaber and Dwyer vowed to watch and rewatch the footage and learn how adapt to this pace. Davis said, “we knew this is how they were going to approach the game…It’s not the reason we lost, but it’s a challenge and something we have to do a better job overcoming.”
Sporting KC go back on the road next week to Red Bull Arena, but New York Red Bull don’t seem to be challenging much of anyone this season. Plus, Espinoza will be back from suspension and that will solidify the midfield.
Main Photo: Jamie Squire, Getty Images
