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Sporting KC vs MNUFC: Three things from Sporting’s 2-1 win

Sporting KC

Editorial (August 22, 2020)- Sporting KC defeated Minnesota United 2-1 as MLS returned to play following the MLS is Back tournament. Gadi Kinda’s cross ended up in the back of the net, and two own goals rounded out the scoring in a weird game. But, there are three things to make an important note of and they’re mostly positive.

Sporting KC vs MNUFC: Three things from Sporting’s 2-1 win

Sporting KC put Johnny Russell back on the right-wing.

This is actually one of the more surprising things to come out of the starting eleven Sporting KC trotted out Friday night. For the entire pre-season and MLS is Back tournament, Johnny Russell was played out on the left-wing. Friday night, Shelton and Russell returned to the lineup again but were inverted for the first time in 2020.

Shelton and Russell would swap sides occasionally in matches, giving each a different run and look on occasion. But for the first time this year, Johnny was predominantly in the position that benefits him so much. Russell is at his dangerous when he picks up the ball wide, end enters the final third of the field, taking the ball towards the center of the field. Zusi overlaps and at that moment the left-back has to make a decision. It’s in that moment that Russell capitalizes, and creates chances and space. When he’s on the left, he can do that at a much more consistent rate.

Shelton was a little more-quiet in the attack. But his pace and defensive acumen, pinned Romain Metanire-arguably the best two-way right back in the league, back from overlapping. Then, as the game broke down later, the introduction of Gerso further snuffed out Minnesota’s ability to overload the left channel.

It does leave Sporting KC with a bit of a question mark. Shelton is clearly more influential in the attack on the right side of the field, as is Russell. You can’t play both on the right, so the question for me would be which player on the right will be able to make a difference in them winning or losing? That question may need to be answered on a game by game basis, and that’s ok. Unless Sporting KC can clone Russell, make him right foot dominant, and put him on the left side of the field, that will be the best solution. (Note: Daniel Salloi was exactly that guy in 2018, but we’ve yet to see that again. If we did, it wouldn’t even be a question.)

No Besler, No Problem

The Sporting KC backline has been a hot topic for the last year or so. We saw a center-back pairing of Graham Smith and Winston Reid and it didn’t look too shabby. Reid didn’t put a foot wrong the entire match, and neither did Smith. There wasn’t much to write home about from the backline, as the own-goal was more of a fluke than a true mistake or error. That alone is good. Take a look at the defensive actions registered:

Defensive Actions for Sporting KC backline, courtesy of MLS

Reid hasn’t played 90 minutes, much less a competitive match since March of 2018. It shouldn’t be surprising that he was calm on the ball, but he did a fantastic job of shoring things up, controlling the tempo, and much more. One thing that jumped out was that he directing Gianluca Busio into the spaces needed to receive a ball out of the back and jump-start the attack forward. Not only does it optimize Busio’s position, but it kept them on the same page as Busio’s job as the “six” was to link the ball from the back into the attacking phases. Besler does this well, but it was something I have not seen of another Sporting KC CB since Ike Opara. It shows a level of confidence, understanding

Homegrown Heaven

Sporting KC doesn’t have a very deep history of playing homegrown players a ton of minutes. While not a lot of MLS teams really play them as much as you might think, they’re certainly not in the FC Dallas, Philadelphia Union, RBNY conversation when it comes to home-grown minutes. Daniel Salloi has received the bulk of those minutes in Sporting KC’s history. But they started two homegrowns, out of their “natural” position,” and let them stick there the entire 90 minutes. Jaylin Lindsey has successfully played left-back before, but Busio’s 90 minutes as the “6” were actually impressive.

Take a look at that Busio stat-line. It was an impressive 90 minutes for him in what was his first time playing as not the de-facto “10” at the professional level. It could honestly be a future home for him. What shocked most was that Peter Vermes closed out the final 10 minutes of the match with an entire home-grown midfielder’s core. An average age under 20, to close out a game, on the road, against what was arguably the best midfield at the MLS is Back tournament. It’s a level of faith in the youth that not many have seen from Vermes. The big question is where does it go from here?

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