KANSAS CITY- Down a goal heading into the final 10 minutes, Sporting KC made a furious comeback to win against 10-man Austin FC. Ilie Sanchez leveled in the 82nd minute, and Gadi Kinda won it in the stroke of 90 minutes. It’s the first time Sporting KC has entered the 80th minute down a goal and won since their comeback against the Houston Dynamo on June 23, 2018.
Gadi Kinda bags winner for Sporting KC
Austin FC got on the board early thanks to a goal from Jon Gallagher, off a gorgeous ball from Jared Stroud. Gallagher was a bit of a surprise start for Austin FC, who had previously used Danny Hoesen as their 9 for every match in their short club history.
“We started Gallagher and had a plan, we saw things that we thought we could exploit and the plan worked in the first half,” Wolff said. “For 60 mins we were the better team. We’re disappointed, we could have gotten points, [I’m] really proud of our guys.”
What a ball from Jared.
What a finish from Jon.Yep, that was perfect. pic.twitter.com/wUXJ1g29ul
— Austin FC (@AustinFC) May 10, 2021
While Josh Wolff might argue his team was the better side, numbers would say otherwise. Sporting KC out possessed, outshot, out-scored, out accurately passed, out-chanced, etc. The only stat categories that Austin FC won were fouls and red cards. Speaking of which, Josh Wolff, attempted to argue it shouldn’t have been.
“Ref said it was a reckless challenge,” Wolff said. “I didn’t see that. It was a yellow, but that’s it.”
Well, if it’s yellow, it’s a second yellow and a sending-off. Pretty simple. He was lucky to not be sent off seconds earlier for a tactical foul in which he received a stern warning and reprimand.
Anyways, that point did change the tide a bit for Sporting KC, and changed the game-state into one that was in their favor. A draw was no longer a good thing when facing a team down a man for 30 minutes. At a minimum, they should’ve earned a draw, and three points were expected.
“What I really appreciate about the guys is that I said to them at halftime, ‘There’s no reason to come in at halftime and feel down.’ We created some really good chances,” Vermes said. “We’re still trying to find ourselves for a number of reasons. We’re still trying to get fit. We’re trying to just get bodies on the field. There’s a lot of different things that we’re trying to do right now. We’re just not fully there yet. What I really like is that the guys kept a good mentality going into the second half and really never gave up trying to get back into the game.”
They moved to a back three and brought on Khiry Shelton as a second striker. In the end, it was two midfielders getting the important goals for Sporting KC. Johnny Russell whipped in a corner kick that Matias Pellegrini had zero interest in trying to jump for, and Ilie Sanchez thumped home the header on their 14th corner kick of the match.
Exactly what we needed. #BlueKCReplay | @BlueKC pic.twitter.com/98ofWoj5Fh
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) May 10, 2021
Eight minutes later, Luis Martins whipped in a cross that Shelton got a touch to and Gadi Kinda’s flick was to quick for Stuver to react to. Children’s Mercy Park went wild, and Sporting KC claimed all three points.
Super sub behavior!
Kinda with the BANGING header for the lead.#SKCvATX | #SportingKC pic.twitter.com/E0qYNaHbEz
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) May 10, 2021
Man of the Match
Sporting KC won, but their effort was much more about the team effort than it was one player. Austin FC were kept in this one by Brad Stuver, who time after time made big saves, including two on Daniel Salloi that will have him going nuts. The first a kick save on a 1v1 and the second was a diving flick of Salloi’s curler onto the crossbar. In stoppage time he kept it close making a few saves on Gadi Kinda, and to start the game he put Alan Pulido wide enough to have no angle with his weak foot to put the shot on frame. Overall, six saves from Stuver, and they were really, really good chances too. He deserves some credit for keeping Austin in front as long as they were.
Sporting KC will take on the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday, May 12th, to start their double game week, finishing with Vancouver on Sunday May 16th. Austin FC travel to Los Angeles on May 15th, to take on Chicharito and the LA Galaxy.
