KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Vanni Sartini’s guarantee of victory over Sporting KC didn’t come to fruition. In fact, it didn’t come close to being true. It was Sporting KC early and often, as they saw out a 3-1 win against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Sporting KC sends Whitecaps home
Sporting Kansas City was winless in games that follow a break of 10 days or more in 2021. Not anymore. Sporting KC took the game to Vancouver for the first 10-15 minutes or so of the match, then they started to drop off and invite Vancouver onto the front foot, opening up large gaps in the middle of the field for players like Gadi Kinda, Daniel Salloi, and Graham Zusi to exploit.
The first Sporting KC goal came directly on the right to left diagonal, with Graham Zusi launching the ball forward to Daniel Salloi who exploited the space between full-back and center back. Salloi launched it back and Zusi slotted it across the face of goal to make it 1-0.
A flukey play resulted in a penalty kick for Vancouver when Luis Martins handled the ball in the box. A clear as day penalty was in fact reviewed at Children’s Mercy park and after VAR pointed to the spot, Christian Dajomé slotted home. Right before the halftime whistle, a Sporting KC corner kick was headed around the box and fell at the doorstep for Isimat-Mirin to tap home from close range and make it 2-1.
Then, Graham Zusi turned back the clock with an absolute screamer from distance.
We've seen Zusi do this before. 🧐 pic.twitter.com/mDe3FHlyBT
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) November 21, 2021
Three Thoughts
- Sporting KC were clearly motivated by Vanni Sartini’s guarantee of a victory after their clinching draw against Seattle on Decision Day. “You have a comment from the coach, I take it personal,“ Khiry Shelton said after the match. “It’s disrespectful… I was watching it before we went out. It’s just crazy you have a coach joking around saying stuff like that. It’s beyond me.” Khiry went on and mentioned that the rest of the teammates were just as fired up about the comments. A hint to future coaches, don’t give the other team bulletin board material.
- Sporting KC forced the Whitecaps to play outside of the plan they wanted to play. It was clear within the first 10 minutes the Whitecaps were happy to let Sporting have the ball and try to smash them on the counter. Then, Sporting KC backed off and let Vancouver come out and force the issue, but they didn’t look prepared to try and break a team down in tight spaces and Sporting then lit them up on the counter-attack. In the first half, according to stats guru Paul Carr, the Whitecaps had a 0.85 xG number, with 0.79 of that coming from the penalty kick.
- The Whitecaps had a strong season and they deserve credit for the way they finished their year. However, there is clearly a ceiling and a next gear to get to that they don’t have, yet. They are a very dangerous team though and should be taken seriously in 2022, especially if Vanni Sartini is in charge.
Main Photo Credit: Embed from Getty Images
