{"id":20074,"date":"2018-11-14T14:00:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T19:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonsoccer.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=20074"},"modified":"2018-11-14T14:00:04","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T19:00:04","slug":"sporting-kc-win-close-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2018\/11\/14\/sporting-kc-win-close-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Sporting KC Shows They Can Win Close Games When Needed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Editorial (November 14, 2018)<\/strong> &#8212; Stop me if you&#8217;re a <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/category\/skc\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sporting KC<\/a> fan who has heard this story before.<\/p>\n<p>There are just minutes left in the game. The team is clinging to a one-goal lead. The opponent starts throwing numbers forward in an attacking barrage, earning shot-after-shot and corner kick-after-corner kick. A single mental error leaves a man unmarked, leading to a last-second goal and a lost win.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a familiar refrain over the last five years for SKC fans. And it almost happened again Sunday night at Children&#8217;s Mercy Park in the club&#8217;s first home playoff game since the 2013 MLS Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Until it didn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Sporting KC Shows They Can Win Close Games When Needed<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>A 97th-minute clearance by Yohan Croizet cleared the ball of any danger, and a poor header by RSL defender Brooks Lennon let Daniel Salloi take a single touch around goalkeeper Nick Rimando before sealing the Sporting KC win with a Roberto Firmino-esque no-look finish.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the late flurry, they had a couple real dangerous opportunities,&#8221; said Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes. &#8220;But at the end, the fourth goal was fantastic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A couple real dangerous opportunities&#8221; may be the understatement of the year. Real Salt Lake earned a number of corner kicks that tested Sporting KC&#8217;s defense in the waning minutes of the game, but no chance was better than Nick Besler&#8217;s 83rd-minute look on goal.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Still can&#39;t believe RSL didn&#39;t put this ball in. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IBfL146VlU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/IBfL146VlU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jimmy Mack (@jcmack03) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jcmack03\/status\/1062434597735198720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 13, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The younger Besler hesitated just long enough that SKC&#8217;s defense closed the gap, forcing the shot wide to the left. The rest is history.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I told the guys at halftime that we were going to have to sacrifice our bodies in the second half,&#8221; Vermes continued. &#8220;It was going to be really, really difficult with everything they were going to throw at us in the second half. We did it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a monumental victory for a club that earned its first playoff win in five years. Many considered Real Salt Lake one of the toughest match-ups for Sporting KC, but Vermes&#8217; side showed that it can buckle down and hold onto a single goal lead when required.<\/p>\n<p>The game also highlighted the importance of home-field advantage, something that Vermes stated was a goal before the season began.<\/p>\n<p>According to Sporting KC defender Matt Besler, the near 20,000 people in the crowd were a big reason for the defensive stand.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They brought it. That showed. A lot of credit has to be given to the fans,&#8221; Besler said. &#8220;And then the last 10 minutes of the game. We needed a pick me up. They brought the energy. That goal that Daniel scored &#8211; that might have been the loudest I&#8217;ve ever heard the stadium.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We knew they were gonna be good, but they exceeded my expectation. They were unbelievable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Besler wasn&#8217;t the only Sporting KC player who felt the crowd&#8217;s energy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This crowd was crazy. They deserved this win,&#8221; said Salloi. &#8220;Thanks for all the support because we needed that, especially at the end.\u00a0You need the fans and a little bit of luck and that&#8217;s how you advance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sporting KC now goes on to face another team with one of the best home field atmospheres in MLS in the <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/category\/timbers\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Portland Timbers<\/a>. SKC earned a 0-0 draw at Providence Park in June of this year, but they expect a much different game this time around.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re in the playoffs now. Things are different in the playoffs. Teams play differently,&#8221; Vermes said. &#8220;There&#8217;s a lose or go home idea. You win or you&#8217;re out. We&#8217;re gonna have to be ready.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be an incredible series. They&#8217;re a very, very good team both attacking and defending. It&#8217;s going to be a tough one.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"QxMfFtDCQsdV4PTeplzqNw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1055632758\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'QxMfFtDCQsdV4PTeplzqNw',sig:'VQ5HW75qGf4YbNWpGok06y-y_hcQSQ0Xuqxz7ZEWTos=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1055632758',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editorial (November 14, 2018) &#8212; Stop me if you&#8217;re a Sporting KC fan who has heard this story before. There are just minutes left in the game. The team is clinging to a one-goal lead. The opponent starts throwing numbers forward in an attacking barrage, earning shot-after-shot and corner kick-after-corner kick. A single mental error [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2845,"featured_media":20086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,19],"tags":[1304,129,57,471,248,233],"class_list":["post-20074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-skc","tag-daniel-salloi","tag-fifa","tag-mls","tag-mls-cup-playoffs","tag-peter-vermes","tag-sporting-kc"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}