FC Dallas vs Sporting Kansas City: Player Ratings
Sporting KC are finally on the scoreboard, but not enough to beat FC Dallas.
Sporting KC scored their first goal of the season but it ultimately fell short on a frustrating night at Toyota Stadium against FC Dallas. The team continued to fail to score with two bites of an apple in PKs, which was painful to watch and coupled the scores of some players. Let’s jump in and break down my thoughts on each player.
My scale:
1 – Never play again. You shall be cursed for your travesties to the fifth generation.
…
5 – Your game was completely harmless. You are a cream colored wall in an office park building.
…
10 – You are the chosen one! They will sing of your talent forever! You are the most interesting man in the world!
From XI
Johannes Pulskamp – 5.5
Quickly veered off his line several times in this game to wreck things. Allow a couple of goals but one was a world champion and the other was a second shot where his defenders should have helped him.
Graham Zusi – 5
His crosses were a bit unpredictable, but FC Dallas struggled to get the ball over his side of the field. However, he was caught watching the ball on the second goal, which detracts from his score.
Robert Voloder – 5
Looked pretty good in general but gets dinged for being a CB on a team that gave up two goals. Got down a bit too quickly in some situations including when he got his yellow card.
Andreu Fontas – 4.5
Caught a bit of ball watching on the second goal and the first, but also played quite a few long balls that were successful.
Ben Sweat – 3
Really bad giveaway around the 26th minute (seems like he has at least one in every game he plays). Most of the good chances for FC Dallas came through his team. While I think his side of the field did him little favor by helping out on defense, he could still have done so much better. After all, he lacked many contributions on the offensive side on the ball.
Remi Walter – 5
Struggled to find the game on points, it’s still hard to say he played poorly but he also said little that he played well.
Roger Espinoza – 6.5
Had one of his best games this season. Made some great interceptions and had some nice through balls.
Eric Thommy – 6
Would have gotten a better score for his movement and his ability to test backline, with the exception of his PK. While it had more power than Willy Agada’s PK, the placement wasn’t good enough and made it too easy for Maarten Paes.
Khiry Shelton – 5
The man gets intercepted so many times it’s unreal, maybe he showed good pressing too. But the most surprising thing was actually good touches where he could keep the ball in tight spaces (which he has struggled with in the past). All that was said was his primary offensive contribution some good crosses. As a forward you have to shoot during the game.
Willi Agada – 5.5
Thrived in the game’s verticality and was able to pull a PK with his aggressive runs. Nevertheless, like Thommy, his PK left a lot to be desired, his placement was good, but the ball lacked speed. After all, the bigger chances he had didn’t go into the picture.
Daniel Salloi – 6
Scored a goal from a generous deflection. But to be honest, he looked less lively than he had at his other appearances this year.
subs
Kayden-Pierre – 6th
Came into play immediately, causing problems with his energy and pace. Also showed off his ability to pull fouls with his good feet a couple of times. Strange that these are his first few minutes of the year where he clearly has talent.
Felipe Hernandez – 5
Almost won a second (or third, depending on how you count it) PK. Looked lively, if somewhat unremarkable.
Marinos Tzionis – 3.5
Invisible and uninspired in his sub appearance, his usual willingness to dribble players was lacking.
Nemanya Radoya – 5
He looked better on his second appearance in sports blue, but lacked real impact on his stand-in appearance.
Coach
Peter Vermes – 5
SKC showed better coordination in the press than in previous games and showed a skill to play against FC Dallas weakness. In terms of the Subs, I would have liked to see Sweat exit much earlier and it would have been interesting to see Cameron Duke come on for Shelton to use his pace to go behind.
Diploma
While SKC ended with a higher XG and probably should have at least tied this game, it’s hard to say that this game gave me confidence in this group. The only bright spot for me is getting on the board this year in terms of score and the good showing from Kayden Pierre. What do you think? Who would you rate differently? Let me know in the comments.
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