Quick Reaction’s to Sporting KC’s Season Opening Loss
Peter Vermes and Daniel Salloi upbeat after Sporting KC’s opening defeat.
Sporting Kansas City opened its 2023 MLS season with a 1-0 away loss to the Portland Timbers on Monday night.
Despite the loss, things could have been far worse in Portland, especially when you think back to how things went the last time Sporting visited Rose City and came home with a 7-2 win.
The era of the new Hoops 4.0 kit did not get off to a good start when it debuted. Robert Voloder nearly gave Portland the opening goal in the opening five minutes but was saved by the heroics of John Pulskamp goalkeeper. One-on-one in the box, Pulskamp got an important touch as he dived to swipe her away before hitting wide on Marvin Loría’s ricocheted shot.
Moments later, Portland found the early breakthrough when Ben Sweat coughed the ball to Yimmi Chara, who passed a split pass to Juan Mosquera and fired a low shot that made its way to Pulskamp.
“Apart from the mistake on the first goal, I thought we had it,” said Peter Vermes. “Apart from that, the team played well. The subs came and were energetic and certainly made an impact.”
Sporting saw plenty of possession after conceding the first set but failed to break down the Portland defense with 12 shots. Sporting made three substitutions, each given around 20 minutes to take effect.
“I thought all the guys played well and I think the guys who came on had a real impact, especially up front,” Vermes said. “My only criticism might have been that we could have served the ball a little more into the penalty area a couple of times.”
Sporting had seven accurate crosses and 1.13 goals expected in the first 90 minutes of the season.
After Daniel Salloi received a slap in the mouth early on, the team’s reaction was pleasing: “I think we reacted very well and pushed very, very well in the second half and we had our chances. We have to meet them, then we’ll be fine.”
Erik Thommy was a spark in the first half, almost equalizing but his shot from Khiry Shelton was denied by David Bingham in the 24th minute. Sporting almost equalized late on, but Willy Agada’s header went just wide.
Vermes was pleased with the way Sporting played offensively against a strong Timbers defence: “[Portland] Definitely always a good team defensively. They did pretty well against our guys up front. As I said, we created some really good chances. We did a good job.”
With a mix-match roster, Salloi believes the offense will pick them up once some players are healthy.
“We missed a few players and I think once we have a full squad we can always be more creative,” said Salloi. “I thought we had our chances and we could have taken one easily.”
Sporting will visit the Colorado Rapids for another conference matchup on Saturday night.
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