New faces produce first three points of season in Sporting KC’s opener at Vancouver

Saturday night’s season-opening fixture between Sporting Kansas City and the Vancouver Whitecaps featured last year’s bottom two teams in the West, but new faces stole the show as the visitors claimed a 3-1 MLS victory at BC Place.

With Kansas City looking to turn the page from last year’s 11th-place finish, newcomers Alan Pulido and Gadi Kinda helped Sporting KC to its first three points of 2020 with a goal apiece.

“What’s good is that those two guys have the impact, and that’s the reason why we brought them here,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “And I’m happy for both of them because both of them worked very, very hard in preseason with the team. They both had very positive play.”

Erik Hurtado scored the third goal against his former team in stoppage time.

Vancouver spent most of the night dropped back in a deep line of defense despite its home advantage. The Whitecaps allowed an average of 20.1 shots per game in 2019 — 2.8 more than second-worst DC United. It was no surprise that Sporting peppered goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau early and often.

It was even less of a surprise when new designated player Pulido opened the scoring after 17 minutes.

Winning a free kick 30 yards out that looked primed for a Johnny Russell shot attempt, Graham Zusi instead whipped a cross deep into the Vancouver box. A defender flicked it up before KC’s newest center back, Roberto Puncec, nodded it to Pulido.

From there, Pulido knocked in his own header off the inside of the post.

Vancouver finally broke through Sporting’s defense when new Whitecap David Milinkovic cut inside from the left wing, beating both Zusi and Puncec. He sent a low cross that Jake Nerwinski turned home from close range.

Eleven minutes later, Kinda fired his stunning shot to the top corner, an early goal-of-the-month contender from the edge of the box.

The buildup to that goal showcased the kind of player Kinda can be for Sporting. Signed in the offseason from Beitar Jerusalem, the Israeli picked up possession in the midfield before pinging a lobbed ball over the top to Luis Martins.

As Martins weaved toward the byline, Kinda made a beeline for the left corner of the Vancouver box before receiving a cutback from Martins and lasering his first-time shot to the top left corner.

“Gadi deserved the goal based on his positive play tonight,” Vermes said. “I thought he was electrifying.

“I thought that he caused a lot of problems for them, and because of that he was a difference-maker.”

The goal marked the first for two players making their respective Sporting KC debuts since 2011, when C.J. Sapong and Omar Bravo linked up in a 3-2 victory over Chivas USA.

Vancouver poured on the pressure with 30 minutes remaining, but Sporting stayed firm until the 87th minute.

Things looked dicey when Vancouver’s new number nine, Lucas Cavallini, broke between the lines intent on spoiling KC’s party, but Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia quickly closed down the angle and enveloped the rebound.

The defensive efforts were aided by all 11 Kansas City players on the field, including Gerso Fernandes and Pulido dropping back often to make important tackles and blocks.

“They did what they needed to do and they also managed the game really well in the second half,” Vermes said. “At one point (Vancouver) had four guys up top. We managed that really well from a defensive perspective, so all that stuff was very good.”

In the 95th minute, a surprise Maradona spin from Fernandes opened up a spot for the winger to send a cross to the back post. Substitute Hurtado smashed in a close-range volley as the final goal.

“I’m very pleased with the way the guys played,” Vermes said. “The attitude, commitment to go into the game and their ability to implement the game plan that we put together — all of those things were very solid, especially for a first game playing at somebody else’s home opener.”

Sporting KC returns to Children’s Mercy Park for its home opener against the Houston Dynamo Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

This story was originally published March 1, 2020 at 12:29 AM.