Count ‘em up: Sporting KC puts on record-breaking show in 7-1 rout over Montreal
With the clamor of a Sporting Kansas City practice engulfing the near field, Gerso Fernandes outlined its perimeter. A calf injury prevented his full inclusion, but he jogged for an hour to maintain his fitness. Afterward, when Sporting coach Peter Vermes asked about his health from across the field, Fernandes replied with one thumb pointed toward the sky.
“He’ll be ready,” Vermes later said, and then he grinned, almost a revelatory response for what would come Saturday.
Fernandes was the center of attention — though not Montreal’s, apparently — in Sporting Kansas City’s 7-1 rout at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday afternoon.
“A lightning rod,” Vermes called him.
“Super confident,” as goalkeeper Tim Melia described him.
“It’s easy to play when he’s playing like that,” as striker Krisztian Nemeth framed it.
And to think, on a day when Sporting KC broke a franchise record for offensive prosperity, Fernandes didn’t even score.
But he was the focal point of the game plan, his speed tearing up the Montreal back line with run after run, producing highlight after highlight, providing setup after setup for his teammates.
Krisztian Nemeth recorded a hat trick. Johnny Russell scored twice. Felipe Gutierrez and Gianluca Busio added others.
Fernandes actually broke the scoreline 90 seconds into the game, but it was waved off for an offside flag.
No matter. Without it, Sporting KC (2-1-1) still compiled an outing statistically more dominant than it has ever put together.
“A lot of fun,” Sporting captain Matt Besler said. “We try to do that every week. I know it’s not going to happen, but that’s the goal. We try to entertain our fans. It’s nice every once in awhile when everything is firing on all cylinders like that.”
Amazing what rest will do, no?
After seven matches in the initial 25 days of the season, Sporting KC embraced a two-week layoff. It allowed the opportunity to truly practice. To implement improvements and tweaks to game plans.
The result was in full effect.
Shortly after the Fernandes goal was negated by video review, the ball stalled 20 yards from goal, Nemeth and Russell swinging their legs back in anticipation. It wasn’t really a question of whether the ball would conclude in the back of the net but rather who would place it there. Russell struck it, easily beating Montreal keeper Evan Bush.
The rout was on.
In its most complete performance of the year, tying a franchise record for margin of victory, Sporting KC put two more in the goal before the end of the first half, each of them assisted by Fernandes. Montreal had no solution for his movement and ability to track behind the defense.
“I know I’m fast. That’s one of my advantages, so I have to use it,” Fernandes said. “It’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
Nemeth scored two after halftime to complete his first hat trick since 2006 and first ever in MLS. He has eight goals in seven starts. Russell has three over his past two games.
Busio punctuated the final with his first goal at Children’s Mercy Park. At 16 years old, he is the youngest goal scorer in the stadium’s history.
“You could see that everybody was fresh. Everybody was on their game,” Nemeth said. “We know that the (last game) in Colorado was not good, so everybody came out and gave everything today. I think this team is difficult to take right now.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2019 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Count ‘em up: Sporting KC puts on record-breaking show in 7-1 rout over Montreal."