Busio gets it going for Sporting, but KC yields late goal in 1-1 tie against Orlando

Gianluca Busio is getting more comfortable on center stage with Sporting Kansas City. Friday night was a case in point.

For the second straight game, Busio started as Sporting Kansas City’s center forward. He didn’t look completely comfortable his first go-around at the position last week, but in Friday’s 1-1 tie with Orlando City at Children’s Mercy Park the 18-year-old looked like a natural.

Busio opened the scoring on the stroke of halftime, but he realistically could have entered the break with a hat trick in KC’s home opener.

Orlando’s Nani scored the only other goal of the game in the 78th minute with a tricky back-heel past Sporting’s 19-year-old goalkeeper, John Pulskamp.

“A point probably was the fair result, but we should have been able to close the game out at the end there. Not happy with the goal we gave away,” said Sporting head coach Peter Vermes, who was making his 600th appearance in Major League Soccer as a player and manager.

The game featured three disallowed goals, two against Orlando City and one per team via the Virtual Assistant Referee, or VAR. Nani’s equalizer was also allowed by VAR after the assistant referee had initially flagged him offside.

“VAR did its job,” Vermes said. “I’m sure that all of those goals, I’m assuming they did their job and that’s what it’s there for.”

New Sporting KC centerback Nicolas Isimat-Mirin looked to have opened the scoring 14 minutes into the game, jumping on the rebound of Remi Walter’s low free kick. The Frenchman was first to the rebound but was judged offsides by VAR.

Isimat-Mirin looked extremely comfortable in his first 60 minutes at Children’s Mercy Park but was forced off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.

Orlando then had a pair of goals called disallowed on either side of halftime, the first almost immediately by the assistant referee’s flag and the second via VAR.

Frustration almost bubbled over for the visitors when a third goal was disallowed for offsides. But Nani was judged by VAR to be legal for the equalizer.

Busio, the Sporting Kansas City Academy product, made his first appearance at the No. 9 spot in last week’s 2-1 win at the New York Red Bulls. He looked OK there. Not fully comfortable, but passable. Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes was nothing but complimentary of his young star following that game.

But playing the role on Friday, Busio looked like a natural No. 9.

“I think I can get used to any position,” Busio said. “I think I just want to be on the field and win games, and scoring goals is always what I want to do, no matter if it’s from forward or midfield or left wing.”

Busio opened Friday’s game by nearly firing home a goal within the first two minutes after some slick build-up play by Sporting KC in Orlando’s defensive third. He played a pass out wide then cut back inside to the near post before volleying the ball right at Orlando goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.

The Peruvian goalkeeper did enough to keep Busio off the scoresheet for the time being. Busio was clear through on goal to score 20 minutes later before being flagged offsides by the linesman.

His allowed goal came after Daniel Salloi pick-pocketed Antonio Carlos in Orlando’s box and cut the ball back to Busio. Instead of thrashing at goal, Busio took a calm touch, wrong-footed Rodrigo Schlegel and beat Gallese at his near post.

It was a classy finish — the type of finish fans had become accustomed to seeing from the likes of Dom Dwyer, Davy Arnaud and Josh Wolff through the years.

“People aren’t going to look at it this way, but from my perspective, I look at it as being an incredibly high-level goal,” Vermes said. “Maybe you can even say world-class.”

Perhaps, and the teenager made the goal seem like a simple one.

“I looked up and saw the goalie and just hit it front post and hit it low enough and hard enough where it would be tough for him to save it, and in the end it went in,” Busio said.

Busio dropped back to his natural spot in the second half as Alan Pulido replaced Gadi Kinda at halftime. That allowed Busio to drop back into midfield as Pulido took the No. 9 spot.

Busio controlled the midfield for the next 45 minutes alongside a tiring Roger Espinoza, rarely losing possession in a frantic back-and-forth game.

“I think I’ve always been a midfielder,” Busio said. “Midfield it’s more space and you can see the game more, so when you get (the ball) as a midfielder you can turn and look forward and drive the game.”

Friday night’s game was the 52nd of Busio’s career in a Sporting Kansas City shirt, and without exaggeration, it might have been his best.

This story was originally published April 23, 2021 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Busio gets it going for Sporting, but KC yields late goal in 1-1 tie against Orlando."