Exciting finish lifts Sporting Kansas City past Austin FC in Matt Besler’s homecoming

For about 75 minutes Sunday evening, it looked like Sporting Kansas City would lose a home game to an MLS expansion team for the first time since 2012.

Playing just its fourth match, Austin FC held Sporting KC scoreless most of the evening at Children’s Mercy Park. But two late goals, from Ilie Sanchez and substitute Gadi Kinda, made 2-1 winners of the hosts.

The winning goal came off the head of Kinda in the 90th minute, but the Israeli midfielder’s winner can be partly attributed to Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes, too.

With Sanchez having leveled the score in the 82nd minute and Austin playing with 10 men — Alexander Ring was sent off earlier — Vermes removed center-back Kaveh Rad and defensive midfielder Sanchez in favor of Remi Walter and Khiry Shelton.

Earlier in the half he also switched Roger Espinoza out for Kinda, allowing KC to apply more pressure farther up the field

“We wanted to apply pressure with another person in the middle to give us a reference point,” Vermes said.

Just five minutes after the substitutions, Kinda’s header won it.

For most of the game, however, it was an incredibly frustrating night for Sporting KC, which took an eye-watering 25 shots.

An early missed opportunity by Alan Pulido foreshadowed what was to come for KC for the following 80 minutes: He rounded Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver, but his shot missed an open net from a tight angle.

Just two minutes later, Austin made Pulido and KC rue the missed opportunity. Austin forward Jon Gallegher rounded KC goalkeeper John Pulskamp and slotted home the opening goal.

Gallegher received an excellent cross from Jared Stroud, but the striker was only afforded enough time because of poor marking from KC. Gallegher ran unmarked down the middle of the pitch between defenders Roberto Puncec and Graham Zusi. The former, completely unaware of Gallegher, got caught far out of position while Zusi was too far behind the play to make an impact.

The game was Zusi’s first in seven months and his 295th appearance for the club — the most in team history. And outside of the defensive lapse, Zusi put in a solid performance and showed he hadn’t missed a step when it came to long balls switching the field.

“This club means everything to me. It’s the only one I’ve played for and the only one I know and the only one I would like to play for,” Zusi said.

The record that Zusi broke formerly belonged to longtime Sporting KC captain Matt Besler, who for the first time in his career played an MLS game at Children’s Mercy Park not wearing a Sporting KC jersey.

The Overland Park native kitted up for Austin, whom he joined in the offseason after his contract here expired.

“As far as I’m concerned, any record that myself or Matt hold, whether one of us jumps the other, we’ve done that all together,” Zusi said. “Might as well tattoo both our names in the history books.”

A slew of missed chances for Daniel Salloi and Gianluca Busio also littered the first half: Sporting KC had 12 shots by intermission.

“You just never know,” Vermes said about finding an equalizer. “But what I really appreciate about the guys is I said to them at halftime, ‘There was no reason to come in at halftime and feel down.’”

Highlighting those opportunities was an unmarked close-range header from Busio that he sent over the post. Busio found space between Austin centerbacks Jhohan Romana and Besler and latched onto the end of a cross from Salloi, but he couldn’t keep his header down.

Besler endured a busy night in his return to his hometown and former club. He received rousing applause when his name was announced in Austin’s starting lineup, but Sporting KC didn’t hold anything back on the former captain.

Despite his side’s loss, Besler reemerged after the game shirtless and holding a Sporting KC jersey that said “Thank you” on the back with his number 5 below. He handed a letter to KC Cauldron president Josue Molina expressing his thanks to the fans.

Salloi had the potential opportunity for a hat trick. The eldest of Sporting KC’s rostered homegrown players, he missed a tricky volley as well as a one-on-one with Stuver in the first half. After the intermission, he slotted wide a first-time shot from 10 yards out, then had another shot tipped onto the bar by Stuver.

“I thought the goalkeeper made some incredible saves, especially late in the second half there where he tipped it over the bar when Daniel cut inside,” Vermes said. “It was a great strike and a great save — he was keeping them in the game, for sure.”

Once Austin’s Ring was sent off for a yellow card in the 67th minute, Sporting KC turned up the heat and Austin dropped into a low block. The tactic worked for 25 minutes. KC finally broke through in the 82nd minute courtesy of a corner. Johnny Russell’s whipped-in kick was headed into the bottom-right corner by Sanchez.

Sensing a chance as Austin reeled, Vermes changed formation, taking Rad off for Shelton and Salloi for Walter. Rad came on as a substitute himself earlier, replacing Puncec who pulled up with a tight hamstring, but Vermes opted to keep Andreu Fontas on the field to anchor a back three.

“I thought that he (Fontas) was very good on the ball today,” Vermes said. “Very calm in situations, made some timely tackles defending, and I think that that consistency continues to bear fruit for us. We’ve just got to keep riding that, and credit to him because he takes care of himself.”

The assistant referee raised his board to signify seven minutes of stoppage time, and soon after Kinda headed a bouncing ball into the same corner as Ilie’s goal as the stadium rocked.

“I like to score. It’s the best feeling to score,” Kinda said. “A last-minute goal is amazing, and I was very happy with these three points.”

With Austin down to 10 men and running ragged, KC continued to heap on the pressure to see out the victory.

This story was originally published May 9, 2021 at 8:59 PM with the headline "Exciting finish lifts Sporting Kansas City past Austin FC in Matt Besler’s homecoming."