Lone goal by Houston in 56th minute completes the scoring as Sporting KC falls 1-0

For two seasons, Sporting Kansas City has shown a knack for coming from behind to pick up points. It wasn’t to be Wednesday night in Houston, where Sporting lost 1-0.

Since the start of 2020, Kansas City has picked up 14 points after trailing in a game, second-most in the league. Six of those points have come in 2021 alone, thanks to 2-1 wins over the New York Red Bulls and Austin FC.

“I don’t think it was particularly a good game for either team,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “They finished the chance they had, they missed a couple and then we missed a bunch. Especially after they scored we created a bunch of chances and we didn’t finish them.”

Following a lifeless first half, Sporting Kansas City enjoyed a dominant second at BBVA Stadium. But the visitors couldn’t answer Houston’s opener, and lone goal of the match, in the 56th minute.

Kansas City entered the game at a disadvantage with starting centerback Nicolas Isimat-Mirin and his backup, Roberto Puncec, out with injuries.

Opting against new homegrown signing Kaveh Rad or SKC II mainstay Graham Smith, Vermes pushed defensive midfielder Ilie Sanchez out of position and into the centerback role.

And if Sanchez’s job wasn’t already hard enough, he was given the captain’s armband when Johnny Russell exited the game in the 19th minute with a groin injury.

“I felt that we were going to play out of the back quite a bit, which we did — we had the ball a lot,” Vermes said. “And I wanted to have somebody back there that felt very comfortable on the ball next to Fontas.”

Sanchez anchored a backline that didn’t concede a single shot on target in the first half, making several crucial blocks and tackles. But one of the pitfalls of a backline including Sanchez and usual starter Andreu Fontas figured to be a lack of pace down the middle of the field, and so it was.

When Houston’s Maxi Urruti ran with pace at the pair and broke down the middle, the duo was powerless as Urruti glided into the box and fired past John Pulskamp.

Winger Fafa Picault also broke in behind the Sporting KC backline with 15 minutes remaining, but Pulskamp closed Picault’s shot angle well, forcing him to fire wide.

The addition of Sanchez to the SKC backline also introduced a starting midfield that looked exciting on paper but was unable to deliver the goods in crunch time.

Remi Walter anchored the midfield in place of Ilie at the six, a spot in which Walter looked solid earlier in the season. In front of him sat the attack-minded duo of Gianluca Busio and Gadi Kinda.

With Walter closer to the backline and protecting Sanchez and Fontas, Busio and Kinda was initially tasked with breaking down Houston’s low-block defense. By design, Busio was the typical box-to-box midfielder and Kinda attacked farther up the field.

But with such an attack-minded midfielder, Houston could quickly spring pressure and counter-attack anytime a Sporting KC midfielder took a weak touch or bad pass.

Specifically against the 5-foot-8, 146-pound Kinda.

When 6-foot-4, 176-pound Houston midfielder Derrick Jones pounced on one of Kinda with the ball facing Sporting’s goal, there was only going to be one winner. Jones out-muscled Kinda in Sporting’s own half and played the ball quickly to Urruti for the assist on his goal.

The situation initially came from right back Jaylin Lindsey opting to play the ball inside to Kinda rather than continuing to attack down the wing.

“We’re running down the sideline we should never cut back and go backward,” Vermes said. “We’re on the positive side and we turn around and cut back and that already leads to a negative situation.

“We’re attacking, we have the ball, we’re in front of their guys and we let them catch up to us and let them get behind the ball and then we lose and we’re open at that point.”

Vermes was primarily displeased by Lindsey’s decision to cut the ball back inside, but Kinda’s inability to keep possession as Sporting KC was vulnerable was also a major factor in the goal.

The Dynamo, despite playing at home, produced an effective game plan by sitting back and pouncing on a Sporting KC midfield that was attack-heavy and a backline that lacked pace.

“We lost the ball in a very routine situation and we’re open at that point, and sometimes you’re going to get crushed for it,” Vermes said. “There’s a lot of situations where they lost the ball and we didn’t crush them for it. The difference is whether you score or you didn’t score.”

This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 9:46 PM with the headline "Lone goal by Houston in 56th minute completes the scoring as Sporting KC falls 1-0."