Jaylin Lindsey scores first MLS goal as Sporting KC bakes the Quakes in San Jose

The space afforded Sporting Kansas City’s Jaylin Lindsey on the far side of the field should realistically never exist at the major-league level.

Lindsey, a marauding right wingback, was being marked by 17-year-old San Jose left winger Cade Cowell and had absolutely nobody barring his way up the field.

So when Sporting KC overloaded the left side of the field and dragged San Jose’s defense over, Alan Pulido had a simple job of switching the ball into the open space at the backside of the play for Lindsey.

From there, the 21-year-old homegrown had the simple job of taking a good first touch and slotting the ball past San Jose goalkeeper JT Marcinowski for the equalizer. Sporting had trailed 1-0 at the time.

The goal was the first of Lindsey’s Major League Soccer career — and Sporting’s first of the game as KC defeated San Jose 3-1 Saturday night at PayPal Park.

“I was excited, but when I scored I didn’t know what to do,” Lindsey said with a laugh after the game.

Pulido scored the game-winning goal on the hour-mark before Daniel Salloi put the game to bed in the 75th minute.

The kind of play that led to Lindsey’s goal is exactly how teams beat San Jose, and it was a perfect example of the flaws in San Jose’s man-marking system.

Since Quakes manager Matias Alymeda arrived in San Jose, he’s employed a man-mark system that sees each San Jose player designated to an opposition player, hounding them all game.

It can see instances of center backs being caught halfway up the field following a deep-lying forward like Pulido, or a winger like Cowell being asked to defend in his own box as Lindsey attacks.

“It takes a lot of movement and I think our team did that,” Salloi said. “Keeping the ball against a team like that is very difficult but I think we made good movements and you could see that the middle of the field was just wide open.”

And Sporting took San Jose’s tactics and flipped them on the Earthquakes’ head. Winning the ball in San Jose’s half, Sporting KC overloaded the left side of the field with seven players and every San Jose player followed his man across the field.

That left a wide-open gap on the back side of San Jose’s defense for Lindsey to run into from a deep position. With players flocking around Pulido and Sporting’s other players around the ball, the Mexican forward chipped the ball over the top and into the path of Lindsey.

A classy first touch was all that was needed from Lindsey as he beat Cowell for pace and slotted the ball past Marcinkowski.

“The guys understand that when a team plays man-to-man as they do, there’s opportunity if you move off the ball,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “Lindsey took the space in front of him, it was a good pass and a great first touch by him and a finish, but if you don’t make that run and make the movement off the ball, you don’t get that chance.”

Vermes said the game was the best he’s seen from Lindsey in a Sporting KC jersey.

San Jose’s opener came from a well-worked set play from a corner was fed along the ground from Cristian Espinoza to Javier Lopez at the edge of the Sporting KC box. Lopez’s run from a deep position led to him being unmarked and allowed him time to curl the ball into keeper Tim Melia’s top left corner.

It was the type of goal that could have derailed Sporting within the first five minutes. Salloi described the goal as “annoying” because there wasn’t much that could be done about it.

But instead of scrambling for an equalizer and ditching the game plan, Sporting stuck to its guns in keeping possession and moving the ball quickly to create spaces for rushing attackers.

“I think we’re going to get more and more comfortable as the season goes on that we’re a good team and we can make comebacks and keep the ball, we don’t have to panic, really,” Salloi said. “I think it’s how the team reacts that’s important.”

Sporting eventually found the lead in the 60th minute when Pulido played a good one-two with Salloi and found time at the edge of the box to fire a powerful shot at goal. His effort had a hint of luck as it deflected off a San Jose defender and off the underside of the bar into the top left corner.

The goal was Pulido’s fourth of the season. He almost had his fifth three minutes later, but it was chalked off with Gadi Kinda caught offsides in the buildup.

Undeterred, Salloi gave Sporting KC a two-goal cushion with 15 minutes remaining on a beautiful curling shot. Once again afforded too much space at the edge of the San Jose box, Salloi sent a curling shot into the far right corner with little challenge from the San Jose defense.

“I’m proud of the way that we played,” Vermes said. “Taking a different way that you have to play against a team and find a way to get a result ... (I’m) very, very proud of the guys, from that perspective.”

This story was originally published May 22, 2021 at 11:15 PM with the headline "Jaylin Lindsey scores first MLS goal as Sporting KC bakes the Quakes in San Jose."