Salloi scores late as Sporting KC salvages draw, point at home against Portland Timbers

Cutting inside on the edge of the box, Daniel Salloi took a glance at the Portland Timbers’ goal. Then another, followed by a little stutter-step.

And still no Timbers defender closed him down.

So, doing what’s become natural for him at this point, he fired a shot at goal and found the bottom corner for a second-half stoppage-time goal that salvaged a 1-1 tie for Sporting Kansas City Wednesday evening at Children’s Mercy Park.

“I give the guys credit for the second half,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “It’s not always going to be perfect or not always going to be the way I think it should be or the way I want to write it up.”

A 17th-minute goal from the Timbers’ Felipe Mora looked to be the game-winner until Salloi scored his 12th goal of the season in the 92nd minute.

Fielding the same lineup that defeated FC Dallas 2-0 in Texas Saturday night, Kansas City was primed to pounce on a Portland side still licking its wounds from a 6-2 loss to Seattle over the weekend.

KC controlled a whopping 69% of possession, but most of that time was spent dictating a slow-tempo game and struggling to get behind Portland’s backline.

A large reason for Kansas City’s inability to attack with its usual gusto came from the club being on the tail end of a brutal stretch of seven games in 22 games. Wednesday’s game against Portland was game No. 6 of that stretch.

“We had good direction in the second half and the coach said at halftime that we need to go faster. So we tried to do that but it’s not easy because we’ve played a lot of games in this period so we tried,” said Sporting midfielder Remi Walter, who’s played in the last seven games.

The Timbers seemed to set up with this knowledge in mind, lining up in a “Christmas tree” defensive formation: 4-3-2-1.

It was a deep-lying formation that’s sole purpose was to block out and frustrate Sporting KC. And when the opportunity to attack presented itself, the Timbers planned to attack with speed.

That’s just what happened in the 17th minute, when Portland collected a ball down the left side of the field. A quick combination of passes gave Marvin Loria time and space on the wing. He placed a perfect cross between Sporting KC’s Andreu Fontas and Luis Martins.

Waiting within that gap was Mora, who headed home his chance. But that was the Timbers’ only shot on target all game.

With a lead to protect, that Christmas tree became a blockade: a five-man defense with two deep-sitting midfielders in front. That limited KC to just two good chances for the first 90 minutes of the game.

The first came early when Salloi cut inside and sent a close-range shot toward the corner. Portland keeper Steve Clark tipped it just wide.

The second came on the hour mark via a cross from Graham Zusi to Gadi Kinda in the Portland box — very similar to how the Timbers scored their goal. The difference was that Kinda’s header was well saved by Clark from close range.

Both opportunities came as Sporting attacked in the wide spaces vacated by the Timbers. Unable to break through down the middle, KC peppered the Portland box with a staggering 33 crosses.

“When they’re in a low block like they were for the majority of the game, you have to start putting the ball in the box and have to start creating some havoc,” Vermes said. “It’s almost like sometimes you’re hoping for a little bit of a pinball situation that catches them off guard.”

But with hope almost lost, Sporting did what it does best, gaining points, or in this case, a point, from behind.

Picking up the ball on the left side of the box, Salloi saw two options: wait for Martins to overlap him outside, or send in a cross to Khiry Shelton in the box.

But with no Portland defenders stepping up, he decided to just take the space instead.

“That space opened up at the near post, the defender kind of shifted to the middle and far post of the goal, and that was my only way to shoot it,” Salloi said. “I’m glad I hit it so well that it was a very strong shot and that’s why he couldn’t save it.”

Salloi’s goal marked the 18th point that Sporting KC has gained from a losing position this season. It was also Salloi’s 18th goal contribution this season, taking him into the league-lead for goal contributions.

The tie extended Kansas City’s winless streak at home to four matches across all competition. The club must get past one last hurdle this weekend, Minnesota on the road, before earning its first full week of rest since late July.

“We’ve got to keep working toward that and get past this next game and then get ourselves a little bit of a breath,” Vermes said, “and hopefully maybe get a new player in as well and we can start moving the team around a little bit.”

This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 9:39 PM with the headline "Salloi scores late as Sporting KC salvages draw, point at home against Portland Timbers."