Seed-chasing Sporting KC can’t find road magic Wednesday at Austin. Next, Decision Day

Wednesday night’s game against Austin FC should have been a speedy, simple and successful road trip for Sporting Kansas City.

A win against the last-place team in the Western Conference would confirm a top-two seed for Sporting KC and firm up its grip on the No. 1 spot heading into Decision Day this Sunday.

But nothing is ever simple in Major League Soccer, and Sporting KC muffed its lines against Austin, losing 3-1 at Q2 Stadium in the Texas capital.

“Austin is down at the bottom,” Sporting KC captain Johnny Russell said, “but they possess a lot of quality in their team and they showed that at times tonight.”

The loss marks the first time Kansas City has lost back-to-back games this season. Sporting also lost to Minnesota 2-1 on Sunday.

For about 30 seconds, this one looked the part of the clash of polar opposites that it was: One team fighting for a No. 1 seed, and one sunk at the bottom of the standings.

Then Austin scored to take the lead within the first minute of play. The hosts doubled their lead 21 minutes later off a deep set-piece play and finished things off on the hour mark for the surprise victory.

Russell headed home a consolation goal for Kansas City in the 65th minute, extending his streak of scoring or assisting to 10 straight games.

The final outcome Wednesday may come as a surprise, considering the respective positions of these teams in the standings. But from the first kick, Sporting KC looked like it couldn’t keep up with El Tree.

The game was Kansas City’s fourth in 12 days, without much rotation during that stretch. Coach Peter Vermes made just two changes to Wednesday’s starting lineup from the one Sporting fielded in Sunday’s loss.

Defensive midfielder Ilie Sanchez looked tired in the first minute when Austin broke through KC’s midfield at the halfway line.

As the hosts charged toward KC’s goal just 20 seconds in, Sanchez couldn’t keep up. By the time he reached his own penalty box, Austin’s Diego Fagundez had already floated in a cross headed down by Jared Stroud. Sebastian Driussi finished it and Austin led 1-0.

“Coming into this last of the season and playing for top (seed),” Russell said, “if you give a team a goal in the first minute and give them a head start, it’s not good enough.”

Vermes didn’t think the loss should be attributed to tired legs, calling that an excuse. Instead, blamed the poor start.

“They’re professional athletes, the weather is beautiful,” Vermes said. “To play a game like this after you play and you play again this weekend, big deal. It’s not tired legs, it’s not tired legs at all. That’s an excuse.”

Eight of Sporting KC’s 10 outfield players who started against Austin have played at least 338 of the available 360 total minutes in the last four games. Midfielder Gadi Kinda brings up the rear, with 338, but seven have played at least 345. The two outliers are Daniel Salloi and Nicolas Isimat-Mirin, who are returning from injuries.

Down just 1-0 after Driussi’s goal, a Sporting KC comeback still seemed possible, perhaps even probable. Sporting came in averaging 1.56 goals per match on the road, second best in MLS.

But those hopes were dashed when Austin’s Zan Kolmanic whipped in a deep free kick that Julio Cascante headed home in the 22nd minute.

Sporting eventually applied better pressure and finished the half with 60% possession — a hopeful sign, considering 32 of the 52 goals Austin had conceded this season were second-half strikes. But even under pressure, Austin scored yet again in the 60th minute when Stroud was allowed too much time and space to pick his spot and fire past KC goalkeeper Tim Melia.

Bottom line: Wednesday night’s result complicates Sporting KC’s playoff hopes.

Kansas City now sits in second place, a point behind Western Conference-leading Seattle. The Sounders are also one goal higher in goal differential. Sporting KC has the same point total as Colorado but maintains second place with one more win than the Rapids.

So how can Sporting KC still clinch the No. 1 seed?

A loss or tie for the Sounders at Vancouver and a Sporting KC win at home Sunday against Real Salt Lake would do it. On the other hand, a KC loss and Colorado tie, or KC tie and Colorado win, would send Sporting to a third-place finish.

“We lost a huge opportunity to be able to finish the job at home,” defender Andreu Fontas said. “Now we don’t depend on us — that’s the only way I can see this. We need to finish at home with a win and wait for other results.”

Indeed. It all comes down to Decision Day.

This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 10:08 PM with the headline "Seed-chasing Sporting KC can’t find road magic Wednesday at Austin. Next, Decision Day."