Sporting KC concedes extra-time goal to RSL, falls to No. 3 seed entering MLS playoffs

After a season-long battle for the top spot in the Western Conference, a win against Real Salt Lake on Sunday would’ve given Sporting Kansas City a No. 1 seed for the playoffs.

Exciting results played out elsewhere around Major League Soccer on its annual Decision Day, but not in Kansas City — not in KC’s favor, anyway — as Sporting lost 1-0 in an at-the-wire finish at Children’s Mercy Park.

Real Salt Lake forward Damir Kreilach scored in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time to clinch a playoff spot for the visitors on what was literally almost the last kick of the regular season.

The loss, Sporting’s third in a row, cemented Kansas City as the third seed for the playoffs. The Colorado Rapids defeated LAFC 5-2 to clinch the top spot. The Seattle Sounders, who entered Sunday a point ahead of Sporting in first place, tied the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-1 to finish second.

So Sporting KC, which ended the regular season with three straight defeats, will play host to No. 6 seed Vancouver in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs.

“It was a good game. It was a game that you want to watch on Decision Day,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said.

But it wasn’t Real Salt Lake’s late goal that was the talking point after the match. Minutes earlier, referee Ted Unkel and Virtual Assistant Referee Younes Marrakchi failed to act on a handball in the box by Real Salt Lake’s Justen Glad. Replays on TV clearly showed the infraction, so VAR should’ve flagged it, too.

“One hundred percent a penalty kick, should be a penalty, should have been called,” Vermes said. “I want answers from the league and I want them to come out and explain why it was not called.”

The officiating crew responded to a question about the no-call by saying that a penalty wasn’t given because there was no clear and obvious error, and that the “VAR determined the action by Glad was not deliberate.”

“It’s one thing if you made the mistake, it’s another thing when it was clear and obvious and you cannot make the call even when you have replay on TV. It’s unacceptable,” Vermes said.

As a result of the no-call and subsequent goal, RSL leapfrogged the L.A. Galaxy for the final playoff spot while Sporting KC lost a chance to finish atop the conference.

That single moment aside, however, Kansas City struggled to find a way through the Salt Lake defense for 90 minutes-plus. Unimaginative play in the final third defined Sporting KC for most of the game.

The absence of captain Johnny Russell, who was unable to make the start because of a lower-body injury, did SKC no favors. He was one of five players who had been listed as questionable before the game. Vermes said he didn’t want to risk aggravating their respective conditions with the playoffs at hand.

Russell was replaced in the starting lineup by homegrown 21-year-old Grayson Barber, who put in a good shift on the wing but began to struggle in the second half before being substituted off.

“He worked very hard, I probably left him out there 10, 15 minutes longer than I probably should have,” Vermes said. “But he gave a hell of a shift today. He worked really hard.”

Barber’s counterpart on the left side, Daniel Salloi, had a couple of good looks at RSL’s goal but couldn’t punch one in either. Salloi first broke through in the 12th minute, poking the ball just wide of the post off a cross from Graham Zusi. That was about it for Salloi in the first half, but he broke through again in the opening minutes of the second.

Controlling the ball with time and space in the Salt Lake box, Salloi fired a low shot toward the bottom-right corner but didn’t have enough bend on the ball. Salt Lake goalkeeper David Ochoa made an easy save.

Kansas City appeared more likely to score in the final minutes. Substituted into the game in the 83rd, Cam Duke had a one-v-one opportunity but fired wide of the left post.

Salt Lake left the field celebrating after Kreilach latched onto the ball in the six-yard box and poked home the lone goal of the night in the final moments of extra time. RSL secured the seventh and final playoff spot based on games won.

The goal came as chants of “V-A-R!” rang around Children’s Mercy Park. The missed call on that RSL handball was huge, and stung.

“Unfortunately the most important part of the game was missed,” Vermes said. “I don’t have anything else to say, but it was a good game, it was a back-and-forth game, and our guys put everything out there for the game.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2021 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Sporting KC concedes extra-time goal to RSL, falls to No. 3 seed entering MLS playoffs."