Sporting KC lets halftime lead slip away, falls to Nashville in season’s 1st home loss

On a night when members of Sporting KC’s 2013 MLS Cup championship team reunited in Kansas City, the return of C.J. Sapong was a dagger.

The former Sporting KC forward who helped bring Sporting a title scored the game-winner for his new club, Nashville, as the home team blew a 1-0 halftime advantage in a 2-1 defeat at Children’s Mercy Park. It’s Sporting KC’s first home loss of the 2022 season.

Afterward, Sporting manager Peters Vermes was angry with the way the team defended in the second half. He particularly blasted the mentality of his players for their defense on two set-pieces that resulted in Nashville’s goals.

“Terrible mentality, terrible defending, just terrible,” Vermes said. “Horrendous.”

And at least one Sporting KC veteran didn’t disagree.

“He’s 100% right,” goalkeeper Tim Melia said. “We’re up a goal and we — collectively, every single one of us on the field, were too soft in those moments. We shouldn’t shy away from that. We need to correct it. We need to do better.”

Vermes lamented that the first goal allowed by his team came on an easy play that shouldn’t have ended with the ball in the net. All it took was a simple pass out to the left side of Sporting KC’s backline and a cross to the spot where three Nashville players were standing nearly unmarked.

One of those Nashville players, David Romney, banged in the ball on a header, and boom — lead gone, game tied.

“The fact that we couldn’t manage that, you know, (it’s) just terrible,” Vermes said. “Terrible on us as a staff, and everything. Just terrible.”

The loss was an unfortunate outcome for Sporting KC (2-5-0) in an end-to-end match that saw both teams start strong. Johnny Russell had a few chances in the first five minutes and Nashville earned a penalty in the first 15.

Melia prevented a goal there with his first penalty-kick save of the season, giving him 12 in the last 30 attempts against him. But the Sporting defense was pestered all night by a formidable Nashville squad that attempted 19 shots in all.

For a while, the home team looked ready to handle the onslaught. And it was Sporting that got on the board first. The sequence started with Daniel Salloi dribbling through the Nashville defense and slipping a pass to offseason acquisition Ben Sweat.

Sweat in turn dropped a left-footed cross into the path of Remi Walter, who’d made a late run in to further the play. The Frenchman picked up Sweat’s pass in stride and slammed it home for his second goal of the season in the 25th minute.

Nashville equalized fairly quickly once play resumed, getting the header goal from Romney in the 51st minute. And in the 68th, capitalizing on a set-piece play that caught Sporting’s defenders out of position. Sapong took advantage of an odd deflection to make it 2-1.

“It’s something we have to look at (as) players,” Melia said. “No one else but the players — we’re the ones on the field, we’re making decisions, we’re controlling the results at that point. All (of us) need to do better. Myself included.”

A second Sporting goal was not to be Saturday, but some of the hosts’ most dangerous attacks coincided with the second-half insertion of Marinos Tzionis and Nikola Vujnoivc. With Sporting hoping to pull level again, Graham Zusi sent a screamer wide left of the net by mere inches and Salloi struck the post.

Vermes praised the effort of Vujnoivc and Tzionis and seemingly fired a warning shot to those currently ahead of them on the depth chart.

“I look forward to seeing those guys a lot more going forward,” the Sporting KC manager said. “You know, if other guys go out, don’t want to play, don’t want to fight for it, we’ve got other guys that have to step up and give them a chance.”

Sporting KC next plays next Sunday at LAFC.

This story was originally published April 9, 2022 at 9:34 PM with the headline "Sporting KC lets halftime lead slip away, falls to Nashville in season’s 1st home loss."