Sporting KC earned a road draw on Saturday. Where it happened made it extra-impressive
Sporting Kansas City earned a positive result at New York on Saturday evening, silencing the potent offense of defending Major League Soccer champion New York City FC in a scoreless draw.
Wins, ties — points — these things have been hard to come by this season for Sporting KC (2-6-3). Bringing home this particular point, and with it a boost in confidence, is a step in the right direction for a team with a lot of soccer left to play this season.
“It should give us a lot of confidence,” Sporting KC goalkeeper Tim Melia said, “because we came in here with a little bit different of a shape than we normally play, a little bit different of a game plan, and we executed I thought very well.”
Melia’s three saves in the match gave him 600 for his career in the regular season. He also earned his 63rd career clean sheet in the regular season. Both are club records.
The formation change Melia mentioned gave Sporting KC a different look in the middle. The visitors lined up as a 4-3-1-2, as opposed to their usual 4-3-3. Daniel Salloi and Khiry Shelton played as a dual-striker partnership up top, with Johnny Russell roaming free underneath in the attack. The rest of the squad stayed as it would in a typical 4-3-3.
“We felt just based on the size of the field that it was imperative that we had numbers in the middle,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said. “The other piece was we wanted to bring Johnny, Khiry and Daniel inside a little bit more because, again, the size of the field. We thought we’d get some chances and opportunities in behind them with those guys running off the ball and into spaces.”
The tactic was successful in clogging the midfield, and NYCFC was forced to either play long or wide, which is increasingly difficult to do on a pitch the size of Citi Field.
Melia and NYCFC’s Sean Johnson both made some critical saves, Johnson with two on Salloi in the first half. NYCFC brought on captain Maxi Moralez in the second half, but that wasn’t enough to get one past Melia.
For Sporting KC, it was their second shutout in three matches and their third straight draw. While things haven’t been pretty this season, defender Kortne Ford knows results like this will help with morale.
“We’re not happy with our start to the season, and our fans aren’t happy with the start to the season,” he said. “But we are looking to build off of these games, keep getting results, taking points where we can get them, and keep building on it.”
Sporting KC will next take a brief detour into Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup competition on Tuesday when FC Dallas returns to KC for a round of 32 match at Children’s Mercy Park. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Central.
This story was originally published May 7, 2022 at 8:22 PM with the headline "Sporting KC earned a road draw on Saturday. Where it happened made it extra-impressive."