Goals and points: For Sporting KC, good things happened in 3s vs. Vancouver on Saturday

Just a day after being honored as Major League Soccer’s June Player of the Month, Alan Pulido found the scoresheet again.

Pulido scored one of three Kansas City goals — and his eighth of the season — as Sporting put together a comprehensive performance in beating the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-0 Saturday night at Children’s Mercy Park.

“I think (that’s) the version that we strive for every week as a group,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said.

Things started a bit slow for Sporting KC (6-10-6). The hosts had difficulty breaking down the Whitecaps (6-6-7) and couldn’t register a shot until the 23rd minute.

“Sometimes in matches,” Vermes said, “you’re trying to get a rhythm.”

Vermes said his team needed to be patient for things to open up.

“We for sure changed some stuff in this game, the way that we do things for the opponent,” he said. “And it took a little while for us to get there.”

But then the floodgates opened, and over the next 25 minutes, Sporting KC would register eight more shots and two goals.

Runs and movement down the left flank fueled the turnaround. Gadi Kinda, Daniel Salloi and Tim Leibold were overlapping and underlapping one another, forcing the Whitecaps to over-commit and surrender space.

That scenario led to the opening goal. Remi Walter scored for the first time in nearly a year (357 days, to be exact) to put Sporting KC ahead in the 33rd minute. While the finish was nice, the “Trivela,” or outside-foot pass from Kinda, was a thing of beauty.

Kinda said his pass came in the spur of the moment, but Walter said he knew the ball was coming.

“Gadi is a very technical player, and I know him on his right foot,” Walter said. “I saw the space between the two defenders, so I hoped he will play that ball.”

Sporting’s Alan Pulido made it 2-0 just before halftime after a nice play down the left side gave Leibold acres of space. His low, driven ball across the face of goal was missed initially by Salloi, but Pulido was following right behind to finish the play.

Salloi said with a chuckle that Leibold hit the ball too hard, but Leibold was working with a tight window — the space between the goalkeeper and the first line of Vancouver defenders.

“It depends on how many guys are in the box,” Leibold said. “I think we had two or three guys in the box, so then it’s more easy to hit (the cross).”

Erik Thommy rounded out the scoring seven minutes into the second half, following up on a shot that was saved right back into traffic.

Goal-scorers are usually the stars of the match, but it was the play of Leibold, Kinda and Salloi that stole the show Saturday. They complemented each other well and created dangerous movement down the left flank.

With that movement and Johnny Russell and Pulido also on the field, opponents like the Whitecaps have their hands full.

“It’s hard to focus on all those spots of the field,” Vermes said. “So now the other team, if they concentrate on one place, the guys have enough improvisation to find the other.”

Sporting KC plays at Houston next Saturday, kicking off at 7:30 p.m. Sporting returns home the following Wednesday, playing host to Real Salt Lake.

This story was originally published July 1, 2023 at 9:39 PM.