How Alan Pulido led Sporting KC to a comeback win over the San Jose Earthquakes

In 2023, it took Sporting Kansas City 11 matches to notch its first win of the season.

In 2024? It took four.

And for a moment, it didn’t appear to be going that way.

Sporting Kansas City earned its first win of 2024 on Saturday night, a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes.

Sporting (1-0-3) started the game slowly, and San Jose took advantage after the first 10 minutes. Vitor Costa turned in a corner kick in the 11th minute to give the visitors a lead.

But the goal woke Sporting up, because the home side added a goal of its own off a corner kick less than 10 minutes later, thanks to Dany Rosero.

Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes wasn’t happy with his team’s start. The team looked sluggish until San Jose scored and had issues keeping possession.

“I don’t know why, to be honest with you,” Vermes said of the start. “I think we’ve had a good preparation all through the week and we’ve been building up pretty well. But I think as the game went on, we got better and better.”

The response to going down early was what was needed. Alan Pulido said the players looked at each other and demanded more after falling behind.

“We know we are at home,” Pulido said. “This is why everybody looked to each other and said we need to go faster, stronger, because I felt like the other team pushed a little more (than) us.”

With the score at 1-1, Sporting started to hunt for a second ... and got one 11 minutes later. Pulido nabbed his first goal of the season.

It started with a turnover Sporting forced off a San Jose throw-in. What came next was a 17-pass sequence, with 10 of 11 players on the field touching the ball — including goalkeeper Tim Melia — that resulted in a Pulido tap-in to make it 2-1.

“It was beautiful,” Vermes said. “It’s the kind of thing that you work on tirelessly, and then when you see it happen, you’re pretty pleased.”

Pulido gave the credit for his goal to his teammates.

“My goal is for all the team,” Pulido said. “The team made very good movements with the ball, without the ball.”

Vermes said it looked like San Jose was chasing shadows based on Sporting’s off-ball movement, which helped create the moment of brilliance.

“Our timing was good,” Vermes said. “The weight of the passes were great. Johnny (Russell) plays a great ball in, and Alan always has a really good sense of finding that space for that kind of ball.”

It looked like San Jose had leveled the match in the 82nd minute, but a VAR review ruled there was a handball committed by San Jose before the goal was scored.

Robert Voloder started for Andreu Fontas, who was out with an injury. The young stand-in took his opportunity well.

“I was ready for the opportunity I got,” Voloder said. “I was prepared. The coaching staff also prepared me. All in all, I think I did a pretty good job. Of course, here and there, one or two small mistakes. But I can work on that.”

Vermes agreed with the assessment after challenging players during the week to take advantage of opportunities when they’re given.

“He played a really good game, positionally,” Vermes said.

On the injury front, Sporting captain Russell was subbed off early in the second half with an apparent ankle injury. Vermes did not have an update on the severity after the game.

Sporting welcomes another California-based team to Children’s Mercy Park next week, as the revamped LA Galaxy are in town for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

This story was originally published March 16, 2024 at 10:19 PM.