Sporting KC was cruising against the LA Galaxy ... until a collapse in the 70th minute

Sporting KC was coasting for 70 minutes of Saturday’s match. But three goals from the Galaxy in a 10-minute stretch flipped the script, handing Sporting its first loss of 2024, 3-2.

“The sky is not falling,” Sporting manager Peter Vermes said after the match. “But we gave away a really big opportunity today.”

That they did.

“It sucks because we did so many things well in that game,” goalkeeper Tim Melia said. “We dictated a lot of the way that we wanted to play, and we took a lot of their strength away for very long stretches of the game.

“Ultimately, we can’t blow a 2-0 lead at home.”

Sporting (1-1-3) came out with a slightly different look than its usual 4-3-3. Normally, the midfield looks like a triangle with the point facing downward — a single defensive midfielder and two attack-minded midfielders in front.

On Saturday, Sporting started in a 4-2-3-1, flipping the midfield triangle and playing Alan Pulido at the point. Remi Walter and Nemanja Radoja anchored the midfield underneath him.

Above Pulido was Willy Agada, flanked on the wings by Daniel Salloi and Erik Thommy, who started on the right for Johnny Russell. Russell missed the match with a hamstring injury sustained in the second half of last week’s 2-1 win over San Jose.

The change worked and ultimately put Sporting into a strong position.

“The difficult thing to swallow is that we played very well tonight,” Vermes said.

Sporting was on the front foot from the first whistle. In the first 45 minutes alone, Sporting sent 17 shots at the Galaxy net — surpassing the club’s previous game-high for the season. In total, the club fired 26 shots, putting nine of them on target.

Two made their way past Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy, and Sporting led 2-0 at half.

Radoja opened Sporting’s scoring 34 minutes into the match. Thommy crossed the ball to a wide-open Salloi at the back post. Salloi’s first-time pass put Radoja on the doorstep with an easy first goal of his Sporting career.

Agada doubled the lead just before halftime, tapping home a corner kick that seemed to fall right into his lap in front of the goal.

The Galaxy found life in the 72nd minute, scoring from a corner kick.

Goals in the 72nd, 75th and 82nd minutes from Eriq Zavaleta, Dejan Joveljic and Marky Delgado sent Sporting into the loss column.

One of the goals will be particularly frustrating. Prior to leveling the game at 2-2, Joveljic scored but was ruled offside. Neither Dany Rosero nor Jake Davis picked up the run, and nobody pressured the ensuing entry pass.

Less than 60 seconds later, the exact same sequence played out, this time with Joveljic’s run starting from an onside position and leading to a goal.

It’s an early lesson for Sporting five matches into the season.

“We’re up 2-0. You can’t lose at home going up 2-0,” Melia said. “But, you know, we also were up 2-0. And we have the quality to get up 2-0, so we need to focus on that.”

Sporting returns to action on the road next week, heading north of the border to take on Toronto FC at 6:30 p.m. Central.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.

This story was originally published March 23, 2024 at 10:07 PM.