Ball-watching, turnovers costly in Sporting KC loss to Galaxy. Postgame reaction & more

The post-win bump didn’t last very long.

Sporting KC returned to the loss column on Saturday night, dropping a 4-2 road decision to the Los Angeles Galaxy. Sporting is now 3-10-5 (14 points) and seven points out of a playoff spot.

On two separate occasions, Sporting cut a two-goal deficit to one. But each time, the Galaxy answered.

The Galaxy opened the scoring in the 39th minute. Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia saved two shots, the second by Los Angeles’ Dejan Joveljic, but the defenders in the area appeared to give up on the play and stood watching. Joveljic got a second chance and finished his final shot into an empty net.

Manager Peter Vermes lamented the ball-watching, as well as turnovers leading to goals, in his postgame news conference.

“Tim makes two saves, and we’re all just watching,” Vermes said. “Our reaction there was very poor.”

Defender Robert Castellanos agreed with the assessment, saying Sporting was too slow to react after taking care of similar situations earlier in the game.

“I think we could have broken up the play faster,” Castellanos said. “Some of us were caught just staring at the ball. We just have to make those plays at the end of the day, and that’s what will give us wins.”

The Galaxy doubled their lead in the 54th minute off a goal from Gabriel Pec.

Sporting brought on Stephen Afrifa and Willy Agada, and both made an impact over the final 30 minutes. Vermes specifically praised the energy and effort that Jake Davis brought in the midfield as a halftime substitute.

“He was great in the midfield,” Vermes said. “He was pressing them, he was putting life into the team. All of a sudden, we started stepping higher and higher up the field because there was urgency.”

Afrifa got Sporting on the board with his first MLS goal, courtesy of a pass from Erik Thommy.

The Galaxy made it 3-1 in the 75th minute with a lightning-quick counterattack as Sporting pushed for the equalizer. That goal seemed to stick in Vermes’ mind most — because he skipped over talking about the second Galaxy goal just to make his point about his team’s turnovers higher up the field.

Moments before the Galaxy pushed the score to 3-1, Sporting was on the counter-attack and seeking to tie the game. But Agada lost the ball, which led to the Galaxy’s counter.

“You just can’t lose that ball,” Vermes said. “It’s not like it was a tough ball. It was a great pass. But we’re trying to be cheeky ... and we lose the ball. Now, all of a sudden, the team stepped up, and they go over the top and get the third one.”

Castellanos gave Sporting a second goal and a glimmer of hope before Miguel Berry put the game to bed in the second minute of stoppage time. Castellanos’ goal was a consolation prize, so to speak, but it did carry some extra meaning.

“At the end of the day, it’s something special,” Castellanos said, “Especially as a defender, being able to put one in for the team and supporting the team when your family is here.”

Sporting KC has a quick turnaround, hosting Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night.

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

This story was originally published June 16, 2024 at 12:00 AM.