Sporting Kansas City puts the clamps on Austin FC with goals from two players

Sporting Kansas City put together its most complete performance of the season on Saturday evening, earning a 2-0 victory over Austin FC at Children’s Mercy Park.

Sporting KC held Austin to just two shots — one in each half. Neither threatened KC goalkeeper Tim Melia’s net.

Tim Leibold scored his first goal for Sporting KC and Stephen Afrifa came off the bench to knock in his third goal in the last four games.

With the win, Sporting KC improved to 4-12-5 with 17 total points.

The performance was a far cry from the team’s 4-0 loss in Columbus last week. Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes found it a bit more “vintage.”

“When we played Columbus, they did to us what we normally would do to teams in the past,” Vermes said. “I think tonight was more of (us) doing that to Austin.”

Vermes pointed to the team’s concentration and discipline throughout the match as the key to putting together such a dominant win.

“I thought the fact that our guys were positionally very disciplined, and then also the transition, it really didn’t give them much opportunity,” he said.

Leibold’s 26th-minute shot from outside the box took a heavy deflection and snuck through a crowd of bodies, kissing in after glancing off the inside of the far post.

Stephen Afrifa added Sporting’s second strike in the 69th minute, and captain Johnny Russell made it quite easy. After Memo Rodriguez won the ball and turned upfield, Sporting did what it’s seemed to do so seldom this season: counter.

Rodriguez made a simple pass to Russell, and Russell beat his defender one on one and took off down the sideline. As he entered the penalty area, a quick peek saw Afrifa alone at the back post with only one route to get to him.

“I seen him (Afrifa) come flying and obviously just put it across goal,” Russell said.

Russell pulled out a moment of brilliance, using the outside of his left foot to send a pass right behind the Austin back line and into Afrifa’s path for an easy tap-in.

“It’s a good finish because it’s bouncing a little bit and he catches it well on his weaker foot,” Russell said.

Afrifa’s heater continues in the absence of Daniel Salloi on the left wing. In his sophomore year, Afrifa is feeling confident as he continues to see the ball hit the back of the net.

“(I’m) just taking my opportunity,” Afrifa said. “I’ve gotta keep pushing, because at the end of the day I want to help the team and show Peter that I’m ready to do that.”

Counter-attacking moments have been few and far between for Sporting KC this season. Those opportunities don’t often present themselves for possession-oriented teams. And when they have, Sporting too often hasn’t taken advantage.

“Maybe (we’ve) played a little bit safe at times and just trying to keep the ball in those situations,” Russell said. “We are a team who has been very good on the counter. We haven’t shown it this year. Hopefully we continue to show it.”

Sporting KC showed it well enough Saturday, finishing with its second clean sheet of the 2024 season. It was a good night for a usually leaky defense.

Sporting KC returns to action on the road Thursday, July 4, taking on the Colorado Rapids in a match set to begin at 8:30 p.m. Central Time.

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

This story was originally published June 29, 2024 at 9:35 PM.