How Memo Rodríguez became Sporting KC’s ‘pit bull’ in Sunday’s win vs. FC Dallas
Zorhan Bassong couldn’t believe it.
Standing at his locker inside Sporting Kansas City’s home stadium, the KC defender stared at a photo of himself on a cellphone. Sporting had just beaten FC Dallas 3-2 in a Major League Soccer match at Children’s Mercy Park.
During second-half stoppage time, a few yards in front of the back-right corner arc, Bassong had stood in front of Dallas’ Paul Arriola to disrupt a throw-in attempt. Arriola didn’t like that. He took aim and threw the ball into Bassong’s face.
Almostly instantly, Bassong bodied his opponent to the ground, drawing a red card. And for a brief second — before some chaos ensued — Bassong stood over Arriola, his hands behind him and his head down.
That’s when the photo was taken.
“Woah!” Bassong shouted in the locker room, pointing for his teammates to notice. “That’s cold. I’m going to post that.”
Sunday night’s game included more notable highlights, like Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes recording his 200th career win as an MLS head coach. That milestone was assured by veteran midfielder Memo Rodríguez, an offseason addition who’d spent most of his career with the Houston Dynamo.
Eleven minutes into the match, Rodriguez served in the corner kick that teammate Willy Agada turned into KC’s first goal. The assist was Rodríguez’s seventh of the season.
Agada scored a second goal later. Alenis Vargas centered another ball deep in the goalie box to give Agada his brace and his team a 2-0 lead.
Then, that two-goal KC advantage turned into zero. Dallas fought back and forced a hold situation in the 65th minute as both teams prepared for a down-to-the-wire finish.
That’s when Rodríguez re-emerged.
“I saw a few FC Dallas players behind me, so I just tried to time my run for a ball like that,” Rodríguez said of his match-winning goal in the 82nd minute. “We got lucky that the ball landed and I had good contact on it.”
Ironically, Rodríguez’s lone goal of the match came off a deflection from Agada, who nearly secured the first hat trick of his MLS career. Rodríguez played clean-up crew.
But instead of being upset about his seventh brace, Agada instead praised his teammate.
“Shoutout to Memo, my boy,” Agada said. “He finishes everything off.”
That praise was echoed by Vermes.
“Memo has a lot of really good qualities as a player,” the Sporting KC manager said. “Sometimes, players have to find a routine in their own game. You have to play to what you’re good at … and he’s slowly started to do that.”
“He’s got a really good bite,” Vermes added. “A really good anticipation to win balls. Him and Jake (Davis) are two little pit bulls in there, and you need that. … They worked tirelessly today, and that was one of the reasons why I think we had so much success.”
Rodríguez played a few games with Austin FC last year as the second stop in his pro career. Had it not been for a call from Sporting KC, who knows where he might be today.
“I’m happy that I landed here with a great group of guys,” Rodríguez said. “The season hasn’t (gone) the way we wanted it to, but there’s not many games where we’ve been out-played.”
Sporting KC currently sits in 13th place in MLS’ Western Conference amid what’s certainly been a challenging season. Rodríguez didn’t join the team with a mission of being its savior, but he did come to compete.
“I’m a high-energy guy,” he said. “I always want to win no matter what. … I hate losing more than I like to win. A lot of guys put in the effort today, but I always play with a chip on my shoulder to help the team in any way possible.”
To his teammates, what he showed on Sunday is who he’s been all season.
“He’s a sweet player. A good player,” Agada said. “We just want to see more of what he did today. … I’m so excited for him and the goal. He helped the team to win.”
Sporting KC now prepares for a rematch with Dallas on the same pitch Wednesday — this time in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup. Playing two straight against the same opponent isn’t an easy task, but then again, nothing has been easy for Sporting this season.
“The Boys,” as Agada refers to his teammates, are looking for another win.
“It’s going to be a battle,” Vermes said. “I think sometimes you can get all caught up in the X’s and O’s, but at the end of the day, you have to be first to second balls. You have to compete.
“I’m (just) glad that we won tonight,” he added. “That’s most important.”
