Sporting KC has big plans for Columbus Crew in Leagues Cup Round of 32 showdown
A 4-0 loss to the Columbus Crew has thus far proven to be the low point in the pendulum swing of Sporting Kansas City’s 2024 season.
And now the same Columbus Crew team that drubbed Sporting KC earlier this year is KC’s opponent for Friday evening’s Leagues Cup Round of 32 match.
Like that June contest, Friday’s game will take place at Lower.com Field in Ohio (match time: 6:30 p.m. Central). And in this one, Sporting KC has a chance to prove that 4-0 defeat an aberration.
Cucho Hernandez, arguably the best striker in Major League Soccer, had a hat trick that day as the defending MLS Cup-champion Crew outshot Sporting 13-3 and out-possessed KC 70% to 30%.
“They did to us what we used to do to teams,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said bluntly Thursday, noting that he used a formation in that match that was still relatively new to his players at the time.
“The last one, a lot of it falls on me,” Vermes said. “We had played a lot of games, I changed the formation, we had no time to train or anything in that (formation). So (the blame) really fell to me.”
Vermes said losing 4-0 was a wake-up call for Sporting KC staff and players alike. And perhaps it was a teachable moment: There are certain things this team does well, for instance, and it shouldn’t stray too far from those.
Midfielder Jake Davis said the drubbing Sporting took that day continues to provide motivation, saying he and his teammates have had to decide if they “wanted to be this team that walks into that place and gets a result like that?”
“I think for all of us, it just kinda lit something up inside us,” he said. “And I think from that point on, we got good results and picked up a lot of momentum.”
Davis is right: Sporting is 5-3-1 across all competitions and hasn’t conceded more than two goals in a game since then. For a team that had looked so shaky defensively, this is a testament to improvement on that side of the ball.
“There’s a lot of individuals that I think weren’t in good form and are starting to get in better form as time has gone on,” Vermes said, “which then contributes to the overall team performance.”
Sporting will be without Nemanja Radoja for Friday’s knockout-round bout. Vermes confirmed as much after the defensive midfielder exited during the first half of Monday’s loss to Toluca.
Vermes wouldn’t specify or speculate on the exact nature of the injury — or a timetable for Radoja’s return — until he has undergone more testing.
Davis entered Monday’s match in Radoja’s spot less than 48 hours after returning to Kansas City from Paris following the elimination of the U.S. team from the 2024 Summer Olympics.
“Obviously, I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Davis said. “I just got back, and I always want to play. So I feel for Rado, but I was happy to go in and play the minutes even though I probably wasn’t in the right mental space.”
If Sporting KC can advance past Columbus on Friday, a home match against either Toronto FC or Inter Miami would await in the Leagues Cup Round of 16.
Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.
This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 1:33 PM.