The same old mistakes are plaguing Sporting KC. Can they be fixed? And how?

From the moment referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere blew his whistle to signal the start of the second half against Portland, Sporting Kansas City didn’t appear quite ready. The 45 minutes that followed were sluggish and lacked focus, which proved costly upfront.

Sporting played on the back foot, and the Timbers scored just four minutes in. Five minutes later, they scored another.

The two sequences Portland scored on were full of a certain type of mistake, beyond a bad touch or bad pass. They was bad decisions that occurred possibly due to a lack of concentration or awareness.

“The teams that lose that concentration more often and in decisive moments are the ones that are penalized,” interim coach Kerry Zavagnin said Tuesday. “The challenge is always to get better, not just physically better from a fitness perspective, but a concentration fitness perspective. That’s a work in progress.”

So what broke down on those two goals?

On the first, Khiry Shelton’s throw-in — backward to Jansen Miller — immediately put his teammate under pressure with how Portland was pressing. Miller tried to alleviate the press with a back pass to goalkeeper John Pulskamp. It wasn’t the right decision, and it wasn’t executed well.

Portland capitalized. Two passes later, the ball was in the net.

On the second goal, there was too much ball-watching on a corner kick that Pulskamp did well to save in the first place. The sequence, seconds later, resulted in an own goal.

To their credit, the players owned up to their mistakes. Miller played a significant role in the first goal, and the second went down as an own goal against him (even though he was one of the few who reacted to Pulskamp’s save in the first place).

The rookie defender asked to speak to media members after the game, and wanted people to know that the performances shouldn’t be indicative of how the players were prepared by Zavagnin.

Shelton acknowledged, in speaking to media members Tuesday, he shouldn’t have put Miller in that spot with the throw-in.

“It’s a team,” Shelton said. “We gotta cover each other. … I should’ve never thrown it to him. I should have gone forward with the ball. I told him I take responsibility for that.”

How can Sporting eliminate those mistakes?

“If we do a better job of communicating in those moments, we stop those goals from happening,” Shelton said.

That may be easier said than done.

Some of those issues for Sporting KC date back to 2024. Others, like defending set pieces, go back even further.

The expectation isn’t for Sporting to eliminate all mistakes. Humans aren’t perfect, and the same is true of pro athletes. But the bar is definitely improvement, particularly with how long and often the mistakes have stacked up.

Sporting’s win over St. Louis — the team’s only win this calendar year — showed some of the discipline and focus the team can strive for. But that wasn’t the case against Portland a week later.

Zavagnin is of the mindset that “just because somebody or some team has not done it is not a guarantee that they can’t learn to do it or fix it.” He hopes to focus on those moments — lapses in concentration and decision-making — in training.

“We need to build up that stamina of being able to concentrate,” Zavagnin said. “What goes along with that is also the mentality to persevere in tough moments.”

Zavagnin honed in on set-pieces, including throw-ins, which led to all four goals.

“While the players have certain roles and responsibilities to pay attention to in those moments,” Zavagnin said, “they also have to have an attitude and mentality that whatever it takes, we’re going to keep this ball out of the goal.”

Sporting KC trialist in camp

Sporting KC has had midfielder Dru Yearwood in training as a trialist this week. The 25-year-old midfielder played with Nashville SC for the 2024 season after spending the previous four years with the New York Red Bulls.

He can play either as a defensive midfielder or an outright box-to-box center midfielder. He has four goals in 111 MLS regular season appearances.

It remains to be seen whether or not Sporting KC will sign him. Despite being an English citizen, he holds a green card, meaning he won’t take an international slot on the roster.

Sporting has a total of five roster spots remaining.

This story was originally published April 17, 2025 at 11:43 AM.