Sporting KC’s winless streak hits five after 3-1 loss to Orlando City FC

On the final swing of a four-game road trip Sunday, Sporting Kansas City faced a late two-goal deficit, when a red card emerged from the back pocket of referee Jair Marrufo. He promptly whisked his right arm into the air in front of Sporting KC striker Dom Dwyer.

And suddenly, a match that featured a faulty start was bookended by a sour conclusion Sunday at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Sporting KC’s winless streak stretched to five matches in a 3-1 loss against expansion club Orlando City, which won for only the second time over its past 12 matches.

Dwyer was ejected in the 87th minute after a skirmish with Orlando City defender David Mateos, who appeared to embellish a shove to the chest.

That provided a suitable ending to a match that kept Sporting KC locked in a fifth-place tie in the Western Conference, only two points better than San Jose for the final playoff spot.

“We need to wake up very quickly,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes calmly said in a phone conversation after the match.

Sporting KC, 11-8-8, played without its starting goalkeeper, Tim Melia, who did not make the trip with a quadriceps strain he suffered during Wednesday’s scoreless draw in Portland.

His replacement, 22-year-old Jon Kempin, was thrown under heavy fire. Kempin didn’t stand much of a chance on the three goals he allowed — the first career tallies from Adrian Winter and Bryan Róchez and then another from Winter for a late two-goal cushion.

“You cannot give up soft goals,” Vermes said. “You can’t keep chasing games. It’s that simple. You can’t give up soft goals.”

In his return from an international stint with the Hungarian men’s national team, Sporting KC forward Krisztian Nemeth sandwiched in his ninth goal of the season — a perfectly-placed score that tied the match in the second half.

Briefly.

Orlando City, 8-13-8, countered only seven minutes later when midfielder Brek Shea made a run down the left side and slid a pass to a wide-open Róchez, who easily converted to give his club a lead it held for the majority of the night.

It led from the get-go, actually. Orlando City altered the scoreboard only 150 seconds into the match, with Winter heading a shot past Kempin for his first career MLS goal. Winter slipped loose toward the back post to finish off a free kick.

“I don’t really put the fault on (Kempin) for any of the three goals,” Vermes said. “I think it was more the players on the field.”

Vermes added that aside from three mistakes that led to goals, “I thought we were pretty decent.” And indeed, Sporting KC was dangerous offensively on a few occasions.

But one of its top weapons — Dwyer — could be facing a one-game suspension. Vermes, who said he had only looked at one replay of the incident that led to Dwyer’s red card, indicated he would consider appealing the punishment to the league. After taking a shove to the chest, Mateos instead grabbed his face.

If such an appeal is unsuccessful, Sporting KC will play its first home game in a month Friday without its starting striker. Sporting KC plays host to FC Dallas at 6 p.m. Friday.

Sunday’s summary

Orlando City 3

Sporting Kansas City 1

KANSAS CITY: Jon Kempin, Seth Sinovic, Saad Abdul-Salaam, Matt Besler, Kevin Ellis, Graham Zusi, Benny Feilhaber (Jordi Quintilla, 73rd), Soni Mustivar, Jacob Peterson (Bernardo Anor, 46th), Dom Dwyer, Krisztian Nemeth.

ORLANDO CITY: Tally Hall, Luke Boden, Aurelien Collin, David Mateos, Servando Carrasco, Cristian Higuita, Lewis Neal, Adrian Winter (Eric Avila, 73rd), Rafael Ramos, Carlos Rivas (Brek Shea, 61st), Cyle Larin (Bryan Rochez, 57th).

GOAL SCORING

Kansas City: 2, Nemeth 9 (Feilhaber), 59th. Orlando City: 1, Winter 1 (Boden), 3rd minute. 3, Rochez 1 (Shea, Mateos), 66th. 4, Winter 2 (Neal), 72nd.

CAUTIONS

Kansas City: Besler (unsporting behavior), 83rd.

Orlando City: Shea (dissent), 83rd.

RED CARDS

Kansas City: Dwyer (violent conduct), 87th.

Orlando City: None.

OFFICIALS

Referee: Jair Marrufo.

Assistant referee: Peter Balciunas.

Assistant referee: Mark Cahen.

4th official: Ted Unkel.

Announced attendance: 22,241.

This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 8:20 PM with the headline "Sporting KC’s winless streak hits five after 3-1 loss to Orlando City FC."