Sporting KC seeks an end to its eight-game road winless streak

On the sound of the final whistle, Sporting Kansas City defender Ike Opara sat motionless on the field. His teammate, striker Dom Dwyer, buried his head into his hands.

In a Chicago suburb late Wednesday, the signs of frustration stemmed not strictly from the result — a 1-0 defeat to last-place Chicago — but rather the manner in which it came. Sporting KC outshot the Fire 19-3. It held 67 percent of the possession. But it earned nothing from the match.

If it sounds familiar, well, it probably should. Several weeks ago, Sporting KC endured a stretch that included only one victory in 11 matches, despite out-possessing all 11 opponents and recording more shots than 10 of them.

But as Sporting KC prepares for a quick turnaround Saturday in Colorado, coach Peter Vermes insists his club is not in a familiar position. Any reminders of the losing streak, he says, are restricted to the box score.

“When you look at the functionality of our team in the game and the way we went about everything, we dominated all the areas but just didn’t score a goal,” Vermes said in a phone interview from the team’s training session Friday in Denver. “Sometimes that just happens and you don’t get that finishing piece for whatever reason. But the guys feel good about what they were able to do, and that’s a good thing.”

On the other hand, a root cause for the numbers was the early deficit. Sporting KC trailed midway through the first half and was forced to press the issue.

And that has been a common theme of late. Over its past seven road matches, Sporting KC has failed to score the game’s first goal even once.

“We need to make the other team chase the game at home a little bit more. If they open up right away, that’s important for sure,” Vermes said. “But we still have to be resilient when things don’t go our way (early) in the game.”

As a result of facing consistent early deficits away from Children’s Mercy Park, Sporting KC is 0-5-3 over its past eight road games after winning the first two of the season. That’s a stark contrast from the team’s formula for five consecutive playoff appearances, when it produced results on the road.

Vermes has classified away matches as the key opportunities to steal points from conference opponents. It hasn’t happened. But another set of opportunities could play the most important factor in determining the club’s playoff fate. Sporting KC has remaining trips to the top three teams in the Western Conference, starting with Saturday’s visit to second-place Colorado.

“If we’re going to keep those guys within striking distance, we have to take some points away from them,” Vermes said. “Obviously this game has a bigger mean for sure in that regard.”

This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Sporting KC seeks an end to its eight-game road winless streak."