When Sporting Kansas City went winless through their first three matches, manager Peter Vermes kept repeating the same message: The improvement from week to week was there for his club, and the victories would follow the improvement.
On Saturday night that first win came – and at Yankee Stadium, to boot – against a New York City FC side that had opened their inaugural MLS season by going unbeaten through the season's first three matches. And in clinching a 1-0 win, Sporting also recorded their second straight clean sheet.
“Obviously, they had a couple of chances, a couple of open looks here and there, but it never really amounted to anything other than one where it was bouncing around like a pinball machine,” Vermes told reporters in a post-match conference call after Sporting's victory. “But other than that, we came into somebody's place where they're undefeated and got a shutout on the road.”
Even with NYCFC star
David Villa
sidelined by a groin strain, the home side refused to sit back – especially after
Ike Opara
headed home
Matt Besler'
s long throw-in in the 13th minute.
“I think because we scored and they were playing at home, they kind of changed their tactics a little bit and really pushed their people high up the field,” Vermes said. “I thought we were going to be able to take advantage of a ball in transition or a counter on them, just because they were pushing so many numbers forward. But we defended well.”
Luis Marin
's clean sheet appeared imperiled in the 67th minute, when referee Edvin Jurisevic called a handball in the area on Sporting defender
Seth Sinovic
and pointed to the spot. But after consultation with his assistant, Jurisevic waved off the penalty, and replays confirmed his decision, showing it was in fact New York’s
Andrew Jacobson
that had handled.
“Seth, it never even touched his hand. That would have been a major blunder,” Vermes said. “Thank goodness that didn't take place. It wouldn't have been a good thing, I can tell you that.”
Vermes, whose club felt hard done by an offside no-call two weeks ago in a 3-1 away loss to FC Dallas, praised Jurisevic for taking the time to get things sorted.
“I think it's important in those situations that you have to be sure that you're right,” Vermes said. “Taking a few extra seconds – whether it's 20, 30, 40 seconds – it makes it very important that you get that decision right, that's for sure.”
As a result, Opara's leaping header – the center back's second goal of the season after he missed most of 2014 with a broken ankle – stood as Sporting's first match-winner of the year.
And it came by design. Sporting worked this past week on taking advantage of the narrow pitch at Yankee Stadium, Vermes said.
“We knew going in that because of the size of the field, set pieces were going to be a big part of the game, especially for us on the attacking side,” he said. “We worked on that the last few days, and I think it was executed really well.
"Ike was tremendous. That ball was perfect. It was a great throw by Bes [Besler]. We knew it was going to be just like a corner kick. The important thing was for him to be open with good timing, because it was going to be easier for Bes to put that right in the space."
Of Sporting's three goals this season, two have come on headers from Opara and the third on a shot from distance by midfielder
Roger Espinoza
. Several solid chances from the front line went off the mark on Saturday night, but Vermes insisted – as he has all season – that finishing is not a concern.
“You can go to any game in the league,” he said. “You can watch any team play. There's going to be a lot of chances that go by the wayside. That's the way the game is. That's why the games aren't 10-8. That's why they're 1-0, 2-1 or what have you. Again, we were in good positions. I like the fact that we're getting there.
“If you're not making those things happen, you've got issues. But we were creating chances. We got a lot of chances through different aspects, not just the run of play.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
