KANSAS CITY, Kan. – They'd have liked a goal, of course – or, at least, one that didn't get flagged for offside. They'd really have liked a second straight home win, rather than their third draw in four outings at Sporting Park.
But after Saturday night's scoreless draw against Real Salt Lake, Sporting Kansas City were far happier with their performance than they were a week ago, when they played disjointed ball through 90 minutes and then saved the night with two stoppage-time goals in a 3-2 win over Philadelphia.
“It's weird,” center back and captain Matt Besler told reporters after Sporting's third clean sheet of the season. “It's a weird feeling not to get all three points. That's always our goal when we come and play at home. It's a funny game sometimes. Last week, we didn't play our best, and we get the three points. We've got to move on, got to continue to get better and the results will hopefully take care of themselves.”
Sporting pressed the match and created chances throughout the night, and appeared to have converted one of them in the 55th minute – but Dom Dwyer was flagged offside on the play, his sliding touch past Nick Rimando disallowed.
“I thought we did a pretty good job,” said Dwyer, who also had two goals disallowed – one for offside and one when he was called for a foul in the area – in the win over Philadelphia. “We just got a bit unlucky. The final balls just weren't quite there. The finishing was so-so. But there were many positives to the game. We controlled it.”
That they did. Sporting won 57 percent of their duels, held 54 percent of the possession, had a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks and outshot the visitors 12-4 on the night – holding Real without a shot on goal for just the fourth time in club history.
“Our tempo was the way we want to play,” Besler said. “As soon as the ball gets out of bounds, we want to try to get it down and play. Our pressure was outstanding. Our work rate was very good tonight, and I also think our balance was good. We've seen a lot of games like that, where the other team comes down and counters and we walk away with zero. But tonight, our balance was good.”
That part – playing the way Sporting want to play – is what matters most, manager Peter Vermes said in his postmatch news conference.
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“As the season moves, if you haven´t really developed your model of play then in games when you need to play and get points, you haven´t got a hope and prayer,” Vermes said. “If you have a model of play you have a purpose of how you are going to do that. I think that is what rules the day in the long run.”
One key player in Sporting's solid defensive effort, though, went down hurt in the 82nd minute.
Center back Ike Opara, who missed most of last season with a broken right ankle, hurt his lower left leg when he fell in the penalty area while contesting for a Sporting corner kick. The full extent of the injury was not immediately known.
“We'll find out probably tomorrow or Monday,” Vermes said. “It's his ankle, foot, in that area. It's not the one that he hurt. It could be his calf.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
