As poorly as Sporting Kansas City have played through the first half of the season, this veteran-laden squad were never going to simply quit. Any doubts of that should be erased after Sunday’s 2-1 victory over Nashville SC at GEODIS Park.
Manager Peter Vermes' men relied on two goals from distance, a fortunate opener from Felipe Hernandez and a brilliant second from Graham Zusi, to earn their first 3 points away from home this season.
But they were thoroughly deserving of becoming the first winning visitor at the new 30,000-seat venue and the first club to beat the Coyotes anywhere in the Music City in 25 games, dating back to November 2020.
“I thought our start to this game was the key to the victory,” Zusi said afterward. “Of course, this game in particular, people say it’s a must-win game, but it’s all important. But this was a nice one to have on the road in a tough place to play. But again, I go back to the start we had. We seemed to control the tempo, in the first half especially.”
This isn't a season-saving win. Sporting need more than three points to right their course.
Not only are Vermes’ men still 12th in the Western Conference on 16 points, they’re also the first side to hit the halfway point of 17 games. It would take two points per match in the second half to reach the 50-point threshold that usually guarantees an Audi MLS Cup Playoff spot.
Maybe though, in a campaign of endless bad fortune -- with season-ending injuries to striker Alan Pulido and and midfielder Gadi Kinda keeping both contributors from even a minute of action -- their luck started turning.
There was goalkeeper Joe Willis reacting late on Hernandez’s set-piece strike, presumably trying to account for a redirection that never came. That marked a second scored in as many games in Hernandez’s home town (the first coming in the USL Championship), with Dad and other family on hand for Father’s Day.
“I thought I put the ball in a good spot,” Hernandez said afterward. “You put a ball like that on frame, anything can happen. A little touch, a little skip and it went in.”
And there was referee Victor Rivas’ decision to overturn a late penalty awarded to Nashville following a Video Review that spotted an offside violation in the buildup.
Notably, Sunday marked only the fourth time Sporting have scored twice in a match this season, and the first time they’ve done so without either Daniel Salloi or Johnny Russell contributing at least one of the goals.
If they’re to make a real run, that will have to continue; having two players who aren’t center forwards score more than half of your goal scoring is not sustainable, even if it worked last season.
Some help may be coming in the form of German attacking midfielder Erik Thommy and Nigerian striker William Agada, according to reporting from ESPN’s Taylor Twellman.
Until then, SKC will try to turn the veteran grit of Russell, Zusi, Salloi, Espinoza and others into a few more momentum-building results.
“Listen, there’s a lot of games left,” Zusi said. “Teams go on runs all the time. I think this is a good time for us to go on one of those.”
