Sporting Kansas City: Midseason slump continues
Sporting Kansas City dropped their latest match 3-2 to Dallas on Saturday evening. The loss could be serious for Sporting’s playoff hopes, as they could fall to as low as fifth in the Western Conference.
Sporting Kansas City has hit a real rough patch as of late, not having won a match since June 23rd when they won 3-2 over the Houston Dynamo. Since then, Sporting has lost five of their last six matches, tying in one of those.
This loss puts SKC nine points behind Dallas, who hold the lead in the Western Conference. Sporting KC was at the top of the conference less than a month ago, but have plummeted in the standings after some tough games.
The most recent match-up came on Saturday and were it not for a man named Michael Barrios, Sporting might have had a shot in this one. Barrios put it on SKC with the hat trick, and that’s after he had gone since October 2017 without scoring.
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We should have predicted a rough game was on the horizon when Sporting failed to record a shot on goal in the first half of play. They were down 1-0 at the half, but Gerso Fernandes squared things up in the 50th minute. Barrios’ goals came in the 23rd, 62nd, and 74th minute.
Sporting tried to make a comeback with Daniel Salloi getting the team’s second goal in the 96th minute (there was seven minutes of stoppage time). Unfortunately by that point, it was too late to tie things up.
Here’s what’s trending in Sporting Kansas City news.
Sporting botches, FC Dallas hat trick, spell doom for Kansas City [Robert Rusert, The Blue Testament]
"Bright spots came in the form of Sporting’s homegrown attacker Gianluca Busio making his first MLS appearance, coming on for Gutierrez in the 77th minute, and right back Graham Zusi’s 85thminute left-footed rocket from the left that nearly skimmed the top of the crossbar to the beaten Gonzalez’s right."
The slump continues: Sporting KC’s fall in the West goes on with loss to FC Dallas [Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star]
"A return to the early-season form that launched Sporting KC into first place would require a return to full health, coach Peter Vermes said Friday. Sporting KC took a step in the latter direction Saturday, with three starters back in the lineup — midfielder Felipe Gutierrez and defenders Ike Opara and Matt Besler."
As mentioned by Robert Rusert of The Blue Testament, there were some positives from this match. Gianluca Busio, just 16 years old, made his MLS debut, making all of us feel incredibly old in the process.
Sporting Kansas City does this every year. They start the season off strong, hit a bit of a slump in the summer, and then get back on track in time for the playoffs. Now the playoffs haven’t been all that great for SKC over the last few seasons, but this team has the ability to turn things around by then and make a run.