For Sporting Kansas City, the last few games of the regular season are as much about getting into playoff form as about improving their position on the table.
They didn't gain any ground in the latter column on Friday night, but manager Peter Vermes still was pleased with his club's defensive work in shutting out the Eastern Conference leaders and breaking D.C. United's five-match home winning streak.
“I thought defensively we were rock-solid,” Vermes told reporters in a conference call after a scoreless draw that kept Sporting six points off the lead and – for now – a point ahead of third-place New England. “I thought that from the offensive side, we had incredible movement, especially in the midfield and up front. It was a good game.”
Despite winning just one of their last seven league matches, and seeing their chances of making a late run for a first-place conference finish slip a little further away, Kansas City also have recorded two shutouts in their last three MLS outings and are 3-1-1 in their last five matches across all competitions.
Both of those recent league clean sheets belonged to Andy Gruenebaum, who got the start ahead of Eric Kronberg on Friday night and finished with seven saves.
Vermes said Kronberg is still dealing with some lingering effects from the broken left hand that sidelined him from early July to late September, and Gruenebaum offered a proven, confident alternative for Friday's match.
“Right now, he's healthy and he's played quite a few games up to this point,” Vermes said. “I just thought it was the right decision. I thought he made a very big save in the first half on [United's Fabian] Espindola, and that's the kind of save that we need to keep us in the game.”
And while Gruenebaum had an active night in goal, Vermes also praised the center backs in front of him: Matt Besler, with one of his strongest performances since returning from the World Cup; and converted full back Kevin Ellis, who made a second straight league start as Aurelien Collin continues to recover from a right ankle injury.
“I thought Matt and Kevin were excellent,” Vermes said. “They played very, very well. They were excellent. They didn't give anything away. I thought they anticipated their tackles very well. They anticipated through balls from the other team. I just thought the two of them were very, very good. I thought Matt had a great game.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
