KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Three points on Sunday against the New York Red Bulls would have given battered, weary Sporting Kansas City two more precious days to rest and heal up ahead of their playoff opener. Instead, they'll have just three days to get ready for their winner-take-all Eastern Conference playoff opener.
“It's tough, because the game didn't go like we wanted it to,” center back and captain Matt Besler told reporters after1671736882" style="z-index:0" tabindex="0">Sunday’s 2-0 loss to New York dropped Sporting to fifth place at the end of the regular season and handed the Red Bulls home field advantage for1671736883" style="z-index:0" tabindex="0">Thursday's Knockout Round match. “It's not how we draw it up. We'd like to get the full week's rest, especially with where we're at health-wise as a team.
“But it comes down to us,” added Besler, who returned1671736884" style="z-index:0" tabindex="0">Sundaynight from a thigh contusion that sidelined him for a pair of matches across all competitions. “We didn't get the job done tonight, and so now we have to play1671736885" style="z-index:0" tabindex="0">on Thursdaynight.”
The emphasis will be on getting players rested and healthy – or as healthy as possible – before then, manager Peter Vermes said in his postgame news conference.
“Our mindset has to be on getting recovered,”he said. “The difficulty we have at the moment is that we’ve played a boatload of games with a squad that’s already been depleted, and we keep trying to plug holes, and it hasn’t been easy.”
Sporting played1671736886" style="z-index:0" tabindex="0">Sundaynight's match on just two days' rest after a tough 2-0 away loss to Costa Rica's Deportivo Saprissa, which eliminated them from CONCACAF Champions League play. Midfielder Benny Feilhaber sprained his right ankle and right back Igor Juliao (who would have been ineligible to play against New York because of caution accumulation) strained his left hamstring in that match, and both are questionable for the knockout game.
“The only thing I can say,” Vermes said, “is that I think that everyone on staff will try to do everything that they can to get the guys as physically and mentally prepared as we can with the short turnaround.”
Three members of Sporting's back line1671736887" style="z-index:0" tabindex="0">on Sunday– left back Seth Sinovic, center back Aurelien Collin and right back Kevin Ellis, who filled in for Besler in central defense1671736888" style="z-index:0" tabindex="0">on Thursday– played the full 90 in both matches.
That workload took its toll, Vermes said after New York's Bradley Wright-Phillips capitalized on defensive breakdowns to score his 26thand 27thgoals of the year and claim a one-third share of the league's single-season scoring record.
“To me, this isn’t a bad loss from the point of view that the guys fought and tried,” Vermes said. “They’re just tired. One is you make technical or tactical errors and the other is you make psychological errors when you’re tired, and the guys are.”
Vermes' players appreciated their manager sticking up for them – but they still refused to use fatigue as an excuse for1671736889" style="z-index:0" tabindex="0">Sundaynight's result.
“Every team has guys who are fatigued,” Sinovic said. “It's late in the year. It's going to be pretty common. But that's not really an excuse for tonight. We didn't play as well as we're capable of. We got beat at our own place, and we're not happy about that. But that's all in the past now. It's a new season. It's the playoffs.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
