For 45 minutes against the Chicago Fire on Saturday, everything that could go wrong did for Sporting Kansas City.
Omar Bravo was shown a questionable a red card, giving up a penalty kick in the process. With a man advantage, Chicago then exposed Kansas City’s makeshift back line to waltz into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
And although the visitors managed to claw their way back into the game only to lose 3-2, Sporting manager Peter Vermes was left frustrated by the tide that seemed to be flowing against his team for most of the game.
“Not once was there anything in our favor throughout the course of the 90-minute match,” Vermes told MLSsoccer.com in a phone interview following the loss. “Everything was against us. It’s hard when you are playing 10 against 11, and you’re just fighting all day long against everything. It got to the point where it was just absolutely ridiculous.”
Unsurprisingly, Vermes pointed to Bravo’s dismissal as the turning point and the most egregious of the decisions that went against Kansas City.
Ironically, it was Sporting that nearly scored from a Bravo free kick. But the ensuing counterattack and long ball behind the defense sent Gastón Puerari in alone on goal, setting up the controversial call that was judged a foul, dismissal and penalty.
“It changes the whole entire game,” Vermes said. “The linesman calls a corner. Omar kicked it out of bounds.”
And despite Kansas City’s fervent protests, Chicago took control with its man advantage, bossing the half’s final minutes as Vermes’ charges scrambled to organize themselves and make it to locker room.
Once there, though, Vermes said he had no doubt his team would fight its way back into the game with 300 of its own fans in the Toyota Park stands to support its efforts.
“I knew that we were going to score at least once, if not twice,” he said. “I had all the feeling in the world that we were going to come back in that game. There was no doubt in my mind.”
It turned out that feeling was spot on. First, center back Matt Besler swept in a loose ball to put pressure on the hosts. Halftime substitute Teal Bunbury added another later, but by that time Marco Pappa had scored on a brilliant move of his own, leaving Kansas City to fly home pointless.
Still, it was a valiant effort by a squad decimated by injuries (Michael Harrington, Júlio César, Luke Sassano, Ryan Smith and Korede Aiyegbusi) and international absences (Kei Kamara and Shavar Thomas).
With Júlio César ruled out late in the week – Vermes said the center back sliced his foot in training, requiring 18 stitches – Kansas City played Scott Lorenz and Chance Myers at outside back while Roger Espinoza tucked in to partner Besler.
“I think they did a serviceable job,” Vermes said. “Giving up goals the way we did, it was just a lack of cohesiveness at times for them.”
