KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Forget the 24-hour rule. It's been several days since Sporting Kansas City's season ended in bitterness and controversy, and it's still hard to let it go.
“It still doesn't feel real,” winger Graham Zusi told reporters on Sunday, three days after Sporting were eliminated 1-0 by Seattle in the Western Conference Knockout Round. “For me, there's no reason why we shouldn't still be in the playoffs.”
Sporting lost despite giving up one shot on goal – Nelson Valdez's 88th-minute header, on a play in which replays appeared to show him offside. Throw in Matt Besler's disallowed header earlier in the second half – potentially onside, per replay – and referee Ismail Elfath's decision not to give a second yellow to Osvaldo Alonso for a hard foul to break up an attack, and Sporting can be excused for not being able to move on just yet.
Maybe ever.
“I don't think we can from this one,” Zusi said. “This one's a bit different. I don't know. We certainly haven't yet, obviously. This one's going to haunt us for a long time.”
Sporting have now been eliminated in the Knockout Round three straight times since winning the 2013 MLS Cup title, all three losses coming on the road and the last two coming in heartbreaking form.
In 2015, they conceded a late equalizer in extra time and then went 11 rounds in penalties before falling to eventual champions Portland, twice hitting the post – including Saad Abdul-Salaam's memorable double-post shot – when a conversion would have won it.
This one hurts worse, Zusi said.
“We did what we had to do to win this game, and we felt a bit like it was taken away from us,” he said, describing a shocked atmosphere in the locker room.
“For me, at least, it didn't feel real – like it had actually happened the way that it did. You saw people almost laughing at the situation, like it was a joke.”
If there's any small consolation to be taken from how the match played out, Besler said, it's that the subject of video replay can no longer be ignored.
“I don't make that decision,” he said, “but if you're asking my opinion, I think this sport should definitely have replay. I think it will have replay. I think we might look back, and that game we just played might be the game that everybody looks to and says, 'This is where it changed.'
“Because it was a game that was on national television, it was spotlighted across the country. I think everybody saw what occurred, so hopefully we can move forward from that. But if you're asking me? I think replay will definitely help.”
In July, International Football Association Board Technical Director David Elleray, told a media roundtable the earliest that MLS could receive clearance to add a video assistant referee up in the booth is 2017. MLS Commissioner Don Garber most recently outlined the league's efforts during an interview at MLS All-Star 2016, and the USL ran a live test during an August 12 matchup between MLS reserve sides New York Red Bulls II and Orlando City B.
