Sporting Kansas City aren’t your typical eight-seed in the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs. Far from it.
SKC, the Western Conference’s best team since early May, delivered a massive upset Sunday night against their newfound rival, cruising to a 4-1 victory at top-seeded St. Louis CITY SC.
Winning a Decision Day do-or-die contest vs. Minnesota United FC. Using penalty kicks to beat the San Jose Earthquakes in a Wild Card matchup. Taking the Round One Best-of-3 series lead vs. a club that had their number in the regular season.
Peter Vermes’ squad, after a 10-game winless start to the season, just keeps finding a way as of late.
“There's no doubt that we've had to scratch, scrape, bite, fight – all the things that you can throw out there,” the manager and sporting director said postgame at CITYPARK. “We've had to do all those things since May 1. As everybody knows, it's well-documented where we were.
“So every game that we went into, we've had to get a result, we've had to get points. As the season wound down, there was less and less room for mistakes or [bad] results. So the guys had to find a way to battle, time and time again.”
Kinda masterclass
That desperation turned into three long-range golazos in the first half vs. St. Louis: Logan Ndenbe’s left-footed strike (27’) on his first professional goal, Rémi Walter (36’) punishing a poor clearance and Gadi Kinda (39’) going top corner to establish a 3-1 lead the visitors never looked back from.
Kinda, rotated into the starting XI for Erik Thommy, produced a man-of-the-match performance with 1g/2a. Vermes praised how the DP No. 10, who missed all of the 2022 season with a knee injury, stepped up amid war in his home nation of Israel.
“Gadi has a lot of things on his mind with his home and his family and everything else,” Vermes said. “There was one game I threw him in right afterward and he was a little bit disconnected. I probably shouldn't have put him into that game that day, but he had said he was ready to go, he feels he's ready to contribute for the team.
“I thought he was a force today. He was exactly the person we needed when we brought him in here to begin with. Today he showed that he's kind of back to himself, which was very important for us.”
For good measure, Sporting KC scored a fourth goal through Dániel Sallói (61’) when he ghosted to the back post, slamming home Alan Pulido’s flicked-on header. Jokingly, the Hungary international said he doesn’t know what’s gotten into SKC over the last five months.
“That was a difficult time for us,” Sallói told MLS Season Pass. “But the way we recovered as a team and started to collect points, believed in each other, I think it's remarkable. We don't forget that [St. Louis] dominated this conference the whole year and there's a reason for that. I'm sure they're going to show that next week, so we've got to be prepared.”
Win & advance
For all SKC accomplished Sunday, it could be for naught if they don’t close the series on Nov. 5 back home at Children’s Mercy Park (5 pm ET | MLS Season Pass). A St. Louis win, in regulation time or penalty kicks, would prompt a Game 3 at CITYPARK on Nov. 11.
A Western Conference Semifinal spot against either Houston Dynamo FC (No. 4) or Real Salt Lake (No. 5) awaits whoever advances.
“We have to finish the job because I don't want to come back here,” Sallói deadpanned.
Sporting KC, who lost their two regular-season games at St. Louis by a combined 8-1 scoreline, have tossed a massive wrench into the postseason. Now it’s about completing the task.
“We hope the stadium will be on fire next weekend because we need that,” Walter said. “We need 12 guys. It's very important for us and we have to show that we will put a lot of pressure on them. We have to keep pushing together, so I hope the stadium will be full and on fire.”
