Ugh....
On a night where the Dynamo were matched up with rivals SKC in a packed Children's Mercy Park, they somehow clung to a 1-0 lead at the half. That game shortly turned right after the break, when Peter Vermes' squad began to completely expose flaws in this Dynamo squad. Yes, Gianluca Busio's strike was perfection on the free-kick, but the foul that led to it was indicative of the problems that the Dynamo were having in the defending third all night. The cracks were apparent early. Sporting found their way through on their very first possession of the game. It took .22 seconds for Gadi Kinda to find a way through on the wing, and the Dynamo were lucky that Zarek Valentine drew a foul. Immediately you could see that Sporting KC's press was going to cause problems, and without a player capable of breaking them down through the middle on the pitch we had to hope that Tabs team could hold them off the scoreboard. At 2:55, Khiry Shelton blew by Boniek only to find the pass from Ille Sanchez a foot too long. The Dynamo managed to connect one pass before Adam Lundkvist gave it back at midfield. KC was dominating possession and finding gaping wholes that led to a numbers advantage on literally every attack. In the first 5 minutes of play, the Dynamo connected on a grand total of 4 passes, and never held the ball across midfield.
Kansas City was completely unfazed, they simply went right back to work. Sporting was methodical, they moved the ball, they found open space, and if they didn't get what they wanted from a possession they simply went and got the ball back. The Dynamo didn't cross midfield again until the 22-minute mark, and that was off an errant pass by Sporting KC. They didn't connect on a single pass across midfield until Tim Parker found Vera on a 30-yard strike at the 33-minute mark,(which Vera couldn't control and gave back). They didn't enter the attacking third until the 37-minute mark when Derrick Jones finally won a challenge just right of the box but that possession ended with Jones being stuck in the corner and giving it back after he crossed the touchline. There was no attack in the attack. The Dynamo didn't complete a pass in the final third again until the 41st minute, and in reality it was only their second completed pass in the final third for the entire half.
The second half began the same, with Sporting winning 3 straight corners in the 1st minute of the half. On the third, Urruti played a deep ball to Fafa, but Graham Zusi chased it down with a wonderful sliding tackle. Down 1-0, Sporting was in no hurry to change the game plan. They were methodical, moving the ball and moving the Dynamo like a chess match. That all culminated from minute 50-60. KC didn't just win this 10 minutes, they had dominated the game in every way and were losing 1-0. When Busio hit that amazing free-kick (and make no mistake, it as a tremendous strike), you knew we were in trouble. On back-to-back plays: (1) Derrick Jones had gotten the ball taken away from him in a bad position leading to Salloi's run (2) The ensuing corner, Valentine had a terrible header into the middle of the field that led to Vera's foul. The Dynamo simply couldn't connect anything or get the ball across midfield. They won their first corner at the 53rd minute. Tim Parker got a nice head on it, but Melia was in the right place to knock it away. The Dynamo looked like they were going to break ahead off the counter at the 57-minute mark. Fafa had chased down a deflection by Vera and had a 2 on 1 with Urruti. He played a really nice chipper over the defender leaving Urruti alone with the keeper. Urruti took too many touches, got chased down from behind, and had the ball taken away from him by 2 KC defenders. Soon after Pulido got the go-ahead instead on his penalty, then Kenda got free on the counter. This was the first counter-attack goal the Dynamo have given up this year, and it couldn't have come at a worse time. Lassiter came on for Memo shortly thereafter, and the combination of fresh legs and some speed opposite Fafa seemed to spark the team a little, but Lassiter immediately gave the ball away trying to take on Zusi and whiffed at a tremendous chance off a pinpoint cross from Fafa. Darwin Ceren helped hold down the midfield and was the best Dynamo player in the midfield at stringing passes together on the night.
The Dynamo attack looked better after Lassiter and Ceren came on, Bajamich came on at the 79-minute mark for Vera and gave a little spark. He earned a corner on his very first touch and got his head on the ensuing corner. He got the assist on Urruti's goal and really put some pressure on KC's backline both going forward and in the press. Urruti got the late consolation goal, but it was too little too late. The Dynamo are a terrible road team, and this year has done nothing to change that. They are (and excuse me if I use the European style here) 0 (wins) 1 (draw) 3 (losses) on the year, after going 1-4-7 last year and 1-0-15 the year before. In 2018 they went 2-5-11 on the road, making them 4-9-36 on the road over the last four years.
It was worse than the final score, and your eyes said:
Sporting KC was better, faster, stronger, more physical, quicker on the ball, literally whatever you want to say, Sporting was it. They dominated all the key stats: 69% Possession, 21 Shots (9 on target) to 10 by the Dynamo, 665 passes to 328, 20 interceptions and 23 tackles, and 11 corners to 4. Sporting simply dominated this game, yet the Dynamo had a real chance to pick up points. Urruti and Lassiter both had real chances to get goals. Urruti took too many chances and let the defense catch up, and Lassiter swung and missed at a sure-fire goal after a great cross from Fafa.
Marco Maric kept the Dynamo in it for a half:
His save on Roger Espinosa's attempt at the 39th minute was superb. His diving save on Khiry Shelton's header at the 41st minute was also tremendous. He got just enough on Daniel Salloi's 49th-minute attempt that Ludqinst was able to knock it away. After a tremendous through ball by Gadi Kenda, Salloi was alone with Maric streaking down the right flank. Maric just got his armpit on it and slowed it down just enough for Adam to get there. He had another tremendous save on yet another free-kick strike from Busio in the 82nd minute keeping the Dynamo somewhat in the game.
He didn't even try to play the ball from Busio, but honestly, he had no chance if he had. He guessed wrong on Pulido's penalty kick, but Pulido is a bona fide goal scorer with experience, not many keepers are stopping that. His distribution was actually good, and you know that because you didn't notice it. Marco is showing consistently that he is a good keeper, but he needs more help in front of him.
Vera and Jones were surprisingly terrible in possession, and Corona disappeared:
Jones' soft lay down in the 48th minute was somewhat indicative of his game. He gave the ball away on the play that led to Salloi's attempt, he gave the ball away on the play that led to Kenda's goal. What made the play worse is he pouted and trotted back while Vera was scrambling trying to set in between Parker and Boniek. This compressed the defense and left Kenda all alone on the left flank. Busio actually had 2 to chose from. Memo beat him back to the midfield, even Maxi Urruti beat him there. After several weeks of glowing reviews, this outing as a major disappointment. He had moments, but he wasn't there going forward. He got frustrated and it looked like his frustrations got the better of him.
Vera's foul on Kenda was the spark that ignited the fire. You can say what you want about the call, but it looked like an unquestionable foul to me. It was Vera's second foul, and while I applaud his effort he was already sitting on a Yellow and was lucky he didn't get a second one. He had uncharacteristically given the ball away several times in bad positions in the first half, and couldn't find open space in the midfield. When he got the ball, Busio was on him like glue. Memo only attempted 19 passes through his 79 minutes of play, and while he was his usual accurate self (16/19), only one of them was a progressive pass (downfield of more than 10 or more yards). He had a season-low 1 recovery. He was second to the ball more often than usual, and it wasn't for lack of effort. He didn't even get credit for trying to dribble past a single KC defender. While Vera strings things together nicely at times, he looked like he was fending off a swarm of angry bees for most of this match. He also committed 5 fouls in the midfield altogether. Just not a great night from Matias.
I don't even know where Corona was, the only times I noticed him, he was giving the ball away. 0 tackles, 1 interception, 18 pressures, and was owned by Busio for most of the night.
Boniek was no match for KC's front line:
He was beaten early and often by everyone who matched up against him. He was drawn up high on Khiry Shelton's header, leaving a wide-open space for the big man to run into. His clearance right after halftime almost ended up as an own goal. Boniek was soo bad, if you took the foul that led to the penalty away, he still played a terrible game. While the stats show that he was busy (4 interceptions, 6 clearances, 90% Passing Rate), he committed 4 fouls and was routinely beaten or out of position. Part of that stat accumulation is just simply because of how much Sporting had the ball in their attacking third. Sporting was targeting him, and the way they were creating movement on his side was putting him in really bad spots. Khiry Shelton would drop deep, creating space for Espinosa to run in behind. This was putting Ludkqvist in a bad spot, and creating a 2-1 between Espinosa, Pulido, and Garcia. When the ball was opposite, Pulido would hold Garcia while Shelton ran into the space behind him in the box. This was what led to the penalty. Pulido cut across in front of Boniek, who reached for the ball poorly. You can't make this foul in the box. It's a foul every single day, every single time, at every level. A vet like Boniek should know better. He had another terrible foul on Johnny Russell in the 81st minute that led to a yellow card and Busio almost banged home another one. He got beat badly by Russell again in the 86th minute, trying to track down a ball and completely left Tim Parker hanging out to dry 1 v 3 with an entire half-pitch of grass at Sporting KC's disposal. That one took Maxi Urruti tracking all the way back to stop. This was by far Boniek's worst game of the year.
Other notes:
- Where was Memo? In the first half, Memo had a total of 6 touches. Of the touches he got, 5 were on the wrong side of midfield and resulted in a back pass or a turnover, and 1 touch was in the final third and resulted in a cross. His first touch in the second half, he dribbled into a trap, tried to split it, and gave the ball back instead. On his second touch of the second half, he fell down and got a handball call. He was subbed off in the 65th minute, but was nonexistent most of this game.
- Maxi Urruti was unbelievable tracking back. He raced back to stop a goal in the 87th minute, and constantly throughout the game you saw him race back to take a midfield position after someone was caught too high. It was nice to see him get the goal, but his defensive work was tremendous in this game. Also, Urruti now has more goals than Manotas had last year.
- Busio and Kenda combined for 62 pressures, 5 interceptions, 7 tackles, 4 blocks, and 117 passes completed. Oh, and they also nabbed 2 goals and 1 assist.
Yellow Card Watch:
Thanks again for reading,
#HoldItDown and remember to stay #ForeverOrange
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