Sporting KC gives outstanding performance in home win against Austin FC
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A sequence that began with Johnny Russell using his left foot to dribble past a defender at the midfield line ended with a swirling left-footed cross with the outside of the foot in the box to a Stephen Afrifa goal to Sporting Kansas City’s 2-0 win over Austin FC.
Russell used his dribble move to beat Austin left back Guilherme Biro and make a run down the right flank with only two center backs in sight and no defender close to him as Biro sprinted back towards the box.
It’s Sporting’s first win since snapping their 10-game winless streak against the Seattle Sounders at Children’s Mercy Park on June 8.
Royals frustrated after controversial home run call in loss to Guardians
Afrifa said he saw that Russell didn’t look up until he got in the box.
“I was kind of worried but right at the end, he looked up, seen me and it was all good. Just have to focus and put it in the back of the net,” Afrifa said.
“My first intention was obviously to cut inside and I was gonna take it on my own,” Russell said. “Just the way the played developed, I seen his run, I felt it was a little bit maybe too tight for me to try and bend it in the far corner. Seeing him come flying and obviously I just put it across goal.
“He gets his reward for making, making the run and Stephen’s been brilliant for us recently as well. I spoke about it at the beginning of the year that he was someone to look out for. It took a little bit of a while for him to find his feet this season, but I think everyone’s starting to see what we were talking about now.”
It was one of Sporting’s best performances of the season as they lived in Austin’s attacking third with 64% possession in the first half and 51% for the match. SKC also held Austin to two shots (none on goal) as they racked up 15 shots of their own.
“There was a high level of concentration and focus in the game,” head coach Peter Vermes said. “I believe that we stayed very disciplined to the concepts, to our model of play, and to the things that we normally do very well. And so that’s why you put yourself in a good position like this.”
They also got their first clean sheet since March 9 in front of 18,722 of their fans at home.
“Coming back home”: Bo Jackson describes return to KC for Royals HOF induction
“I woke up today and I knew today was gonna be a good day,” right back Kayden Pierre said. Vermes lauded him with “one of the best games he’s played since he’s been here”. Pierre told goalkeeper Tim Melia on Friday that the team would get a shutout and they got Melia the shutout with any saves from the keeper.
“I felt really good today,” Pierre said. “So honestly, I think I’m finally getting back into the swing of things I would say. I just woke up and I said, I feel like a winner today. I don’t know what it was. I just felt good.”
Sporting’s fullbacks teamed up for the first goal of the match with Pierre sending a cross to the left side of the box that bounced to left back Tim Leibold. Leibold’s shot bounced off of a defender on the way to the right side of the net.
Russell was all over the pitch contributing two blocked shots of defense and won seven of his 15 ground duels. Russell embodied the concentration and passion that SKC played with on Saturday that they hope will translate to wins and improve their 4-12-5 record that has them at 13th in the Western Conference, 11 points outside of a playoff position.
Temwa’s record-setting night helps Current beat Dash, break NWSL record
“We spoke about, obviously time’s running out,” Russell said. “We’re at the same sort of scenario we were last year after the Leagues Cup, we had a certain amount of games left and we spoke about how many we were probably going to have to go and win. We’re under no illusions of how difficult we’ve made it for ourselves.
“We know out of the last 14, we’re probably going to have to go and win nine, 10 of them. We’ve won the first one. We’re going into a difficult place on Thursday against a team who’s doing very well this season. We’re due a performance and a win there. Hopefully, this is the one that we can turn that sort of form around. I don’t actually think I’ve won there since I’ve been here, so that’s something that I would like to get off my back.”
Sporting is on the road on Thursday, the 4th of July, against the fourth-place Colorado Rapids at 8:30 p.m.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
