Beyond the Box Score: High-pressing Sporting KC held by deep-lying Real Salt Lake

When Saturday’s match at Sporting Park drew to a close, two perennial MLS Cup contenders fielding similar 4-3-3 formations found themselves in near-identical positions: level on the scoreboard and level in the fledgling Western Conference standings.

In a repeat result of last year’s fixture between the clubs, Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake played to a scoreless draw to keep the sides tied for third in the West.

While both Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake have employed 4-3-3 formations to secure nine points through Week 6, the manner in which they approached Saturday’s match was vastly different.

The graphic below charts the tackles (green), interceptions (blue) and fouls conceded (red)—three indicators of defensive pressure—for Real Salt Lake (left) and Sporting KC (right). Here we see the discrepancy between the 4-3-3 setups. Just as Real Salt Lake was content to sit back and absorb pressure in their defensive half, Sporting KC committed numbers forward and pressed their opponents further up the field. In the opposite half, Real Salt Lake recorded two interceptions and one foul while Sporting KC notched eight tackles, three inteceptions and seven fouls.

The end product of this tactical battle was 90 minutes of territorial control for the hosts and hardly a sniff of goal for the visitors. Consider the following:

• Real Salt Lake logged one chance created on Saturday, the team’s fewest in the Opta era (2011-present). Conversely, Sporting KC created 10 chances.
• Real Salt Lake’s four total shots were the second fewest in team history. Three of those four were from at least 30 yards out; two were immediately blocked by defenders.
• Real Salt Lake was held to zero shots on goal for only the fourth time in team history.
• Sporting KC held an opponent to zero shots on goal for only the ninth time in team history (first time since May 5, 2013).
• Sporting KC wasn’t required to make a single clearance in the first half. Their zero clearances were the fewest in a single half during the Opta era (2011-present). The previous low was four.

At the end of the night, however, it was mission accomplished for Real Salt Lake. Jeff Cassar’s side continued their miserly ways on the road this season, posting a third straight shutout away from home. RSL has one road goal in 270 minutes of action but five points to show for it, largely due to their compact shape in the 4-3-3.

Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes acknowledged as much during his postgame press conference.

"We created a lot of chances around their goal. I don´t know if there were necessarily many clear-cut chances," Vermes said. "You have to give [Real Salt Lake] credit for that as well. They sat back. It is not like they came out flying. They sat back to come in here and to do what they did, which was to try and get a point."

Saturday’s outcome—a 0-0 draw in which both teams combined for one shot on goal, the fewest in a match in Sporting KC history—was characteristic of how several MLS matches have unfolded during the first six weeks of 2015.

The match was the ninth scoreless draw of the 2015 regular season (17.3 percent of all games played), already half the number of scoreless draws in all of 2014.  Likewise, MLS is averaging 2.12 goals per game this season, down from 2.86 last year.

Scoreless draws and goals per game (MLS regular season)