“Snake-bit.”
That’s the term Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes used to describe the familiar territory his team was entering Saturday against Seattle Sounders FC. Late in the game — tied — the visitors needed only to close out the game to earn a 0-0 result against one of the top Western Conference teams.
In recent years, a defensive lapse would have soon followed. However, Saturday, despite being shorthanded, Sporting KC held strong in front of 40,653 fans at CenturyLink Field to earn a critical point.
Though it wasn’t a win, Vermes was thrilled to get the monkey off his team’s back in terms of allowing late-game goals against the Sounders.
“Believe me, it’s one of those things that we talked about, how we’ve come here many times (and lost late in the game),” Vermes said. “It all comes down to really paying attention and being concentrated and playing every roll of the ball.
“What was great about it today was that the guys truly did that. They were locked in to everything. They were connected. The leadership of (Matt) Besler and Benny (Feilhaber) on the field was tremendous. It was very, very good.”
Entering the match, Sporting KC had allowed a goal to the Sounders in the 90th minute or later four times dating back 2011, including a 94th-minute goal scored by Chad Barrett last season in Seattle. The Sounders also struck in the 86th minute of the 2012 U.S. Open Cup, but Sporting KC rebounded to capture the trophy in penalty kicks.
This time around, Vermes said the group was mindful of the trend and what they could do to put a stop to it.
“It wasn’t a major part of our plan. It was more of a thing that we made sure we were aware of,” Vermes said. “Like I said, staying concentrated all the time and not relying on other people to tell you what to do. You need yourself to be connected to the game.”
Sporting KC was locked in Saturday. The visitors held the Sounders to one shot on goal, Seattle’s fewest at home in three regular seasons and the third fewest at home in the MLS era. They did so without a host of starters (Dom Dwyer, Marcel de Jong, Seth Sinovic, Roger Espinoza, Paulo Nagamura, Bernardo Anor), a mid-game injury to Jacob Peterson and playing all three of the club’s 2015 first-round draft picks.
“I think from the opening whistle to the end, I think what we were was completely locked in to when we had to drop the line or step up the line — north to south, east to west. I think the backline was excellent in that regard,” Vermes said. “I thought the midfielders did a good job making it very difficult for them to play through us in the midfield. The other piece was that we were very good fighting for second balls in good positions.”
Sporting KC will look to use the momentum from Saturday’s result and carry it into Friday’s Western Conference clash against FC Dallas. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. at Sporting Park.
