Beyond the Box Score: Sporting KC riding October hot streak

The month of October—it’s crunch time in Major League Soccer, the final stretch of an eight-month regular season marathon.

Results in October can make or break the campaigns of teams hovering above or below the red line. Wins can instill confidence for deep playoff runs, while losses can sap momentum or bounce clubs from postseason contention entirely.

After suffering five losses in six league games from late August to September, crunch time could not have come soon enough for Sporting Kansas City.

That’s because over the last four years, no team has matched the October success of Peter Vermes’ squad.

Friday’s enthralling 2-0 win over the archrival Chicago Fire at Sporting Park, highlighted by Graham Zusi’s jaw-dropping 80th-minute match-winner, clinched Sporting KC’s spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs for a fourth straight year. It also continued the side’s four-year trend of finding form during the regular season’s final month.

Since 2011, Sporting KC has an unbeaten 7-0-5 October record and an MLS-best .792 winning percentage. Even more impressive? The 12-game unbeaten streak includes eight road matches, eight clean sheets—five of which coming away from home—and just four goals conceded.

The ever-so-versatile Jacob Peterson, who filled in at left back Friday for his first appearance in two months due to injury, summed it up succinctly.

“Teams go through the playoffs by not giving up goals,” he said. “That’s how you advance.” 

Sporting KC’s late-season form helped deliver Eastern Conference regular season titles in 2011 and 2012 and heralded an MLS Cup championship in 2013. With four points and zero goals allowed in their first two contests this month, it’s been late-season business as usual for the club.

Of course, Friday’s win was far from easy. The match remained scoreless heading into the final 10 minutes, thanks in large part to terrific goalkeeping from Andy Gruenebaum. The Overland Park, Kansas native made six saves on the night—at least two of them of the spectacular variety—and in doing so, became the first Sporting KC keeper to make at least six saves in two straight MLS contests since Kevin Hartman in June 2008. Gruenebaum now has a 308-minute shutout streak dating back to Sept. 6, just 44 minutes short of the league's longest streak this season (Dan Kennedy, Chivas USA), and has a league-best .76 save percentage among keepers with at least four starts.

“The whole difference is our mentality,” Gruenebaum said of Sporting KC’s defense. “Not that we didn’t have it before, but we’re really showing it now at the right time. We want to get a clean sheet, we want to get that zero, and we’ll do whatever it takes—sacrifice our bodies or whatever it takes.”

As strong as Gruenebaum’s performance was, he may not have even been Man of the Match.

That title could arguably go to winger Graham Zusi, whose stunning left-footed strike from distance and inch-perfect cross to Dom Dwyer ensured Sporting KC of a playoff berth. With his fifth goal of the campaign, Zusi is the only MLS player to register at least five goals and seven assists in each of the last four seasons—a testament to his consistency as one of the league’s top performers. The U.S. international has played a forerunning role in vaulting Sporting KC into the upper echelon of MLS clubs, and his importance to the squad was showcased Friday night.

"Zusi scored a world-class goal, no doubt," Vermes said after the match. "And the same thing with the cross in the box. On that one Dom should be giving him a big kiss because he just had to stand there and jump up."

Should the October streak continue at the Philadelphia Union next Saturday and against the New York Red Bulls on Oct. 26, Sporting KC will enter the 2014 playoffs with no shortage of momentum to defend their title.

Sporting KC regular season results since 2011

7-0-5 (13 GF, 4 GA; 8 shutouts)

Top 10 MLS October records since 2011 (regular season)