SAN JOSE, Calif. -- After a 4-1-0 start to 2016, Sporting Kansas City have landed back at .500.
And regardless of what might have been in Sporting’s 1-0 loss against the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday, Sporting will still take a three-match losing streak out of the Bay Area -- a locale where they haven’t won since 2000.
The Quakes (4-2-2) jumped past Sporting (4-4-0) in the Western Conference standings on the strength of Chris Wondolowski’s 59th-minute penalty kick, but it was a PK shout that went unanswered that dominated the post-game discussions.
“It is a long season, a marathon and not a sprint – however, we aren’t happy with the situation that we’re in,” SKC winger Brad Davis told MLSsoccer.com. “We started off well. We’re on three straight losses. No excuses for today, although I do feel like we were a little bit hard done today with that penalty.”
Davis was referring to the 55th-minute decision by referee Jair Marrufo not to blow his whistle after Kansas City striker Dom Dwyer went down inside San Jose’s penalty area under a challenge from Quakes defender Andres Imperiale.
Although Vermes was adamant about the play deserving both a penalty kick and red card for Imperiale, neither came to pass. And SKC, despite shelling San Jose for a good portion of the first half, never forced another save from David Bingham, who had five at intermission.
“I thought we controlled a lot of the game,” Vermes said. “I don’t think we gave up too much in the game in regards to the kind of chances we created compared to them. We did more than enough to come out of here with something, for sure.”
One possible silver lining: Sporting will have a chance to wash out the taste of Sunday’s outcome in short order with a date Wednesday night in Vancouver.
“This is a good group, a unified group,” Davis said. “We have an opportunity in three days to make this all go away and start putting together some wins. That’s what we plan on doing. We’re going to move past this and stick together.”
