SANDY, Utah — Sporting Kansas City faces a Western Conference knockout round match for the fourth straight season this Thurs., Oct. 26 at the Houston Dynamo (8:30 pm CT, FSKC, UniMás, TSN, TVAS). The previous three ended with SKC being eliminated.
Based on what Peter Vermes saw in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake, the SKC head coach plans to turn things around to break that streak.
A lack of effort, especially in the first half, is what Vermes wants to avoid against repeated foes Houston. He also said there are similarities between the Dynamo and RSL in how explosive both teams can be, offensively, if Sporting don't stay on their toes.
The other question mark for SKC is goalkeeper Tim Melia. He's missed the last three games due to injury, and while an extra day would help, it may not be the determining factor in whether Melia is ready for Houston.
“Every day is going to count, but that’s not our problem by any means,” Vermes said.
Melia’s backup, Andrew Dykstra, hasn’t played poorly, but Melia was stellar this season, only giving up .78 goals per game and recording 10 shutouts as Kansas City gave up the fewest goals of any team in the league.
Dykstra is confident from what he’s seen this season that Kansas City will be ready, whether or not Melia is in the starting XI. "It’s just a matter of getting our stuff together for the week,” he said.
Despite a league-leading defense, Kansas City dropped from top of the Western Conference to fifth place to finish the regular season.
“The fact that we’re not one or two is very disappointing to me,” Vermes said.
“You can’t play like this if you want to keep going in the playoffs,” he also said. “In the league itself, if you don’t come with effort you’re never going to win. Maybe this was a really good opportunity for us to get a wakeup call going into the playoffs.”
