Sporting Kansas City celebrates a goal against Austin FC at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas on June 29, 2024
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A sequence that started with Johnny Russell using his left foot to dribble past a defender on the midfield line ended with a spinning left-footed outside-of-the-box cross in a Stephen Afrifa goal for Sporting . Kansas City’s 2-0 win over Austin FC.
Russell used his dribble to beat Austin left back Guilherme Biro and made a run down the right wing with only two center backs in sight and no defenders near him as Biro sprinted back into the box.
It is Sporting’s first win since their 10-match winless streak was snapped against the Seattle Sounders at Children’s Mercy Park on June 8.
Afrifa said she saw Russell didn’t look up until he entered the box.
“I was kind of worried, but in the end, he looked up, saw me and everything was fine. We just have to focus and put it in the back of the net,” Afrifa said.
“My first goal was obviously to wait inside and get it myself,” Russell said. “The way the game went, I saw his run, I felt it was a little bit maybe too tight for me to try and bend it into the far corner. Watching it fly and I obviously just scored it.
“He gets his reward for doing, making the run and Stephen has also been brilliant for us recently. I talked about it earlier in the year that he was someone to watch out for. It took a while for him to find his feet this season, but I think everyone is starting to see what we were talking about now.”
It was one of Sporting’s best performances of the season as they lived in Austin’s attacking third with 64% possession in the first half and 51% for the match. SKC also held Austin to two shots (none on goal) as they made 15 shots of their own.
“There was a high level of concentration and focus in the game,” coach Peter Vermes said. “I believe that we have stayed very disciplined with concepts, with our game model and with the things that we normally do very well. And that’s why you put yourself in a good position like this.”
They also picked up their first clean sheet since March 9 in front of their 18,722 home fans.
“I woke up today and I knew today was going to be a good day,” right back Kayden Pierre said. Vermes praised him with “one of the best games he’s played since he’s been here.” Pierre told goaltender Tim Melia on Friday that the team was going to get a shutout, and they got Melia shutout with every save from the goaltender.
“I felt really good today,” said Pierre. “So, honestly, I think I’m finally getting back into the swing of things that I was going to say. I just woke up and said, today I feel like a winner. I don’t know what it was. It just felt good.”
Sporting’s defenders combined for the first goal of the game with Pierre sending a cross into the left side of the box that was deflected to left back Tim Leibold. Leibold’s shot deflected off a defender on its way to the right side of the net.
Russell was all over the field contributing two blocked shots on defense and won seven of his 15 ground balls. Russell epitomized the focus and passion SKC played with Saturday that they hope will translate into wins and improve their 4-12-5 record that has them in 13th place in the Western Conference, 11 points out of a playoff spot.
“We talked about, obviously, time is running out,” Russell said. “We’re in the same kind of scenario as we were last year after the League Cup, we had a certain amount of games left and we talked about how much we had to go and win. We have no illusions about how hard we’ve made it on ourselves.
“We know that out of the last 14, we’re probably going to have to go and win nine, 10 of them. We won the first one. We are going to a tough place on Thursday against a team that is doing very well this season. We need a performance and a win there. Hopefully, this is where we can get that kind of shape back. I actually don’t think I’ve won there since I’ve been here, so that’s something I’d like to get off my back.”
Sporting is on the road Thursday, July 4 against the fourth-place Colorado Rapids at 8:30 p.m.
