Sporting Kansas City threw away three points Saturday night despite holding a 2-0 lead at halftime, with head coach Peter Vermes disappointed with how his team managed the final 10 minutes of the contest.
The hosts found themselves in desirable position at the interval thanks to strikes from Nemanja Radoja and William Agada and were on top with the clean sheet still intact with just under 20 minutes to play. That’s when it all fell apart for SKC, as Eriq Zavaleta’s 72nd minute goal spurred the Galaxy on to tying the game up just three minutes later in the form of Dejan Joveljic.
The final 10 minutes proved to be costly for SKC, as their 2-0 lead vanished into thin air with Marco Delgado’s 80th minute strike that was enough to seal the victory for the visitors. A win would’ve kept Vermes’ side near the top of the Western Conference standings, but their late collapse saw them sink to ninth in the division with six points from five games played.
“The whole idea is to win. You have got to manage situations. You can’t just chalk it up to just 10 minutes. You have to realize also that in those 10 minutes, you also could have done something different,” Vermes said postgame. “Even after the second goal, you could have done something. You lock something down. Our sport is a little different. It’s not like I call a time out to regroup everybody and take the steam out. The game is going.”
Even with a formation change due to injuries and the international break, the hosts dominated the box score with 26 shots (nine on target) creating an xG worth 2.58. Vermes noted that the end result wasn’t necessarily the end of the world but one that leaves a sour taste in their mouths.
“What’s interesting is that, normally speaking in a situation like this if normally we’re in our 4-3-3 and we’re playing with a holding midfielder, I’d probably move to two late in the game just to kind of clog the middle. And we were already in that, so there really wasn’t much of a change there. You have got to give credit to them as well. They played some good stuff. The sky is not falling, but we gave away a really big opportunity today,” he said.
The Galaxy boast some of the best attackers in all of MLS, with Riqui Puig leading from the midfield while Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec wreak havoc in the wider areas of the field. Vermes believes that his team contained them quite well for the most part, but the small moments when his…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at 90min EN…