Dom Dwyer frustrated after failing to give Sporting KC the lead. Photo: Graham Green
Few times since the injury to Roger Espinoza has the performance by Sporting Kansas City deserved applause but after a rugged rear guard action by the reserve players against high flying Seattle a draw never earned so much deserved praise as it did on a Sunday afternoon in September.
With a massive US Open Cup final looming on Wednesday Peter Vermes had to make tough decisions.
Either make wholesale changes for the home league match or risk having a very leggy team facing the Philadelphia Union in the third cup final in four years.
Vermes chose wholesale changes with only two starters from Wednesday’s defeat in Houston in the starting 11.
A first in club history was the inclusion of all three home grown players in the starting lineup in a league fixture as Kevin Ellis partnered Erik Palmer-Brown in central defense and Jon Kempin in goal.
Seattle was entering the match having won 4 of their last five in all competitions and riding a high after ensuring their passage to the knockout phase of the CONCACAF Champions league with a win midweek over Cascadia Cup rivals Vancouver.
Add in the additional fact of Seattle’s domination of Sporting in MLS play since their introduction into the league and many would have figured a mauling to the equivalence of a Bengal tiger against an unsuspecting Chital as the most likely result when they took a look at the days roster with so many omissions from SKC and a full strengh Sounders line-up.
Not the case.
The midfield combination of veteran Paulo Nagamura, new Spanish signing Jordi Quintilla and youth US international Mikey Lopez showed the burgeoning depth that again is coming through for Sporting, a sign that going forward things look good.
The performance that they put in while going up against the preferred first team of Seattle was commendable. One would expect total domination in all stat categories, and so it was during the first half when Obafemi Martins scored in the 32 minute.
The turn around in the second half, bolstered by the introductions of Soni Mustivar for Nagamura and Dom Dwyer, showed character by the reserves and the fact that the players knew the system that Vermes plays and that the tactics and not the players are why Sporting has had success since 2011 after years of failure and mediocrity.
Persistence paid off in getting the equalizer as Amadou Dia crossed a low level ball that went right through the Sounder defense for Dwyer to knock in the tying goal and as an adequate celebration nearly tackled Dia as a 69th consecutive league sellout went bonkers.
Next up is the very massive Cup final with the CONCACAF Champions League birth on the line and many dollars in salary allocation as an additional reward that will make things better in 2016.
Point in the bag with a reserve side, now get the big prize with the best starting 11.
