In what was supposed to be a formality against a team who never won a CONCACAF Champions League game and a team Sporting Kansas City beat in Nicaragua with a weaker lineup, Sporting drew Real Esteli 1-1 at Sporting Park. The draw still means Sporting controls their destiny in the group stage but they now have to watch out for Olimpia. If Olimpia wins their game against Esteli, they will prepare for a showdown against Sporting where the winner will advance to the group stage. Sporting will advance if it’s a draw. Real Esteli, despite the draw is knocked out of the tournament and will have only the game against Olimpia left to play.
I know I don’t need to say that it was a bad game for Sporting. The fans know it, the team knows it, the players know it, everyone knows it and I’m sure everyone feels bad about it and wants to avenge that loss. You know it’s bad when Graham Zusi feels the need to go to Twitter to apologize to the fans for the embarrassing performance. At least it shows the players do care about what happens and I’d much rather have players who care and lose than players who don’t care and win. I’m just a little confused as to how a team can win in Nicaragua with a weaker lineup but then draw to the same team in Kansas. I thought Central America was supposed to be the hostile environment that American teams cannot win in. Never thought it would be tougher to win in Central America than in central, America.
As far as the game went, there were a few instances where Sporting failed to take advantage in order to get the three points. The two big things that Sporting could’ve prevented was the lack of finishing from all over the team and the midfield. Benny Feilhaber and Peterson Joseph specifically, seemed to hold the team behind in the midfield. They both seemed to turn over the ball way too easily and when it was turned over, they didn’t really make it tough for Esteli to get the ball back. That disconnect really disrupted the team and surely held things up.
I’m reading a book right now by Chris Anderson and David Sally called “The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know About Soccer Is Wrong.” In it, they talk about analytics in soccer and show that some statistics should be looked at more over others in terms of judging a team’s success. Even though Sporting had 66% possession, possession is an overrated statistic and doesn’t guarantee success. A stat like turnovers is a better stat to look at and Sporting suffered with turnovers, especially in the final third of the pitch. That played into more of the 1-1 draw than the 66% possession.
There were things Real Esteli had done that Sporting couldn’t control. It was no secret that Esteli was going to “park the bus” and play very defensively. And when they were leading, they resorted to time wasting and faking injuries to stretch the game. I actually had no problem with that while Esteli was leading. They knew they were the weaker team and they fought like hell to keep the lead and take the three points. I get that, it’s gamesmanship and that’s what every team does at a time like that. Every team does that and it happens to every team. What I had a problem was that they kept wasting time after Sporting equalized. Esteli needed to win in order to stay alive in Champions League and they still wasted time almost as if they were just fine to keep the draw and get knocked out. That infuriated me to no end and it’s actions like that, that people point to as to why they think soccer sucks. When you resort to time wasting even when it won’t benefit you but will still screw over your opponent, that’s something I can’t stand. Because Esteli was tied 1-1 and needed to win, it was inexcusable for them to hold back on the ball and not even try to get the win. Esteli has nothing to lose, they’re in the same situation if they draw or lose so go for the win and try to get into the knockout stage instead of giving up.
Anyway, while it was a tough pill to swallow, it’s a game Sporting Kansas City needs to forget as soon as possible. Sporting has a game against Toronto FC this Saturday at 4:00 PM eastern. It’ll be the free stream of the week on mlssoccer.com so feel free to check it out. It’ll be a big game for Sporting, like all games as they fight for the top of the Eastern Conference. While they’re all but out of the playoffs, Toronto is focusing on trying to set things up for next season and you never know what a team is capable of when they have nothing to lose like the situation Toronto is in now.
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