For a manager who'd just seen his team take its fourth loss in five matches – and watched one of his top scorers draw a red card in the process – Peter Vermes never deviated from the even-keel approach he preaches in both high and low moments.
But while his tone remained level, the Sporting Kansas City manager’s assessment of his club's struggles in those four losses was frank and emphatic.
“You can't give up soft goals,” Vermes told reporters after 1771668443" tabindex="0">Sunday night's 3-1 away loss to Orlando City SC. “Can't give up soft goals. You cannot give up soft goals, because you can't keep chasing games. And we're giving up soft goals. That's probably the simplest thing. You can't give up soft goals.”
Vermes didn't lay 1771668444" tabindex="0">Sunday night's defensive woes at the feet of goalkeeper Jon Kempin – making his first MLS appearance of the year because Tim Melia was held out with a left quad strain – or on his back line.
“It's everyone,” Vermes said. “The first goal is a set piece, and everybody's back, and you've got to mark your man, and what are you doing?”
The answer: not marking well enough. With less than three minutes gone in the match, Adrian Winter made Sporting pay for the lapse with his first of two goals on the night – and the season.
And while the visitors pulled even on Krisztian Nemeth's top-shelf strike just before the hour, it wasn't long before Orlando City retook the lead on a long attack out of the back, capped by Bryan Rochez's finish of Brek Shea's cross in the 66th minute.
In that case, Vermes said, the Lions took advantage of Sporting's bad reaction to their failure to win an aerial duel, with Shea getting too much room to operate after the ball fell to him in space.
“We don't recover correctly,” Vermes said. “We're expecting our guy to win it, when defensively you always expect the worst.”
Melia was coming off his eighth clean sheet across all competitions – 1771668445" tabindex="0">Wednesday's scoreless away draw with Portland – but was held out as a precaution 1771668446" tabindex="0">on Sunday.
“He had a little bit of a strain in his quad,” Vermes said, “and we didn't want to create a worse injury, so we thought it was best to give him a rest since we had two games so close to each other.”
Melia could be available for 1771668447" tabindex="0">Friday's home match against FC Dallas – but barring a successful appeal from Sporting, center forward Dom Dwyer won't be. Dwyer, whose nine league goals tie him with Nemeth for the club lead, was issued a straight red card late in 1771668448" tabindex="0">Sunday night's match after exchanging shoves in Orlando City's penalty area with defender David Mateos.
Replays showed that while Mateos went down grabbing his face, the exchange – which ended with Dwyer chest-bumping Mateos in the left arm and shoulder – never included any contact above the neck.
“I'm sure you saw the same thing I did, which is two guys pushed each other and the guy grabbed his face and fell,” Vermes said. “Unless there's something I don't see on the replay, because I only saw it once before I got on the phone.”
Vermes stopped short of guaranteeing an appeal, though, saying he needed more information before deciding whether to pursue one.
“If it does not portray what actually happened then we will fight it,” Vermes said of referee Jair Marrufo's decision to go for his back pocket. “But I need to see a little more of the clips and I also need to understand more from the referees. I want to see their report. I got the verbal on the field of what it was – at least second- or third-hand – but now I need to see what's in the report.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
