Peter Vermes was upset with call in Sporting KC loss. He brought a tablet to show why

Alan Pulido scored in his second straight match, but Sporting KC couldn’t overcome an early deficit, falling on the road to Minnesota United FC 2-1.

Of course, it wasn’t quite as simple as that, and manager Peter Vermes made sure to drive that point home in his post-match news conference, showing a play he believed to be offside that resulted in a Minnesota United goal.

“If you look where Dany (Rosero) is and where their player is, it’s easy to see,” Vermes said, pointing out the play on a tablet. “Look at the line. Look where the player is when he hits the ball. He’s offside.

“There’s no way VAR should miss that. ... That is completely unacceptable that (the call) is a missed play. It’s so easy to see it.”

That goal, naturally, was the sticking point following Saturday’s match. But there were two other goals and plenty else to note.

In fact, Sporting KC couldn’t have had a worse start. The club conceded a corner 30 seconds in and gave up a goal in the first minute. Robin Lod flicked the ball from the near post to a waiting Michael Boxall, who tapped in the goal.

Then, the controversy.

In the 25th minute, Tani Oluwaseyi tapped the ball into an empty net at the back post. The play appeared right on the edge of a potential offside call, but the video assistant referee (VAR) didn’t deem it a clear and obvious error.

Pulido pulled a goal back for Sporting just 12 minutes later, drilling a pass from Daniel Salloi into the net. Pulido now has three goals on the season.

“This goal for me is nothing because we lose, and we came here for a win,” Pulido said after the match. Sporting sits at 2 wins, 3 losses and 5 draws through 10 matches.

Vermes had his own take on Sporting’s goal. He felt the players kept their heads about them and stayed locked in despite coming up short.

“When you go down two-nil, you can lose yourself in the game,” Vermes said. “We didn’t do that. We actually were smart, we kept our cool, we kept our concentration.”

Pulido agreed, noting Sporting did a better job of keeping possession. But he wants to see the team do that more from the start of the match.

“When the games start, we need to push, we need to go forward,” Pulido said. “Because when we have the ball, we play very good. We have a lot of opportunities.”

That they did, maybe none better than Willy Agada’s chance in the first half. He took a cross from Tim Leibold and did well to control it, but he blasted his shot high from point-blank range.

Salloi also had a one-on-one opportunity with the goalkeeper, but he was shielded into shooting with his weaker foot and pulled a shot wide of the goal.

Sporting returns to action next Saturday against Real Salt Lake at 8:30 p.m. Central.