Sporting Kansas City confident but not cocky entering Sunday MLS playoff match at home

Sporting Kansas City had just taken care of St. Louis City SC in a rainy beatdown at CITY Field, and KC midfielder Remi Walter, one of Sporting’s four goal-scorers in last Sunday’s 4-1 playoff victory, had two things to say.

“It’s a very good start,” he offered.

But ...

“We know that the job is not done yet.”

Far from it, in fact.

Sporting KC will welcome a desperate St. Louis City to Children’s Mercy Park at 4 p.m. Sunday for the second meeting of their three-match best-of-three Major League Soccer postseason series.

Another Kansas City win in regulation time or a shootout would eliminate St. Louis, the top seed in the Western Conference, and send Sporting KC on to the next round.

Under past MLS Cup Playoffs formats, where aggregate scoring was a factor, an opening 4-1 win would’ve carried some added weight. And if this round featured a single-elimination format, Sporting would’ve already moved on.

“It would’ve been amazing, just thinking about it right now,” Sporting KC veteran Roger Espinoza said Friday. “But yeah, the score doesn’t mean anything.”

This territory is somewhat uncharted in modern MLS competition. Sporting KC was the only road team to win an opening game in these best-of-three series. Accordingly, Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes knows his side will be facing a desperate squad Sunday.

“It’s going to be a battle,” Vermes said. “The game’s gonna be an absolute battle because they have a really, really good team.”

In fact, St. Louis was the West’s best team in the regular season. They won the most games and had the best goal differential, winning twice as many road games as Sporting.

In the words of Espinoza, “They beat everybody’s butt.”

Including Sporting KC’s — twice. Losses by scores of 4-0 and 4-1 in St. Louis during the regular season made Sporting’s 4-1 win that much sweeter. But KC’s players and manager alike made it clear they aren’t dwelling on last weekend’s outcome.

“We’re paying against the best team,” Vermes said. “So we have to be on our A-game. I don’t know they have to be, and that’s the difference.”

Sporting KC respects St. Louis’ accomplishments, but this much is also true: Since May 1, Sporting has the best record in the West. They won six of their final nine regular-season matches, and that final-stretch mark was the best in the league.

Kansas City is confident and clicking at the right time, and that was evident in how Sporting approached last Sunday’s game. They let St. Louis have the ball a bit more, by design: St. Louis won just once all season in games in which they won the possession battle (beating man-down FC Dallas).

Last week, Sporting KC waited for opportune times to press. They’d win the ball back and then play forward quickly to bypass the counter-pressing St. Louis defense. Sporting played smart and the visitors to City Field were rewarded for it.

Contemplating what St. Louis could change for this weekend’s match at Children’s Mercy Park, the answer might be “not much.” And even if they get through regulation time tied, they’d have to overcome Sporting KC goalkeeper Tim Melia in a shootout.

“They come out and they play a very aggressive, high-pressing style,” Vermes said. “They do that. Everybody knows it. It’s nothing new. So I fully expect them to do the same thing here.”

Should St. Louis City SC prevail Sunday, there will be a third and deciding match in St. Louis at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11.

MLS fines Sporting KC’s Gadi Kinda for embellishment

The MLS Disciplinary Committee announced Friday afternoon that it has fined Sporting KC midfielder Gadi Kinda “an undisclosed amount for simulation-embellishment in the 47th minute against St. Louis CITY SC on October 29,” per MLS.