Sporting Kansas 1-1 FC Dallas
Sporting Kansas City settled for a 1-1 draw against FC Dallas in the team’s MLS home opener at Sporting Park on Saturday. Aurelien Collin scored in the 81st minute on a corner kick from Benny Feilhaber, however Matt Hedges headed home a free kick from Michel in the 90th minute to split the points.
Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes
On giving up another late goal…
It’s unacceptable and it’s not who we are. I’m not happy and the guys know it. It’s not who we are. We have been very good the first five minutes of every game, the last five minutes of each half, the first five minutes of the second half … we’ve been very good. So it’s not something that is going to continue, I can tell you that.
Thoughts on the match …
I thought the first 30 minutes, I don’t think there was any question who was the team on the field. But also, there are certain aspects of that half, where we didn’t do something we wanted to do, which was completely against what we were trying to execute. I actually thought we were patient because we had to be. When a team drops off on you, it’s very difficult. They got numbers behind the ball and we are not a team that is going to whack it up the field, we don’t play that way. So it’s not the easiest of situations. We did break them a few times and get on the counter. When we did, I thought we went to goal very well.
On the second half…
I thought the second half, we were in and around their box way too many times to only score one goal. We should have scored more goals for sure. We were in and around their box and had great opportunities, but the final pass was not there.
On team rotation leading to late goals…
It’s all part of it. It’s one thing when you are a very young team, but we are a team that has quite a bit of experience in their group and to give up that goal at the end … and we had three guys in the wall so we had more than enough guys to cover what they had.
FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja
Thoughts on the match…
First, I have to say that it’s great to come to Kansas City and play in this atmosphere. Congratulations to [Sporting Kansas City], a great franchise. It’s an honor for us to come and share this game. The first 30 minutes, Kansas City put us on our heels and had a lot of corner kicks. We gave away a lot and it was overwhelming in that moment. But our team showed a lot of character, started to wake up and have some control. We got some options, handled the game and at the end of the first half, we found a game that was both ways. We started to gain more control of the game.
Thoughts on the second half…
In the second half we looked very organized. As I said, FC Dallas has very good discipline and a lot of shape. We knew that Kansas City was going to throw bodies in and it’s a characteristic for them to play aggressive, but I thought we controlled that.
On coming back from a goal down…
After [Aurelien] Collin’s goal, we drove hard. That’s why I’m very proud tonight. We showed a lot of character. Our team is going to do big things this year.
