Sporting Kansas City extended the team’s home winning streak against San Jose to eight straight with a 1-0 victory over the Earthquakes on Saturday at Sporting Park. Dom Dwyer converted a penalty kick in the 57th minute and the Sporting KC defense held their opponent to a single shot on goal for the second straight MLS match in Eric Kronberg’s second career MLS shutout.
Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Comments on the match…
San Jose is a very difficult team to play for a number of reasons. They play very direct. They have some guys that are extremely courageous around the box. They get up not only for the first ball, but they have great movement off the guys that flick balls on. Second balls become a very important aspect of the game. I thought tonight where we were very good was central defense. We did a great job of winning the first ball in the air and we talked about how important the second ball is. Throughout the game, I thought we were very, very solid. It becomes difficult, especially late in the game, because they start pumping everything into the box and forward. I thought we did a good job of managing the game at the end. It’s something that we’ve been talking about because of our last two games in league play where we’ve given up goals late. We’ve got to be able to manage the game at the end and manage the result. I thought the guys did a tremendous job. It’s good to see that that hasn’t left us. We’ve been very good in the past of taking lessons and learning quickly from them. This is good evidence of that; an excellent win for the team tonight.
On rebounding from Wednesday’s CCL loss…
Great. I think we understood what we had to do. Obviously, Wednesday’s game was disappointing from a number of perspectives but at the same time the reaction has to be always a positive one. Even for them, I had said to Mark (Watson) before the game, it was a shame they got knocked out. I thought they did a good job. Penalty kicks are what they are. I knew it was going to be a tough game for both teams. We’re coming off a disappointing exit from CONCACAF Champions League. This was an important game for both of us. It’s great for us that we were able to figure out a way how to get a goal. I thought we had great chances throughout the game. We were in and around their box. We had a couple opportunities. I thought there could have been a pk in the first half. At the end of the day, we found a way to do it and that part is good.
