Vermes blasts Sporting KC’s mindset as winless skid hits 6: ‘There will be some suffering’

Make it six.

Sporting KC has now gone six straight MLS matches without a victory, falling 2-1 to the Houston Dynamo at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night.

Saturday’s match marked Sporting’s third loss at home this season. The club holds a 2-5-5 record after 12 matches, now four points out of a playoff spot and in 11th place in the Western Conference.

And the manager isn’t happy about it.

Sporting manager Peter Vermes sounded off on his team’s performance after the match, calling the goals the team conceded “atrocious.” He labeled the first goal as “amateur at best” and questioned the effort and commitment of multiple players on the second goal.

“That’s not Sporting Kansas City mentality,” Vermes said. “I have a real problem with that aspect of it. I’ll be dealing with that very quickly because that’s just unacceptable to me. If there’s one thing that I can’t put up with, that is the lack of effort on plays.”

Vermes said the team has a responsibility to “leave your heart on the field and to leave your blood, sweat and tears on the field.”

“I think certain guys do that, and I think certain guys don’t,” Vermes said. “If I have to make changes within the starting lineup, then I will do that.”

While Vermes doesn’t think it’s a team-wide issue, there are a few players who he said stood out in that regard.

“When they get out there, they’re not putting in 90 minutes, 70 minutes, 60 minutes ... whatever their time is, they’re not going after it,” Vermes said. “They’re not helping the team.”

Daniel Salloi, Sporting’s goalscorer, didn’t want to talk much about his goal given the result. He was asked what he thinks needs to change to help fix the team’s mentality.

“If there’s players who don’t have the mentality, get rid of them and move on,” Salloi responded.

“We’re playing professional sports,” he continued. “If you don’t have the mentality, then what are we doing? So if it’s me, get rid of me. If it’s others, get rid of others. Every year we have this problem, then change it.”

Hector Herrera got the visitors on the board in the 31st minute on yet another goal created off a set piece. While the Dynamo corner kick wasn’t immediately sent into the box, the short-corner routine had Sporting scrambling, and nobody closed down Herrera before he ripped a curling shot into the top corner.

Goalkeeper Tim Melia could only watch.

Salloi tied things up in the second half with a nice finish. He picked up a loose ball at the top of the box, turned, and fired a shot low and hard into the bottom corner.

But Houston capitalized on its final big chance of the night. Nobody on Sporting KC stepped up to close down Dynamo defender Griffin Dorsey, who took the ball from end to end before picking out a pass to Ibrahim Aliyu, who was wide open behind the Sporting back line. His shot was tucked perfectly into the side netting.

“The second goal, their guy runs by two of our guys who were further back, and one stops in his tracks basically,” Vermes said.

As Sporting continues to slump in MLS play, Vermes feels like the spark to get out of it is going to come from an improvement in the team’s mentality. He made a direct comparison to last season’s team and how it found a way out of an atrocious start by finding the mentality, noting this team isn’t much different personnel-wise.

After 12 games, the 2024 version of Sporting KC has only earned two more points than the team that went winless in 10 games to start the 2023 season. They have as many wins.

“It’s not that they don’t have it, it’s that it’s not happening,” Vermes said. “As I said to you, I’m the first person to say, ‘I’ll take responsibility.’”

He continued.

“But when I have to do that … when I was talking about suffering, there will be some suffering over there,” Vermes said, pointing toward the locker room. “Some real suffering.”

That, Vermes continued, is necessary because the team is being hesitant both attacking and defending.

“The situations were that we were firing on the (offensive) side (earlier this year), and now there’s a lack of aggression even in some guys going that way as well,” Vermes said. “Does it all come to a head tonight? No, I don’t think so.

“I’m just not letting it get out of control. Because right now, I don’t like where it is.”

Sporting returns to action next Saturday, traveling to Texas to face Austin FC.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.