Sporting KC beat Tulsa for first victory of ’23. But now it’s back to MLS competition

The players and coaching staff of Sporting Kansas City finally picked up their first win of 2023 this week, beating Tulsa Athletic in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match at Children’s Mercy Park.

Now comes a return to Major League Soccer competition, with a home game Saturday against CF Montreal (7:30 p.m.).

“Building” — as in building confidence — was the word that Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes used in discussing his squad’s state of mind right now.

“Do we have some (confidence)?” Vermes asked rhetorically. “Yeah, I think we’d have some. But we gotta keep building that up. It’s going to take a while.”

Diminished confidence of late is understandable: Sporting has scored three goals (and accumulated the same number of red cards) in nine league matches.

Could that 3-0 Tuesday night win vs. Tulsa be a turning point for Vermes’ squad, which at 0-6-3 ranks last in the Western Conference of MLS?

“As attacking players, you always take pride in trying to score goals,” KC winger Daniel Salloi said. “Having a multiple-goal win is always a big plus and gives you a lot of confidence for the next game.

CF Montreal, meanwhile, ranks last in the Eastern Conference at 2-6-0. Saturday’s evening’s visitors will also be missing seven players, including multiple key starters in the midfield and attack.

Unlike KC, however, Montreal has a couple of league wins under its belt. Vermes called Montreal a powerful team on the counter-attack and said his players must be cognizant of their positioning.

“When you have a team like that,” Vermes said, “you have to be actively defending even when you have the ball, and you have to be very good at not giving up the ball in dangerous areas on the field.”

In other words, mental focus and simple work ethic will be paramount throughout the match.

“It’s about us and our work ethic on the field,” Vermes said. “If you have the work, the performance will come, and I think that’s going to be the key ingredient.”

A signing and a Dwyer update

Sporting KC has signed Stephen Afrifa, the ninth overall pick in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft.

Afrifa elected to stay at the University of Central Florida through the spring semester to finish his senior year, but he has already visited Sporting KC on multiple occasions. He can play striker or winger but is more likely to play as a striker now, given Sporting’s injury situation.

Sporting needs help up top as Willy Agada’s stress fracture (left tibia) will keep him out for at least 12 weeks. KC had considered bringing back Dom Dwyer, who had spent about a week in Kansas City on trial, but Vermes on Friday said the club was “probably not going to move in that direction.”

While signing Afrifa doesn’t preclude Sporting from bringing in someone else in coming weeks, it does give the team a potentially immediate solution for minutes at the position. And that’s important because Sporting is scheduled to play five games in 14 days starting May 7.

Next Open Cup foe: Houston (again)

Congestion in Sporting KC’s upcoming schedule can be attributed in part to the U.S. Open Cup. Sporting’s fourth-round matchup sends KC to Houston on May 10.

It will be the fifth time in the last six Open Cups that Sporting plays the Dynamo. Sporting KC has won three of those games and lost two.