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Sporting KC falls 1-0 to New York Red Bulls in weather-interrupted Sunday night match

Despite playing with a man advantage down the stretch, Sporting Kansas City fell 1-0 to the New York Red Bulls on Sunday evening at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.

Aaron Long’s 53rd-minute header off a short corner routine was the difference in a wild and physical affair.

“Look: today, they won. They scored, we didn’t,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “We had a lot of chances at the end, so congrats to them from that perspective. But the perspective for a fan to watch that game, I tell you right now, I wouldn’t want to watch that kind of game.”

The Red Bulls set out from the start to grind the game to a halt. They fouled Sporting any time a player beat them 1v1 or turned with space in behind. The referee wasn’t keen on keeping them in check, and it carried on throughout the night

“That’s a mockery, what just took place on the field and the antics,” Vermes said. “I don’t believe in it. I have no respect for it. I think those things have to be different in our league. And I think that the people who are supposed to manage that are the team in the middle. Not the team you’re playing, it’s the team in the middle.”

Despite his frustration with how the game played out, Vermes didn’t place blame on the ref, saying instead that his team should’ve capitalized on the chances it had.

“We just couldn’t hit the back of the net,” Vermes said. “We were off. The reason? I don’t know. But we had great chances in the game and more than enough to get three points for sure.”

The goal Sporting conceded was a point of frustration. KC has conceded many goals on set pieces or similar plays this season, where players are missed at the back post.

“We limit them all game, and then it’s the same old thing,” Sporting KC captain Johnny Russell said. “That’s something that’s so frustrating because we’ve been working on it so much and we’ve been doing it so well in training. And it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t do it in a game.”

Lightning nearby caused a nearly hour-long weather delay in the 28th minute. But Sporting KC, especially Russell, had multiple opportunities once play resumed.

“It’s frustrating,” Russell said. “I hold my hands up to that. I should have taken at least one of those chances. I apologized to the boys for that, as well. So that’s on me.”

Sporting KC was up a man from the 70th minute on after Dylan Nealis was sent off for handling the ball and denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. The referee initially gave Nealis a yellow card, but it was upgraded to a straight red after video review.

But Sporting KC just could not crack the Red Bulls’ back line, even through seven minutes of stoppage time.

“I feel that’s three points dropped,” Russell said, “because I feel like we completely dominated the game.”

With the loss, the third straight at home for Sporting (4-4-12), Russell’s club falls back to last place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference. The team travels north of the border next weekend to play CF Montreal.