Before Sporting Kansas City’s training on Tuesday at Swope Soccer Village, integral holding midfielder Ilie Sanchez plainly laid out what all – Sporting KC coaches, players, and fans – have likely been feeling after a late-season swoon that followed the glory of winning the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Championship.
“The last five or six games of the regular season were not what we expected from us for our performance…,” the holding midfielder stated. “I am disappointed because our fans cannot enjoy this game live in our stadium.”
A 1-3-2 record in the last stretch of the Major League Soccer regular season strangled hopes for what was the goal and focus from the start of preseason – gaining a top-two seed in the Western Conference and the first-round bye and home-field advantage in the subsequent conference semi-final two-game series that goes with it.