Peter Vermes laments missed chances as Sporting Kansas City eliminated from MLS Cup

Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes felt his team created more than enough opportunities to beat Houston Dynamo after they were eliminated from the 2023 MLS Cup playoffs.

Franco Escobar's 39th minute goal booked Houston a place in the Western Conference final against LAFC on 3 December, but the 1-0 scoreline wasn't reflective of a game where Kansas City created plenty of opportunities to score.

"I thought we had the better of the chances in the game," Vermes told media after the final whistle. "They finished on a set piece. Their best chance of the game was the one that Tim (Melia) made off his face at the end of the game, when we were pushing everything forward. Outside of that, they really didn't have much. They scored on a corner. Like I said, we had the better chances of the game."

The game's statistics showed that Houston outshot Kansas City by 15 to 12, and they also had a greater xG by the time the final whistle blew - Vermes' side mustering 0.87 against the winning team's 1.31.

"Anytime you go out of the playoffs without winning it, you're frustrated obviously," he said. "Credit to Houston. They played a solid game. But like I said, I think when you look at the chances and the opportunities that we had, we just didn't finish unfortunately."

Vermes' frustrations didn't stop with his teams inability to finish off chances, though. He was also upset with head referee Guido Gonzalez after a potential handball by defender Erik Sviatchenko went unchecked by VAR.

" ... Obviously, the no call on the stop the player makes Sviatchenko inside the box on Daniel (Salloi’s) ball, I mean, it's a handball," he said.

"I don't know how hard that was, but obviously it was ... When a player kind of picks his arms up to make himself a little bit bigger, even if his hands are out to the side, it doesn't matter. He saves the ball with his hand. Normally speaking, a player will put his hands behind his back. His hands are to the side and up a little bit on the left. I've seen the replay already. There's no doubt in my mind. It's a handball. Actually, it's a handball and then a red card because it's stopping a goal-scoring situation."

Frustrations aside, Vermes was still proud of his team's improvement after a difficult start to the regular season. Kansas City struggled early on due to many long-term injuries and several players getting back into the swing of things, like 2023 Comeback Player of the Year Alan Pulido.

"I think that the group gave everything that they had. They really did. And in the times when they lacked a lot of confidence just because they weren't getting the results and everybody was saying how bad they were, when they really weren't that bad, we had a struggle and we were going to get through it."

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