Sporting Kansas City 0 - 0 Toronto FC
Final
  for this game

K.C. eyes end of roadtrip as TFC hopes for bounce-back effort

Jun 3, 2011 - 4:25 PM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Sporting Kansas City hasn't exactly set the world on fire to open the 2011 Major League Soccer season - going 1-6-2 in its first nine league fixtures. The catch is those matches have all been road games.

Sporting (1-6-2) has one more road fixture on Saturday at Toronto, before it finally gets to open its new soccer-specific stadium - Livestrong Sporting Park - on June 9.

"We knew it was going to be tough [playing 10 straight road games to open the season] from a lot of different perspectives," K.C. coach Peter Vermes told the league's website. "The one thing that maybe wasn't so prevalent at the time was when you play away every single week, you lose the connection back to your fans."

After Saturday, Sporting can focus on getting back in the playoff race with 17 of its final 20 games at home.

In the meantime, however, the club sits in last in the Eastern table, and hopes it can find a way to get just its second win of the season in its 10th straight road fixture on Saturday.

"Honestly, we did expect to go on the road and win games," K.C. defender Matt Besler told the league's website. "From that aspect, we're kind of disappointed with where we are right now. We felt like we were in a position to win a few games that we let slip away."

Toronto (2-5-6), on the other hand, has just two losses at home this season, and hopes to continue the trend on Saturday, especially considering it is coming off an embarrassing 6-2 result vs. the Philadelphia Union last weekend at BMO Field.

"I don't think anyone is going to forget this real quick," Toronto's Ty Harden said after the loss. "You have got to use it as a motivator. I don't know what the positives are right now to take out of the game but if any. But I don't think anyone is going to forget about it real quick."

Toronto goalkeeper Stephan Frei echoed Harden's statement that he won't soon forget the loss, and hopes for a major bounce-back on Saturday.

"For me this is the most bitter loss of my career, definitely, hands down," he said. "So personally like I said, its a defining moment in my career that it's important now to bounce back in the next game."






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