Brace yourself: Vancouver Whitecaps burn host Sporting KC at Children’s Mercy Park

In the wake of last weekend’s 2-1 loss at Portland, Sporting Kansas City made eight changes to its lineup for Wednesday night’s home game against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Those alterations didn’t seem to make much of a difference: Sporting KC lost its sixth straight Major League Soccer match, falling 2-1 to the opponent from Canada at Children’s Mercy Park.

After the match, boos cascaded down from fans remaining in the stands. Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said he understood the sentiment.

“We’re not getting results,” he said. “You can play bad and win and nobody cares. But right now, we’re not getting the results. So, I understand the frustration.”

Sporting KC’s winless streak in MLS competition is now at nine games.

“We’re in last place in our division,” Vermes said, “so we’re not in a good spot.”

Goalkeeper John Pulskamp, who started in place of Tim Melia, said the players still believe they can turn around their fortunes.

“We know what we’re capable of,” he said.

Ryan Gauld scored both of the Whitecaps’ goals. The first came in the 39th minute via a failed set-piece clearance by Sporting KC. The other, in the 82nd minute, was courtesy of a pure giveaway by KC left-back Tim Leibold.

Sporting KC needs to eliminate those sorts of mistakes.

“That’s the biggest thing,” Vermes said. “I think that we have a good group. I just think we have got to cut down the mistakes and something has got to turn our way. When it does, you usually get on that wave and start riding it.”

Sporting KC got one goal back during stoppage time Wednesday when Marinos Tzionis scored off a 92nd-minute assist from Khiry Shelton. But the hosts could not find a very late equalizer.

Sporting KC’s eight lineup changes for this match included Jake Davis moving into the midfield. Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes made that particular move to deal with the injury absences of Remi Walter, Erik Thommy, and Danny Flores — plus the yellow-card accumulation suspension of Memo Rodriguez.

Khiry Shelton played as the team’s right back on Wednesday. Stephen Afrifa, Willy Agada, and Alenis Vargas started instead of KC’s usual front three and were slowly subbed off throughout the second half.

Sporting KC played more than 30 minutes of the second half with its typical starting front three of Alan Pulido, Daniel Salloi and Johnny Russell. Yet, down a goal after halftime, that premiere group managed just two shots and none of the three was involved in Sporting KC’s goal.

“I would like to have gotten back into the game with them, getting one, two, maybe three goals,” Vermes said. “But I don’t think we created enough chances with those guys in the game.”

That’s been a theme this year. Pulido, Russell and Salloi have combined for just 11 goal contributions this season. And they’re expected to carry the load.

“Those guys need to get in form and in relationship to each other,” Vermes said. “Because at the end of the day, they’re the guys who need to do it.”

Sporting KC next turns its attention to a road match against Minnesota United on Saturday. Kickoff in St. Paul, Minn., is set for 7:40 p.m. Central Time.

After Wednesday’s game, Pulskamp recalled how frustrating last season was ... and how he and his Sporting KC teammates were able to better their situation eventually.

“We told ourselves, ‘Remember this feeling. Don’t put ourselves in this position again,’” he said. “And here we are in the same position. But like last year, we got out of it.

“It’s getting later (in the season) now, and we need to figure it out.”

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.