The Game
Tonight SKC will be kicking themselves. They had a chance to go to a scarcely populated Gillette Stadium and get a decent result. But, like last season, they didn't. At halftime it was 1-1. By the 94' it was 3-2.
A couple days earlier leading up to the game New England received a boost to their midfield with the signing of Benny Feilhaber, who looks to create one of the best central midfield partnerships with Grenada international Shalrie Joseph. Feilhaber didn't look to good tonight except for his decent layoff to Perovic for the first goal of the game. Furthermore, there wasn't necessarily anything that KC did wrong in terms of defending that first goal. You can't blame every single goal on someone (EXCEPT HARRINGTON WITH A TERRIBLE ATTEMPTED CLEARANCE), sometimes it's just pure class.
Moving on, there were chances for both teams early in the game, Sporting set their tone early, but it was Perovic who struck a cracking goal to start the game off, as mentioned earlier. Then, two minutes later Kamara, with an entry pass from Bunbury, hit a beautiful skipping ball, beating Matt Reis to his near post, tying the game at 1-1. Not many chances for Sporting after the goal, or New England for that matter, except for a point blank shot that Davy Arnaud, who is still looking for his first goal this season, shot, and hit Reis in the legs, and so the teams entered the half all square.
After the beginning of the second half Sporting got decent possession, as they did in the first half. But this half Sporting started the goal scoring fiasco first. In the 68th minute, after some decent possession and some Bunbury trickery, SKC were given a penalty. I will not discuss how the penalty was given because of what the ref does later on in the game that gives Revolution fans somewhat of an equal call. Anyway, Kamara stroked the penalty in beautifully to Matt Reis's right, and SKC lead for the first and last time in the game.
In the 71' SKC gave New England a goal. A free-kick was given in between the halfway line and the 18 yard box. Mansally curled it towards Joseph who was marked by Kamara but Kamara didn't do much in terms of showing the strength we all know he possesses to challenge for the ball with Joseph, but the big Grenadian turned it in with his head and it was tied up at 2-2.
The next thing that happened was so controversial it's funny. Off of a corner kick in the 76', taken by Zusi, Collin challenged high in the air for the ball when Matt Reis came out to clear it and the French defender collided with the Revs keeper. Both fell to the ground and there was immediately a mob of people around the two players. Feilhaber was pushed down and somehow Collin was sent off even though Diop was the one who pushed Feilhaber down, which I obviously felt was the wrong decision by the ref, who is trained by US reffing officials, not MLS, to overly-protect the goalkeepers, even though Collin committed no foul.
This card gave the Revs a way back into the game, and they sure did take it. A ball was played in on the right side from Zack Boggs who found Lekic perfectly and after a header from Lekic, beating Nielsen, the game was done and over. 3-2.
Positives:
- Sporting's newly signed defender, Aurellien Collin, brought more stability to the backline
- Ryan Smith looked good after he was brought on as a sub in the dying moments
- The "unprecedented" and "unheard of" road trip is half way done
- Bravo's much needed return is getting closer every week
- LIVESTRONGSPORTINGPARK is coming together quite nicely now
Negatives:
- Sporting sit bottom of MLS after 5 games on the road
- Collin will miss the next game against New York
- Sporting lost, enough said
- Sporting have to face SEA, COL, NYRB, and LAG in the next 5 matches
- Nielsen looked seriously out of it tonight
Sporting's man of the match: Kei Kamara
Two goals to his name, some nice crosses, and a nicely converted penalty kick, Kamara was easily Sporting's man of the match.
No comments:
Post a Comment