Kronberg Gets 3rd Ever Start Against Dallas

Today we will be having a guest blogger, Jack Englen. He is a goal keeper himself and will be assessing Eric Kronberg's performance in Sporting's 4-1 thrashing of FC Dallas. Take it away Jack....

At Sporting Kansas City's home opener Jimmy Nielsen was forced to come out of his box to stop a goal scoring run, there was a chip-shot attempt but Nielsen reacted instinctively and shot his hand up to stop the ball, thus preventing a goal scoring opportunity. In my eyes it was the right decision. Now of course that meant Jimmy would get a red card, meaning Kronberg would get the start at Pizza Hut Park. I for one am happy Kronberg got to play, he is a great keeper (which he showed us in Toronto) and I wish they would play him more (not that Jimmy is bad).

The opposing goalkeeper on the Dallas side was none other than the old Kansas City Wizards goalkeeper, Kevin Hartman. Kevin is a very respected player in the MLS and has proved that with various MLS teams. However yesterday he didn't show it, he might have started off well but was caught off his line one too many times, I don't think it will affect the 36 year old's self esteem too much though. 

First Half

It was a good start for Eric, he got some nice touches on the ball to get him up to tempo with the game. The only goal of the night for FC Dallas was a great run of "soccer artwork" from Brek Shea, thanks to three KC defenders diving in. The second Shea broke through the last defender Eric came out and went "Jimmy Nielsen on him" trying to do the famous kick-save, had Kronberg been fully extended it would have been an awesome stop.After that the defense was very solid, a great improvement.

Second Half      

Kronberg didn't have much to do until the seventieth minute when a high cross was met by Eric's hand with a nice interception. Towards the end of the game there was more and more people taking shots and getting into the middle but Kronberg came out well each time and did awesome in the end.

Summary 

All in all Kronberg did well but Hartman had a much more difficult game. Kronberg had great goal kicks the entire match that once or twice almost led to an assist. The defense really helped out this time. In the end Eric showed that he can play at the highest level for Sporting, something that will do his career a world of good.