Sunday, June 12, 2011

Sporting Kc Beat FC Dallas 4-1, Zusi Earns Brace

Haha. It's a funny game isn't it? That thing we call soccer. Most Sporting Kc fans think so, how could you not? SKC won, when they really shouldn't have done so, funny right? The odds were stacked up against them. International absences, injuries and FC Dallas' form were all reasons that SKC could have used as excuses leading up to the game at Pizza Hut Park, but, they didn't. And they pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory.

So, you wanna know how this famous victory came about? Well, grab your favorite no-alcoholic beverage, take a load off, and sit back for the best blog post of your life.

The First Half
SKC fielded a team that was less than "first team material" on Sunday night, and essentially changed their formation to a 4-2-3-1. The major absences being Ryan Smith, Michael Harrington, and Omar Bravo. But that doesn't mean Sporting didn't press and attack FC Dallas in the opening stages, far from it. In fact, it seemed as if Dallas were somewhat asleep. Then, a superb strike from Graham Zusi outside the box gave Sporting the shocking 1-0 lead on a humid and hot Texas night. The goal awoke the beast. FC Dallas started to possess and play the ball around a lot quicker, and from some bad defending from Diop and Myers, Brek Shea made a terrific solo run that tied everything up at 1-1. Heading into the half time break it seemed as if Dallas were somewhat the more comfortable team at the half.

The Second Half
Sporting Kc got the dream start they were looking for, as Zusi curled in a good ball to the back post off of a corner which found Sapong who then had the presence of mind to pass the ball back into the danger area which found Aurelien Collin, who slammed it into the back of the net, giving him his second ever goal in a Sporting Kc uniform. After the goal Dallas were forced to attack, and attack they did. But nothing much came of it. Then, off of a free-kick from about 50 yards out, Zusi fired a rocket into the Dallas goal that stunned Kevin Hartman, and his team's fans. It really was a sensational strike from Zusi, congrats to him. But, almost immediately after the goal, Stojcev was ejected from the game after a second yellow. However, if you ever wanted a red card, you would want it when you're 3-1 up and when the player receiving the red card was an attacking center mid. The red card then forced SKC to play more of a 4-4-1 with Sapong as the lone striker up top. Therefore giving FC Dallas the chance to play a 3-4-1-2 and put more bodies on the attacking side of the field. SKC then had to hold off FC Dallas pressure for a good 20 minutes. Then, SKC got some rare possession that eventually led to a Luke Sassano goal. A ball chipped over the Dallas back line from Diop gave Sassano the not-so-easy task of chipping the ball over the keeper, but a task that Luke was up to, and the game was essentially over at 4-1 in the 78th minute. Now Sporting Kc can come back to KC with all 3 points, and their head held high heading into their Friday game at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.

Player Ratings
Starting XI: Kronberg 6, Sinovic 5, Besler 6, Collin 7, Myers 6, Diop 6, Sassano 6, Arnaud 7, Stojcev 4, *Zusi 10, Sapong 8.
Subs: Bunbury N/A, Kamara 5, Cesar 6   
* denotes man of the match

3 comments:

  1. Haha, really funny post Alex.
    That was really a great performance and result for Sporting tonight. Zusi's on fire, and Sapong and Collin looked fantastic, as well.
    I'm very curious what Vermes will do once he has all of his players back. Because there were a few reserves that played very well in place of some absent starters. I guess we'll see what he does by Friday.

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  2. I think Kronberg deserves a 7.

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  3. Agree with jaenglen. Kronberg should be a 7. Stojcev a 3 - those were two dumb, dumb fouls. That's right I said it twice, because I meant it. Dumb.

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