The Brek Shea Game

It happened to us again. Yes folks, Sporting Kc lost ANOTHER game in stoppage time at the hands of FC Dallas. To make matters worse Sporting Kc set a team record for red cards in a season after Teal Bunbury was sent off in the 76th minute for yet another questionable decision by a referee. To be honest we should have won that game, regardless of the red card. We simply gave up in the last 5 minutes.

The game got off to a rough start and it was clear that FC Dallas came out with the intent to win, contrary to popular belief. In the first 20 minutes FC Dallas were biting at the necks of the Sporting Kc defenders and it nearly paid off. But in the 22 minute the ever-threatening Kamara pounced on a mistake by a Dallas defender, Kamara then streaked towards goal and fired in a rocket to the bottom left corner. The rest of the half was back and forth and neither side could keep a great deal of possession.

The second KC goal was scored in the 68th minute when a free kick from Besler was flicked on by a Dallas defender right to the feet of Teal Bunbury who fired a shot well off target, but luckily for Sporting Kc Omar Bravo was there for an easy tap in. Not long later FC Dallas scored their first goal of the night, a Daniel Hernandez free kick well outside the 18 yard box curled itself into the back of Sporting's net. As mentioned above Teal Bunbury was sent off in the 76th minute when he clearly clipped heals with Benitez and unfortunately for Teal he was already on a second yellow. The ref reached into his pocket and sent the young striker off. 

Sporting Kc were left with nothing else to do but bunker down for the next 15 minutes. As Dallas peppered Sporting's net with shots. Seemingly out of nowhere Brek Shea found himself on the left-hand side with the ball at his feet, something that no team in MLS wants to see. Then Brek Shea did what Brek Shea does and played in a tremendous ball to the back post for Maicon Santos to head into Sporting's net in the 88th minute. Then in the 91st minute Shea found himself in an identical position and served in a great ball for Warshaw who headed it into Sporting's net. Right in front of the Cauldron. 

A devastating loss for Sporting Kc in a game that promised so much. It was quite simply an opportunity to jump farther ahead in the Eastern Conference. Not to mention favorable results for Sporting had occurred earlier that night. 

Jimmy Nielsen Gets Bruised, Keeps SKC in Play-Off Contention

One of the most exciting and head-turning games ever to grace LSP rocketed into the main-stream media due to an odd off the field incident. Two fans threw an Omar Bravo bobble-head at Jimmy Nielsen while other fans across the stadium were going ballistic after a Graham Zusi long-distance shot soared into the Portland goal from 25 yards out. Setting the goal-scoring a-blaze.

Not long later in the 40th minute Zusi scored another goal. This time it was from yet another Matt Besler throw in. As the ball was floated in CJ Sapong flicked a header to the backpost that found Bunbury who took a strike. The ball slipped through and was set on the line perfectly for Zusi to tap it in. Which he did. Giving Sporting Kc the 2-0 lead heading into half.

Sporting Kc always looked the better side against a weakened Portland side, who played a game just 2 or 3 days earlier. And Sporting Kc continued their dominance by pulling ahead in the 72 minute when the birthday boy Soony Saad scored a fluke goal after a defenders clearance ricocheted off his foot, scooping it up over Perkins and into the net. 3-0 to Sporting Kc.

But then it was Portland's turn to score, and score they did. After some decent build-up play that included passes from former Wizard Jack Jewsbury, Portland's Bright Dike slid one past the bruised Jimmy Nielsen, rolling helplessly just out of the reach of the great Dane's paws.

Now Sporting Kc find themselves with a healthy advantage at 3rd in the Eastern Conference currently one point away from 2nd place Philly.

Man of the Match: Graham Zusi. His rocket from distance and his deft touch from 2 yards out secured Sporting Kc a deserved win. 

Sporting Kc Tie Colorado Rapids

Sporting Kc retain 4th place after a physical 1-1 draw against the defending MLS Cup Champions at LSP. Graham Zusi and Connor Casey were the scorers for each team, Casey netting in the 32nd minute after what can only be described as a defensive error, and Zusi scoring from a Sapong shot that Perkins parried right to Zusi, who was left with an easy tap in - his 3rd goal of the season.


The Standings
Neither teams moved up or down in their respective conferences.


The Stats

• Julio Cesar conceded the most fouls for SKC - 3 in total. 
• Espinoza had 32 completed passes 
• Omar Bravo had 5 shots for SKC

Kc Beat Vancouver Whitecaps In A Convincing 2-1 Win

After a 2-1 win against Vancouver, Sporting Kc find themselves undefeated in 7 league games. One of the best, if not the best record in the league. The unbeaten run that KC have enjoyed over the past month have seen Sporting gain points and move up to 6th place in the East. Not where Vermes and the club's owners had envisioned their team to be after 15 games, but still. Sporting Kc are out of last place and almost all of the rest of the season's games are at home, meaning a high percentage of points will be gained before the end of the regular season.....Playoffs anyone? 

The First Half

Sporting Kc put out a lineup that excluded star players such as Davy Arnaud, Kei Kamara and Teal Bunbury. Having said that, I can see why the coaching staff didn't want to field Bunbury and Kamara, the two forwards have been out of form the past couple games and Kei seemed fatigued. However, keeping out Arnaud was most likely due to some sort of injury picked up in training, nothing major.

Sporting Kc seemed the more dominant side in the first half. But after 15 minutes of play Vancouver found themselves with the shocking 1-0 lead from a set piece. Chiumiento played in a curling ball from the left-hand side that Camilo flicked on beautifully into the right-handed side of the goal, well out of Nielsen's reach.  

Sporting Kc didn't equalize until about 15 minutes later when designated player Omar Bravo was taken down in the box and the home side earned the first ever penalty kick at LSP. Bravo stepped up to take the ensuing PK and buried it into the right side of the goal, sending Cannon the wrong way. 

Just 8 minutes later and Sporting Kc were ahead. Some decent pressure from the home side resulted in just one of many corner kicks Kc had that night. Graham Zusi played a good curling ball towards the back post that found the on-coming Omar Bravo who headed it back into the danger area only for Julio Cesar to volley-slide it into the back of the net. Giving the Brazilian his first goal of the campaign.

The Second Half

Vancouver came out of the half time break with a game plan to attack, and attack they did. The Whitecaps had some decent possession in the first half, but failed to really test Nielsen with any of it. CJ Sapong nearly doubled KC's lead in the 65'. After a cross was played in from the wing that found the head of Sapong, but the ball flew past the top of the cross bar. Neither SKC or Vancouver had any real clear-cut chances to score in the second half after that.

Player Ratings

Nielsen 7, Sinovic 7, Collin 7, Besler 7, Myers 6, Espinoza 6, Cesar 8, Stojcev 6, Zusi 7, Bravo 8*, Sapong 7

*Denotes Man of the Match

**Special Note: I just posted some neat and interesting stats on my twitter about the game, via Chalkboard. Go look at them and give me a follow while you're at it.**

Sporting Kc Earn Important Road Point At PPL Park

Sporting Kc played a dirty, sloppy and hard-fought game against the Philadelphia Union in a midweek league game at PPL Park, and most importantly, walked away with a well deserved point. Now Sporting Kc find themselves with only 5 road games left in the entire season and 14 points through 14 games.

The First Half
Peter Vermes fielded a lineup that was somewhat identical to the one we saw at home on Friday night against the San Jose earthquakes, the two biggest changes were Cesar coming in at CB for the suspended Collin, and Bunbury in for Sapong, which was a surprise to say the least.

Sporting started the game relatively well, Kamara and Bravo had some early looks but both shots were off target. Then Philly got going and created some of their own chances, but none of them were converted.The high-pressure system that Philly used for much of the half was just a taste of what was to come for KC. Not much more to the first half than that, Bunbury was again trying to do it all by himself, and Cesar looked a little off balance. It was a really sloppy game from Sporting and Philly, but the latter looked by far the better team.

The Second Half
Sporting Kc made one change coming out of the halftime break. Sapong on for Bunbury, something that most fans were pleased with. Bunbury just hasn't looked himself these past couple of games, and I believe Sapong should have started. 

Sporting Kc came out with more intent in the second half but played with a lot less pressure than they did in the first. Mainly due to Vermes wanting to get something out of this game, a point at least. But Philadelphia showed why they're second place in the Eastern Conference and created A LOT of chances. One of those chances nearly payed off in the 72' minute when Sassano failed to close down Le Toux from a couple yards outside KC's box and the ensuing cross from Le Toux was nearly turned in by the unmarked head of Ruiz, but the crossbar came to Sporting's rescue once again. The last 20 minutes of the game Sporting Kc dropped almost all 11 men behind the ball to try and stop any attack from Philly. Hence, the Union went on to record 26 shots but only 7 of those were on target as compared to Sporting's 8 shots, out of those 0 were on target. But Sporting Kc did hold on, mainly due to the fact that Nielsen was a beast all night.

They earned a very valuable point on the road, and are now unbeaten in 6 games.

Player Ratings
Nielsen 8*, Myers 6, Besler 6, Cesar 7, Sinovic 5, Sassano 6, Diop 6, Arnaud 6, Bravo 5, Kamara 6, Bunbury 4.
Subs: Sapong 6, Harrington 6,  Auvray N/A.
*Denotes Man Of the Match