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 Set to Battle Last Place Vancouver

The Vancouver Whitecaps will travel to LSP on Saturday night to face Sporting Kc at 7:30 CT, and will look to pass on the unwanted MLS "wooden spoon" to Sporting Kc. Both teams are currently in last place of their respective conferences and will look to climb up the league standings. A win for either team could potentially see them move up at least 1 space to 8th place(Vancouver), or up 4 places to 5th place(Sporting Kc). It's a huge game for both teams.

Sporting Kc seem the more dominant side heading into the game,  going undefeated the past 6 games and letting in only 2 goals in those games. Meanwhile, the Whitecaps are coming off of a huge 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Union last Saturday and will look to test Sporting Kc.

Sporting Kc will have Honduras international Roger Espinoza back from Gold Cup duty, but will likely not feature in the starting XI for Saturday night's game, while French CB Aurelien Collin should find himself back at the heart of defense after missing out on SKC's midweek game at Philly due to suspension. 

Predicted Lineup:

Important Match-Ups

Sassano/Diop v. Chiumiento 

The two Sporting Kc CDM's will look to stop any attacking play from the creative Swiss CAM, a player who has jump-started a lot of the Whitecaps attack this year.

Collin v. Hassli

Collin will again have to mark another big striker, and somehow prevent him from getting too close to SKC's goal.  

Prediction

Sporting Kc - 3 (Sapong x 2, Bravo)

Vancouver - 1 (Hassli) 

-SKC's offense finally finds their stride and let's it rip on poor old Vancouver. But Hassli has another wonder goal.