MLS today announced the home openers for all 22 MLS teams, and with that we know three of Sporting KC's games to start the season.
Sporting KC will once again open the season on the road, starting against DC United at RFK Stadium on March 4th with a 6pm kick off. The game should be the last game KC ever plays in the stadium where they won MLS Cup 2000 as DC United is scheduled to open their new stadium in 2018 and KC's next road trip to DC won't come until the 2019 season. This will actually be the eighth time that KC will play DC in their season opener, KC is 5-2 in the previous seven games (1998 L, 2001 L, 2003 W, 2007 W, 2008 W, 2010 W, 2012 W) including a 2-2 record when opening the season at RFK Stadium (1998, 2001, 2007, 2012).
Sporting will have their home opener just one week later, on March 11th they'll welcome the defending Supporters' Shield winners, FC Dallas to Children's Mercy Park. Kansas City has one of the best records in home openers in all of MLS, with a 13-2-6 record in the first home game of the season. The game will hopefully be a sign of things to come for many Sporting KC fans this season, Saturday night games, as the game kicks off at 7:30 Central time. One of the big complaints I saw last season from a number of fans was the schedule that saw Kansas City have numerous different start times and a lack of Saturday games. Sporting obviously had little to do with this due to their being on national television so much. Hopefully KC will have a few more Saturday night games than the four they had in 2016.
The third game that is already on the schedule for Sporting KC is the fifth week of the season when Sporting KC will travel to BMO Field for Toronto FC's home opener. This will be the second time that KC will play Toronto in their home opener, the last time was when the stadium opened back in 2007, when Kansas City pulled out a 1-0 win on a goal by Eddie Johnson. Playing two Eastern Conference teams on the road so early in the season means that KC will have gotten two of their five or six East Coast road trips out of the way early in the season. This year Sporting is supposed to play DC, Toronto, Columbus, New York City, and Orlando on the road for sure, and could possibly play Atlanta as well, depending on how MLS breaks the schedule down. With getting two out of the way early it'll mean fewer road trips East later in the season.
The rest of the schedule is still scheduled to come out in January, when we'll see the club's first trip to Minnesota and the first time they play Atlanta.
Facing the start of their long trip around North America and the Caribbean, Sporting Kansas City got a 2-2 draw on the road against an FC Dallas team that had dropped only six points out of a possible 36 home points heading into the game tonight. In the first half both teams had some chances, but it was FC Dallas putting Kansas City goalkeeper Alec Kann to the test more. He did a good job early on blocking an effort by Maximilliano Urruti in front of goal after a cross by Michael Barrios. While Kann was the busier goalkeeper, Dom Dwyer forced a good save out of Chris Seitz in the 24th minute off a Graham Zusi corner. Dwyer headed a powerful header on goal but Seitz got down really well and saved the shot right at his feet and the rebound was cleared away. KC suffered an injury blow just 35 minutes in as Ike Opara had to leave with an ankle injury, forcing Kevin Ellis into action in defense for KC. The injury comes at a bad time as the team is still without Matt Besler and Nuno Coelho is just starting to return to form. With the busy stretch ahead the defensive Kann came up big again on another cross by Barrios, this time palming the cross away before it could get to Urruti who had gotten himself space on in the middle of KC's defense.
Kann continued to keep Kansas City in the game in the second half as he made a good save on a header by Walker Zimmerman off a Mauro Diaz free kick. The rebound was put off the post, but Kann appeared to have that shot covered as well. Dallas did finally beat Kann in the 66th minute as Tesho Akindele ghosted into the box completely unmarked by the KC defense and headed home a cross by Atiba Harris to put Dallas on top 1-0. The lead didn't last long for Dallas though as just two minutes later Kansas City was level. Brad Davis received the ball cutting towards the box and fired a shot that Dwyer intercepted as Seitz went to ground, Dwyer was able to turn and fire a shot into the roof of the net over Seitz to level the game at 1-1. Five minutes later Kansas City grabbed the lead. Benny Feilhaber fed the ball into Dwyer who flicked the ball up to himself but Zimmerman knocked the ball into the air. Dwyer followed the ball and one timed a shot past Seitz and into the net putting Kansas City on top 2-1. Once again the lead didn't last long though as three minutes later, Dallas was level. On a cross toward the near post, Kann tried to nonchalantly tip the ball over the bar for a corner, but missed. The ball bounced off the post to Urruti who biked the ball into the net as Kann tried to punch the ball away as he recovered. For as good as Kann played all night it was a glaring mistake that leveled the game at 2-2. Dallas almost retook the lead in the 82nd when Akindele was played in behind the KC defense, but as Kann came out, Akindele attempted to chip the KC goalkeeper, but he put it just wide of the post. Minutes later Dallas had another great opportunity as Dallas countered a KC corner and got a four on one break against Saad Abdul-Salaam, but after a ball played wide, all Dallas got out of the counter was an offside header wide of the post. KC was able to escape that chance and get out of Dallas with a point and will now move on to Trinidad to kick off their Champions League campaign.
Wizards Man of the Match - Alec Kann - The gaff on the second goal for Dallas aside, Kann came up big for Kansas City tonight he made some exceptional saves to keep the game scoreless and to keep Kansas City in the game. He had one miss step and it cost KC the lead.
Honorable Mention - Dom Dwyer
Player Ratings - Kann 7, Medranda 5, Olum 6, Opara 5, Abdul-Salaam 6, Coelho 6, Appiah 5, Feilhaber 5, Peterson 4, Dwyer 7, Zusi 5. Subs Ellis 5, Davis 6, Nagamura NR.
Sporting KC begin their brutal travel schedule this week with the start of their five games in 15 day trip. The tour will see them play in five different cities over those 15 days and in three different countries. It has already gotten off to a rough start as the team was unable to fly to Dallas tonight due to the weather there and will instead fly out tomorrow for their game tomorrow evening against FC Dallas.
It will be interesting to see what team FC Dallas puts out on the field tomorrow night as the club had their US Open Cup semifinal on Wednesday night in Los Angeles, a game they won 2-1 in the dying seconds of extra time. Head coach Oscar Pareja put out his strongest team against the Galaxy on Wednesday with the chance to host the US Open Cup final on the line. Fielding the likes of Mauro Diaz, Maximilliano Urruti, Matt Hedges, and Walker Zimmerman along with other starters for 120 minutes on Wednesday there could be some very tired legs for Dallas tomorrow against Kansas City. Of course that was the same thing thought last week when many of the players that took the field Sunday in Portland for the Timbers had played on the mid-week in the Champions League.
While Kansas City doesn't have the busy schedule behind them heading into tomorrow's game, it's instead in front of them with the long trip coming. After Dallas, Sporting KC will head to Trinidad to take on Central FC in their first game in this year's Champions League. Kansas City will be doing it with a very thin roster due to the club's injuries and suspensions. The biggest changes will happen in midfield where two-thirds of KC's starting midfield, Roger Espinoza and Soni Mustivar are suspended for the game. It'll be interesting to see which way Peter Vermes goes with the lineup, whether he inserts Nuno Coelho in the holding role as he played once earlier this year, or if he slots Coelho in on defense and slides Lawrence Olum up into the defensive midfield role. As for the box-to-box role Vermes could look to slide Benny Feilhaber back and insert Graham Zusi into the midfield position to play attacking midfield. Of course this depends on the health of Paulo Nagamura, if he is healthy then you put him into the box-to-box role and leave Feilhaber and Zusi in their normal roles.
Hallisey - Dwyer - Peterson
Zusi
Feilhaber - Olum
Medranda - Coelho - Opara - Abdul-Salaam
Kann
Number to Remember - 0 - That's the number of wins that Kansas City has in their last 10 road games, KC won their first two road games of the season, but have since gone 0-7-3 with only four goals (half of those in one game). Meanwhile Dallas 9-0-3 at home so far this season and have gone 17 without a loss in league play. Dallas' last league loss at home came a year ago this coming Monday, August 15th. Dallas last lost 2-1 on 8/15 to the LA Galaxy.
Key Match Up - KC midfield vs Dallas midfield - With two-thirds of the starting midfield missing for Kansas City it's going to be an interesting match up through the middle. At the same time I'm not sure that Dallas starts Diaz after 120 minutes on Wednesday. Instead KC may get the other Mauro, Mauro Rosales. Rosales has already scored on KC once this season, on a free kick in Dallas' 2-1 win over KC earlier this year.
PREDICTION - Dallas may be tired and have heavy legs tomorrow, but KC's road form doesn't exactly fill anyone in KC with confidence, or opponents with fear in the game. The delayed flight certainly won't help mentally for the club as they prepare for tomorrow's game. While Dallas will be tired, KC isn't helped by being short handed, and KC's away form combined with Dallas' home form doesn't give too much confidence for tomorrow's game.
There have been plenty of surprising calls go both for and against Sporting Kansas City so far this season but none probably top the events of yesterday's game between Sporting and FC Dallas. The first half especially saw a number of contentious moments, and fortunately for KC they all went in their favor as they defeated Dallas 2-0 for just their second win in 12 league games. The win also allowed KC to jump back into the playoff picture going from seventh to fourth.
The first half had started well as both teams were creating half chances and getting up and down the field, but in the 15th minute came the biggest point of contention of the entire game as Maximiliano Urruti tried to pick out Tesho Akindele with a through ball that Lawrence Olum easily dealt with and played back towards goal and Tim Melia. Unfortunately Melia had come off his line and was no where near where Olum played the ball. Melia raced back as the ball rolled towards the net and slid knocking the ball away from goal. The assistant on that side of the field didn't raise his flag as it seemed everyone in the stadium expected him to and give Dallas the goal. Instead play continued as Kansas City played the ball back up field as replays clearly showed the ball well over the line. Seconds later Dallas was attacking again and had another opportunity as Fabian Castillo was played in behind the KC defense. As Melia came off his line Castillo squared he ball to Michael Barrios who took a shot that was saved by Melia and went right to Castillo. Castillo went around Melia and put the ball in the net but was ruled offside on the play as there was a defender back on the goal line, but Castillo had gotten past Melia leaving only one player instead of two between him and the goal. The refereeing decisions continued to go against Dallas as in the 24th minute it looked like Jimmy Medranda brought down Akindele in the box on a ball from Urruti, but play was again waved on. Replays showed Akindele making the most of the contact but there have been penalties given for it before. Kansas City came back and almost put themselves in front as some good work down the wing allowed Saad Abdul-Salaam to pick out Benny Feilhaber at the top of the box but he slid his shot just wide of the near post. The better of the chances though continued to fall to Dallas though as Matt Hedges hit the cross bar after a free kick and seconds later Castillo came racing down the field and beat Melia with a shot but saw his effort hit off the post and bounce right into the grateful hands of Melia to keep the game scoreless. By this point it could have easily been four or five goals for Dallas and it was only 30 minutes into the game. By the 41st minute though it looked like KC might be able to grab the lead as KC worked well down the left leading to Connor Hallisey getting some space to run. Hallisey played a good early ball to Jacob Peterson about 35 yards from goal with no one on him, Peterson raced in one on one with Chris Seitz but could not beat Seitz in that situation and had his effort well saved by the Dallas goalkeeper. That play seemed to wake Kansas City up and in the 43rd minute KC grabbed the lead off a Feilhaber free kick. Feilhaber played a dangerous ball towards the near post that Olum got a little flick on that helped push it past Seitz and into the net giving KC the 1-0 lead, however undeserving it may have felt. Minutes later KC had the chance to go up 2-0 from the penalty spot as Feilhaber looked to get clipped after receiving the ball in the box. Further replays made me question how much contact Feilhaber actually took on the play. Feilhaber stepped up to take the penalty himself and sent Seitz the wrong way to put Kansas City up 2-0 heading into the half time break.
The second half of the game lacked the excitement of the first half as KC sat back a little deeper absorbing pressure, but keeping Dallas from getting clear chances on goal. Neither side created much in the way of dangerous chances in the second half, Sporting's defense kept Dallas limited to half chances until very late. The best chance in the second half didn't come until the 89th minute when Walker Zimmerman, coming up from his defensive position had a diving header go just wide of the post after a ball came floating in over the top. Kansas City was able to hang out thanks to their defense and the help of the referee to earn all three points and hopefully turn their season around. Wizards Man of the Match - Benny Feilhaber - A goal and an assist for the Sporting KC midfielder, I was worried when I saw the lineup that Feilhaber would be sitting a lot deeper on the field similar to how he was in the first half against Minnesota. He was able to get forward at good times though and was able to get KC the goals they needed, although it wasn't his greatest performance for KC, hopefully the success can be built upon.
MLS kicks back into action this weekend after their break for the Copa America Centenario and Sporting KC will kick off on Sunday in the heat against co-leaders of the Western Conference, FC Dallas. I wouldn't expect a game that has a lot of pretty soccer to it unfortunately because of the situations both teams find themselves in. Beside the fact that the temperature will be in the mid 90s at kickoff, both teams come into the game having played 120 minutes on Wednesday night. Both teams were taken to extra time in their US Open Cup fourth round game, Kansas City against Minnesota and Dallas against Oklahoma City. The two teams both advanced, but both teams used a number of starters that went 120 minutes which could lead to a lot of heavy legs, especially in the heat.
Dallas was able to rest one of their most dynamic players on Wednesday as Fabian Castillo was an unused substitute against OKC, with his speed he could cause a number of issues for Kansas City, especially with some tired legs for KC on defense, he'll be a handful for Kansas City's back line. On top of that Dallas is the second highest scoring team in MLS so far this season, behind the LA Galaxy (who KC shut out on the road in their last MLS game). The Dallas offense is quite dynamic with Castillo and Mauro Diaz leading the line, and while their forwards don't stand out too much, both Maximiliano Urruti and Tesho Akindele can finishing their chances when they come. Some good news for KC though is that Dallas will be without Michael Barrios who has caused a number of issues for Kansas City since signing with Dallas.
Kansas City has their own issues with tired legs, playing more starters for their win over Minnesota United than Dallas did. Kansas City will likely need more rotation, most likely up top. Brad Davis, who only played 30 minutes on Wednesday seems like a smart bet to start on the wing for Kansas City. The other wing could be interesting as Peter Vermes could go with Jacob Peterson or Connor Hallisey on short rest or maybe look to give Justin Mapp his first start for Kansas City. One big question is if Nuno Coelho will be back and ready to go tomorrow. He'd had a set back on his injury and missed Wednesday's game, and while KC's defense has played well in Coelho's absence, his availability would be a boost for Kansas City tomorrow. Another big question could be at center forward where Dom Dwyer played 105 minutes on Wednesday before making way for Diego Rubio. In his short 15 minutes, Rubio scored what proved to be the game winner bringing up questions about whether Rubio should get more time or even get a start ahead of Dwyer.
Davis - Dwyer - Peterson
Espinoza - Feilhaber
Mustivar
Medranda - Coelho - Opara - Myers
Melia
Number to Remember - 220 - That's the number of minutes that Kansas City has gone since they scored a league goal. The last goal came in the 50th minute of KC's 3-1 loss to Real Salt Lake.
Key Match Up - Chance Myers (KC right back) vs Fabian Castillo - Castillo is one of the league's most dynamic players and is always a handful to deal with. Tomorrow night won't be any different for Kansas City in dealing with him. Having to shut him down isn't going to be easy for Sporting with the way he plays, a lot of that responsibility will fall on KC's outside back. PREDICTION - Another match up between one of the lowest scoring teams in the league against one of the highest scoring teams and it's a question of whether the KC defense can actually shut down another high power offense. Sporting's defense has been playing much better over the last few games and will need to be organized tomorrow to continue that. Kansas City has been able to play well defensive but need to continue to clean things up on the offensive third of the field. I'm just not sure that's coming tomorrow.
Sporting KC came out and played much better on the road tonight in Dallas than they had at home on Wednesday against the Colorado Rapids, but it wasn't enough as Sporting fell for the third time in four matches. KC scored first but couldn't make the lead hold up and couldn't find an equalizer late with a flurry of chances to fall 2-1.
Kansas City started the game off well as Kansas City almost too the lead in the 14th minute. A long ball over the top found Brad Davis, who got a nice deflection off of Ryan Hollingshead to keep it in his path. The touch carried the ball towards goal where Davis squared the ball to Dom Dwyer, but before he could get a shot off Zach Loyd made a great sliding tackle to knock the ball away and ending the chance. Dwyer had another opportunity minutes later off a free kick. Dwyer got on the end of it and pushed an effort towards goal, Chris Seitz made the save and the ball came back to Dwyer as he was falling over, Dwyer got the ball past Seitz towards the goal line but then the ball hit his arm, keeping the ball in front of him as he headed the ball across the line from his stomach. The play was called back due to the handball on Dwyer though. Throughout the first half a lot of Dallas' best efforts came through Fabian Castillo, mainly coming down the right side of KC's defense. He made Saad Abdul-Salaam and Nuno Coelho both look silly in the 20th minute when he cut between the two of them before knocking a ball across the face of goal that no one for Dallas got on the end of. Two minutes later, Kansas City grabbed the lead at the other end of a Benny Feilhaber corner. The ball went near post towards Coelho, but no one got a head or hand to it and the ball bounced towards the back post where Lawrence Olum had lost Hollingshead and was able to knock the ball into the net. After the goal Dallas really started to press the game on KC, but would have to wait until the 35th minute to find the equalizer as Sporting's defense made a number of mistakes to set it up. On a long ball by Kellyn Acosta, Matt Besler tried to step in front of Maximiliano Urruti to win the ball, half way into his step up realized he wasn't going to get there. Urruti then beat Amadou Dia to the ball and then touched the ball ahead to Michael Barrios. Barrios seemed to be offside when Urruti touched it, but no call was made. Barrios controlled the ball and then fired a shot from a tight angle that Tim Melia got plenty of hand/body on but couldn't keep it out as Dallas tied the game. Dallas really started to push the game after that and KC seemed desperate to get to half time, in the 40th minute they had another good chance as Castillo played Victor Ulloa through on goal, but Melia was quick off his line and blocked Ulloa's shot. Late on KC had one good chance as Dwyer was played in on goal but with just Seitz to beat, the KC striker fired his shot wide of the post as the teams went into the half level at 1-1.
Over half time KC seemed to get things settled with their defense and came out in the second half looking much better than they had defensively in the first. On the offensive end, KC should have taken the lead in the 60th when Dwyer played a nicely flicked pass into the path of Jimmy Medranda, but Seitz came up with a good save. Dallas went the other way quickly and Castillo forced a good save out of Melia at the other end. For the most part though that was Castillo's big contribution of the second half as Sporting were able to shut the Colombian down in the second half. Unfortunately a foul by Dia on Urruti at the top of the box gave Dallas a free kick in the 68th. Like the first Dallas goal it was a situation KC could have avoided with some better defensive clearing, but Mauro Rosales stepped up and curled the free kick over the wall and into the net to put Dallas on top 2-1. Over the final 20 minutes KC kept Dallas pinned in their own end for the majority of the play, but really couldn't create clear chances on goal that really tested Seitz in the Dallas goal. The best chances came in second half stoppage time. First off a Davis free kick from a similar position as Rosales, Davis curled his through the wall but Seitz was there to make a save. The ball got knocked back and another cross came towards substitute, Ike Opara, Seitz came way off his line for it, but missed leaving the goal wide open but Roger Espinoza's knock towards goal was cleared off the line by Dallas and eventually out for a corner. Off the corner another chance came to KC through Diego Rubio, but Rubio fired his shot from inside the box over the goal for KC's last decent chance of the game as Dallas walked out with all three points.
Wizards Man of the Match - Brad Davis - Was a constant headache for Dallas down KC's left side throughout the first half; so much so that Dallas brought on Atiba Harris at half time to try and deal with him better than Hollingshead did. Served in a number of dangerous free kicks and had forced a strong save from Seitz late on for Dallas to preserve the win.
Player Ratings - Melia 5, Abdul-Salaam 6, Coelho 6, Besler 4, Dia 4, Olum 5, Espinoza 5, Feilhaber 5, Davis 6, Dwyer 6, Medranda 6. Subs Opara 5, Sinovic 5, Rubio NR.
Sporting Kansas City gets the chance to quickly get over the performance on Wednesday night against Colorado with a game tomorrow against FC Dallas. That's assuming the game takes place as it looks like Dallas will be dealing with some severe weather tomorrow evening that will start around the same time the game is scheduled to start. The weather could certainly play a big role in tomorrow's game even if it is played, the style of play will change greatly if Dallas gets the amount of rain that is predicted tomorrow.
Dallas comes into the game having played in the midweek as well, picking up a big 3-1 win over the road against the Portland Timbers. A stand out performance for them, a very good result on the road, that they got without Mauro Diaz playing in the game. Goals from Michael Barrios, Tesho Akindele, and Fabian Castillo helped Dallas to the win. Their attack, while lacking that "go to" striker is more dangerous because of the fact that Dallas can beat you from so many different ways. Even though it appears that Diaz will miss out tomorrow night as well, Dallas isn't a team that KC can take lightly.
Peter Vermes' starting lineup on Wednesday against the Rapids would seem to point to KC not taking Dallas lightly (unfortunately that probably didn't help the performance on Wednesday) resting the likes of Benny Feilhaber and Dom Dwyer, at least for a half on Wednesday. With the busy schedule KC has just kicked off that's not surprising. Both I'd expect in the starting 11 tomorrow. Elsewhere on the field though it looks like injuries will keep Soni Mustivar and Chance Myers another week. That means that Lawrence Olum and Saad Abdul-Salaam seem likely to get another start for Kansas City down in Dallas. The big question may be whether club captain, Matt Besler returns from his concussion tomorrow after being on the bench on Wednesday.
Davis - Dwyer - Zusi
Espinoza - Feilhaber
Olum
Dia - Besler - Coelho - SAS
Melia
Number to Remember - 0 - KC has won zero games in Dallas since KC's 4-1 win there back in 2011, Graham Zusi's coming out party. To be far, KC has played there just twice in that time frame, drawing one and losing the other last year.
Key Match Up - Dia/SAS vs Barrios/Castillo - The wingers for Dallas are quite good and have plenty of pace to use. They're going to be a handful for Dia and Abdul-Salaam to deal with. In KC's favor though the pair were able to do well against them last year in three of the clubs' four meetings in all competitions last year.
PREDICTION - Dallas was a preseason MLS Cup favorite with how Oscar Pareja has built the club and what he has been able to get out of the talent the club has. He has some of the best young, Latin talent in the league in the likes of Castillo and Barrios. The defense has also been strong with the likes of Matt Hedges controlling the back line. They are just a good all around team. I'm not sure that KC is going to be able to get out of Dallas tomorrow with anything to show for their efforts unfortunately.
Sporting Kansas City finally ended their winless streak with a 3-1 win at Sporting Park over FC Dallas allowing them to jump back into the middle of the Western Conference playoff teams. KC now is sitting in fourth place in the West three points behind second place Dallas.
The first half didn't see any scoring but there were chances for both sides, Michael Barrios forced a save from Jon Kempin in only the first minute after he got space down KC's left side. KC controlled much of the half creating a few half chances, but for the most part kept Dallas pinned back in their own end. While Dallas had their chance early, KC's best chance came out the end of the half on a corner by Graham Zusi. Chance Myers beat his mark and put a nice header on goal but Dallas home grown goalkeeper, Jesse Gonzalez made a finger tip save to push the ball away.
In the second half the action opened up a lot more for both teams, as there was more action at both ends of the field. In the 53rd minute Gonzalez was in top form to twice deny Zusi. First with a flicked header off a cross from Seth Sinovic. Gonzalez got down and knocked the ball away, then got back on his feet and denied the second effort from Zusi knocking the ball out for a corner kick. KC finally broke through in the 65th minute off a free kick from the top of the box. Benny Feilhaber did the honors of taking the kick and curled his effort around the wall and into the far post. Gonzalez seemed to get caught leaning a bit towards Feilhaber going over the wall and couldn't make a diving save as the ball went in off the post and into the net to put KC up 1-0. KC was given a chance to double the lead in the 76th minute. A long ball was played over the top to Dwyer, Gonzlez came out for it at the same time. Dwyer beat him to the ball and Gonzalez knocked into him, referee, Mark Geiger pointed to the spot giving KC a penalty kick. Feilhaber stepped up again and sent Gonzalez the wrong way putting KC up 2-0. Dallas stepped up the effort again after that and cut the lead in half four minutes after KC made it 2-0. Victor Ulloa picked up a give and go with Fabian Castillo. Ulloa fired a shot from outside the box that Kempin got his hands on, but it hit up into the air behind Kempin and bounced into the net. It's a goal that Kempin will certainly want back, and be extremely upset with himself for not keeping it out. The hope for Dallas was ended three minutes later though by KC. Paulo Nagamura took the ball down the right before playing a ball in to Dwyer, who took a touch and opened himself up then fired a shot past Gonzalez and into the net making it 3-1 KC. Sporting killed off the rest of the game and finally ended the long winless streak. Hopefully it's the start of a return to form for the team.
Wizards Man of the Match - Soni Mustivar - While Feilhaber had the brace and did well, Mustivar was the man of the match last night. He controlled the center of midfield again in a way he hasn't since Roger Espinoza went out with injury. He kept Dallas from really getting much going over the course of the game.
Sporting KC get the Friday night match up this week on national television on Unimas. They'll welcome FC Dallas to Sporting Park for the third time this season and based on Dallas' first two trips to KC this might be just the opponent KC's needs to get out of their five game winless run. KC has won the two priors trips by Dallas this year by a combined 10-2 scoreline. But unlike last time when KC's has been in form heading into these games, they're trying to pull themselves out of their funk.
Dallas comes into tomorrow's game with a three game winning streak that has seen them jump back into the Supporters' Shield race and the race for the top seed in the West. They sit just one point behind Vancouver with a game in hand on the Whitecaps. Questions remain for Dallas regarding injuries to midfield Mauro Diaz and goalkeeper Dan Kennedy. Replacing Kennedy has been going quite well for Dallas though as 20 year old home grown goalkeeper, Jesse Gonzalez has started Dallas' last four games, allowing just two goals. Dallas has also been able to compensate for the absence of Diaz as well, scoring seven goals in their current stretch, all without the playmaker on the field.
Kansas City really needs to find a way to end their winless run, they've fallen to the verge of being outside of the playoffs looking in as the likes of San Jose have really started to pick up their play. KC is running out of excuses to use, yes the team is without Roger Espinoza, but one player can't be the excuse. And while Chance Myers is recovering, neither Jalil Anibaba nor Saad Abdul-Salaam have done poorly replacing him. The team was without Tim Melia on Sunday in Orlando, but Melia practiced this week and I would think he'd be available to go tomorrow. KC will also have the team's leading scorer in all competitions, Dom Dwyer in the line up after his red card was overturned, which will be a boost to KC's attack, which has only scored four times in the five game winless run.
Nemeth - Dwyer - Zusi
Feilhaber - Nagamura
Mustivar
Sinovic - Besler - Ellis - Abdul-Salaam
Melia
Number to Remember - 13 - That's the number of goals that KC has allowed in the last five games. That's the same number of goals that KC has allowed in the previous 14 league games since Tim Melia took over in goal for Luis Marin.
Key Match Up - Saad Abdul-Salaam vs Fabian Castillo - Castillo ran over KC in their first match up in Dallas earlier this year. In KC's two wins against Dallas this year Castillo did not play at all. He'll be in the lineup tomorrow though and his speed could once again cause KC plenty of fits for their back line.
PREDICTION - This may be a must win for KC at this point of the season if they want to make the playoffs. Taking all three points in your home games is crucial at this point in the season. But with the way that KC has played recently I'm not sure how they're going to beat a Dallas team that is riding a good three game win streak. Then again this is MLS, where a San Jose team that was basically dead and buried came into KC and put 5 past KC a few weeks ago.That said I don't see KC ending the winless streak tomorrow.
Behind a record setting performance by Dom Dwyer, Sporting KC cruised to a 6-2 win over FC Dallas in the 5th round of the US Open Cup. Sporting will now host the Houston Dynamo in the quarterfinals later this month with a chance to advance to their fourth US Open Cup semifinal in club history.
Sporting got things started off quickly when Dwyer scored his first goal of the night in just the fifth minute. Off a Benny Feilhaber corner kick Dwyer got himself space at the back post and was able to head it past Chris Seitz in the Dallas net to put KC up 1-0. KC continued the pressure and almost made it 2-0 shortly after, as a cross came into the box where Jacob Peterson met it, but Seitz had done a good job coming off his line and making himself big, blocking the shot. Dallas couldn't hold out forever though with only four regular starters, KC found the back of the net again in the 30th minute off another set piece. Feilhaber played the ball towards the back post, Seitz came for the ball, but Dwyer beat him to it heading it past him and into the net to put KC up 2-0. About 10 minutes later, he would get to make it 3-0. After being fouled just inside the box by Moises Hernandez for a shove as the KC forward was played into the box, Dwyer stepped up himself and buried the penalty to finish off his first half hattrick, the team's first hattrick since 2010. KC wasn't done in the first half either as Krisztian Nemeth got in on the action in first half stoppage time. After Feilhaber played in Peterson down the line, Peterson was able to get into the box and laid a nice ball off to Nemeth in the middle of the box for him to slot into the net as Seitz committed towards Peterson to make it 4-0 as the teams went in at the half.
The second half started on a sour note for KC though as Peterson picked up an injury after a tackle early on in the half. Peterson only made it to the 50th minute before the injury forced him to the sideline. His replacement though was involved in the fifth goal of the game though. In the 59th minute the ball came to Saad Abdul-Salaam at the top of the box, the rookie tried to hit the ball on goal, but miss hit it causing it to go towards the end line. Nemeth raced the ball down, settled it on the end line and then chipped the ball into the middle with the outside of his right foot. The ball floated over Seitz and curled into the net as Matt Hedges tried to make the save on the line, but only helped the ball into his own net as KC made it to five. Shortly after Dallas ruined the shutout as Michael Barrios and David Texeira worked a good give and go as Barrios beat Tim Melia to make it 5-1 in the 61nd minute. KC though responded with another goal of their own. After a foul at the top of the box, Dwyer stepped up and curled the ball over the wall and into the net to score his fourth goal of the night; the first KC player to ever score four in a game and KC was up 6-1. A few minutes later, Dallas was able to get one more consolation goal as a shot by Kellyn Acosta deflected off of Matt Besler and past Melia into the net to make it 6-2. KC killed most of the rest of the game with possession through their midfield and defense as they cruised into a bye weekend and into the quarterfinals.
Wizards Man of the Match - Dom Dwyer - Hard to argue when a guy goes and scores four goals in a game. Dwyer looked on top of his game last night and hopefully it's a sign that he's rounding into form. His four goals and Nemeth's two give both of them nine of the season, the more balanced attack should serve KC very well going forward if the two can continue to play well together.
Sporting KC return to US Open Cup action tomorrow at home against FC Dallas. With the draw a couple weeks ago, the path to the US Open Cup final goes through KC, at least for the Western half of the bracket. So things are in KC's hands at this point, and it's something that they really need to take advantage of. With KC's home form this season at Sporting Park it's gotta be something that KC feel they can take advantage of.
FC Dallas comes into the game after beating the Oklahoma City Energy 4-1 in their last Open Cup match up and beating Houston 2-0 last Friday in league play. Dallas won't be an easy team, while they haven't always taken the Open Cup seriously, call ups for the Gold Cup leave them a little limited in numbers and may require them to play a number of starters during the midweek. They also have a league match this coming weekend at home against New England that they may be looking towards as well to help them move up the league table.
KC on the other hand is off this next weekend from league play and should be able to put out a primarily first team line up with the club having 11 days before their game on the 12th against Vancouver. The team is now without Graham Zusi and Marcel de Jong who have both departed for Gold Cup duty. The rest of the team should be available for tomorrow's game, although with Chance Myers playing close to 90 minutes on the weekend and still recovering from injury may need a break, but KC has Jalil Anibaba who can immediately come in and start. Meanwhile, with Jon Kempin out, I'd expect Tim Melia to get another start in goal ahead of loaned goalkeeper Alex Riggs.
Melia
Anibaba - Ellis - Besler - Dia
Mustivar
Feilhaber - Espinoza
Peterson - Dwyer - Nemeth
Key Match Up - Soni Mustivar vs Mauro Diaz - Not sure if Diaz will play tomorrow with Dallas' schedule, but if he's on the field it's going to be a difficult match up. In the last match up between the two teams, Mustivar did a very good job of keeping Diaz under wraps, and KC will have a good chance of winning the game.
Number to Remember - 6 - That's the number of shutouts that KC has at home in their last seven home games. In those seven games, KC has allowed just two goals in their 4-2 win over the New England Revolution.
PREDICTION - This game is set up for KC to win, with Dallas having this game sandwiched between two league games and playing without three players that have been providing minutes for Dallas this year due to the Gold Cup. The way that KC has been playing lately and with their home form this is a game that KC should be able to win and advance in the Open Cup.
Sporting KC may have learned a thing or two about playing short handed after all the issues last season and over the past few weeks, because they were firing on all cylinders last night against FC Dallas. They were helped by a first half red card to Dallas' Zach Loyd, but KC completely controlled their Western Conference rival and moved into a tie for second place.
Even before they went up a man though KC was controlling the game, in the 4th minute they should have grabbed the lead when a Graham Zusi corner was headed back into the middle by Jalil Anibaba. The cushioned header was met by Benny Feilhaber, but he couldn't keep his volley down as it skied over the bar. All the early pressure from KC paid off in the 19th minute. From a free kick outside the box, Zusi played a nice ball to the back post where Kevin Ellis beat Ryan Hollingshead to the ball, heading the ball back across goal where Krisztian Nemeth met it heading the ball in from a yard out to make it 1-0 KC. Like one of Dallas' goals in the first meeting it appeared that Nemeth was offside when Ellis headed the ball back across goal, but like the Dallas game, no call was made. KC should have doubled the lead in the 24th minute, as Feilhaber made a great move to get around his defender and 1v1 with Dan Kennedy in goal Feilhaber pushed his effort just wide. Nemeth was causing all sorts of problems for Dallas' back line, posting up and turning when he received the ball. In the 32nd he earned KC a dangerous free kick just outside the box and the first yellow card for Loyd. Unfortunately Feilhaber couldn't capitalize on the free kick as he tried to go under the wall, but it didn't jump. Another turn by Nemeth in the 39th, this time on Matt Hedges created another scoring chance, but Nemeth pulled just shot just wide of the post. In the 43rd minute, Loyd got him marching orders after bringing down Nemeth after he had poked the ball away from him near the side line and was starting to race past him. Loyd tackled Nemeth, bringing him down and David Gantar immediately pulled out the second yellow.
KC couldn't take advantage of the man advantage in the final minutes of the first half, and early in the second almost gave Dallas a way back into the game. Hollingshead played a nice ball into the box for Tesho Akindele, but Tim Melia was quickly off his line and blocked the shot out for a corner. KC though quickly re-established possession and in the 51st doubled their lead. After receiving the ball in the corner, Jalil Anibaba played a ball on the ground into Nemeth in the box. As he'd been doing all game, Nemeth turned on Hedges to face goal and proceeded to lay a ball off to Feilhaber who was running into the box. Feilhaber made no mistake slotting the ball into the far corner to make it 2-0. Six minutes later, KC made it 3-0. Off a Zusi corner, Ellis got open and ran free into the box heading it into the corner to make it three for Kansas City. Dallas tried to respond immediately off a free kick. Melia came and punched the free kick out of the box, but the cross was recollected and played wide for Kyle Bekker who played a nice cross into the box for Hollingshead, but he couldn't get his header on goal. Eventually it was cleared out for a corner. On the ensuing corner Dallas had another chance, but again couldn't get a shot on goal in the sequence. KC finished off the scoring in the 64th minute after a long ball down field was collected b Connor Hallisey, he cut inside and started dribbling across the face of goal. Zusi made a run the opposite direction and as Zusi passed him, Hallisey backheeled the ball to him. Zusi took a touch and finished past Kennedy to make it 4-0. Shortly after that the air really started to go out of the game as the likes of Mauro Diaz, Akindele, Hallisey, and Roger Espinoza were all subbed out of the game as both teams seemed content with the result the way it was. There were some half chances late on by David Texeira and Saad Abdul-Salaam but the game ended at 4-0 with KC having a dominate performance.
Wizards Man of the Match - Kevin Ellis - Really there's a number of people this could go to for last night's game, from Ellis, to Nemeth, to Zusi, to Feilhaber, to one name I hadn't mentioned yet, Soni Mustivar who did a great job of shutting down Dallas' Diaz. But I'm going with Ellis who was all over the place last night, did a great job of shutting down Dallas' attack along with getting his first MLS goal and an assist.
Sporting KC welcome FC Dallas to Sporting Park for a Friday night match up, the second meeting of the two this season. This will be the first match up for KC this year against an opponent that they have already faced. KC lost the first match up between the two teams 3-1 at Toyota Park back in March.
Dallas sits just three points clear of KC in second place in the tightly packed Western Conference. FC Dallas welcomed a new player this week, Panamanian Rolando Escobar who was out of contract after playing in Venezuela. He's available for selection tomorrow night and could make his debut. One player that looks like they might not be playing is Fabian Castillo who hasn't been training with the team the last couple days. That'd be a big loss for Dallas as Castillo caused KC a number of headaches in the first match up earlier this year. They will still have Mauro Diaz and Blas Perez available for the game and that's plenty enough to cause KC's defense a number of headaches.
For Kansas City it seems like while they're welcoming some players back from injury are losing others. It sounds like Graham Zusi will play a bigger role than he did against Seattle last weekend, and Roger Espinoza is probable. Meanwhile the team has lost Jacob Peterson who left the Seattle game last week with an injury while Dom Dwyer is set to miss his second game in a row due to a neck injury. So KC's injury issues continue with them just rotating through the team. The big question for the lineup may be who starts on the wing opposite Zusi with Peterson out and Krisztian Nemeth in the center forward position. Last week it was Jimmy Medranda in that position, but the other option that Peter Vermes could opt for is giving rookie Connor Hallisey is first professional start.
Melia
Anibaba - Ellis - Besler - Dia
Mustivar
Espinoza - Feilhaber
Zusi - Nemeth - Medranda
Number to Remember - 1 - That's the number of wins Peter Vermes is away from his 100th in all competitions for KC. It's also the number of wins that KC has at Sporting Park against FC Dallas, KC is 1-1-1 at home against Dallas since Sporting Park opened. One is also the number of wins they have in their last five games against Dallas, dating back to Dallas' 2011 trip to KC.
Key Match Up - Soni Mustivar vs Mauro Diaz - Diaz is the cog for Dallas' offense, especially with Castillo seemingly not playing tomorrow. Keeping him contained and not giving away cheap free kicks for him to play into the box is key. It's going to be a tough task for Mustivar to handle.
PREDICTION - Even without Castillo, Dallas still has a number of attacking options that will cause problems for KC's back line. The defense showed a lot better against Seattle last week, but at home one would hope that KC will provide a bit more going forward and in possession than they did in Seattle. Dallas does allow goals, they have just one shutout in their last eight games, so there should be some chances for Kansas City. This looks like it could be a case of which team scores last. I'm not sure either team walks out with a win tomorrow though.
That sounds a lot worse than it actually is. In the 64th minute, a shot by Kansas City went wide of the goal and out of bounds. It bounced off the sign boards and rolled towards the corner flag, eventually rolling back into play. Manoel, who was in the corner working with KC's bench players, jogged quickly onto the field and kicked the ball back to Chris Seitz. While it seems innocent enough, it's something that the league is looking to cut down on this year apparently, as Dallas' fitness coach was hit with the same suspension and fine after the first week of games. Manoel will now miss this weekend's game against the Portland Timbers.
The other incident involved FC Dallas substitute, Kyle Bekker as he was fined for violating the league's policy about hands to the face.. In the 89th minute, Bekker and KC center back, Kevin Ellis tangled in KC's end of the field. A ball was played up the field towards Bekker, but Ellis beat him to the ball with a sliding tackle. As the two game together, Bekker didn't seem to fully try to jump over Ellis. When that happened, Ellis grabbed Bekker's ankle. Bekker took exception to this while Ellis was on the ground, as Ellis tried to get to his feet, still holding Bekker's ankle, Bekker ended up grabbing Ellis by the face and throwing him to the ground.
There was no mention of any of the other incidents in the game mentioned by Simon Borg in his Instant Replay segment on the league's website. But that doesn't necessarily mean that there won't be action, a lot of times the league will get the obvious violation of rules (like entering the field of play and hands to face) early in the week and then get the more debatable stuff later in the week.
As for the referees in the game, PRO does not announce if there are any suspensions for referees, but Jair Maruffo, the center on Saturday, assistant Eric Boria, and the other two referees were given no assignments for this upcoming weekend's games.
Sporting Kansas City's first road trip of the year didn't turn out very well for KC in Dallas tonight as a Blas Perez brace helped to lead Dallas to a 3-1 win over KC. While KC didn't look extremely well in the loss, and probably deserved to lose the game, the scoreline did flatter Dallas a little bit considering Perez and about four other Dallas players were offside on Perez's second goal, and without that goal, the question becomes whether KC would have been pushing forward as much leading to Dallas' third goal on the counter.
KC actually had the better of possession in the first half, but in the run of play were really struggling to create chances. KC's best opportunities were coming from set pieces and corners from Benny Feilhaber and Graham Zusi. Fabian Castillo almost scored in the seventh minute as he cut in and around four or five Kansas City defenders before hitting a shot from close range that Luis Marin blocked clear. In the 17th minute though, Dallas were the ones that grabbed the lead on a mistake by right back Amadou Dia. Dia beat Castillo to a ball over the top, but didn't do well with the clearance, just right to Castillo collected it and played it right into the path of Tesho Akindele who cut back on Marcel de Jong and played the ball into the path of Perez who fired it past Marin and into the net giving Dallas the 1-0 lead. Kansas City continued to get some chances from set pieces but couldn't capitalize. On one of those set pieces it looked like KC's center back issues would continue as Ike Opara and Chris Seitz both went up for a ball, collided in the air and hit the ground hard. Opara looked in a lot of pain holding his shoulder, immediately fans flashed back to Feilhaber's dislocated shoulder against Houston last year. Thankfully in the end Opara was able to continue. Late in the half though they did find an equalizer through Roger Espinoza. Espinoza received a simple pass from Feilhaber near midfield. Espinoza dribbled up field into the Dallas final third with no one really shutting him down. Finally once he got to the top of the box he fired a shot on goal before pressure got on him. Dallas goalkeeper, Seitz was either shielded or made a horrible read on Espinoza's shot as he reacted late, diving to his near post but was unable to keep the ball out of the net.
Early in the second half, Dallas regained the lead with Perez again scoring the goal. After a Michel corner was cleared right back to the Dallas player, Michel cut back inside moving back up field before playing the ball back into the box. While Michel was doing this, the KC line had pushed back up field. The ball fell to Perez who brought it down with just chest and fired it past Marin and in. Unfortunately for KC Perez was offside when Michel's ball was played along with three to four teammates, but assistant referee, Eric Boria kept his flag down and the goal stood. Shortly after the goal, Perez almost finished off his hattrick after a poor giveaway by de Jong in KC's defensive end of the field. Thankfully Perez's header from about the six was right at Marin, who had to hurry to get back into goal after the giveaway. Down a goal again, KC had to push numbers forward, and in the 73rd got hit on the counter, for Dallas' third goal. After Zusi had the ball tackled away in the Dallas half of the field, Michel played a great ball over the top to Ryan Hollingshead who ran straight by de Jong into KC's half of the field. As Opara came over to cover, Hollingshead played a ball back into the middle for Castillo who had burned past Dia, touched the ball past an on rushing Marin and calmly put the ball into the net to make it 3-1. A couple minutes later though KC thought they had a life line. Off a Zusi free kick, substitute, Bernardo Anor was fouled in the box by Matt Hedges leading to a penalty kick for Kansas City. Dom Dwyer stepped up to take the kick, but hit the PK poorly. It was right in that range to the keepers side where they can easily reach it with a dive. Seitz pushed the shot away and the rebound was cleared. KC pushed forward the rest of the way trying to find themselves a goal to close the gap but were unable to test Seitz and KC sank to the bottom of the West two games into the season thanks to other results around the league.
Wizards Man of the Match - Roger Espinoza - Really I don't think anyone looked that good overall tonight, the defense had a lot of issues, the outside backs especially, the midfield continued to be a bit disjointed in its style, even with the insertion of another defensive minded midfielder in Paulo Nagamura, and the attackers didn't test Seitz enough. Espinoza gets it for showing a willingness to attack on the dribble and scoring a goal tonight.
Player Ratings - Marin 4, Dia 3, Opara 4, Ellis 4, De Jong 3, Feilhaber 4, Espinoza 5, Nagamura 4, Nemeth 4, Dwyer 3, Zusi 4. Subs Anor 5, Peterson NR.
Sporting KC head on the road for the first time in the 2015 season as they've traveled to Dallas for their first match against a Western Conference opponent since their move back to the West this season. It'll be a familiar opponent for Kansas City though as the two MLS originals have met 49 times in the past, with KC leading the overall series 20-19-10.
Dallas comes into the game on the back of a late game winner in their season opener at home against the San Jose Earthquakes. Blas Perez scored in second half stoppage time to lead Dallas to the 1-0 win, redirecting a shot with his head into the net. Dallas had an impressive end to the 2014 season, playing well under Oscar Pareja in his first season as coach of Dallas. With the likes of Fabian Castillo running at defenders, the Dallas attack poses a number of problems for KC's back line, especially with Matt Besler out. Defensively, Dallas has recent national teamer, Matt Hedges anchoring the center of defense. Behind him will be either Chris Seitz, who started Dallas' opener, or Dan Kennedy, who the team acquired in the Chivas USA dispersal draft.
For KC the big question is who is going to replace Besler in the center of KC's defense next to Ike Opara. The options range from Erik Palmer-Brown, to the recently acquired Jalil Anibaba, to Kevin Ellis, who has returned from his concussion and will apparently be available for selection. Based on tweets by KC Star beat writer, Sam McDowell, it would seem that KC's teenage U20 international, Palmer-Brown looks set to start his first game of the season. After the center back position the question is whether Peter Vermes will do something to try to stabilize the midfield a bit more. There seemed to be issues last week for Benny Feilhaber and Roger Espinoza in regards to one staying home and one attacking more depending on the situation. Does Vermes try to work things out between the two of them and have them start again Saturday, or does he look to insert someone like Paulo Nagamura to bring some more stability in the midfield while sacrificing Bernardo Anor (who Nagamura subbed in for against New York) or possibly Krisztian Nemeth. In the end I think Vermes sticks with Espinoza and Feilhaber for consistency, but has them play a little deeper this game than they did at home against New York.
Marin
Dia - Opara - EPB - Sinovic
Feilhaber - Espinoza
Nemeth
Zusi - Dwyer - Anor
Number to Remember - 1 - From Sporting's By the Numbers, the home team in this series since 2010 has just 1 win in 6 in this series(1-3-2). That win was by Dallas in July of 2010. One is also the number of losses that Dallas has at home in their last 14 home games (11-1-2), that's home form that Kansas City only wishes that they had right now.
Key Match Up - Ike Opara vs Blas Perez - After going up against the MLS Golden Boot winner last weekend, Opara will now have to deal with another consistent goal scorer. Perez though is a different type of striker than Bradley Wright-Phillips, Perez will be much more physical with Opara than BWP was and will be a different challenge for Opara to deal with. At the same time, Opara's match up with Perez will be with Castillo being a pest running at KC's defense, which will cause its own problems.
PREDICTION - This should be a good test of where this Sporting team is at in this early part of the season.Dallas is a good young team that is well coached. KC's road form under Vermes the last few years has been quite good, compared to the rest of the league. Dallas though is extremely good at home under Pareja and will be ready for the game. I'd love to see a KC win for the 800 or so traveling Cauldron who will help turn Toyota Park into Sporting Park South, but I question whether that'll be enough. Dallas is a good team with plenty of attacking options, this will be a much sterner test than New York was. I'm not sure KC gets out of Dallas with anything tomorrow.
With the big trip to Dallas this weekend, when there will be over 750 people traveling down the Toyota Park to watch Sporting KC take on FC Dallas I figured I'd use this Throw Back Thursday to look back at probably the worst road trip I've ever been on, and hard to think many others have been on worse.
First, let's set the stage, the year was 2009, the then Kansas City Wizards were headed down to Dallas to take on FC Dallas. The Wizards at the time were 5-6-6 having draw their last two games on the road 0-0 with New England and 1-1 at home against the LA Galaxy (the game Claudio Lopez scored from midfield). At this point KC's chances of making the playoffs, weren't hanging in the balance, but getting some sort of result was needed for Curt Onalfo's men. Adam Cristman got one of his three starts for KC in the game while Rauwshan McKenzie made one of his five league starts in that game. KC's current captain, Matt Besler was at right back.
From the start KC struggled to deal with Dallas as they came forward, the Wizards faced a lot of one way traffic, with Jack Jewsbury struggling to deal with Brek Shea and Jair Benitez on Dallas' left side. KC's defense held though for much of the first half either from saves by Kevin Hartman or from the offside flag. Finally in the 38th minute Jeff Cunningham opened the scoring as Atiba Harris was played in behind Besler and played a cross to the back post where Cunningham was unmarked to tap home. Only minutes later it was 2-0. Again Dallas broke down KC's right side way too easily and Shea played a ball into the middle where David Ferreira ran in front of McKenzie to flick on the cross and put it past Hartman to make it 2-0 before the teams headed into half time.
At half time, Onalfo tried to stop the bleeding, subbing out Herculez Gomez for Lance Watson, sliding him to right back and pushing Jewsbury into the midfield after all the trouble he had dealing with Shea. The move didn't hurt KC early on at least, Davy Arnaud forced a good save out of Dario Sala just after the half started and KC showed a little bit of life. It didn't last long though and in the 65th minute, after Hartman had come out of his box and muffed a clearance, Cunningham won the ball off McKenzie outside the box and proceeded to get fouled inside the box as the Dallas attacker carried forward. Cunningham stepped up and buried the PK for his second of the night. As if things couldn't get worse, a minute later Claudio Lopez got sent off for an elbow to the throat of Dax McCarty as KC's designated player tried to hold off the Dallas midfielder. Up a man, Dallas made it 4-0 in the 76th as a long Shea cross into the box caused Hartman to start to come out, then back pedal back towards goal. The hesitation led to the ball falling to the fee of Cunningham who finished off his hattrick. Two minutes later, a poor turnover in KC's defensive half of the field by Santiago Hirsig led to Ferreira going right at Hartman in a 1v1 situation. Hartman came off his line and tried to make a slide tackle just outside the box, but missed badly as Ferreira basically walked the ball into the net to make it 5-0. Cunningham officially finished the game off in the 89th as Hirsig hesitated in cutting out a through ball that made it to Cunningham. The striker hit a shot on goal that wasn't extremely hard, and hit right at Hartman, but the ball went under the KC goal keeper and rolled slowly into the net to finish off the second worst loss in KC history.
In the aftermath of the game, the Wizards fired head coach Onalfo on August 6th. KC was off until the 16th of August so the team had time to integrate under interim head coach, Peter Vermes, but KC proceeded to lose the next three games as well, 2-0 at home to Chicago, 1-0 on the road to San Jose, and 1-0 at home to Salt Lake. Only one player on the field for that game really suffered in terms of playing time for that game, and that was McKenzie, who would make only one more appearance for KC over the final 12 games as the Wizards limped to an 8-13-9 record. You can see the low lights of the match below.
Now I'm going to share my personal experience on this trip, those that know me have probably heard this story, for those that haven't, you'll be shaking your head by the end.
Yes I was at that game, you can see me and the rest of the traveling Cauldron in the far right corner in the highlights, a far cry from the nearly 1,000 that went in 2013 and the 750 plus headed there this weekend. At the time the Cauldron stayed in a hotel that was literally right across the parking lot from the stadium, so tailgating with the Dallas supporters was very easy. And like always on the trips to Dallas, they've treated us well. At the time I was actually doing my fair share of drumming in the Cauldron, a surprise simply because of my lack of musical talent. This was actually one of my last games doing it, because about five to seven minutes into the game I had ripped the skin on my thumb, not a pretty picture.
So by then I had drunk my share of beer, had my thumb torn open, and KC was playing like shit, needless to say I wasn't in a good mood. By half time I was sitting down in the section and I didn't get up for the second half, I figured if the players weren't going to put in the effort, I wasn't going to. Well as I explained above, things got even worse and the Wizards lost badly. As the group of us headed back out to the Dallas tailgate after the game to drink with them more before heading to a nearby bar to watch an LA Galaxy friendly (I believe it was against Real Madrid but it's been a while). Well to do that we had to walk by the bus where the team was getting on to head back to the hotel. I saw Onalfo walk out to the bus and proceeded to give him a piece of my mind, saying that we played like shit, that I was embarrassed to be a fan, and embarrassed that I'd traveled to that game. Onalfo walked straight onto the bus and sat in the front row. Unfortunately for him I could still see him and continued to give him a piece of my mind until I grew tired and walked back over to the tailgate. Not one of my prouder moments of supporting this team, course it wasn't one of the team's prouder moments either.
Enjoy this weekend traveling Sporting fans, hopefully your weekend is better than this one was.
For the second straight league game Sporting KC allowed points to slip away. This time instead just one point, KC dropped two as they allowed Dallas to score a goal in the 90th minute to allow them to secure a point with their only shot on goal all game.
KC had a good opportunity early on from their high pressure. In just the fourth minute a long ball over the top found Sal Zizzo on the wing. Dallas goalkeeper, Chris Seitz came off his line but got stranded as Zizzo chipped the ball over him. The ball was going wide but CJ Sapong raced in at the far post to try to knock it home but his shot was blocked out for a corner. KC continued the high pressure and in the 12th minute Zizzo had another opportunity. KC forced a turn over in Dallas' end. Sapong ended up with the ball and played it to Benny Feilhaber who dribbled towards the box before dishing off to Dom Dwyer. The ball got poked away from Dwyer right into the path of Zizzo. To lose his man, Zizzo turned and then fired a shot that Seitz pushed away. In first half stoppage time Dallas had their first good look at goal as Blas Perez got the ball at the top of the box, but fired his effort just wide.
KC inserted Jacob Peterson into the lineup to start the second half and he caused issues for Dallas down the left. He had a penalty shout in the 52nd minute as he nutmeged Keyln Accosta and dribbled into the box, he appeared to be grabbed a bit by Accosta as he entered the box. Andrew Jacobson got a touch to the ball knocking it away from Peterson, but he caught back up with it at the same time as Accosta and both went down. Originally it appeared that replacement referee Abbey Okulaja pointed to the spot, but he was actually calling the foul on Peterson. KC kept pushing the game and finally found their goal in the 81st minute. Off a Benny Feilhaber corner, Aurelien Collin got space in the box and headed the ball past Seitz and into the net to make it 1-0.
After the goal, Dallas became the aggressors pushing the game. Then in the 88th minute, David Texeira went down about 25 yards from goal under little contact from Oriol Rosell. Whether Texeira was fouled or made a meal of it, Michel stepped up and played a nice ball into the box where Matt Hedges met it, heading it past Eric Kronberg and into the net. It was the fifth time in four games against FC Dallas that KC has allowed a goal in the 88th minute or later. The big question that has to be asked about the play is why KC's best header of the ball, Collin, was set up in the wall. I understand that Michel is a good free kick taker, but it makes no sense for Collin to be in the wall there. With the game level, KC threw numbers forward trying to find another goal. They almost got one in the second minute of stoppage time off a free kick. The ball was played quick to Alex Martinez down the line. He raced into the box and fired a shot on goal that beat Seitz, but was knocked away by Hedges to keep the game level. Another game that will frustrate KC fans.
Wizards Man of the Match - Aurelien Collin - Another goal for the Frenchman, he's scored four of KC's last nine goals in all competitions. Did a good job shutting down Dallas' attacks, only question was why he was in the wall on Dallas' goal.
Sporting KC continue their busy start to the 2014 season tomorrow in their MLS home opener against FC Dallas. KC is coming into the game after an intense, hard fought game against Cruz Azul. They must now find a way to get up for this game before traveling to Mexico City for the second leg.
Dallas comes into the game after topping the Montreal Impact 3-2 last weekend at home. Fabian Castillo, Blas Perez, and Mauro Diaz all found net for Dallas in the win. Dallas has a bit of a new look this year after bringing back Oscar Pareja from Colorado, they've added new forwards including Andres Escobar and David Texeira, both of whom did not play a role in the win over the Impact. Both could play a part in the game this coming weekend. They'll also have more bit in their midfield with the addition of Hendry Thomas, also from Colorado.
For Kansas City, there's a question of how exactly they'll come out for the game tomorrow. They will likely rest a few players ahead of the trip to higher altitude for the game against Cruz Azul. Matt Besler, Kevin Ellis, and Graham Zusi have played every minute of the first two games, and Benny Feilhaber isn't that far behind. Getting a few of those guys a rest would not be surprising ahead of this game and the Champions' League game. A healthy Chance Myers can slot back in at right back, and if not him, then Mechack Jerome can step in. With Aurelien Collin sitting out Wednesday and Seth Sinovic suspended this coming Wednesday I'd expect them both to start tomorrow. There could also be room for the likes of Jimmy Medranda or Mikey Lopez to make their first MLS start. This really is one of the harder games to figure out exactly how Kansas City is going to come out, which could work to their advantage.
Kronberg
Jerome - Collin - Opara - Sinovic
Olum - Rosell
Medranda
Zizzo - Dwyer - Sapong
Key Match Up - KC Defense vs Dallas Offense - With KC likely fielding at least a couple reserves tomorrow KC is going to need someone to step up defensively the way that Ellis did against Cruz Azul. Dallas has a lot of attacking options that could cause a lot of trouble for a tired KC back line.
Number to Remember - 2 - That's the number of losses that KC have in home openers in MLS history. Sporting is 11-2-5 in their first home game. They have not lost since a 3-2 loss to Toronto in 2009.
PREDICTION - A lot of fans already appear to be looking past this game and on towards Wednesday's match against Cruz Azul. But a loss here and KC does something that has only happened twice in their history, go winless in their first two games. Dallas is an improved team from last year and should provide a big challenge for KC. And while a loss isn't crippling, since it's against a Western Conference foe, dropping to 0-2 would be a bit of a confidence blow heading into the match up with Cruz Azul.
If you'd have told me before this weekend that Sporting KC would go into Dallas and take a point off FC Dallas where they haven't loss since July last year, I would have absolutely taken it. And if you'd shown me the stats from last night without the score line I would have gladly taken a draw, Dallas dominated most categories offensively and had almost 60% possession. And then if you'd told me with all those stats, KC also played the final 22 minutes down a man, I would have loved a draw. Unfortunately I didn't love Sporting KC's 2-2 draw with Dallas last night. And the reason for that is because of the way that KC ended up drawing the game, giving up two late goals to go from having a 2-0 lead to only taking one point.
Dallas controlled the early portion of the match, keeping KC on the back foot, especially on set pieces. Jimmy Nielsen had to be alert in the 11th minute when Michel fired a free kick on goal. Nielsen did well to tip the ball over the bar. Only two minutes later, Dallas again almost too the lead as a long ball over the top by Zach Loyd was headed towards goal by Kenny Cooper, but his diving header went into the post and was eventually cleared by Mechack Jerome. Dallas continued to cause Kansas City all kinds of problems in the first half, especially on set pieces. In the 27th minute, David Ferreira lofted a free kick into the box. The ball made it over all the players and bounced into the post. The ball bounced on the line and Chance Myers raced back to clear the ball off the line, keeping the game scoreless. Nielsen was late to react to the free kick, but had to in case a Dallas player did get a head on it. It was a lot of one way traffic in the first half, but in the 42nd, KC woke up a bit. Off a Graham Zusi free kick the ball was knocked to the back post where it took a deflection off a Dallas player and bounced back into the middle. Aurelien Collin was arriving their to try to get his foot on the ball, but he was pulled back just enough to have Mark Geiger point to the spot. Kei Kamara stepped up and buried the PK to give KC the lead heading into the half time break.
In the second half, Dallas came out again and pushed the game on KC. Another corner from Michel was headed just over the bar by George John. KC though doubled their lead in the 57th minute. A Zusi corner kick landed right in the middle of the six yard box. It deflected off the chest of Je-Vaughn Watson and into the net, doubling KC's lead. And even though they didn't look great, KC was ahead 2-0 on the West leaders. Dallas continued to push the game trying to get back into it. Cooper made a great run down the wing in the 65th and fired a shot on Nielsen. Nielsen made the save but the ball stayed in the area. Eventually Collin tried to head the ball back to Nielsen. Cooper though was still in the area causing trouble, and Nielsen ended up making the save but having to fight to keep the ball from going over the line while collecting Collin's back pass. Only a few minutes later though KC found themselves in trouble. After a foul by Myers on Andrew Jacobsen, Jacobsen had stayed down and was being looked at by referee, Mark Geiger. Sapong started running back down the field as the ball was played towards Geiger and Jacobsen. Sapong got a small touch on the ball and knocked the ball into Jacobsen who was lying on the ground. Geiger did not hesitate and went to the back pocket, handing Sapong a red card. Watching replays, arguments can be made for the intent of Sapong's actions. Some say he sped up to catch up with the ball, while others are saying the touch was nothing. Unfortunately in those situations you leave yourself open to the referee's interpretation of your actions, and Geiger loves to imprint himself on games.
KC sat back further after that and tried to hit on the counter. Substitute Teal Bunbury almost had his first of the season after a break with Kamara, but Bunbury hit the post, and unfortunately was offside anyway. Dallas though continue to push the game. Finally in the 88th minute they got a goal that they richly deserved. After a lot of possession in KC's end, Cooper found Ramon Nunez to the right of Nielsen's goal. Nunez's cross was flicked on by Jacobsen and past Nielsen into the net. Kamara had given Jacobsen too much room to work with in the box and Dallas had life. Dallas continued to push as the game entered stoppage time. In stoppage time, Dallas won a free kick on the side of the field. Ferreira played a free kick right into the middle of the box. Walker Zimmerman had lost Kamara on the play and headed the ball past Nielsen and into the net to make it 2-2. While it wasn't undeserved, the fact that KC gave up the two goals so late made the draw feel like a loss when Geiger blew the final whistle.
Wizards Man of the Match - Graham Zusi - He played in some good free kicks last night, helping set of both of Sporting's goals. He continued his good run of form. It wasn't a great performance from Zusi, but no one else stood out either.
