KANSAS CITY – On a beautiful night in Kansas City, Sporting KC finds their third at home. In a very chippy game from the first minute, with 22 fouls and 3 yellow cards in the first half, SKC calmed down and focused enough to come together for a fantastic team win.
Sporting KC kept possession very well during the first half creating many chances early on. Brad Stuver and the Austin back line did well until the 26th minute. An awkward deflection off Jon Gallagher following a shot from Tim Leibold puts the ball in the back of the net shooting Sporting Kansas City ahead!
Following the goal, yellow cards began to come out for both sides. Mostly reckless challenges. However, Diego Rubio went into the book for dissent towards the referee. Sporting KC continued to attack and possess the ball but couldn’t find another goal before halftime.
Sporting KC did not possess the ball nearly as well during the second half. Austin started creating many more chances, but not a lot of quality ones. SKC found lots of success on the counterattack. After a great defensive effort, Johnny Russell ran free down the sideline and played an impressive ball across the box to Stephen Afrifa to find Kansas City’s second goal! Stephen slotted this goal only seven minutes after coming onto the pitch.
The game settled down quite a bit compared to the first half with many fewer fouls and yellow cards. The energy stayed very lively in a fairly full Children’s Mercy Park. The last fifteen minutes or so were rather chill as SKC held onto their lead by playing “lockdown” defense. Sporting KC managed to get their second clean sheet of the year. SKC let up two shots the whole night, and only one of those was on goal.
An absolutely dominant performance for SKC on a picture-perfect night following Salloi’s American Citizenship Ceremony and Roger Espinoza’s retirement recognition. The beautiful night concluded with a fireworks show equally as good as SKC’s performance!
