Category: Sports

Sporting Kansas City fell 1-0 at D.C. United on Saturday as Fabian Espindola’s 28th-minute goal snapped his club’s seven-game winless streak in the series dating back to 2010.

D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid matched his season-high with five saves to earn the clean sheet in a match that saw Sporting KC outshoot the home side 16-7 at RFK Stadium.

Playing without three players due to international duty (Matt Besler, Graham Zusi and Lawrence Olum) and two additional defenders following season-ending injuries (Chance Myers and Ike Opara), Sporting Kansas City saw two-time MLS All-Star Aurelien Collin exit the match in the ninth minute with a hamstring strain. He was replaced by homegrown player Erik Palmer-Brown, one of eight players to appear in central defense for the club this season.

The first shot of the game for either side came in the 18th minute as Espindola sent a cross from the endline that connected with Nick DeLeon, whose header from eight yards out was straight at Eric Kronberg. Just over a minute later, Palmer-Brown — the youngest player in MLS at age 17 — did well to thwart Designated Player Eddie Johnson with a sliding stop inside the area.

Dom Dwyer led all players with three shots in the first half, and four shots in the game, with his first coming in the 23rd minute. Seth Sinovic did well to beat Chris Korb on the dribble and find Dwyer at the near post but Jeff Parke deflected the attempt inches wide of frame.

D.C. United took the 1-0 lead at the 28-minute mark on Espindola’s seventh goal of the year since being acquired from New York in the offseason. The Argentine cut in from the right touchline and floated a left-footed curler inside the far post that evaded Kronberg to stretch his goal-scoring streak to three straight games.

After allowing the team’s first goal from the run of play in the first half this season, Sporting Kansas City responded with four scoring chances before the halftime break. Jacob Peterson directed a first-time shot on frame in the 34th minute, his 10,000th minute of MLS action (including postseason), that Bill Hamid was well-positioned to smother.

Peterson was involved again five minutes later, sending a dangerous cross into the path of Dwyer that was blocked in the goalmouth and collected by Hamid. The 23-year-old goalkeeper made his third and final save of the first half with a diving stop to deny Benny Feilhaber from long-range.

The final opportunity to level the score came in the final minute of the half after a trademark piece of combination play between Antonio Dovale and Paulo Nagamura. Nevertheless, Dovale’s shot was ultimately blocked at the top of the area by former KC captain Davy Arnaud.

In the second half, D.C. United was held to just four shots — and none on target — but threatened in the 50th minute when Arnaud played Espindola behind the Sporting KC backline. Kronberg was alert to the danger and quickly darted from his line to take the ball off the foot of Espindola.

The rest of the half belonged to Sporting KC in a match which the visitors controlled 61% of the possession. Nagamura came close to pulling his side level in the 55th minute on a pinpoint pass from Peterson, but his poked shot was again met by Hamid.

Feilhaber’s free kick in the 63rd minute connected with Peterson for a flick header that carried wide of the far post and beyond the reach of Kevin Ellis. Forward Soony Saad entered the match in the 77th minute and one minute later was nearly on the scoresheet when his cross from the right side of the area was deflected goalward and pushed away by Hamid at the last moment.

D.C. United midfielder Alex Caskey was sent off in second-half stoppage time for a late challenge on Ellis, marking the fifth red card shown to a Sporting KC opponent in the past seven games. He will miss D.C. United’s match against the Columbus Crew next Saturday.

Sporting Kansas City will remain on the road next week as the reigning MLS Cup champions travel to Houston for a rematch of the Eastern Conference championship at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at BBVA Compass Stadium. The match will air live on KCMI 38 the Spot and SKCTV.
– Story from Sporting KC

Sioux Falls, S.D. — Kansas City won the race to the rain-shortened finish line Sunday afternoon with a 3-2 victory over Sioux Falls in a game that began Saturday night but was suspended after three innings because of rain.

With a 1-1 tie heading into the fourth inning when play resumed Sunday, the T-Bones took a 2-1 lead when Darrell Hudson dropped a two-out bunt that scored Vladimir Frias from third.

Jared Messer (1-0), who took over Sunday for Saturday night’s starter Andy Noga, went four innings and allowed just one run, which came in the bottom of the fourth. He struck out four.

Kansas City took the lead for good when Bryan Sabatella scored in the top of the eighth inning on a groundout from Danny Richar.

Kris Regas (3) picked up the save with a scoreless ninth.

The fourth and final game of the series, which would’ve been played later Sunday afternoon, was rained out. No make-up date has been announced.

Kansas City (8-9) begins a seven-game homestand, its longest of the season, Monday with a four-game Kansas Turnpike Showdown against the Wichita Wingnuts. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Tickets are available by calling the Providence Medical Center Box Office at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 913-328-5618.

Box score: http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=217184
– Story from T-Bones

Sporting Kansas City heads east to face D.C. United on Saturday at RFK Stadium.

The match, set to kick off at 6 p.m., will feature the defending MLS Cup champion Sporting KC and the 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open winner D.C. United.

Fans can view the match locally on KMCI’s 38 The Spot and on SKCTV across the Midwest.

Saturday marks the seventh game in a span of 28 days for Sporting Kansas City, who is looking to snap a four-game winless streak and secure the club’s first victory since May 10 against the Montreal Impact at Stade Saputo. Sporting KC recorded back-to-back draws in its last two outings, including a 1-1 result against 2013 Supporters’ Shield winners New York Red Bulls on Tuesday.

D.C. United finished at the bottom of the MLS standings in 2013 with just three wins through 34 regular season matches. However, the club secured a draw and four victories on the road to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title, including a 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake in the final.

Sporting KC hoisted the U.S. Open Cup trophy in 2012 and also played Real Salt Lake in a championship match in 2013, defeating the Western Conference opponents in the MLS Cup final.

With their titles, Sporting Kansas City (Group 2) and D.C. United (Group 4) will each represent Major League Soccer in the 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League later this year.

In 2014, D.C. United sits in third place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Sporting Kansas City, and maintains a 5-4-3 record. D.C. United has scored 12 goals at home this season, second best in the East behind only the New York Red Bulls who have tallied 13. D.C. United forward Fabian Espindola has contributed four of his team-leading six goals this season and all five of his assists at home.

Espindola, who ranks sixth in Major League soccer for goals scored (6) in 2014 and second for assists (5), was acquired by D.C. United in the offseason along with two former KC teammates. Midfielder Davy Arnaud, once a captain in KC and the team’s all-time leader in regular season games played, and Designated Player Eddie Johnson were part of a roster overhaul by head coach Ben Olsen that also included four new contributors on the backline in Cristian Fernandez, Jeff Parke, Bobby Boswell and Sean Franklin.

Sporting KC is 5-4-4 in 2014 and holds a slight advantage (20-18-10) over D.C. United all-time. Sporting KC is 6-12-5 on the road against D.C. United, but is undefeated in the last seven matches between the two clubs with six victories. Sporting KC’s last loss to D.C. United came at RFK Stadium on May 5, 2010.

Sporting KC’s Dom Dwyer has scored 10 goals this season and sits in second place for goals scored behind New York’s Bradley Wright-Phillips (11), who notched the game-tying goal in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Sporting Park. Manager Peter Vermes will again be without Matt Besler (USMNT), Graham Zusi (USMNT) and Lawrence Olum (Kenya) due to international duty, however he has two-time MLS All-Star Aurelien Collin back in central defense after recovering from a hamstring strain.

– Story from Sporting KC