Sporting Kansas City (3-9-4, 13 points) slipped to a 2-1 loss against the New England Revolution (5-5-4, 19 points) on Sunday afternoon at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.
Captain Johnny Russell treated a fervent crowd to the game’s best moment early in the second half, bagging a brilliant free kick for his 50th career Sporting goal in all competitions, but New England claimed victory behind goals in either half from Gustavo Bou and Emmanuel Boateng.
With Sunday’s encounter in the books, Sporting will now prepare for a challenging road test against a Nashville SC outfit that owns a 24-match home unbeaten streak. Next Sunday will mark the inaugural meeting between the clubs at the new GEODIS Park in Nashville, with kickoff set for 5 p.m. and national coverage on FS1, FOX Deportes and the FOX Sports app.
Taking the field for the first time in two weeks, Sporting deployed a reshuffled lineup as Academy product Felipe Hernandez assumed a false nine role alongside fellow attackers Russell and Cam Duke.
Oriol Rosell, Remi Walter and Roger Espinoza were in the midfield, while Sporting’s defense received a boost with the return of veteran right back Graham Zusi to support Kortne Ford, Robert Voloder, Logan Ndenbe and goalkeeper Tim Melia.
Rosell created Sporting’s first chance inside five minutes, applying pressure in New England’s defensive third to win the ball from Wilfrid Kaptoum and find Hernandez in an open pocket of space. The 24-year-old swiveled near the top of the box and unfurled a low blast that sizzled marginally wide of the left post.
Hernandez was involved once more on the half-hour mark when Duke embarked on a dazzling 50-yard solo run down the left side and pulled the ball back to his homegrown counterpart. Hernandez faked the first-time shot and moved the ball onto his left foot, but his ensuing shot from 18 yards was blocked.
New England drew first blood on the possession that immediately followed. Dylan Borrero looped a clever lob over the top for Bou, who settled the ball crisply and finished with conviction into the low left corner for his second goal of the MLS campaign.
Sporting’s matters were further complicated a few minutes later when Walter, who had played every MLS minute of the season entering Sunday, was forced to exit through injury. Center forward Khiry Shelton was summoned as his replacement and Hernandez dropped back to his more customary central midfield position in Walter’s absence.
An explosive start to the second half—preceded by a double substitution in central defense with Andreu Fontas and Nicolas Isimat-Mirin entering the fray—saw Sporting suffer a major setback as Rosell received his marching orders for a bad tackle in the center of the park. Shortly thereafter, however, the hosts drew level behind a stunning bit of magic from Russell.
Awarded a free kick 22 yards from goal near the right side of the penalty area, Sporting’s captain promptly delivered by sending a sublime left-footed curler high inside the near post past outstretched New England goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic for his milestone 50th goal at the club.
Russell, who now has four strikes in his last four games and a team-leading seven for the season, is the fourth Kansas City player to eclipse half a century of goals alongside Preki (71), Dom Dwyer (57) and Davy Arnaud (52), who on Sunday was formally inducted as the newest Sporting Legend.
New England went frighteningly close to reclaiming the lead on 54 minutes when Tommy McNamara was played through on goal, but Melia’s phenomenal reflex save kept the score at 1-1. A dozen minutes later, Petrovic produced a solid stop of his own to deny the marauding Russell on the breakaway.
Hot and humid conditions weighed heavily on both sides as the battle neared its conclusion, but the search for a winner remained delicately poised. Melia was summoned to make another splendid save with 10 minutes remaining, dropping low to cast aside a long-range Bou strike that deflected through traffic.
The Revolution conjured its winner in the 87th minute. Shortly after DeJuan Jones’ blistering strike fizzed inches wide of the far right post, Melia spread himself to block a right-footed attempt from the edge of the box.
Newly introduced substitute Boateng was on hand for the rebound, however, and snuck a follow-up effort under Melia that bounced into the net for his first tally of the campaign.
- Story from Sporting KC