Sporting KC had the control of the game last night at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, but were unable to take advantage of the possession and were only able to grab a point as they tied Philadelphia 1-1. The point only tied Sporting KC with the Columbus Crew at the top of the Eastern Conference. With the way results have already gone today, the tie has seen KC fall into a tie for second as Houston as beaten Dallas to hop over KC, Philly, and Columbus into first place. Philadelphia actually had the first chance, as Sebastian Le Toux got played in behind KC's defense but ended up firing his shot just wide of Jimmy Nielsen's net with a small touch by Julio Cesar that wasn't called. KC started to control the game but really didn't create many good chances as the half went on. The best chance in the first half for Kansas City came in the 40th minute off a KC corner. Jeferson played in a good ball into the box for Kei Kamara. Kamara beat his defender and and goalkeeper Zac MacMath to the ball but his header hit the cross bar and bounced out of play for KC. KC couldn't capitalize on all the possession in the first half and the two teams went into the half tied at 0-0.
KC made one half time change looking to change things up, pulling Brazilian designated player Jeferson and inserting Aurelien Collin. Peter Vermes pushed Cesar into the midfield. KC took the lead in the 56th minute through Omar Bravo. Plenty of credit for the goal has to go to Kei Kamara who danced around a few Philadelphia defenders before playing a fantastic ball into the middle that Bravo fired into the roof of the net. After the goal Philadelphia started to press the game quite a bit more. Almost immediately Jack McInerney got in behind KC's defense, but Nielsen came up with a big save knocking the ball over the bar for a corner. Philly kept up the pressure and got an equalizer in the 63rd minute. Roger Torres fired a shot that was going wide of the net. Seth Sinovic was racing in and then seemed to slow up as the ball appeared to be going out. This bit of slowing up allowed Michael Farfan to beat Sinovic to the ball. Farfan played a ball back into the middle for Le Toux who slotted the ball into the net tying the game at 1-1. After the tying goal, Philadelphia sat back seemingly content to ditch town with the point. KC threw numbers forward looking for a winning goal, but MacMath came up big in net for Philly, making big saves on CJ Sapong, Roger Espinoza, and others. The Philly defense shut down the rest of KC's attempts, getting 10 behind the ball with only Le Toux being up the field a bit.
A disappointing result that got even more disappointing today for KC. Houston jumped over KC, Philly, and Columbus. New York and DC closed the gap on KC as well with wins tonight against Portland and RSL respectively. It makes the final 4 games of the season incredibly difficult for KC with all of those games against teams fighting for playoff spots.
WIZARDS Man of the Match - Kei Kamara - Kamara had a strong game for Kansas City last night, causing problems for Philadelphia's back line all night. His ball into the box for Bravo's goal, and his movement before that was absolutely first class.
Player Ratings - Nielsen 5, Myers 6, Cesar 6, Besler 6, Sinovic 5, Espinoza 6, Zusi 5, Jeferson 4, Kamara 7, Bunbury 4, Bravo 5. Subs Collin 5, Sapong 5, Saad NR.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
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4 comments:
This headline is appropriate for about 5 or 6 of our matches that should have been 3-pointers this season. I hope this is not an ominous prediction of our next four matches.
this will absolutely hurt us when the doors close, but how many of us way back in May could have imagined being this close to winning the conference? besides we're cooked in the playoffs anyway with our leaky back line.
Do you think Sinovic really played the ball wrong or that Farfan had a wickedly smart play that 9 times out of 10 would have popped out of bounds? I was surprised Jimmy did no lunge at Farfan and try to bat it out of bounds, but I could not really tell how far away he was.
I love how we have a forward attack and crossess but is anyone else frustrated by our inability to not bring it up and move it around. It just seems like up the wings and try to cross at 3 yards is our only play, besides a Besler throw in.
I do think Sinovic should have made a stronger play on that ball. Disappointing. But that's not the only problem with that goal. Our defensive chemistry was off. When will PV learn to leave things alone in the defense. The defense was fine the first half. Then he fixes what ain't broke.
PV's best tactical changes this season have been offensive. He should have left the back line alone. And the dmid spot. But he changed things and assignments got confused. Thus we gave up a goal.
If he was going to take off Jeferson, why not bring on Arnaud. That would have actually made the defense more solid in the midfield and still changed the attack a little. I could go on, but there's no point.
I'm glad we got at least the point. We need all three against Columbus. Yes, another must win situation. But it does feel so good to be talking about must win games as we near October.
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