It took a while to get things going last night for Kansas City, but when they did they were able to sweep aside the Montreal Impact, keeping them winless on the season and picking up their third win of the season themselves.
KC controlled the game early on against the Impact, as they seemed to sit back, playing the style many expected from Frank Klopas' team. Unlike those Fire games though, the Impact looked extremely dangerous on the counter attack. In fact they were the better team in creating chances. With KC putting numbers forward as the Impact allowed it, Felipe broke on a 2v1 break with only Aurelien Collin back for KC. Collin did well cutting off the pass to Marco Di Vaio in the middle until Eric Kronberg committed to Felipe. When Felipe did find Di Vaio, Collin had retreated to cover the goal line and knocked away Di Vaio's effort as Felipe squared the ball to him. The rebound fell to Collen Warner who shot right at Kronberg, who covered the shot up. KC continued to pressure the Impact, keeping the ball in the Impact's end on their way to 65% possession in the first half. Benny Feilhaber continued his fine run of form and continued to push to try to make the World Cup roster with another good performance. In the 26th minute he played a perfect through ball on the ground behind the Impact defense for Sal Zizzo. Troy Perkins was quick off his line though and blocked Zizzo's effort. The pressure finally paid off with a goal in the 31st minute. Matt Besler on a long throw in looked to pick out Lawrence Olum or Collin on the play. The ball was just above Olum, but ended up hitting off the head of Impact midfielder, Callum Mallace. His headed looped into the air and dropped into the far corner behind Perkins, giving KC a 1-0 lead. The Impact almost responded immediately down KC's right side, but the pass back to Di Vaio was then fired just wide of the target by the Italian.
The second half saw the Impact make an immediate adjustment, bringing on Andres Romero for Justin Mapp. In the process it looked like Felipe moved up and the Impact started playing with two forwards. Whatever they ended up doing though, it seemed to completely negate what Felipe had done in the first half as he was a none factor in the second. KC continued to pressure early in the second looking for goal number two. In the 67th minute, Feilhaber again played a great through ball, this one to Dom Dwyer. His effort was saved by Perkins' face. The rebound fell to Graham Zusi, but he fired his effort right into Perkins' chest. Shortly after that KC had another opportunity as Zusi got free down the left and played a ball across field to Zizzo, who would have been in alone on goal but Zizzo couldn't catch up with the pass. Finally in the 71st minute KC grabbed a second goal. It again came off of a Besler long through. The ball pinged around the box a little bit, with Dwyer keeping the ball held in. Right when Montreal looked like they'd get it clear, Olum knocked the ball back to Collin who fired a shot that went through a number of players and beat Perkins at his near post to double the advantage. Perkins didn't look good on the replay, but replays after the goal showed just how badly screened he was on the play, making it near impossible to see the ball until it was too late. Just a few minutes later, in the 74th, KC made it 3-0. A long free kick went past every player and into the corner where Jacob Peterson raced it down. He then played a ball on the ground towards the near post where Collin had raced in. Collin though dummied the ball, letting it roll through his legs to Dwyer who slid the ball past Perkins and into the net to make it 3. KC didn't back off and found a fourth in the 86th. Zusi played a nice looping ball to the back post where Dwyer headed it past Perkins for his second of the game and the team's fourth on the night. It was Dwyer's last action of the night as he made way for Claudio Bieler. Bieler almost made it 5-0 seconds after coming on as he received a nice through ball, but his shot went just wide of the far post. KC cruised to victory. Offensively the team didn't look it's best but they controlled possession and limited Montreal throughout.
Wizards Man of the Match - Aurelien Collin - One goal, one dummy to set up another goal, a fantastic recovery run to save a ball off the line. Collin had a superb game for Kansas City. Him and the rest of KC's defense limited the Impact to just three shots, and only two on goal. This from the team that was leading the league in shots averaging 16 per game and six on goal per game. Hopefully the tightness that he experienced that led to his sub
Honorable Mention - Dom Dwyer
Player Ratings - Kronberg 6, Sinovic 7, Besler 7, Collin 8, Myers 7, Olum 7, Nagamura 7, Feilhaber 7, Zusi 7, Dwyer 8, Zizzo 6. Subs Peterson 6, Martinez 6, Bieler NR.
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