For the second straight week, Sporting KC lost a lead in the second half and ended up leaving the game with no points at all. Kansas City saw a 1-0 lead in the second half turn into a 2-1 deficit as the Colorado Rapids picked up their first win in six years against Kansas City in league play.
The first half left plenty to be desired from both teams as neither team really got much in the way of offense going. The only real chance that either side created really should have been a goal for the Rapids though. In the 12th minute, Vicente Sanchez collected a long ball in the corner before dropping it off to Drew Moor who played a ball to the back post where Juan Ramirez was completely unmarked, but the Rapids midfielder put his diving header high and wide of the goal in an effort he really should have done better.
For what the first half lacked, the second started with a flurry. KC found some space down the left side with Krisztian Nemeth working some good interplay down the wing before going it alone, cutting inside his defender into the box. Nemeth then laid the ball off to Dom Dwyer who one timed his effort inside the near post and KC was up 1-0 inside the first minute and a half of the second half. The lead lasted for only six minutes as the Rapids found an equalizer in the 53rd minute. After Mikey Lopez appeared to get knocked off the ball with no foul called, Sanchez turned Seth Sinovic around and dribbled into the box. Sanchez played a ball through the box to the back post where Maynor Figueroa settled the ball and fired a shot that deflected off of Graham Zusi and into the net to tie the game at 1-1. After the game, Peter Vermes would complain about the referee being the one that beat them tonight, and it's hard to argue with that particular case, cause I do feel that Lopez was fouled on the play. That said I do disagree with Vermes overall on that, Sporting didn't play well enough last night.
After the Rapids equalized, they were on the front foot taking the game to Kansas City and in the 76th minute they capitalized on the attack. Sanchez again beat Sinovic down the KC left, an area that they seemed to attack all night, and played a nice cross in from the end line. Kevin Doyle out jumped Kevin Ellis and easily beat Tim Melia from close distance to put the Rapids on top 2-1. Down a goal, KC started to throw numbers forward looking for an equalizer of their own and almost found one in the 87th minute. A cross into the box by Jacob Peterson pinged around before falling free to Dwyer. With some space Dwyer ripped a shot on goal but Clint Irwin made a fantastic save. The rebound fell to Dwyer again who got a reactionary touch on it, knocking the ball back towards the net but it hit off the post and went into the hands of Irwin to preserve the lead. In the end the effort wasn't enough and KC fell for the third straight time.
Wizards Man of the Match - Krisztian Nemeth - Was KC's most dangerous player last night. With Benny Feilhaber playing as the withdrawn playmaker, Nemeth was the one that picked up more of the offensive slack for Kansas City. His run created the goal and he was a handful down the left for the Rapids all night.
Player Ratings - Melia 5, Sinovic 3, Besler 4, Ellis 3, Myers 5, Feilhaber 5, Lopez 5, Nagamura 4, Nemeth 5, Dwyer 5, Zusi 4. Subs Abdul-Salaam 5, Quintilla 4, Peterson NR.
It was the uncalled handball on Sanchez that the ref blew.
ReplyDeleteIt is very clear that Benny cannot play dmid. It's as if he thinks playing dmid is playing slow. He doesn't know how or where to hustle in that position. And for some reason he turns the ball over even more when playing that deep. I don't get it. We obviously need Mustivar back. But we also need to develop a realistic backup for that position since we have none.
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