Match Thoughts: Sporting KC vs. Chicago Fire

I can't believe I looked forward to a Sporting KC match all week. I really should have known better. Oh well.

First, the good. Live Strong Park is awesome. The stadium looks great, the pitch looks great, the atmosphere was great. The KC supporters were in fine voice. The stadium also gives a real nice impression on TV. I really wish we had those electronic side boards at Rio Tinto. It's great for KC to finally have their home, where they can establish themselves.

Now, the bad. The pitch was great, the soccer sucked. Not really much to say about the first half. Sporting had the possession (57%) but couldn't make anything out of it. They did put the ball in the back of the net in the 15th minute, but the goal was negated because Omar Bravo (who wasn't the one that scored) was ruled offside, and interfered with the play. The Fire had a couple of nice shots on target, and forced Nielsen into a couple of good saves, but we went to the break even at 0-0.

There were no goals in the second half either, but we did get a couple things to talk about. In the 67th minute, Nielsen came charging up on a ball for KC, and jumped up and handled it. Unfortunately, he was a few steps outside of the 18. The ref gave him the straight red card treatment. Sporting brought in their back up keeper and went down to ten men.

Chicago had the best chance of the match in the 80th minute. Paladini took a shot from distance, and Kronberg spilled it in goal for KC. Paladini got to the rebound, but hit his shot off the wood work, no goal.

The last bit of controversy came a couple of minutes later. Omar Bravo went down in the Chicago penalty area in spectacular fashion. No PK was awarded, and replays showed the defender got the ball. Good call, but the crowd felt different. What's worse for Sporting is that Bravo seemed to sustain a fairly significant injury on the play. Keep an eye on that one folks.

The ref gave an astounding 9 minutes of stoppage time. Still nobody could muster a goal. 0-0 was the final. To sum it up, great park, great fans, bad football.