Felipe celebrates his opening goal at Sporting Kansas City. (MLSSoccer.com)
What have you done for me lately? That might be the thought that Major League Soccer fans are expressing about Sporting Kansas City right now. True, Sporting got off to one of the hottest starts in MLS history winning their first seven matches. Since then they've had two losses book ended around a bye week, one loss to bottom of the West table Portland Timbers and the other at home to the expansion Montreal Impact. By the time this match was over, one could see the formerly cocky attitude of Sporting completely drain away as the Impact celebrated their first ever MLS road win on the Livestrong Sporting Park pitch.
Sporting came out and appeared to have the Impact pegged wrong from the opening minutes. They seemed to think that Montreal was just going to park the bus and try to survive the match, This was reinforced by the comments of the SKC commentary team, who I actually really enjoy. The Impact had other plans though. They actually started to get some possession and really limited Sporting's chances. C.J. Sapong forced a save out of Donovan Ricketts in minute 15, and Graham Zusi had a shot tipped wide in the 27th, but it was hardly a firing squad for the Jamaican International.
The confidence and bits of possession finally paid off for Montreal in the 30th minute. Felipe ended up with the ball after a throw in and found some space outside the box. He blasted home the shot from distance, and it ripped past Jimmy Nielsen to give the Imapct the 0-1 lead. Sporting were stunned.
Kansas City didn't really respond well either. It was the first time all season that they had trailed at home. The best they could do was a shot from Kei Kamara in the 43rd minute that failed to find the target. The first half came to an end with the Impact still leading 0-1.
Sporting did come out a lot better in the second half and took the game to the Impact a bit. In the 53rd minute Matt Besler had a golden chance to equalize. He got a free header in the six yard box on a free kick but somehow missed the target, much to the dismay of the Livestrong faithful. Kamara tried his luck in the 58th minute, but again failed to trouble Ricketts.
Then in the in the 63rd minute Montreal put the dagger in the match. Lamar Neagle sprinted into the area for an apparent 1v1 chance with Jimmy Neilsen, but Aurélien Collin came in from behind and cut him down, conceding a PK to Montreal. A minute later Patrice Bernier iced the spot kick to make the score 0-2 to Montreal.
After the PK goal, Montreal did finally bunker in a bit. Collin had a couple of chances to atone for the penalty, but sent headers wide of the target in the 66th and 72nd minute. Roger Espinoza came closest to scoring for KC in the 88th, bombing in a shot from distance but again Ricketts was up to the task, hauling it in and preserving the 0-2 win for the Impact at full time.
Notes: It has now been over three weeks on the calendar since Sporting scored a goal, unless you count the Chance Myers own goal that sunk them in Portland. Their scoreless streak stands at 205 minutes. For the Impact, it was their second straight win and second straight clean sheet after blanking the Portland Timbers 2-0 in Montreal last weekend. The Impact currently have more points than the defending MLS Cup Champion LA Galaxy, 11 vs 10.
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