Saturday, May 12, 2012, 7:30 p.m. CT
English TV: KSMO-TV, WIBW-TV, KMTW-TV
Spanish Radio: La Gran D 1340 AM
Toyota Park | Bridgeview, Ill.
Attendance: 14,159
Weather: Rainy, 52 degrees
Video: Match Highlights
<strong>Score </strong> |
<strong>1 </strong> |
<strong>2 </strong> |
<strong>F</strong> |
<p>Sporting Kansas City (7-3-0, 21 pts)</p> |
<p>1 </p> |
<p>0 </p> |
<p>1</p> |
<p>Chicago Fire (4-2-3, 15 pts) </p> |
<p>0</p> |
<p>2</p> |
<p>2</p> |
Sporting Kansas City: Jimmy Nielsen©; Chance Myers, Matt Besler (Lawrence Olum 88), Aurelien Collin, Michael Harrington; Julio Cesar, Roger Espinoza, Graham Zusi; Kei Kamara, C.J. Sapong (Teal Bunbury 74), Bobby Convey (Jacob Peterson 78)
Subs not used: Jon Kempin, Korede Aiyegbusi, Dom Dwyer, Paulo Nagamura
Chicago Fire: Sean Johnson; Jalil Anibaba, Arne Friedrich (Dan Gargan 29), Austin Berry, Gonzalo Segares; Logan Pause© (Rafael Robayo 71), Pavel Pardo, Marco Pappa, Sebastian Grazzini (Frederico Puppo 80); Patrick Nyarko, Dominic Oduro
Subs not used: Paolo Tornaghi, Orr Barouch, Hunter Jumper, Dan Paladini
<strong>Stats: </strong> |
<strong>KC</strong> |
<strong>CHI</strong> |
<p>Shots </p> |
<p>8 </p> |
<p>18</p> |
<p>Shots on Goal </p> |
<p>4</p> |
<p>6</p> |
<p>Saves </p> |
<p>4 </p> |
<p>3</p> |
<p>Fouls </p> |
<p>12 </p> |
<p>13</p> |
<p>Offside </p> |
<p>1 </p> |
<p>6</p> |
<p>Corner Kicks </p> |
<p>8 </p> |
<p>6</p> |
Misconduct Summary:
KC – Julio Cesar (caution; reckless tackle) 4
CHI – Pavel Pardo (caution; reckless tackle) 38
CHI – Gonzalo Segares (caution; reckless foul) 40
KC – Chance Myers (caution; persistent infringement) 57
KC – Roger Espinoza (ejection; serious foul play) 62
CHI – Frederico Puppo (caution; illegal entry) 79
KC – Kei Kamara (caution; reckless tackle) 93+
Scoring Summary:
KC – Bobby Convey 1 (Roger Espinoza 1, Kei Kamara 2) 31
CHI – Sebastian Grazzini 1 (penalty kick) 61
CHI – Dominic Oduro 4 (Patrick Nyarko 2) 81
Sporting Kansas City fell 2-1 to the Chicago Fire on Saturday at Toyota Park with more than 500 Sporting KC fans in attendance to support the team on the road. The home side received a penalty kick, converted by Sebastian Grazzini, and man advantage in back-to-back minutes from referee Jose Carlos Rivero on his MLS debut to rally past first place Sporting KC.
Forward Bobby Convey scored his first goal of the season to put Sporting KC in front at the half, but Grazzini’s penalty kick in the 61st minute and Roger Espinoza’s ejection a minute later set the stage for Dominic Oduro’s match winner with under 10 minutes to play.
Sporting KC remains in first place in the Eastern Conference, despite dropping their third straight match after opening the season with seven straight wins.
Chicago threatened early through Jalil Anibaba, who replaced Dan Gargan in the Firestarting lineup, but he scuffed his shot wide from the right side of the penalty area after receiving a pass from Pavel Pardo in the 6th minute.
Sporting Kansas City then recorded the first shot on goal of the game in the 20th minute following a free kick from Matt Besler on the team’s own side of midfield. The header from German centerback Arne Friedich, who would go off nine minutes later with a right hamstring strain, put the ball into the path of Kei Kamara and his half-volley was tipped away on an acrobatic save from Sean Johnson.
Ten minutes later, Sporting Kansas City opened the scoring on a beautiful series down the right side of the field. C.J. Sapong began the play by laying the ball back for Kamara along the touchline, while Roger Espinoza began his sprint toward the corner flag. Kamara’s well-weighted pass found Espinoza with space to run into the area and the midfielder’s left-footed cross was met by Convey near the penalty spot for a first-time finish inside the far post.
The goal, Convey’s first of the year since arriving from San Jose during the offseason, also marked Espinoza’s first assist of the season.
The Honduran National Team member nearly put himself on the scoresheet again in the 43rdminute, lining up a half-volley from 20 yards out after Sapong picked him out at the top of the area. Johnson dove high to his left to push Espinoza’s effort into the crossbar and over the endline.
The momentum in the match swung dramatically 15 minutes into the second half as AurelienCollin was whistled for a foul in the penalty area for the second time in asmany matches. Oduro was racing toward goal from the left side and went down as Collin’s sliding tackle came in from the side.
Grazzini converted the penalty kick, placing his shot into the upper right side of the net for the Argentine’s first goal of the year to level the score at 1-1.
Less than a minute after the ensuing kick off, Sporting Kansas City was reduced to 10 men when Espinoza was shown a straight red card after winning the ball off a challenge with Grazzini in the midfield. Espinoza’s ejection marks the third straight match against the Fire that Sporting KC has finished shorthanded and was Sporting KC’s 10th in the all-time series, most against any opponent.
Chicago capitalized on the man advantage with sustained pressure on Jimmy Nielsen’s net for the final 30 minutes, including an Oduro header narrowly wide at the 70-minute mark. Having recorded just one shot on goal prior to the red card, the Fire would pick up the pace beginning with Marco Pappa’s long-range effort in the 77th minute that Nielsen punched away.
Four minutes later, the Fire pulled ahead on a scramble inside the goalmouth. Kamara’s clearance at the backpost was thwarted by Patrick Nyarko, who sent the ball across to his Ghanaian strike partner Oduro to direct over the goalline with a sliding shot from close range.
Nielsen would keep Sporting KC close with a superb stop on second-half substitute Frederico Puppo in the 83rd minute for his fourth save of the match, but the Sporting KC attack registered just one shot in the second half after Convey’s goal had broken a 237-minute scoreless streak.
Sporting Kansas City and Chicago will meet again on Sunday morning in the MLS Reserve League as the two teams face off at 10 a.m. CT at the Toyota Park Practice Field. Follow @SKCGameday on Twitter for live updates throughout the contest.
FAST FACTS:
- With the loss, Sporting Kansas City falls to 7-3-0 in 2012 and 3-2-0 on the road this season.
- Sporting Kansas City’s all-time record now stands at 201-202-100 and 66-129-57 on the road in the team’s 17-year history.
- Sporting Kansas City is 25-35-16 all-time in the month of May. Sporting Kansas City has not won a game in the month of May in any of the last three years. The last May win dates back to May 16, 2009 in a 2-0 win at RSL – a span of 12 straight May matches without a win.
- Julio Cesar received a yellow card in tonight’s match marking back-to-back games receiving a caution in 2012 for a reckless tackle. Tonight’s came in the 4th minute of play.
- The last time Sporting Kansas City lost three consecutive matches was in 2011 on May 14th to the LA Galaxy, May 21st to Seattle and April 30th to New York.
- Sporting Kansas City defender Michael Harrington earned his second start in back-to-back matches, while his last start prior was not since September 17, 2011.
- Seth Sinovic missed Saturday's match after undergoing surgery on his wrist. It marked the second consecutive match Sinovic hasn’t started in 2012. The two missed matches were Sinovic’s first since earning his spot in the starting 11 on May 28, 2011.
- Saturday’s match marks back-to-back games that Sporting Kansas City has given up two goals in one game. Prior to these past two matches, Kansas City had not conceded two goals in a game since September 5th against the LA Galaxy.
- Saturday’s loss marks the first loss for Sporting Kansas City when leading at halftime in 2012.
- Sporting Kansas City is now 3-1-0 when leading at halftime.
- Sporting Kansas City is 6-2-0 when wearing Sporting Blue.
- Bobby Convey scored his first goal of 2012 in the 31st minute of Saturday’s match. The goal marks his first since joining Kansas City on December 2, 2011.
- Roger Espinoza earned an assist on the play, his first of 2012 and the 10th of his Kansas City career. Espioza’s last assist was on July 23, 2011.
- Kei Kamara picked up the secondary assist on Covey’s goal, his second of the season.
- The goal snapped Kansas City’s 237-minute streak without scoring, dating back to Kei Kamara's goal in the 65th minute of a 3-1 win at Vancouver. The streak was the eighth longest in MLS this year.
- Chicago Fire defender Arne Friedrich left the match in the first half with a right hamstring strain and was replaced by Dan Gargan.
- Chance Myer’s received a yellow card in the 57th minute of play. Myers is tied with Aurelien Collin for most cautions issued to a Sporting Kansas City player in 2012 with three.
- Aurelien Collin was called for a foul in the penalty area for the second straight match for bringing down Dominic Oduro.
- Chicago Fire’s Sebastian Grazzini converted the PK in the 61st minute.
- Sporting Kansas City has conceded penalty kick goals in back-to-back matches. Prior to these last two matches, the last time Sporting Kansas City faced a penalty kick was May 14, 2011 against the LA Galaxy.
- The red card marks the third straight game Sporting Kansas has had a player sent off against Chicago, which brings the club’s total to 10 in the series, most of any MLS opponent.
- Dominic Oduro scored the Fire’s second goal in the 81st minute on an assist from Patrick Nyarko.
- Sporting Kansas City was outshot by Chicago Fire 18-8. This marks the second time this season Kansas City has been outshot by an opponent. Sporting Kansas City is 1-1-0 when outshot by their opponent in 2012.
- Sporting Kansas City is 2-2-0 against Eastern Conference opponents.
QUOTES:
Post-game reaction from tonight’s match between Sporting Kansas City and the Chicago Fire will be available on SportingKC.com, including comments from players and managers.
