Recap: Sporting KC falls 2-1 at Toronto FC

Rogers Centre | Toronto, Ontario
Attendance: 25,991
Weather: N/A (Indoors)
Video: Match Highlights

Sporting Kansas City: Jimmy Nielsen (c); Seth Sinovic, Matt Besler, Aurelien Collin, Chance Myers; Oriol Rosell, Benny Feilhaber (Soony Saad 82); Paulo Nagamura; Bobby Convey (C.J. Sapong 46), Claudio Bieler, Graham Zusi

Subs not used: Eric Kronberg, Ike Opara, Josh Gardner, Peterson Joseph, Lawrence Olum

Toronto FC : Joseph Bendik; Richard Eckersley, Danny Califf, Darren O'Dea, Ashtone Morgan; John Bostock (Darel Russell 85), Terry Dunfield (Jonathan Osorio 82), Jeremy Hall, Reggie Lambe; Hogan Ephraim (Kyle Bekker 87), Robert Earnshaw

Subs not used: Gale Agbossoumonde, Stefan Frei, Andrew Wiedeman, Emery Welshman

Team Stats

Misconduct Summary:

KC - Paulo Nagamura (caution; reckless foul) 24
KC - Aurelien Collin (caution; tactical foul) 39
KC - Seth Sinovic (caution; reckless foul) 75
TOR - Danny Califf (caution; unsporting behavior) 77
KC - Benny Feilhaber (caution; dissent) 78
TOR - Richard Eckersley (caution; persistent infringement) 86
TOR - Darren O'Dea (caution; reckless foul) 95+

Scoring Summary:

TOR - Robert Earnshaw 1 (unassisted) 3
TOR - Robert Earnshaw 2 (penalty kick) 21
KC - Claudio Bieler 2 (C.J. Sapong 1) 77

Sporting Kansas City fell 2-1 to Toronto FC on Saturday at the Rogers Centre, suffering the team's first defeat in 14 MLS regular season games dating back to last August. Designated Player Claudio Bieler scored his second goal in as many games for the club off of a volley in the 77th minute, but a pair of first half goals from Toronto FC forward Robert Earnshaw earned the full three points for Toronto FC in their first home match of 2013.

Toronto FC started the match strong, notching a goal in the third minute of play when Earnshaw intercepted a pass in the defensive third and capitalized on the chance with a well-taken shot from the right side of the penalty area for his first MLS goal.

Sporting KC responded four minutes later when Chance Myers made an overlapping run and cut the ball to Benny Feilhaber, who chipped it just wide of the goal

Earnshaw doubled Toronto's lead in the 20th minute from the penalty mark after Paulo Nagamura was judged to have fouled newly-acquired midfielder John Bostock inside the box.  With Nielsen guessing to his left, Earnshaw slotted his shot to the opposite side for the eventual match-winner. 

Toronto FC nearly claimed a third goal in the 31st minute when Reggie Lambe sent in a swinging shot from the top of the box that was just wide of the far post. Sporting KC got in one last look at goal before the end of the half when Collin was on the receiving end of a free kick, but his glancing header was just wide of the near post.

Myers gave Sporting KC their first scoring opportunity of the second half in the 52nd minute when his glancing header was just wide of the left post. Nine minutes later, halftime substitute C.J. Sapong nearly netted a goal for Sporting Kansas City when he won a header from a Graham Zusi free kick only to see it rattle off the crossbar.

Claudio Bieler provided a much-needed lifeline to Sporting Kansas City with under 15 minutes remaining. Sapong flicked on a long service from Jimmy Nielsen and the Argentinian striker  took a shot from distance that blazed past Joseph Bendik. 

The 89th minute nearly saw an equalizer for Sporting Kansas City when a long throw-in from Besler bounced around the box and fell to Bieler at top the top of the area, but his right-footed volley was punched out by Bendik.

Six minutes into stoppage time, Sporting KC came close again when Zusi sent in a free kick that Collin headed just wide of the goal on a last gasp attempt at salvaging a road result.

Sporting Kansas City will return to KCto KC for their first home match of the year at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 16 at Sporting Park against the Chicago Fire. The match will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports.

FAST FACTS

• Saturday's game -- Toronto FC's first home fixture of 2013 -- was the first MLS match ever played at the Rogers Centre.
• It marked the second straight season Sporting Kansas City played an MLS match under a closed roof, after playing the Vancouver Whitecaps indoors at BC Place in 2012.
• Ryan Nelsen made his home debut as manager for Toronto FC on Saturday. He is the eight head coach in Toronto's seven seasons.
• Robert Earnshaw, acquired by Toronto FC from Cardiff City in the offseason, scored his first MLS goal in the 3rd minute.
• The goal was the earliest conceded by Sporting KC since the Philadelphia Union's Jack McInerney scored in the opening minute on June 23, 2012 at PPL Park.
• Robert Earnshaw struck again from the penalty spot in the 21st minute. It was the first penalty kick scored on Sporting KC since the Philadelphia Union's Lionard Pajoy converted his PK on June 23, 2012 at PPL Park.
• Toronto FC's penalty kick was the second PK attempted, and first scored, of the 2013 MLS season.
• Robert Earnshaw joins Reggie Lambe as the only two players in Toronto FC club history to score two goals in the first half of a MLS match.
• The last time Sporting Kansas City conceded two goals in the first half was on July 28, 2012 in a 2-1 loss against the Columbus Crew.
• Claudio Bieler scored for his second straight match, striking in the 77th minute on an assist from C.J. Sapong. The fourth Designated Player in team history, Bieler becomes the club's first DP to score in his first two MLS matches.
• Claudio Bieler has now scored on each of his two shots on goal in MLS this season.
• C.J. Sapong now has eight career assists.
• Robert Earnshaw and Claudio Bieler are now tied with Alvaro Saborio and Fabian Espindola for second on the MLS goal scoring chart, one behind Mike Magee.
• Sporting Kansas City's only shot on goal on Saturday came on Claudio Bieler's goal in the 77th minute.
• Sporting Kansas City controlled 68.2% of the possession on Saturday to Toronto FC's 31.8%.
• Sporting Kansas City had 457 total passes on Saturday, more than double the number of Toronto's total passes (212).
• Sporting Kansas City attempted 25 open play crosses on Saturday, five times as many as Toronto FC (5).
• Sporting Kansas City outshot Toronto FC 16 to 5 on Saturday.
• Claudio Bieler suffered five fouls on Saturday, most of any player on the field.
• Graham Zusi had seven key passes on Saturday. No other player on the field had more than one.
• Graham Zusi recorded seven good crosses on Saturday. Seth Sinovic (2) was the only other player on the field with more than one.
• Matt Besler led all players on Saturday with 16 clearances and 10 aerial duals won. Both were on more than fellow central defender Aurelien Collin.
• Oriol Rosell led all players with 55 passes on Saturday.
• Sporting Kansas City made no changes to their starting lineup from last week's 3-1 win at the Philadelphia Union.
• Jimmy Nielsen has appeared in 63 straight MLS matches, including postseason, for Sporting Kansas City, dating back to June 12, 2011. The streak covers a span of 5,670 straight minutes of MLS action.
• Jimmy Nielsen's appearance tied Bo Oshoniyi for second most in team history by a goalkeeper with 96.
• Toronto FC made only one change to their starting lineup from last week's 1-0 loss at Vancouver, inserting 21-year-old midfielder John Bostock in place of rookie Kyle Bekker.
• Bostock made his MLS debut after being acquired on Friday on loan from Tottenham.
• Matt Besler, the reigning MLS Defender of the Year, has started and played the full 90 minutes in each of the club's last 22 MLS matches (including postseason).
• Matt Besler started the 100th regular season match of his KC career on Saturday, becoming the only active KC player to do so. Besler surpassed 9,000 regular season MLS minutes played in his KC career on Saturday, also most amongst active KC players.
• Aurelien Collin surpassed 5,000 minutes in MLS competition (including playoffs) on Saturday.
• Seth Sinovic surpassed 6,000 career minutes played in MLS regular season matches on Saturday.
• Jimmy Nielsen surpassed 9,000 career minutes played in MLS competition (including playoffs) on Saturday.
• Sporting Kansas City lost for only the second time in 30 MLS regular season matches with the backline of Chance Myers, Seth Sinovic, Matt Besler and Aurelien Collin starting in defense. Sporting KC is now 20-2-8 all-time in the MLS regular season with those four in the starting lineup.
• Soony Saad made his first MLS appearance since Aug. 4, 2012, replacing Benny Feilhaber in the 82nd minute.
• Sporting Kansas City has gone 67 consecutive MLS matches (including playoffs) without conceding a goal on a corner kick, dating back to May 21, 2011 at Seattle.
• Saturday's loss snapped a 13-game unbeaten run in MLS regular season matches. It was the longest active streak in MLS and one shy of the club's all-time record set in 2011.
• Saturday's loss also snapped Sporting Kansas City's seven-game unbeaten streak in MLS road matches. It was also the longest active such streak in MLS and the longest streak in team history.
• Prior to Saturday, Toronto FC was winless in their last 15 MLS regular season matches, tied for the longest active streak with Chivas USA and the second-longest in MLS history behind only Real Salt Lake's 18-game winless run from 2005-2006.
• Saturday marked only the third time in MLS history that a team with a double-digit unbeaten streak faced a team with a double-digit winless streak:
  • Oct. 8, 2005, San Jose (12) vs. Real Salt Lake (10)
  • Sept. 29, 2007, D.C. United (10), vs. Toronto FC (11)
  • March 9, 2013, Sporting KC (13) vs. Toronto FC (15)
• Danny Califf was shown his eighth caution in 21 career matches against Sporting Kansas City, which ties him for the most all-time amongst KC opponents with Landon Donovan.
• Sporting Kansas City hosted the team's official watch party in the Boulevard Members Club at Sporting Park on Saturday.
• Sporting Kansas City and Toronto FC will meet two more times in the 2013 regular season. The next match-up comes July 13 at Sporting Park followed by a trip to BMO Field on September 21.
• Sporting Kansas City holds the advantage in the all-time series with an 8-4-4 record in MLS play against Toronto since the club joined MLS in 2007.
• Sporting Kansas City is 2-3-3 on the road in the series with three goals scored in those eight games.
• Saturday's match was the first time in series history that both teams scored in a game played in Toronto. Prior to Saturday, the teams had combined for only five goals in seven meetings in Toronto.
• Saturday's loss snapped a seven-game unbeaten streak against Toronto FC, including four consecutive wins.
• Sporting Kansas City has recorded the most team shots in MLS history with 7,216.
• Sporting Kansas City will next host the Chicago Fire on Saturday, March 16 in the club's 2013 home opener at Sporting Park.
• Sporting Kansas City is 213-207-109 all-time in the MLS regular season and 72-132-62 away from home in the regular season.
• Sporting Kansas City is 9-7-1 in the month of March all-time.
• Sporting Kansas City was without Kei Kamara (loan), Teal Bunbury (disabled list) and Jacob Peterson (disabled list) on Saturday.
• Forward Kei Kamara, on loan from Sporting Kansas City to Norwich City through May 6, made his first EPL start and played 78 minutes against Southampton on Saturday.
• The Sporting KC Show on Sports Radio 810 WHB will air from 7-8 p.m. CT on Tuesday, March 12.
• Seth Sinovic will be a guest on Off the Bench with Michael Coleman on KCTV5 on Sunday.
• Referee Fotis Bazakos, the brother of fellow MLS referee Elias Bazakos, officiated his 11th career MLS match on Saturday. He awarded a penalty kick for the third time in those 11 games on Saturday.