Two stark similarities exist between Sporting Kansas City’s last two league games — a 3-3 draw against the Houston Dynamo on Sept. 9 and a 2-2 stalemate with the LA Galaxy on Sunday afternoon at Children’s Mercy Park.
At the forefront, Peter Vermes’ men held one-goal leads before conceding late and dropping two valuable points in the playoff push. First it was Raul Rodriguez’s 94th-minute equalizer, then it was Landon Donovan’s unthinkable strike in the 76th minute of a match Sporting Kansas City dominated from beginning to end. As a result, the club now holds the sixth and final playoff spot — five points clear of seventh-place Seattle with two more games played.
A brighter similarity — and one that should give the club confidence heading into a three-game road swing that begins Saturday in San Jose — is that Sporting Kansas City has created high-quality scoring chances at a high volume. Their three-goal salvo vs. Houston tied a season-high, while Sunday’s performance could have (and probably should have) produced more than two goals.
In a developing theme over the last several weeks, Dom Dwyer and Jacob Peterson — a.k.a. “The Domfather and The Answer” — have led the way. Few would have expected Peterson to form any part of a dynamic duo in 2016, but the grizzled veteran continues to piece together arguably the best season in his 11-year MLS career. He has a career-best six goals this year, three more than his previous three seasons combined, and has emerged as a second scoring punch in the Sporting Kansas City attack. He has also started 13 straight games, the longest run of consecutive starts in his 244-game career.
Since July 24, Dwyer (six) and Peterson (five) have combined for 11 goals. During that time, only two other duos in MLS have been more prolific.
TOP-SCORING DUOS IN MLS SINCE JULY 24
<strong>PLAYERS</strong> |
<strong>TEAM</strong> |
<strong>GOALS</strong> |
Jozy Altidore (8)<br>
Sebastian Giovinco (8) |
Toronto FC |
16 |
Bradley Wright-Phillips (11)<br>
Sean Davis / Gonzalo Veron (2) |
New York Red Bulls |
13 |
<strong><em>Dom Dwyer (6)<br>
Jacob Peterson (5)</em></strong> |
<strong><em>Sporting KC</em></strong> |
<strong><em>11</em></strong> |
Frank Lampard (7)<br>
David Villa (4) |
New York City FC |
11 |
As impressive as Peterson’s renaissance has been, it was Dwyer who stamped his name into the league history books on Sunday. The Englishman became the 50th player ever to score 50 regular season goals. Among the 18 active players on the list, Dwyer is the youngest at 26 years old. Remarkably, he is one of just two on the list below the age of 30 — joining Houston forward Will Bruin, who is nine months older than Dwyer.
<strong>RANK</strong> |
<strong>PLAYER</strong> |
<strong>GOALS</strong> |
<strong>AGE</strong> |
1 |
Landon Donovan |
145 |
34 |
2 |
Chris Wondolowski |
119 |
33 |
3 |
Carlos Ruiz |
88 |
37 |
4 |
Kei Kamara |
84 |
32 |
5 |
Robbie Keane |
81 |
36 |
6 |
Conor Casey |
71 |
35 |
Alvaro Saborio |
71 |
34 |
|
8 |
Mike Magee |
70 |
32 |
9 |
Bradley Wright-Phillips |
65 |
31 |
10 |
Chris Rolfe |
64 |
33 |
11 |
Dominic Oduro |
60 |
31 |
12 |
Clint Dempsey |
59 |
33 |
13 |
Chad Barrett |
58 |
31 |
14 |
Brad Davis |
57 |
34 |
15 |
Sebastien Le Toux |
56 |
32 |
16 |
Alan Gordon |
51 |
34 |
17 |
Will Bruin |
50 |
26 |
<strong><em>Dom Dwyer</em></strong> |
<strong><em>50</em></strong> |
<strong><em>26</em></strong> |
Another statistical narrative to come from Sunday’s draw? The LA Galaxy are approaching a decade without at win in Kansas City. The five-time MLS Cup champions are winless in nine straight visits to KC, one shy of tying the club’s longest road winless streak against the same opponent. Since claiming a 2-0 victory at Arrowhead Stadium on Sept. 27, 2007, LA is 0-4-5 in KC and 0-3-3 at Children’s Mercy Park.
LA GALAXY: LONGEST ROAD WINLESS STREAKS
VS. SAME OPPONENT (MLS REGULAR SEASON)
<strong>OPPONENT</strong> |
<strong>GAMES</strong> |
<strong>STARTED</strong> |
<strong>STOPPED</strong> |
FC Dallas |
10 games |
07/29/1998 |
05/08/2004 |
New York Red Bulls |
10 games |
05/12/2001 |
07/16/2009 |
<strong><em>Sporting KC</em></strong> |
<strong><em>9 games</em></strong> |
<strong><em>09/13/2008</em></strong> |
<strong><em>active</em></strong> |
