Despite twice falling behind by two goals to the top team in the Western Conference, Sporting Kansas City prevailed 4-3 over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday at Sporting Park in stunning fashion. Kevin Ellis and Dom Dwyer sparked the comeback with the first of of Sporting Kansas City's four second-half goals to set up a climatic conclusion with two goals from Paulo Nagamura. The Brazilian leveled the match at 3-3 in the 87th minute and scored the game-winner in the final minute of stoppage time.
Kekuta Manneh's first-half brace had given the visitors a 2-0 halftime lead and Pedro Morales came off the bench to bury a free kick in the 75th minute that made it 3-1. However, Sporting Kansas City's three late goals marked only the second time in Major League Soccer's 20-year history that a team which trailed by two goals in the 80th minute came back to win in regulation and, further, the first time Vancouver dropped points after leading by two in the team's regular season history.
VOTE: BurgerFi Man of the Match
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Now unbeaten in 16 home games across all competition in 2015, Sporting Kansas City's unblemished record at Sporting Park this season appeared in jeopardy against a Whitecaps side that boasts the league's best road record (7-5-2). Vancouver nearly took an early lead in the sixth minute if not for a sliding stop by Tim Melia to deny Octavio Rivero and then broke through three minutes later.
Manneh netted his first of two goals on the night in the ninth minute, winning the ball in midfield and carrying the ball into the penalty area before calmly placing his shot into the back of the net under pressure from Melia and Matt Besler. The 20-year-old then recorded his second career MLS multi-goal game in the 41st minute as Vancouver again capitalized on the counter attack following a midfield turnover.
Steven Beitashour won the ball off Amadou Dia and dribbled down the right flank prior to sending a pinpoint pass to the back post, where Manneh headed home the cross from the top of the six-yard box. Manneh now has six goals in 2015, tying his single-season career high, while Beitashour picked up his fifth assist.
Sporting Kansas City, coming off their 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals on Wednesday, weren't without scoring chances in the opening 50 minutes. David Ousted did well to block Nagamura's shot in the 17th minute, then thwarted Krisztian Nemeth four minutes later in a one-on-one situation. The rebound fell to Connor Hallisey amidst a goalmouth scramble and the rookie was poised for his first professional goal until Jordan Harvey intervened with an acrobatic block. Ousted made his final save on Saturday in the 48th minute by getting his right hand to a shot from Dwyer with a full-extension dive.
The Whitecaps - 8-0-0 in 2015 when leading at halftime prior to Saturday - would have their two-goal advantage temporarily cut in half in the 53rd minute in the aftermath of a corner kick from Feilhaber. Dia's shot from the top of the 18-yard box was deflected into the air mid-flight and Soni Mustivar won the aerial duel to float a header toward the back post, where Ellis directed the ball across the goalline with a header of his own from close range.
The Homegrown centerback now has three goals in 2015. Mustivar collected his first MLS assist and first of two on the night.
Vancouver responded emphatically, forcing Melia to make a pair of crucial saves to keep Sporting Kansas City in contention. He turned away Rivero in the 57th minute and later dove low to his left in the 72nd minute to prevent a Manneh hat trick.
Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson inserted Morales, Mauro Rosales and Darren Mattocks into the fray over the game's final 30 minutes and the substitutions paid dividends when Morales buried a free kick from 25 yards out in the 75th minute. The reigning MLS Newcomer of the Year now has five goals on the season, including strikes in back-to-back road games, as Vancouver netted three goals for their fourth straight MLS match.
However, it was Sporting Kansas City's late rally that stole the show on Saturday in front of the 65th straight MLS sell out at Sporting Park. Dwyer started the scoring spree with his header in the 81st minute, off a cross from Nemeth, for his eighth goal of the season and third in the past four regular season games.
Nagamura then capped off the comeback with two goals in the game's final 10 minutes for the second multi-goal game of his 11-year MLS career. Benny Feilhaber started the scoring sequence by switching the point of attack to Chance Myers on the right flank and Myers played a pass square for Nagamura, whose first-time strike from the edge of the penalty area leveled the score at 3-3 as it sailed past Ousted.
With his 18th assist of the year, Feilhaber moves into a tie with Preki (2003) for the most assists in a single season across all competition in club history. The MLS MVP candidate now has a goal or assist in nine of his past 10 MLS matches.
Not satisfied to have rescued a result amidst a stretch of five games in 15 days, Sporting Kansas City surged forward in search of a go-ahead goal and found it in the fourth and final minute of second half stoppage time. Mustivar floated a hopeful chip in front of the net and Nagamura - at 5-foot-8 and matched up against 6-foot-1 Pa-Modou Kah - flicked in a header to set off scenes of celebration around Sporting Park.
Nagamura now has two headed goals in 2015, having previously never scored on a header in his professional career, and Sporting Kansas City leads all MLS teams with 14 headed goals on the year (including three on Saturday). Nagamura also set a career high with six shots on Saturday, most among all players.
The victory moves Sporting Kansas City into third place in the Western Conference standings and extends their League-leading points per game average to 1.82. The team will next host the San Jose Earthquakes at 7:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday with a chance to pull level with the LA Galaxy for first place in the West.
A limited number of tickets are available via Ticketmaster.com and the first 10,000 fans inside the Sporting Park gates will receive a commemorative Roger Espinoza poster courtesy of Park University.
Major League Soccer
Regular Season: Game 22
Sporting Park | Kansas City, Kan.
Attendance: 19,969 (65th straight sell out)
Weather: 88 degrees and sunny
SportingKC.com Links
Pregame: Chris Klein on SKCtv
2nd Half: Kevin Ellis Goal (53')
2nd Half: Dom Dwyer Goal (81')
2nd Half: Paulo Nagamura Goal (87')
2nd Half: Paulo Nagamura Goal (94')
Full Time: Video Highlights
Full Time: Photo Gallery
Postgame: Quote Sheet
Postgame: Peter Vermes Interview
Postgame: Kevin Ellis Interview
Postgame: Paulo Nagamura Interview
Postgame: Dom Dwyer Interview
<strong>Score</strong> |
<strong>1</strong> |
<strong>2</strong> |
<strong>F</strong> |
Sporting KC (11-4-7, 40 pts) |
0 |
4 |
4 |
Vancouver Whitecaps FC (13-9-3, 42 pts) |
2 |
1 |
3 |
Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Jimmy Medranda (Amadou Dia 34), Matt Besler (c), Kevin Ellis, Saad Abdul-Salaam (Chance Myers 73); Soni Mustivar, Paulo Nagamura, Benny Feilhaber; Krisztian Nemeth, Dom Dwyer, Connor Hallisey (Jacob Peterson 46)
Subs Not Used: Jon Kempin, Marcel de Jong, Erik Palmer-Brown, Amobi Okugo
Vancouver Whitecaps FC: David Ousted (c); Jordan Harvey, Pa Modou Kah, Tim Parker, Steven Beitashour; Gershon Koffie, Matias Laba, Kekuta Manneh (Darren Mattocks 74), Nicolas Mezquida (Pedro Morales 65), Cristian Techera (Mauro Rosales 60); Octavio Rivero
Subs Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Christian Dean, Russell Teibert, Robert Earnshaw
<strong>Stats</strong> |
<strong>SKC</strong> |
<strong>VAN</strong> |
Shots |
17 |
10 |
Shots on Goal |
6 |
7 |
Saves |
4 |
2 |
Fouls |
14 |
11 |
Offside |
2 |
3 |
Corner Kicks |
7 |
5 |
Misconduct Summary:
SKC -- Amadou Dia (caution; reckless foul) 61
VAN -- Matias Laba (caution; reckless foul) 64
SKC -- Paulo Nagamura (caution, unsporting behavior) 95+
Scoring Summary:
VAN -- Kekuta Manneh 5 (unassisted) 9
VAN -- Kekuta Manneh 6 (Steven Beitashour 5) 41
SKC -- Kevin Ellis 3 (Soni Mustivar 1) 53
VAN -- Pedro Morales 5 (unassisted) 75
SKC -- Dom Dwyer 8 (Krisztian Nemeth 5) 81
SKC -- Paulo Nagamura 2 (Chance Myers 2, Benny Feilhaber 13) 87
SKC -- Paulo Nagamura 3 (Soni Mustivar 2) 94+
