MLS Game #5
Saturday, April 23, 2011, 6:30 p.m. CT
English TV: KSMO
Spanish TV: Time Warner Cable Ch. 5
Spanish Radio: La Gran D 1340 AM
Gillette Stadium | Foxborough, Massachusetts
Weather: Cloudy, 52°F
Attendance: 11,414
Video: Match Highlights
Score: 1 2 F
Sporting Kansas City (1-3-1, 4 pts) 1 1 2
New England Revolution (2-2-3, 9 pts) 1 2 3
Sporting Kansas City: Jimmy Nielsen; Michael Harrington, Aurelien Collin, Matt Besler, Roger Espinoza; Birahim Diop, Davy Arnaud ©, Milos Stojcev (Graham Zusi 58); C.J. Sapong, Teal Bunbury (Shavar Thomas 78), Kei Kamara (Ryan Smith 87)
Subs not used: Korede Aiyegbusi, Stephane Auvray, Eric Kronberg, Craig Rocastle
New England Revolution: Matt Reis; Didier Domi, A.J. Soares, Franco Coria, Kevin Alston; Benny Feilhaber, Shalrie Joseph, Stephen McCarthy (Zack Schilawski 64); Zak Boggs, Rajko Lekic, Marco Perovic (Kenny Mansally 60)
Subs not used: Bobby Shuttleworth, Ousmane Dabo, Chris Tierney, Darrius Barnes, Ryan Cochrane
Stats: KC NE
Shots 17 12
Shots on Goal 5 3
Saves 0 3
Fouls 18 17
Offside 1 2
Corner Kicks 10 3
Misconduct Summary:
NE – Steven McCarthy (Caution, Reckless Tackle) 19
SKC – Aurelien Collin (Caution, Reckless Foul) 23
NE – Marko Perovic (Caution, Dissent) 42
SKC – Matt Besler (Caution, Reckless Tackle) 48
SKC – Michael Harrington (Caution, Tactical Foul) 54
SKC – Aurelien Collin (Ejection, second caution, Serious Foul Play) 75
NE – Kenny Mansally (Caution, Reckless Foul) 79
NE – Rajko Lekic (Caution, Shirt Removal) 84
NE – Shalrie Joseph (Caution, Reckless Foul) 93+
Scoring Summary:
NE – Marko Perovic 1 (Benny Feilhaber 1) 12
SKC – Kei Kamara 2 (Teal Bunbury 1) 14
SKC – Kei Kamara 3 (penalty kick) 69
NE – Shalrie Joseph 3 (Kenny Mansally 1) 72
NE – Rajko Lekic 1 (Zak Boggs 1) 83
(April 23, 2011) – Sporting Kansas City dropped a 3-2 decision to the New England Revolution on Saturday in a wild Eastern Conference contest from Gillette Stadium.
Sporting Kansas City forward Kei Kamara scored two goals, but a Rajko Lekic header in the 83rd minute dropped Sporting Kansas City to the bottom of the Eastern Conference through five matches so far in the 2011 season.
Sporting Kansas City pushed forward right from the outset Kamara fizzed a low drive just past the post in the first minute of action straight from kickoff.
The ninth minute saw the first chance for New England, coming courtesy of a giveaway from Sporting Kansas City defender Matt Besler, who gave the ball away cheaply to Zak Boggs, who centered for Shalrie Joseph. Joseph got a clean strike on the ball from eight yards out, but it was blocked away at the last moment for a corner.
New England would draw first blood in the 12th minute through Marko Perovic. A Lekic cross fell into the path of Benny Feilhaber, who drew a defender and laid the ball to the top of the box for Perovic, who curled a left-footed effort low past Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen.
Sporting Kansas City would draw level just two minutes later. Kamara received a pass from Teal Bunbury on the edge of the area, faked as if to turn to the byline, and smashed a low drive with his left foot inside the near post of New England goalkeeper Matt Reis.
Kamara would get another chance in the 16th minute following a corner from Milos Stojcev. Stojcev served a ball in low and hard, finding an unmarked Kamara right at the edge of the area. The forward was unable to keep his shot down, though, as the scores remained level.
New England had a golden chance to pull in front in the 23rd minute. Perovic’s ball into the box made its way past everyone in the Sporting Kansas City penalty area and fell finally to Lekic at the far post. Lekic dealt with the pass awkwardly, and skewed his shot wide across goal and out for a throw-in.
Another gilt-edged chance fell to Sporting Kansas City in the 29th minute. Following a giveaway in midfield, Davy Arnaud drove forward into the New England half. His pass out wide to an overlapping Michael Harrington was driven in low back to Arnaud, who saw his first time effort saved by Reis and away for a corner.
The rest of the first half would be evenly-contested, as the two teams went into halftime drawn at 1-1.
The second half started slowly, but eventually sprung to life in the 68th minute, as Bunbury was brought down in the box by Kevin Alston, leading referee Edvin Jurisevic to award a penalty kick. The ensuing penalty kick, the first given to Sporting Kansas City in 2011, was converted by Kamara for his second goal of the match and third of the 2011 season.
The lead for Sporting Kansas City would be short-lived. After a free kick was given to New England for a foul on Boggs, substitute Kenny Mansally lofted a cross into the area onto the head of Joseph, who guided his effort past Nielsen to equalize for the Revolution.
It would go from bad to worse for Sporting Kansas City. In the 75th minute, defender Aurélien Collin, already on a yellow card for a first half foul, was judged to have fouled Reis during a free kick. The collision between the two players sparked a scrum between the two sides in the penalty area and culminated with a second yellow card being shown to Collin, leading to a sending off in the Sporting Kansas City defender’s first ever match for the club.
Sitting tied at 2-2 and up a man in the 83rd minute, New England would finally find the winner. Boggs received a ball out wide on the right hand side of midfield, and placed a cross onto the head of Lekic, who finished high past Nielsen to open his account in MLS and score what would prove to be the game winner for New England.
Sporting Kansas City defender Roger Espinoza had a chance to equalize late following a free kick, but his effort from the edge of the area was hit straight at Reis, and the rebound was cleared out of danger.
Sporting Kansas City will continue their 10-game road trip to start the 2011 regular season next Saturday when they travel to Red Bull Arena to take on the New York Red Bulls.
Fast Facts:
- Sporting Kansas City is now 1-3-1 in 2011 and is currently in eighth position in the Eastern Conference.
- Sporting Kansas City is 20-13-8 all-time against New England and 10-7-5 all-time on the road in the series.
- Sporting Kansas City has not lost back-to-back matches at New England since the 1997 season.
- Nielsen, C.J. Sapong, Matt Besler and Espinoza have played every minute of every MLS match for Sporting Kansas City in 2011.
- Defender Aurelien Collin made his debut for Sporting Kansas City after being signed by the club at the end of the MLS foreign transfer window. Collin started the match in the center of defense.
- Midfielder Ryan Smith made his season debut for Sporting Kansas City, entering the contest as an 87th minute substitute for Kei Kamara
- Sporting KC is 1-0-1 when leading at halftime in 2011. Kansas City went 7-0-1 in 2010 when up at the break and is 91-17-21 all-time with a lead after 45 minutes.
- Sporting KC is 1-0-1 when scoring first in 2011. Kansas City went 10-0-2 in 2010 when getting on the scoresheet first and is 144-27-28 all-time when getting the game’s opening goal.
- Sporting KC has not earned a point in 2011 when tied or trailing at halftime, nor when conceding first.
- Sporting Kansas City received and converted their first penalty kick of 2011 on Saturday.
- Sporting KC has not scored on a header, free kick (direct or indirect) or own goal in 2011.
- Sporting KC conceded their first goal from a free kick (direct or indirect) in 2011 on Saturday.
- Sporting Kansas City has not recorded a shutout since October 12, 2010 in a 2-0 win over Chicago – a span of seven games.
- After opening the season with a 3-2 victory at Chivas USA, Sporting Kansas City is winless in four straight MLS matches.
- Sporting Kansas City was without defender Julio Cesar, who served a mandatory one-game suspension after receiving a red card last Saturday.
- Sporting Kansas City Home Grown goalkeeper Jon Kempin was also unavailable. Kempin is currently with the United States Under-18 National Team in Portland, Oregon.
- Sporting Kansas City was without striker Omar Bravo, MLS Player of the Week for week one, after the Designated Player underwent successful sports hernia surgery earlier this month and is expected to miss 2-4 more weeks.
- KSMO-TV will air highlights and reaction from Saturday’s match on the station’s weekly 30-minute soccer show “Off the Pitch with Sporting Kansas City” on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. CT.
QUOTES
Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
On the outcome...
“We lost 3-2. There’s nothing else to say, other than that.”
On the defensive letdown...
"It’s not good to give up goals late. We just have to get back to practice this week and try to work on cutting down some of that stuff. We scored two good goals on the road and it is what it is.”
On the positives from the performance..
“I thought we played well. I thought we had some good spells in the game, not only offensively in the first half, but I think also defensively we were pretty solid, especially when we had 11 men on the field. That’s kind of been our story all season – 11 men on the field, we had good results. Ten men on the field – we don’t. That’s just kind of the way it’s been going so far.”
On the last goal …
“What I lost was the last piece of it because of the way the fourth official was standing, but it looked like (Zak Boggs) had time to serve the ball. But again, we’re in the box marked up, so that part I’d have to see on the replay.”
On playing short-handed...
“The unfortunate thing is that this is the third game that we have lost and in all three games we have not been able to finish the game with [11] men. So that’s frustrating, but we’ll have to keep working with it as a team because it’s part of what we do.”
On Revolution midfielder Shalrie Joseph playing so high …
“I’ve seen him do it before, where he’s played as a second forward. We were kind of prepared that it might go that way, especially with Benny (Feilhaber) coming into the midfield. When (Pat) Phelan was out, it kind of solidified that it might happen. It really didn’t cause us too many problems; I thought we handled it quite well. (Aurelien) Collin, his performance was very, very good tonight. He’s taylor-made for this league.”
On looking forward to getting home …
“I can’t wait, but it’s still a long way off. It’s June 9. It doesn’t get any easier for us at this point, but I do know that we’ll just keep pushing towards trying to solidify some points on the road, but it would be nice to get one here at some point in the season.”
Sporting Kansas City striker Kei Kamara
On scoring twice on Saturday...
“My goals, they were just goals. What I’ m really concerned about is me letting Shalrie (Joseph) score. I’ve just got to be more cautious on set plays like that. Since I’ve been in the league it’s the second time someone’s ever scored when I’m marking them on set plays. Goals are goals, I’m always happy to score goals, but the more important is me letting someone score a goal when I’m marking them to get their team back into the game … I want to mark the best guy in the air on every set play. That’s how I compete. So I know into every team I go to or every game we’re going to play, I always put it in my head who am I going to mark. It’s usually their beast header or their tallest guy.”
On the change in the momentum after the red card …
“It’s part of the game. It’s a game where people get one red card, sometimes two. We know when we get that, we’re all together. We know when that happens, we just want to fight as a team to get a point from the game. Unfortunately we didn’t, and it didn’t go our way tonight.”
New England Revolution head coach Steve Nicol
On the game...
“Obviously we’d all like to play silky soccer and get results, but sometimes it doesn’t happen. But I think one of the positive things that we can take from tonight is that we made chances. We spoke about it all week – we haven’t made chances and we haven’t scored goals. So we should be pleased that we got three (pointes) and I think that if we can be better with the ball, that we’ll make more chances.”
On the comeback...
“The timing of the (second) goal was huge for us, just as the timing when we lost the first goal was huge for them. Having gone one up, we felt as though we could then go on and dominate. But to lose a goal so quickly, it really took the wind out of our sails and the crowd and everything. Both that one and then the other one picked us back up again. And the guy getting sent off – I’m not sure what the guy was thinking, but from where I’m sitting, it looked like he deserved to get sent off.”
On his team's tactics...
“We wanted to keep putting pressure on Kansas (City). We wanted to get the ball wide and put the ball in the box and push them back. We thought that if we could do that, then we could start passing the ball. It didn’t quite work that way, but that was the plan.”
On Benny Feilhaber’s impact …
“You see the quality that he has and that affects our position as well, because they don’t know whether to stand off or to close him down. And obviously with his teammates, it’s good knowing that you’re giving a guy the ball who 99 times of out of 100, he ain’t losing it. So he made a big impact tonight … his fitness wasn’t really a concern, it was just his sharpness. He hadn’t really trained all week. I spoke with him and had a good conversation with him on Friday and he had said he hadn’t really trained all week, which kind of takes the edge off of you. But at the same time, when you have the qualities that he’s got, if he blew a gasket, then we could always take him off. He’s smart, he’s experienced, he uses the ball and saves his legs by making the ball do all the work. So it was obvious that he was cruising and there was no way that he was coming off.”
On Rajko Lekic’s first MLS goal …
“I think you saw, his header was fantastic – it’s just a pure striker’s finish. And let’s hope there’s many more of them.”
On Marko Perovic’s injury …
“The doctors said that they don’t think it’s too bad – they think it’s just a mild strain. So we don’t expect it to be any more than that.”
New England Revolution midfielder Benny Feilhaber
On his fitness level…
“I felt surprisingly okay. I definitely got tired in the second half at a certain point, but the fact that we (were) a man up in the last 15 minutes helped. The first half felt really good. Middle of the second half, (I) started tiring a little bit, but to be honest, it was better than I thought. I hung in there for 90 minutes, and the most important thing is that we got three points. I’m really satisfied with my performance and the team’s, and I think for me it’ll only get better. I’ll get more fit and I’ll start playing better and better.”
On the difference between his former league and MLS…
“It’s different. (MLS has) a higher pace. I think it’s more physical, a lot of fouls, a lot of cards. At the same time, once I get to the speed of the game and more used to it, I think I’ll be more effective, as well, here. Because of the speed of the game, you tend to have more options to find those little seams and play the ball to our forwards. I’ll keep getting better at that.”
On his assist...
“I was joining the attack a lot in the first half and I had the opportunity to get close to the box on that (play). The rebound came right to me. I took a touch, I was ready to shoot, but it didn’t set up perfect for me. I had to take a step, the defender drew towards me and I saw Marko (Perovic) sitting at the top of the box so I slipped it to him and he banged it in. He did the rest.”
On fitting in with his new team...
“More and more, I think people will know what I’m about and I’ll know what they’re about. Rajko (Lekic) was one of the guys I found a lot behind the defense. I think he was offside a couple of times and maybe took one or two bad steps a couple of times. I think I missed Shalrie (Joseph) a couple of times behind the defense. The more I get to know the guys, and the more they get to know me, I’m sure we’ll combine a little bit more and be able to find those scoring chances.”
On the importance of getting the start tonight for help his integration to the team…
“One hundred percent. I think it’s awesome. In the end, I think it’s tough to say that I was ready to play, but it all worked out for the best. I don’t know if I would have started had Pat Phelan not had a little trouble. He’s a little banged up. It the end (getting the start) helped me out a lot because now I’ve played a solid 90 minutes, and my fitness is only going to go up from there. Obviously, I’m going to get more used to the style of play in MLS and the style of play of our team.”
New England Revolution forward Rajko Lekic
On his reaction to the game-winning goal...
“I felt like I was in heaven when I saw that goal (go in). It was like a dream. I didn’t play my best match. I had some bad touches, but when I saw the goal, I was very happy.”
On the inclusion of Feilhaber to the squad...
“Benny’s (Feilhaber) a great player. He likes to play on the ground and with passes. He tried to find me sometimes. He’s a really good player, so it was nice to play with him. I know him from Denmark.”
On team chemistry improving in the near future…
“It will, for sure. It was my second game and Benny’s first game. It still takes maybe two or three games to know each other, so it will get better.”
On the dynamics of the game...
“(My) first game, we didn’t have the ball, and tonight we had the ball a lot. It was a big difference, that’s for sure, but it was also a different match.”
On the team’s three goals…
“It was beautiful. We had many chances today. We had maybe two, three, four big chances and we scored three goals. It was a big match for us.”
Description of his goal in the 83rd minute…
“It was a great cross, and I just had to go in front of the defense and just put (my) head on it. Then I saw it go in the goal.”