Sporting Kansas City earned an emphatic 4-0 win over the Montreal Impact Saturday night at Sporting Park. It was the type of win that MLS pundits have been waiting for from the defending MLS Cup champions.
Third-year striker Dom Dwyer scored twice, Aurelien Collin scored one and saved another off the line and Eric Kronberg earned his third shutout of the season as Sporting KC moved into first place in the Eastern Conference. Saturday’s win was not lost on the American soccer media, as both Dwyer and Collin earned MLS Team of the Week honors for Saturday’s performances, while Manager Peter Vermes was named MLS Coach of the Week.
Collin was a menace on both sides of the field, clearing a Marco Di Vaio shot off the goal line in the 13th minute and tallying five interceptions and eight recoveries. The two-time MLS All-Star also contributed on the offensive side, scoring his second goal of the year with a left-footed strike that curled between goalkeeper Troy Perkins and the goalpost in the 71st minute. The Team of the Week honor was Collin’s second in 2014 (Week 2).
Dwyer earned his first Team of the Week award on Saturday with the first multi-goal game of his young career. The British forward one-timed a Jacob Peterson cross in the 74th minute and headed home Graham Zusi’s lofted ball in the 86th minute. Vermes called the young striker a “pain in the ass” for Montreal as Dwyer earned nine fouls on Saturday – seventh most all-time for a single match in MLS – and tied Philadelphia Union midfielder Maurice Edu and Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Chara for the second most duels won in a single MLS match this season (16).
MLSsoccer.com was not the only site that took note of the Sporting KC performances on Saturday. Collin and Dwyer were named to Goal.com’s Team of the Week, Dwyer and Chance Myers were named to Bleacher Report’s Team of the Week and Collin, Dwyer and Benny Feilhaber were named to SI.com’s Best XI for Week 7.
Sporting KC will hit the road next weekend to take on the New England Revolution in a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Semifinal series. The game will kick off Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. CT on KMCI-TV and across the Midwest on SKCTV.
