The chips were stacked against Sporting Kansas City heading into Week 12 of the MLS season. Without the services of several injured players—including regular starters Graham Zusi and Roger Espinoza—the club would face MLS Cup contenders New England and Seattle in the span of just 72 hours.
Consider the test passed with flying colors. Sporting Kansas City rode the offense of Krisztian Nemeth and Benny Feilhaber to a 4-2 victory over the Revolution on Wednesday at Sporting Park. Three days later, stout defending limited Sounders FC to a single shot on goal in a 0-0 draw at CenturyLink Field.
The four-point haul was enough for SBI Soccer to choose Sporting Kansas City as its MLS Team of the Week. Peter Vermes’ side is now unbeaten in five matches and has the second fewest losses through 12 regular season games in team history.
Nemeth, Feilhaber and rookie left back Amadou Dia all received MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week recognition, with Nemeth also landing the honor from a host of other publications. The 26-year-old Hungarian scored twice and assisted another on Wednesday, the first time a Sporting player has done so since Graham Zusi in June 2011. Bleacher Report, Goal.com and SI.com each reserved a Team of the Week spot for Nemeth, whose team-leading five goals rank tied for second among MLS newcomers.
Feilhaber and Dia joined Nemeth among MLSsoccer.com’s best performers of Week 12. Feilhaber reclaimed sole possession of first place on the MLS assist chart, taking his total to seven after setting up two goals last Wednesday. He then made 15 recoveries against the Sounders—the most of any MLS player over the weekend—and nearly scored a spectacular game-winner in the 92nd minute, only for his curling effort to be saved by a diving Stefan Frei.
Meanwhile, Dia earned the third and fourth starts of his young MLS career and played a large role in keeping Seattle off the scoresheet on Saturday. With Seth Sinovic and Marcel de Jong sidelined through injury, the 21-year-old turned in a pair of 90-minute performances on the left side of defense.
Sporting Kansas City returns to Sporting Park this Friday when they host Western Conference Leaders FC Dallas at 8 p.m. CT. A limited number of tickets are available online at Ticketmaster.com and the first 10,000 fans inside the gates will receive a Sporting KC t-shirt courtesy of Mazuma Credit Union.
