Sporting Kansas City doesn’t look like a last-place team after all.
Kansas City collected it’s first home victory of the season as C.J. Sapong scored the game’s only goal from a Graham Zusi set piece, edging San Jose 1-0 on a beautiful night at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.
Sporting improved to 3-6-4 on the season and is now unbeaten in five-consecutive league matches. With the defeat, San Jose (5-5-4) ended their own long unbeaten streak at six games and dropped to 2-3-2 on the road.
The match started at a plodding pace with both teams content to feel each other out with probing balls into their burly center forwards. Sapong and Steven Lenhart won their fair share of headers, but neither side could string much together once the ball was on the ground.
Khari Stephenson tested Sporting goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen with a skipping free kick, and Zusi pushed a golden chance wide of the post alone on goal but neither side looking particularly likely to score.
The breakthrough finally came in the 31st minute, predictably from a dead ball situation, following a foul on Arnaud on the right flank. Zusi wrapped his right foot around the ball and curled a cross to the front post, where Sapong fought off a challenge and managed to extend his left foot to apply the finish past Busch.
After scoring their first goal at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, Kansas City grabbed control for the rest of the half, neutralizing Lenhart with physical play at the back and whipping in balls from the right for Sapong, Arnaud and Omar Bravo to attack.
Needing a spark, Frank Yallop brought on Simon Dawkins and Ellis McLoughlin for Anthony Ampaipitakwong and Sam Cronin at halftime. But Sporting didn’t miss a beat as Bravo nearly got on the end of Luke Sassano’s ball across the top of the six-yard box then forced Busch into a sprawling save after his shot was deflected.
That seemed to light a fire under San Jose, and the momentum shifted for the next 10 minutes. Stephenson struck a free kick just high and wide, Dawkins sent a low, driven shot just outside the near post and the Earthquakes threatened from a variety of dead ball situations.
But for all their efforts, the visitors didn’t break through and Peter Vermes went to his bench to shore things up with half an hour remaining, bringing Julio Cesar and Kei Kamara on for Zusi and Sassano. Like the Earthquakes substitutions before them, the changes seemed to breathe new like into Sporting and they pushed forward in search of a second to ice the game.
But another goal wasn’t in the cards, leaving Sporting to collect their first home victory of the season on a balmy night at their new stadium.
