Graham Zusi scored a first-half brace and Soony Saad added insult to injury in the second half as Sporting Kansas City cruised to a 3-1 victory against the Portland Timbers Wednesday night.
Sporting outshot the Timber’s 15 to 7 on the night and never truly looked threatened by the visitors after jumping out to a 3-0 lead in front of 15,271 fans at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Bright Dike pulled a goal back late in the second half for Portland.
Kansas City moved to 8-7-9 with the victory, moving their record at LSP to 5-1-4 and giving them all six points from two meeting with Portland this season. The Timber’s dropped to 7-12-5 with the loss.
From the very start, Sporting took the reins at home, holding possession in the Timbers' half and limiting the visitors to occasional forays forward on the counterattack.
The first real chance of the match went to Sporting right back Chance Myers in the eighth minute when he latched onto a loose ball at the top of the penalty area after an extended period of possession for Kansas City. Myers hit the ball first time with enough pace to beat Troy Perkins, but his effort flew just wide of the right post.
Milos Stojcev came even closer to opening the scoring 10 minutes later, but his left-footed drive struck the crossbar after taking a deflection off a Portland defender. That narrow miss set the stage for Graham Zusi, who got the home side on the board with a spectacular hit just minutes later.
Stojcev started the move with a pinpoint diagonal ball to Myers on the back post, which the defender attempted to nod back across the penalty area. The Timbers were able to clear the ball out of the penalty area but it only got as far as Zusi, who teed the ball up from 25 yards and unleashed a spectacular drive to the top corner to put Kansas City up 1-0 in the 25th minute.
The game took an unfortunate turn during the celebration, however, as Sporting goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen was hit below the eye with an object thrown from the stands, causing play to be stopped for five minutes as trainers tended to him.
Kansas City picked up where they left off when play resumed and once again it was Zusi who put the ball in the back of the net to record his fifth goal of the season. C.J. Sapong flicked Matt Besler’s long throw on, but Perkins saved Teal Bunbury’s first-time shot at the back post. Unfortunately for the Timbers, the ball fell kindly to Zusi, and he tucked it away from short range to give Sporting a 2-0 advantage in the 40th minute.
Looking for spark at halftime, Timber’s manager John Spencer sent Kalif Alhassan on for Sal Zizzo, but that didn’t stop Sporting from heaping the pressure on.
Bunbury and Stojcev both had opportunities to put the ball on frame in the first two minutes, sending efforts wide of each post, before Kansas City struck the woodwork a second time.
This time it was Kei Kamara whose header was stopped by the crossbar as Myers eventually whipped in Sporting’s well-worked short corner. The curling ball found Kamara unmarked at the top of the six-yard box and his header beat Perkins but caromed back into play.
Portland answered with a few scattered chances of their own in the next 10 minutes. Kenny Cooper sent a header wide of Nielsen’s post, and former Wizard Jack Jewsbury had a drive blocked by Julio Cesar.
But Sporting wasn’t done, eventually tacking on a third goal in strange fashion in the 72nd minute. The strike came from MLS debutant Saad, who was subbed on just nine minutes earlier. Seth Sinovic attempted to play Saad into the area, but his pass was long. Central defender Eric Brunner attempted to clear the ball as Saad applied pressure, but his clearance struck the rookie perfectly and morphed into an inch-perfect chip over the scrambling Perkins.
Down 3-0, the Timbers pulled one back in the 81st minute through substitute Bright Dike. Rodney Wallace drove a low ball across the penalty box, and Kansas City allowed it to run on to Dike, who beat Nielsen with a shot to the far post.
