Beyond The Box Score: Designated Players come up big in thrilling win over Columbus

Sporting Kansas City’s two Designated Players came up big Sunday night at Children’s Mercy Park.

Graham Zusi and Matt Besler both scored pivotal goals — the former producing a remarkable strike from distance and the latter nodding home from the doorstep on 91 minutes — to pace Sporting Kansas City in a gripping 3-2 victory over Columbus Crew SC that entertained from beginning to end.

The duo were making their first MLS appearances since May 21 and marked the occasion with grandeur as Sporting Kansas City catapulted from seventh to fourth in the Western Conference standings. And as the dramatic spectacle would have it, history was attached to the performances of both players on Sunday.

Let’s start with Zusi, the 29-year-old U.S. international who made five appearances for the Nats at the Copa America Centenario last month. The winger was back to his dynamic best against Crew SC, as showcased by his exquisite run through the central channel and confident left-footed finish from beyond the box in the 56th minute. Zusi could have had more, with a fantastic free kick attempt in the first half rattling the crossbar and Columbus goalkeeper Steve Clark making two fine saves to deny him further.

Zusi tied a regular season career-high on Sunday with three shots on target, a feat reached three other times during his eight-year spell in MLS. And for just the second time in his regular season career, he tallied at least four shot attempts with three on target. This first occurred in August 2011 when Zusi was amidst a Breakout Player of the Year campaign.

GRAHAM ZUSI: CAREER-HIGH THREE SHOTS ON GOAL
(MLS REGULAR SEASON)

“You could tell [Zusi] was on another level tonight,” Sporting KC midfielder Benny Feilhaber said postgame. I think he came back with a lot of confidence from Copa America. We need him to be like that. He showed it from his goal, to his free kick, to a few other things he did. He was all over the field and we need that continuously.”

Besler, a fellow Designated Player who joined Kansas City with Zusi in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, had a different start to his evening. The center back came from off the bench in the 53rd minute for just his sixth substitute appearance in 205 MLS matches (including playoffs). Besler hadn’t scored for his hometown club in nearly five years, but with Sporting KC tied 2-2 heading into second-half stoppage time on Sunday, circumstances called for something different.

“Normally Matt stays back in those situations,” Vermes explained in his post-game press conference. “He does pretty well organizing so we don’t get countered. Before he went into the game, our assistants told him to go up on set pieces but to make sure to send someone back. Normally he would be back, but he made the decision to go up on that play. It’s one of those things that you feel and it’s great he felt it.”

Sure enough, Besler’s presence near the Columbus goal paid off in the first minute of stoppage time. Medranda’s back-post delivery was cushioned back across the face of goal by the leaping Ike Opara, and Sporting’s No. 5 was on hand to nod the ball into an empty net. 

The decisive goal was historic on two levels. First, Besler went 121 regular season appearances between goals for Sporting KC, the most in club history. Second, and perhaps more remarkably, this was the first regular season goal in Sporting KC history that was scored by a defender and assisted by two defenders. To put that into perspective, Kansas City has scored 901 goals over the last 21 regular seasons. But never have three KC defenders combined for a goal in such a way as Sunday’s last-gasp winner, which also saw Opara pick up his first career MLS assist.

MOST SPORTING KC APPEARANCES BETWEEN GOALS
(MLS REGULAR SEASON)

*Table accounts for Sporting KC regular season appearances only

“Honestly, it didn’t matter how we got the job done tonight or who scored the goals,” Besler said in the locker room after the match. “The fact is we got the three points, and hopefully we can gain some momentum from this and move forward.”