Both of these sides were desperate three points coming into Sunday’s matchup. SKC hadn’t won since April 9th in a 2-0 win over New York Red Bulls and hadn’t even scored since Brad Davis’s goal against LA Galaxy on May 1st.
Orlando City’s last win was April 3rd against Portland Timbers. With both teams on their worst streak of the year, both needed a win at Children’s Mercy Park.
Kansas City dominate the opening half
Sporting held most of the possession in the first half and had a majority of the clear-cut chances as well. Graham Zusi hit the crossbar early on and that seemed to get KC going. Kansas City only held 53% of the possession in the half but took advantage of every bit of it and held Orlando to only 2 or 3 clear cut chances. The Lions only had 3 total shots in the half with none of them on target. Looking at KC, they had 16 shots and 5 on target. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Sporting could be up by 2 or 3 goals at the half.
That’s been the story for Kansas City during this winless streak. Sporting has played well in most every game and had a bag full of chances but just can’t seem to hit the target. The first half ended scoreless but after all the chances they had in the first 45 minutes, Kansas City surely was going to break through in the second half.
Slow and patient second half
The second half started off slower than the end of the opening half, but would explode into life in the last 20 minutes. Possession seemed to be more even but Sporting Kansas City continued to have chance after chance.
Completely against the run of play, Orlando City would be the ones to strike first. On a corner in the 67th minute, a scramble in the box produced the opening goal. SKC immediately after going down on the scoreboard got back into their rhythm from the first half. Sporting would set a club record in this game for shots, with 34 total shots and 13 shots on goal. Orlando would only have 6 total shots in the game with 6 on target.
The opening goal for Sporting Kansas City would be a thing of beauty, Roger Espinoza chipped the ball from the top of the box, up and over the defense to the head of Jacob Peterson. Peterson headed the ball over to the head Dom Dwyer who finished it off for Sporting’s first goal in 314 minutes of play. The second goal for KC would again be supplied by Espinoza. It started from the top of the box again, but on the opposite side, he chipped the ball over the defense and this time Peterson would take the chance himself to head the ball into the back of the net for the game-winning goal.
Man of the Match
Roger Espinoza was no doubt the best player in this late afternoon game. He was all over the field and ran the game for Sporting out the midfield. Even though he became their most creative player on this occasion, coach Peter Vermes still described Espinoza as a box-to-box midfielder after the game. He supplied both goals to Dwyer and Peterson and there is no doubt Kansas City will look to the former Wigan Athletic midfielder for guidance on their journey back up the Western conference standings.