Sporting Kansas City fell 3-2 to Seattle Saturday evening at Children’s Mercy Park. The loss broke the team’s streak of three straight games with a result, but continued the trend of come-from-behind thrillers at home.
The boys in blue dug a 3-0 hole in the first half, reflecting Seattle’s domination of the game’s opening.
The first Sounders goal came in the 15th minute from forward Jordan Morris, back in the lineup after a three-month injury absence. Morris got a pretty feed from Paul Rothrock and knocked it past John Pulskamp to take the early advantage.
Seattle doubled the lead in the 27th minute, earning a penalty kick when a ball across the Kansas City box caught Daniel Salloi on the arm unaware. Albert Rusnak converted the penalty for the Sounders, going mid-right while Pulskamp went low the other direction.
The third goal came in first-half stoppage time as Kansas City pressed high looking for some opportunity to get back in the game before the break.
Seattle goalkeeper Andrew Thomas kicked off a quick counter attack after saving a shot from Shapi Suleymanov.
Pushing quickly through midfield, Jesus Ferreira challenged Pulskamp then played off to the right for Rusnak, who returned the favor, allowing Ferreira to score from the center — a 3-0 halftime Seattle advantage.
At halfime, Sporting Kansas City celebrated the 25th anniversary of the then-Kansas City Wizards team that won both the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup.
Preki, now an assistant coach with Seattle, was a key player on the 2000 Wizards championship squad, along with Kerry Zavagnin, now Kansas City’s interim head coach.
After the half, Zavagnin shuffled his lines and brought on Santiago Munoz and Jake Davis as substitutes, looking for more aggressive play up the middle.
The strategy worked, and Kansas City was on the front foot for most of the second half.
Five minutes in, defender Jansen Miller had a quality chance on a free kick, rising high to put a head on the ball in the six-yard box, but Seattle goalkeeper Andrew Thomas made a two-fisted punch save that connected with the ball and Miller’s head.
The home side picked up its first goal in the 67th minute when Dejan Joveljic was sandwiched and taken down in the penalty area. Joveljic sent a blast to the low right side. Thomas guessed correctly, but still had no chance with the pace and placement of the shot.
Seattle barely escaped a second goal in the 73rd minute. In a dangerous three-shot series, Munoz was denied by Thomas, Salloi was blocked by the post, and Joveljic was frustrated by defender Alex Roldan who made a twisting block at the line.
Sporting’s second goal came through penalty kick in stoppage time. Munoz was cut down in the box. No call was initially given, but a video review confirmed the foul.
While the review was taking place, Seattle defender Nouhou Tolo threw a spare ball at a fan in the Cauldron supporters’ section, apparently riled at comments from the stands. The assistant referee was alert to the confrontation, and sent Tolo off with a red card before the kick was taken.
Munoz converted the kick for his third goal of the year, going middle-high to his right while Thomas went the other direction.
Sporting continued to press against the short-handed Seattle defense until the final whistle, but were unable to get the tying goal.
Despite the final result, Zavagnin was positive on his team’s will to win. “Something that I’ve always known is that this team doesn’t give up,” he said. “And my gosh, it was all the way to the end and almost the final kick of the ball that we had a chance to tie the game.”
“I couldn’t be more proud of the players,” the coach added. “And I’ve said this before that this is not a straight line from a poor start to the season and you’re not going to have any bumps and bruises along the way. Sometimes you come up short and that’s the game.”
The loss drops Kansas City (6-11-5) to 12th in the MLS Western Conference standings, four points below the playoff line. The club will take on New York City FC (9-8-4) Saturday, July 19, at 7:30 p.m.
