The Eastern conference race to the playoffs has just gotten even more interesting. Sporting Kansas City and New England Revolution battled at Sporting Park for a more comfortable slot in the standings last night, and it was well fought.
Benny Feilhaber of Sporting sat with the press on Thursday to share his thoughts on the match beforehand. If you haven’t watched the press conference, I highly recommend it. Feilhaber said his basic strategy going in would be to take control of the match and “frustrate” Jermaine Jones and the Revs. He said Jones “gets his fair share of yellow cards” and is looking to take advantage of that.
Sporting KC fall to New England at home
That may have seemed like a sound strategy at the time, but there were three New England names in the book and Jones was not one of them. Instead of getting frustrated, Jones remained composed and at top form.
Jones isn’t the only player on the Revs side that caused trouble for Sporting’s hopes to distance themselves from the pack. Kelyn Rowe was able to get a ball around Kronburg in the 22 minute and with a goal scored by Jose Goncalves in the 35 minute, the Revolution proved they are a club to watch come playoffs. When you have a center back coming up and scoring, you have a dangerous side. Lee Nguyen was in good form and with Chris Tierney back on the pitch, the Revs packed a punch.
At half, Sporting was down 2-0 although they controlled possession by a huge margin. Sporting KC again controlled possession in the second half, and were finally able to make something of it. Paulo Nagamura raised the spirits of the Cauldron with his powerful goal followed quickly by another from Dom Dwyer. Dwyers goal was assited by Nagamura after a beautiful cross from Toni Dovale and it seemed like Sporting was on track to victory.
Vermes put Soony Saad into the match for Dovale in hopes of fresh legs making a difference with half an hour of play left. Those hopes were cut down by a powerful shot from Jones in the 85th minute of the match. The five minutes of extra time, and C.J. Sapong coming on, weren’t enough for Sporting to equalize, and the Revs took all three points to tie at second in the standings.
Sporting manager Peter Vermes seemed confident his guys are out of their slump and back on track, but his side does have a few injuries. Defensive difference maker Aurelien Collin was out with an ankle injury from the CCL match against Saprissa last week. That proved to be a hurdle even with Eric Kronburg back in goal. Vermes recognized the problem with the defense after the match, and he hopes the week of rest before meeting DC United.
The stakes are high and only getting higher. It’s a glorious time of year for MLS, especially in the Eastern Conference with points being so close between so many clubs. Seattle and LA are sitting comfortably at the top of the West, but DC United is only three points ahead of Sporting and the Revolution on the East. New York Red Bulls fill the fourth slot above the line with 41 points, while Columbus Crew are sitting just beneath them at 40.
Sporting Kansas City will meet Ben Olsen’s DC United next Friday, with their eyes trained on playoffs.
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