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Sporting KC defeat Atlanta United, Overtake Supporters Shield Lead

Daniel Salloi

ATLANTA- On a night where the matchup between the leaders of each conference wasn’t National TV, Sporting KC defeat Atlanta United 2-0 thanks to goals from Daniel Salloi and Gerso Fernandes. Sporting KC played up a man for a majority of the game after Brad Guzan saw a straight red card for a foul that denied a goal scoring opportunity.

Sporting KC defeat Atlanta United

Brad Guzan’s dismissal in the 35th minute changed what was shaping up to be an incredible match. He was sent to the showers after Khiry Shelton found himself clear in on goal. As he tried to go around Guzan, Guzan swept the leg and cleaned out Shelton. It was quite an easy call for Geiger to make.

Atlanta was without Alec Kann and Mitch Hillenbrand, both who are injured. They relied on their fourth string keeper, Paul Christensen, for the remainder of their match.

Josef Martinez thought he put Atlanta United up 1-0 within the first ten minutes. Martinez was well offside when the ball was played, and redirected off of Jimmy Medranda. Initially the refs ruled that Medranda had deliberately tried to play the ball, but he knew nothing about that ball.

Daniel Salloi opened the scoring in the 67th minute, his second game winning goal in as many games. He unleashed a curling, right-footed effort that dipped and bounced right in front of Christensen, and into the net. He scored the winning goal in Sporting KC’s 1-0 win over the weekend.

Gerso Fernandes finished off the game on a long ball over the top, where he rounded the keeper and put it in the back of the net. Atlanta appealed very hard for an offside call, but the replays showed he was at least a step or two onside.

Three Things

  1. Sporting KC have eclipsed their road wins total from all of 2017, in just five attempts. That’s impressive. They have also over-taken the inside track to the supporter’s shield. It’s early, and there are still a lot of things that can happen, but this Sporting KC team look like the real deal in 2018, and the rest of the league should be quite scared.
  2. Atlanta United, and their fans will gladly point to the red card as a moment that changed the game. That’s fair. At the same time, it is part of the game where you cannot commit dumb challenges like Guzan did, and get away with it. If he doesn’t take down Shelton, it’s likely 1-0 to Sporting, and Atlanta sure as heck had the ability to overcome that. He may also have felt like they could’ve overcome 10 men. That’s fine as well. You just can’t point to things as clear cut as that and use them as an indicator that the result was facetious.
  3. Tim Melia is an animal. Melia made multiple ridiculous saves on Kevin Kratz’s free-kick attempts in the second half. He also made a ton of crucial saves in the first half as well. Melia, all around, was incredible tonight. He’s the reigning Goalkeeper of the Year, and deserving of a USMNT look, as his success is clearly not a one off season.

 

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Embed from Getty Images

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