KANSAS CITY, Kan.- Sporting KC and the New England Revolution played to a wild 4-4 draw on Saturday night, highlighted by Sporting KC coming from down two, twice in the second half to tie the match. Two Red Cards, and a dubious penalty kick call added to the drama, which all could’ve entirely been avoided if Sporting KC hadn’t made so many defensive mistakes in the first half.
New England Revolution, Sporting KC Play to Wild 4-4 Draw
Both the New England Revolution and Sporting KC were coming into Saturday Night’s match hoping to get back on track. It went south in the first half for Sporting KC and south in the second half for the Revolution. Arguably, this wouldn’t have been much of a game if Sporting KC hadn’t made their mistakes in the first half.
Juan Fernando Caicedo scored two goals in the first half, and Agudelo scored the third goal just before the stroke of half-time to sport a 3-1 lead headed into the half. It looked like Sporting KC was going to be on the attack for the majority of the second half, as they really were the first. But Brandon Bye’s straight Red Card gave Sporting a new sense of life.
Bye scythed down Gerso as he took a touch around Bye who was the last line of defense for New England. Referee, Baldomero Toledo, judged it to be DOGSO and gave him a straight red. While there was some debate as to whether or not Gerso had a clear goalscoring opportunity, thanks to the amount of distance between him and the goal and where he knocked the ball too, Bye was already on a yellow, and if not red for DOGSO, it would’ve been a second yellow.
Gerso won a Penalty Kick five minutes later and Felipe Gutierrez made it 3-2. But then not even a few minutes later, VAR and Baldomero Toledo adjudged Johnny Russell to have handled the ball in the box, a call Sporting KC boss, Peter Vermes, disputed strongly.
Tim Melia stepped up to save the Penalty Kick, but Sporting KC was too late to react to the ball and DeJuan Jones slammed it home to make it 4-2. Another mountain for Sporting KC to climb, and a moment for the Revs to feel like they finally had broken their run of form and bad luck. But then Gutierrez and Nemeth stepped in and got two more goals to make it four all.
Jalil Anibaba also received a second yellow card late in the match, but the amount of time the Revolution had to play at nine men wasn’t enough to severely affect the flow of the match.
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