Sporting KC falls 4-3 at FC Dallas

Sporting Kansas City fell 4-3 on the road to FC Dallas in a goal fest Saturday night. Sporting KC leapt out to a 2-goal lead early, but the home side roared back to take the lead right before halftime. Sporting KC led in most statistical categories, but a late penalty for Dallas secured the victory.

With the roster drastically changed over the last few weeks of the transfer window and some injuries, coach Raphaël Wicky had a lot of decisions to make. Recently acquired Designated Player André Luiz made his first start but did have minute limitations. Luiz played on the right, and Capita moved to the left. Taylor Calheira was paired up top with Stephen Afrifa. Lasse Berg Johnsen was joined in the midfield by Kwaku Agyabeng. Justin Reynolds started at right back with Jake Davis out.

Sporting KC jumped out to an early lead in the 4th minute. Capita drove down the left side before turning into the box where he launched a low shot on goal. Dallas keeper Jonathan Sirois blocked the attempt. Taylor Calheira was in the right spot for the rebound. His shot deflected off Sirois and found the back of the net for his first goal in MLS.

In the 20th minute, Sporting KC doubled their lead. Dallas was building out of the back and got a little too lackadaisical. Stephen Afrifa’s pressure on Dallas captain Ramiro forced a bad pass. Afrifa blocked the pass and directly into the goal.

SKC created more chances and were the more dangerous team for a few more minutes, but Dallas started to turn the tide. In the 27th minute, SKC was not able to clear the ball out that Dallas played in to their attacking end. A mad scramble that had Stefan Cleveland defending Logan Farrington while Or Blorian was covering the goal behind him. Farrington was eventually able to pull the trigger and get Dallas on the board.

A couple minutes later, Dallas leveled the score. Bernard Kamungo’s cross to the far side of SKC’s box found an open target. Petar Musa had slipped into a gap in SKC’s defense. He headed the ball back across goal past Cleveland and the tide was in fovor of the home team.

Dallas took the lead in the 45th minute. Farrington played setup guy this time. When a Dallas attack was initially deterred, Farrington picked out the late runner into the box. Kaick  blasted a low shot from the edge of the penalty area to put the home side up 3-2 going into halftime.

Sporting KC was still dangerous in the second half, and the effort paid off in the 78th minute. With two runners crashing the box, left back Emir Karić crossed into the Dallas area where Calheira pounded a header into the back of the net. It was Calheira’s second for Sporting KC and in the league and the first assist for Karic and Agyabeng.

“I am super grateful to get my first MLS goals,” Calheira told media after the match. “I am proud of that, but not proud of the result. I think if we’re being critical, we had even more chances to score. At the end of the day, we need to win games so it’s very disappointing that we lose this game. I think we had a lot of chances and were good going forward, but maybe when we’re up 2-0 we kind of fall back a little bit.”

With the score level, neither team seemed willing to let it end as a draw. With the game bouncing back and forth, Dallas was awarded a penalty. Initially, the referee determined Musa was brought down outside the box. After a lengthy VAR review, it was decided that Moises Mosquera clipped him just inside the edge of the box. Musa’s shot gave Dallas all three points.

When coach Wicky was asked about the call after the game, he responded, “It’s difficult right after the game. We were all very emotional, of course. You have to take five or six minutes to define if it’s actually a foul inside the box. It’s 3-3 in minute 90 and the game is open and both teams are playing to win. And then you make it about the decision which you’re not even sure. I think that is sad. That is not the first time that it happens to us. But I don’t really want to say more, because in the end of the day, I don’t want to feel pity for ourselves and blame the referee. We conceded three goals before without the referee’s fault, to be honest. So I think that’s where we have to start and that’s where I will start.”

Sporting Kansas City: Stefan Cleveland; Justin Reynolds (Jansen Miller 85’), Moises Mosquera, Or Blorian, Emir Karic (Justin Reynolds 85’); Andre Luiz (Shapi Suleymanov 58’), Lasse Berg Johnsen (C), Kwaku Agyabeng, Capita Capemba; Taylor Calheira, Stephen Afrifa (Seymour Reid 66’)