Sporting KC
Sporting KC earns 2-0 win at Houston
Sporting KC secures first clean sheet this season
Andre Luiz and Calvin Harris both scored, and Stefan Cleveland made five saves to lead Sporting Kansas City to a 2-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo. The win improved SKC’s record to (6-17-3, 21 pts.) and was the first clean sheet of the season.
“It’s a great team performance and a great win in a difficult place against a team who is in really, really good form and is in the top three of the table. It’s not easy to come here and win, even against 10 men,” head coach Raphael Wicky told the media after the match.
It was an important bounce back after a tough loss the previous match. “I’m very happy about the reaction after the Philadelphia game, because the Philadelphia game was a hard one,” Wicky stated. “When you’re 3-0 up and you lose and you have a really, really good 61 minutes and then you have 10 minutes where you’re a disaster and concede four goals and you lose that game, that’s mentally very hard after the whole season we’ve had. I’m most pleased and happy and proud of the reaction.”
Sporting KC had to make one change from the previous lineup. Wicky gave center back Jansen Miller the start with Moises Mosquera out.
Houston had the majority of play early, but Sporting were getting looks that finally piad off in the 27th minute. Stephen Afrifa could have allowed the ball to roll across the endline and get ready for a corner kick. Instead he took control in the Houston box before cutting it back to the middle where towards Andre. The recently signed attacker slammed the ball into the net for his fourth goal since joining the club.
Sporting KC doubled their lead in the 45tht minute. Lasse Berg Johnsen stole the ball in the midfield. He slipped the ball to Andre running to the right side of the box. Andre drove to the endline but cut the dribble back causing the Dynamo defender to trip over himself. Andre was able to pick out a tightly defended Harris. The low pass was flcked over the Jonathan Bond and into the top of the net. The goal gives Harris four goals and six assists this season,
“I saw Andre pick the ball up and I know when he gets the ball one-on-one, he’s going to beat him somehow. He puts him on the floor and gets on that left foot and I knew that there was a chance if I just get across the front post. The ball flashes across there and I get my left foot just in front of the defender to put it in,” Harris explained.
After SKC’s goal the turmoil started. Houston was trying to stir things up but ended up on the defensive themselves when they went down a man. Mexican midfielder Hector Herrera received a straight red card for violent conduct when he put his hands around the neck of Taylor Calheira .
Houston tried to create opportunities despite being a man down but SKC was able to close out the game and earn their first shutout win since the LA Galaxy match where they had no shots on goal.
Sporting Kansas City: Stefan Cleveland; Justin Reynolds (Jacob Bartlett 72’), Jansen Miller, Wyatt Meyer, Emir Karic; Andre Luiz (Ruben Ramos Jr. 60’), Lasse Berg Johnsen (C), Kwaku Agyabeng, Calvin Harris (Owen Wolff 72’); Taylor Calheira (Seymour Reid 79’), Stephen Afrifa (Zorhan Bassong 80’)
Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Ian James, Jayden Reid, Shapi Suleymanov
Houston Dynamo: Jonathan Bond; Lawrence Ennali (Marcelo Saracchi 72’), Antonio Carlos, Lucas Halter, Franco Negri (Felipe Andrade 55’); Ibrahim Aliyu (Lyle Foster 72’), Artur (C), Hector Herrera, Mateusz Bogusz (Duncan McGuire 82’); Agustin Bouzat (Matthew Arana 72’), Guilherme
Subs Not Used: Blake Gillingham, Duane Holmes, Diadie Samassekou, Nick Markanich
Scoring Summary:
SKC – Andre Luiz 4 (Stephen Afrifa 2) 27’
SKC – Calvin Harris 4 (Andre Luiz 1, Lasse Berg Johnsen 6) 45’
Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Justin Reynolds (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 1’
HOU – Hector Herrera (Red Card; Violent Conduct) 48+
SKC – Taylor Calheira (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 49+
SKC – Andre Luiz (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 51+
HOU – Antonio Carlos (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 54’
SKC – Stephen Afrifa (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 68’
| STAT | SKC | HOU |
| Shots | 10 | 22 |
| Shots on Goal | 4 | 5 |
| Expected Goals | 1.9 | 2.7 |
| Corner Kicks | 2 | 8 |
| Possession | 46.4% | 53.6% |
| Saves | 5 | 2 |
| Fouls | 11 | 3 |
Referee: Tim Ford
Assistant Referee: Jeremy Hanson
Assistant Referee: Felisha Mariscal
Fourth Official: Allen Chapman
VAR: Greg Dopka
AVAR: Joshua Patlak
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Holy clean sheet Batman!
Luiz is an absolutely fantastic signing.
The front office has done magnificent with the changes. We have an exciting team! I look forward to watching them now. They can be a very good team next season.
It is so much fun having a player that infuriates the other team by just being really good. In the last two games the other team has to resort to fouling (and losing their cool) to try and get to Luiz….For two games it has been outstanding.
Yet SKC had more fouls and more yellows. I was surprised when I saw the totals because I watched the game and the Houston shithousery.
The entire 2nd half the ref was on a mission to offset the red card by calling every ticky tack foul on SKC and absolutely nothing against Houston. Fouls before the red: SKC 2+1 yellow Houston 2+0 yellow. Fouls after the red: SKC 9+3 yellow Houston 1+1 yellow.
I’m with wet water here. I wondered what game the ref was watching in the 2nd half. SKC still aren’t going to out physical much of anyone. Maybe individual players (Moises, Zo), but not the whole team.
The absolute irony that the first clean sheet of the season came without Borges, Mosquera, or Blorian in the lineup is crazy. Reynolds makes $123k, Meyer makes $116k, and Miller makes $90k (as of April’s MLSPA report). The other defenders on the bench are also on basically minimum contracts. While we dont have Karic’s number yet, you can be pretty sure his salary alone was more than the five other defenders on the gameday roster put together.
I do think the red card obviously helped. They hardly looked like the better side in the 2nd half, even up a man.
But I’ll take it. Maybe they get some confidence from that.
For sure, it took a lot of luck for that situation to occur, it’s just fascinating that THIS was the lineup it occurred with.