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Sporting KC’s season concludes with loss at Dallas

Own goal and defensive lapse leads to loss

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Joaquín Fernández | Credit: Thad Bell

Sporting Kansas City closed out the 2024 season with a 2-1 loss at FC Dallas. Neither team had anything to fight for other than pride. Sporting KC outshot Dallas and had a higher XG than the home side but momentary lapses in defense and an own goal led to the last loss of the season.

Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes changed the lineup with several players out with various injuries. No Johnny Russell, Jake Davis, Khiry Shelton, Dany Rosero and Remi Walter all out. Tim Melia was not on the injury report but was left in Kansas City. John Pulskamp filled in as keeper and Tim Leibold slid from the left to the right side. Nemanja Radoja returned to the lineup after missing a few weeks.

It did not take long for Dallas to get the lead. Dallas Designated Player Peter Musa scored his 16th goal of the regular season when Asier Illarramendi dropped a pass into the talented Dallas attacker. Musa was given too much space and the SKC defenders collapsed in too late. Musa chopped the ball towards goal and it bounced in past Pulskamp.

Dallas found the net again a few minutes later but the goal was justly waived off. Sporting KC had a good chance of their own later in the first half. Vargas earned a restart from just out side the box. William Agada’s header hit the crossbar and Joaquin Fernandez almost got a shot on the rebound but could not direct the ball in to the back of the net.

Calamity struck in the 40th minute when Joaquin Fernandez scored an own goal. Dallas played a cross over Pulskamp and close to the goal line. Fernandez instinctively tried to clear the ball but instead directed into his own net.

“Nobody wants to score an own goal,” Vermes stated after the match. “I’m not sure if he thinks he’s past the post. I didn’t ask him and haven’t talked to him about it. I don’t know if he thought he was past the post and heading the ball out of bounds. I don’t know what the situation was, but I’ll find out later.”

Sporting KC had more chances, including another that hit the deflected and hot the crossbar but it wasn’t until the 89th minute before they broke through. William Agada likes to score on Dallas and was able to do it again in the last minutes of the season. Agada pounced on a poor pass by the Dallas defense and despite Jimmy Maurer colliding with him, he put a shot on a suddenly open net.

With the result, Sporting KC finished 13th in the Western Conference with an 8-19-7 record.

“The word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.” -Carl Jung

Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Tim Leibold, Joaquin Fernandez (Robert Castellanos 71′), Robert Voloder, Logan Ndenbe; Nemanja Radoja (Zorhan Bassong 46′), Memo Rodriguez, Erik Thommy (C); Alenis Vargas (Alan Pulido 46′), William Agada, Daniel Salloi (Stephen Afrifa 61′)

Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Chris Rindov, Danny Flores

FC Dallas: Jimmy Maurer; Paul Arriola (C) (Ema Twumasi 46′), Sebastien Ibeagha, Marco Farfan, Sam Junqua; Asier Illarramendi, Sebastian Lletget, Show (Patrickson Delgado 81′); Bernard Kamungo (Jesus Ferreira 71′), Petar Musa (Logan Farrington 71′), Alan Velasco (Katlego Ntsabeleng 58′)

Subs Not Used: Maarten Paes, Omar Gonzalez, Nkosi Tafari, Eugene Ansah

Scoring Summary:
DAL – Petar Musa 16 (Asier Illarramendi 6, Alan Velasco 2) 16′
DAL – Own Goal (Joaquin Fernandez) 40′
SKC – William Agada 10 (unassisted) 89′

Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Tim Leibold (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 28′
DAL – Petar Musa (yellow card; delaying a restart) 55′

Match Statistics
Stat
SKC
DAL
Shots
14
3
Shots on Goal
8
1
Saves
0
6
Fouls
17
19
Offsides
8
5
Corner Kicks
5
2

Referee: Katja Koroleva
Assistant Referee: Kathryn Nesbitt
Assistant Referee: Micheal Barwegen
Fourth Official: Drew Fischer
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
AVAR: Rene Parra

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