On Saturday night the Sporting Kansas City season went from bad to worse as the club lost for the 3rd time in 4 matches and are now winless since the opening match of the year. They have also slipped into sole possession of last place in the Eastern Conference and have an MLS low 4 points. With all due respect to New England, they didn’t win this match; instead, Sporting gave it away.
The match on Saturday was very symbolic of the Sporting season so far. It started with giving up an early goal, just to comeback and even up the score 2 minutes later, on a Kei Kamara strike from outside. It wasn’t until the 68th minute before Sporting could take the lead on a penalty kick taken by Kamara. However, it didn’t last long as New England tied it up just 3 minutes later. The Revs then went back in front 11 minutes after that, putting them up 3-2.
To add salt in the wounds of Sporting fans, new signing, Aurélien Collin received a controversial red card in his debut for the club. Collin was playing well up to that point and had made a few nice tackles and passes. While on the Revolution side, Benny Feilhaber had a decent match in his MLS debut, connecting on several passes with Shalrie Joseph.
The Sporting woes really started when choosing the starting lineup as Birahim Diop was in the starting 11 for the 3rd straight match. He is quickly making the case for Craig Rocastle and Stéphane Auvray to receive more playing time in this formation. In the current formation the Sporting midfield is very attack minded, but with Davy Arnaud, Milos Stojcev, and Diop there are several times during the last few matches where they were all 3 out of formation and allowed the opposing team to come back straight down the field and get a good goal scoring opportunity with somebody being unmarked.
Sporting Kansas City will next face the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night at Red Bull Arena.
(image courtesy of sportingkc.com)
