A few days after making it to the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time in franchise history, the Seattle Sounders FC carried their momentum over to the MLS, defeating Sporting Kansas City 2-1.
Kansas City struck first in the Aug. 6 encounter between the two teams, scoring its first goal in the 20th minute off a Kei Kamara header. The Sounders had a few chances in the first half, but were unable to find the equalizing goal. The second half was a defensive affair, as Sporting Kansas City bogged down, trying to preserve their lead. The Sounders did have the advantage for a majority of the half, when Sporting Kansas City forward Omar Bravo was sent off the field for a vicious foul.
The Sounders weren't able to score their first goal until the 90th minute of the match, when Mauro Rosales put one past Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen.
"We played against a very tough team." Rosales said after the game. "They have very good players, and the heat also was very important, but we won and we are very happy about that. This is three points for us and that is very important because we cannot be far behind LA and Dallas and we are very happy about that."
Lamar Neagle scored the game-winning goal shortly after, silencing Sporting Kansas City fans.
"You can tell that our effort is always there," Neagle told reporters after the game "At the end of the game we're still striving to get that win no matter what the score is even though we're down one or whatever it is, we still come back. We've gone down a goal many times, but we always seen to fight back and win the game, and that's what happened."
The Sounders deserve a lot of credit for bouncing right back from their previous losing streak, winning their second straight match. The Sounders' next game will be against Chivas USA on Aug. 13. With their win over Sporting Kansas City, the Sounders now trail Dallas FC by only a point, and a win against Chivas USA might get them back to the second spot in the MLS Western Conference.
David has been a fan of the Seattle Sounders for the past 2 years. Follow him on twitter @davidkingwriter.
Sources:
Associated Press, "Sounders get 2 late goals to beat Sporting KC 2-1"
Joshua Mayers, "Sounders FC 2, Sporting Kansas City 1, quotes and stats" SeattleTimes.com
Player and game information from ESPN.com
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