Sporting Kansas City Show Strength Against Toronto FC
Sporting Kansas City’s unbeaten run has been extended to five games following a 3-0 win over Toronto FC Saturday night in Kansas City. Sporting Kansas City showed their attacking class in full force on the night which also saw a record crowd at Sporting Park (21,126) and enjoyed near total control for a large majority of the match.
Scoring chances began early and in the 13th minute Kei Kamara streaked down the left side of the field before sending a cross along the ground to Soony Saad who tapped the ball back to Claudio Bieler in a crowd. Bieler’s shot found its way through but Toronto FC goalkeeper Joseph Bendik made an easy save.
Jul 13, 2013; Kansas City, KS, USA; Sporting KC forward Claudio Bieler (16) scores a goal against Toronto FC. Sporting KC defeated Toronto FC 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
Toronto FC’s best chance for a goal came in the 18th minute when Welsh-international Robert Earnshaw took the ball up the field and passed to former Sporting Kansas City midfielder Bobby Convey. He found Jeremy Brockie inside the box but Jimmy Nielsen made a parry save on Brockie’s first shot and then doubled his save count when he smothered the rebound as well.
Soony Saad grabbed his second career goal and the lead for Sporting Kansas City in the 21st minute. Seth Sinovic brought the ball up the left flank before sliding a pass forward to Saad who took one touch and sent a low, powerful shot into the bottom corner, beyond Bendik’s reach to make it 1-0 to Sporting Kansas City.
Saad then increased Sporting Kansas City’s lead and his career goal tally in the 51st minute. Saad took the ball into the attacking third and gave the ball up to Graham Zusi at the top of the box. Zusi’s low shot was bushed away by Bendik but only found its way to Saad who made no mistakes in putting the ball into an open net for a 2-0 lead.
Things went from bad to worse for Toronto FC when Reggie Lambe was given a straight red card in the 56th minute for a late tackle on Saad.
Sporting Kansas City used the advantage to grab a third goal in the 63rd minute. This time it was perfect team-play that led to an easy 9th goal this season for Claudio Bieler. The play began with Saad, who fed Kei Kamara on the left side of the box. Kamara’s one touch pass to the inside to Benny Feilhaber drew Bendik off his line, but Feilhaber one touch passed to Bieler for an easy tap in to make it 3-0.
There was nearly a fourth goal for Sporting Kansas City in the 76th minute when the ball bounced around in front of the Toronto goal after a corner before Aurelien Collin headed the ball into the back of the net, but the goal was waived off by an offside call on Kamara. Substite Dom Dwyer had a close range shot hit the post just before the final whistle in the 92nd minute.
Sporting Kansas City’s dominance in this match can be seen in the final score as well as the statistics. Toronto FC incredibly did not record a shot in the final 67 minutes of the match.
The win pushes Sporting Kansas City into first place in the Eastern Conference and second place in the race for the Supporters Shield behind Real Salt Lake. The next match for Sporting Kansas City is next Saturday, July 20th at 9 p.m. CT when they visit Real Salt Lake in a head-to-head meeting between the two conference leaders.