Sporting KC Knocked Out Of Playoffs By New York Red Bulls

A West coast team knocked the Kansas City Royals out of the playoffs on Wednesday, and on Thursday an East coast team had that honor as the New York Red Bulls beat Sporting KC in the Knockout Round of the 2014 MLS Playoffs 2-1 behind two second half goals from, you guessed it, Bradley Wright-Phillips.

The first half started off just the way Sporting KC wanted it as they kept the ball away from Wright-Phillips and were able to maintain possession for the first 15 minutes while getting a few decent looks on the offensive end.

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However New York picked up the pace and then began to not only gain possession of the ball but keep it. They ended the first half possessing the ball 68 percent of the time. However they weren’t able to capitalize on this. Tim Cahill, Wright-Phillips and Thierry Henry all had good looks within the box but Cahill and Wright-Phillips missed what should have been easy goals over the crossbar while Henry pushed his right of the goal.

Later in the half Sporting KC began to get some offensive push of their own by shooting the ball over the top to Dom Dwyer. Dwyer was able to use his speed to stretch the defense and in the 35th minute made a beautiful pass to Paulo Nagamura who had his shot on goal saved by New York goalie Luis Robles.

Later Dwyer again was able to position himself wide open in front of the goal for what looked like a wide open net, but Red Bulls defender Jamison Olave made an a late sliding tackle to prevent Dwyer from even getting a shot off. This turned out to be a big play as it turned out to be a game saving tackle.

Sporting KC got things started off early in the second half when Benny Feilhaber (who should be added to the USMNT Roster but we will save that for a future story) made a nice steal and run up the middle of the field before finding Dwyer streaking down next to and drilling the ball into the back of net to take a 1-0 lead in the 53rd minute.

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After this though, it was all Red Bulls. They added 10 more shots and five on goal while keeping constant possession of the ball. However Sporting KC kept getting lucky as the Red Bulls just kept missing until finally in the 77th minute Henry made a beautiful pass to Wright-Phillips in the box where goalie Eric Kronberg had no play to tie it at 1-1.

Then again in the 90th minute was really when things broke down for Sporting KC. On a Red Bulls fast break not only did they manage to not put a body on Wright-Phillips when the ball went into the air, goalie Kronberg decided to stay back on his line instead of going for the ball that seemed to hang in the air forever. This is where his inexperience hurt Sporting KC as this is a play that 2013 goalie Jimmy Nielsen makes every time.

Instead Kronberg stays back and doesn’t attack the ball and Wright-Phillips put it into the low left side of the net for the game winner and final score 2-1. You can get the full stats here (courtesy of ESPN FC).

In the end, Sporting KC’s defense let them down. They could have easily lost this game 4-1 or 5-1. As the game went on you could just see a tired defense that just wasn’t up to the task of running with Henry or Wright-Phillips all 90 minutes. While I’m sure they wish they were still playing, nobody needs the offseason to recoup like Sporting KC after this long season that included both World Cup and CONCACAF Champions League play.

The team will need to rebuild and add more depth on the back line, but with promising players emerging like Dwyer and Feilhaber to go with Matt Besler and Graham Zusi, the future is still bright and expect a better year next season.

3 Stars Of The Game

1. Bradley Wright-Phillips. I said in my preview for Sporting KC to win they would need to stop the man known simply as BWP and in the first half they did. Wright-Phillips was able to get one good look on goal, but missed it high. Towards the end of the second half though he took advantage of the tired legs and the young goalie and scored two goals to win the game for New York.
2. Dom Dwyer. Dwyer was Sporting KC’s best player all year and he was again tonight. He used his speed to stretch the field and put pressure on the defense. Made a great pass that took a good save that prevented a goal. Made some savvy plays to gain corners and keep possession of the ball and had a beautiful run and strong finish to give Sporting KC the early 1-0 lead.
3. Thierry Henry. The 37-year-old Frenchmen, whom some have wondered if he will be in New York next year, showed why he is one of the all-time greats to ever play soccer. Henry finished with three shots with one on goal and the game tying assist to his battery mate Wright-Phillips. More importantly Henry set the tone for New York early by running out wide and consistently finding others in the box for good looks at goal all game.