Sporting KC: Tim Melia sends team into next round of the playoffs

Sporting KC is moving on! Tim Melia’s heroics in penalty kicks propelled the team into the next round of the playoffs.

Sporting Kansas City kicked their first playoff game of the year off with a bang, scoring a goal just four minutes in. Fans were probably feeling pretty good despite how early it was given how good the team looked out of the gate.

Unfortunately, San Jose was able to take a 2-1 lead heading into the locker room at half time. The Sporting KC players were getting chippy on the field and the fans weren’t happy with some of the calls made. With only 45 minutes to go, Sporting had to turn things around and had to do it quickly.

Sporting responded quickly, leveling the match at 2-2 right out of the locker room to begin the second half. Once the good guys added another goal, it felt like a sure thing that this team was going to advance, but in the 97th minute and the whistle nearly about to get blown, San Jose tied things up once again.

After two extra periods resulted in no goals, Sporting KC was headed to penalty kicks.

This is where things got fun for Sporting fans after a rollercoaster of an afternoon. All three Sporting players made their kicks while Tim Melia denied all three of the San Jose attempts to send Sporting Kansas City to the next round of the playoffs.

Goals Scored

• Roger Espinoza – 4′
• Carlos Fierro – 22′
• Shea Salinas – 34′
• Ilie Sanchez – 47′
• Gianluca Busio – 91′
• Chris Wondolowski – 97′

The next round will take place on either Dec. 1 or Dec. 2 and will be against No. 4 seed Minnesota United. Minnesota knocked off No. 5 seed Colorado to the tune of 3-0. It should be another fun matchup between these two teams and while Sporting has a lot to work on between now and then, watching Melia deny three penalty kicks in a row was awesome.

Let’s crush it in the next round!