Something crazy tends to happen when Sporting Kansas City plays the Seattle Sounders. Unfortunately, for Sporting fans, it's almost always bad. The latest horror happened on Saturday when the Sounders scored the equalizer in the 90th minute and then got the game-winner about a minute later to escape with a 2-1 victory. Mauro Rosales scored the equalizer and then assisted on Lamar Neagle's winner.
Sporting Kansas City Vs. Seattle Sounders: Two Late Goals Give Sounders Victory
The loss ended Sporting’s 14-game unbeaten streak and was their first in MLS action at Livestrong Sporting Park. But that only begins to tell the story of just how deep the frustration must go.
For starters, up until the 90th minute, Sporting had been the far superior team despite playing the final 31 minutes a man down. The Sounders' scoring opportunities had been few and far between, even with the man advantage. On the few chances they did have, SKC goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen was more than up for the challenge. His best moment came in the 69th minute when he first turned away a Mike Fucito attempt and then made what very well might be the Save of the Year when he blocked Neagle's attempt off the rebound with his foot.
It was also the third time in these teams’ past four meetings that the Sounders found the winner in the 90th minute or later. It was also the second time this season in which the Sounders beat Sporting in stoppage time. Coincidentally, their first meeting was also the last time Sporting had lost a MLS match.
Unlike past meetings in which Sporting would have been happy to escape with a point, the pain of this one will probably linger because they really did deserve all three. Kei Kamara gave Sporting an early lead with a header in the 20th minute off a Matt Besler throw-in. From there, it was only because of the efforts of Kasey Keller that the lead did not grow.
The match did start to turn in the 59th minute when Omar Bravo came in late and hard on Pat Noonan. Although he got a lot of ball, the tackle looked very dangerous and he was shown an immediate red card. He then may have earned himself an additional suspension when he got in Noonan's face and then feigned injury when Noonan responded. It was a rather embarrassing sequence of events for a player who should be above such antics.
From there, the Sounders slowly started to get back into the game, but a victory still seemed unlikely. That is until Rosales was able to create some space about 10 yards out and was able to get a shot past Nielsen that first appeared to deflect off a Sporting defender. Just about a minute later, a very similar play unfolded again, this time resulting in Neagle’s winner.
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