Sporting Kansas City Vs. Columbus Crew, 2012: Jairo Arrieta’s Brace Leads Crew To Win

Sporting Kansas City were supposed to dominate the Eastern Conference, and Livestrong Sporting Park was supposed to be a fortress. Unfortunately for Sporting, that has not been the case. They haven't led the East much lately and they aren't going to move to the top after losing to the Columbus Crew, 2-1, on Saturday, their fourth consecutive home match without a win.

Jairo Arrieta was the star for Columbus, scoring twice to lead the visitors to a win not even a month after joining the club from Saprissa. Kei Kamara opened the scoring with a goal in the eighth minute, which was fair after Sporting dominated the opening part of the match, but Columbus came storming back.

The equalizer came thanks to a fine ball from Josh Williams, who fed Arrieta. The Costa Rican then shook off a would-be defender before finishing from 12 yards to even things up.

Before the halftime whistle even went, Arrieta was able to get Columbus the lead. Graham Zusi's poor giveaway got Arrieta racing towards goal before he ripped a shot from distance that beat Jimmy Nielsen for what would prove to be the match-winner.

Kansas City had chances to equalize in the second half, but they couldn't finish. Their best chance came through Kamara, who almost got his second, but his header hit the crossbar. A late red card to Cole Grossman wasn't enough to get Sporting even, who didn't have enough time to take advantage of being a man up as Columbus came away with a good road win.