Donnelly: Sporting KC Entertains Home Crowd, Scores 4 Against Toronto

Jon Kempin

How impressive is Sporting Kansas City‘s current perch atop the MLS standings?

Consider this: in 24 league matches, KC has used the same starting lineup exactly zero times.  Zero.

Not to mention that after losing one of the best keepers in the league the last few years, Jimmy Nielsen, Sporting is currently rolling with its third stringer, Jon Kempin, a fresh faced 21 year old from KC.

On Saturday against Toronto FC– Kempin’s first league start ever – the youngster grew up a bit, coming off his line several times to stop breakaways en route to KC’s beatdown of the Canadians, 4-1.

One of his saves in the early moments of the second half was especially huge, as KC led 2-1 on the strength of two Dom Dwyer spot kicks.

“That save kept us in the game,” declared KC boss Peter Vermes afterwards.  “If he doesn’t (make the save), it goes 2-2 and that really changes the momentum of the game. That was a huge save by him and he did very well.”

Speaking of spot kicks, the first came in the 17th minute when Benny Feilhaber played the ref.  He pushed a ball way to his left and then went down instantly on contact.  I don’t think Benny had a play on the ball even if there wasn’t contact, but the ref pointed to the spot.

Dwyer stepped up and absolutely drilled a roofer from the spot that no keeper could have stopped to put Sporting up 1-0.
The second PK looked legit, and this time Dom sent the keeper the wrong way to put KC up 2-0.

But in the 45th minute Toronto struck back, gift wrapped by Feilhaber.  Benny messed with the ball too long in the back and gave away a soft ball that US international Michael Bradley scooped up and fed down the right wing.  An early cross found a streaking TFC forward who deflected the ball past Kempin and into the back of the net.

Early in the second half Sporting appeared to get its mojo back, but didn’t truly take control until after Kempin’s great save.  From there on out, it was all KC.

The deal was sealed with a nice Soony Saad goal that came after a KC corner was deflected to the top of the box.  Soony controlled it well and blasted a low, right footer at the near bar, surprising Toronto’s keeper with pace.  But prior to that redemptive strike, Saad looked a bit out of sorts.  He was weak in the air, has never been a great passer, and he’s not going to beat anyone one v. one.

But I suppose sometimes there’s no substitute for a rocket right foot.

I thought CJ Sapong was much more effective than Soony when he subbed on in the second half.  CJ’s speed and physicality are just difficult for almost any defender to match up with.  Sapong added insult to injury with a goal of his own off a Graham Zusi cross, sending the Canadians home with a 4-1 stinger.

“This was not an easy game,” said Vermes.  “Toronto is a much-improved team and probably one of the best counter-attacking teams in the league at the moment.”

Next up is a vicious road trip to Nicaragua as Sporting takes on Real Esteli in the CONCACAF Champions League.  The match can be seen on Fox Soccer Plus at 9:00 p.m. CT Tuesday (that’s tomorrow).

 Follow the team on their travel journal here for an inside look.