Sporting KC Fall on the Road to Minnesota

Sporting KC fell on the road for the first time in the 2024 season on Saturday night at Allianz Field in St. Paul, MN. A quick start by Minnesota United saw the Loons up 2-0 in the first twenty-five minutes and that was enough for Sporting to extend their winless run to four games on the season.

The game started quickly as inside the first minute Minnesota United won a corner kick, and from that corner kick quickly grabbed the lead as Joseph Rosales’s corner was flicked at the near post by Robin Lod to the back post where Michael Boxall had lost his mark and knocked the ball into the net. KC should have responded later in the first half as a ball over the top by Tim Leibold found Willy Agada behind the Minnesota defense. Agada brought the ball down inside the box but fired his shot over the goal.

The missed chance by Agada came back to haunt Kansas City in the 25^th minute as Minnesota did a good job working the ball down KC’s right, again through Rosales and Lod as the ball was got played across the box to Tani Oluwaseyi who simply had to tap the ball home at the back side. Oluwaseyi scored his third goal in four games. There were shouts for Oluwaseyi being offside, including by Peter Vermes in the postgame press conference, but there didn’t appear to be a definitive angle to show that Oluwaseyi was offside. And without an angle to show a clear and obvious error, the call on the field stood and Minnesota was up 2-0. The ever-reliable Offside Modeling Twitter account showed that Oluwaseyi was even on the goal.

Chasing the game down 2-0 now Sporting KC controlled possession for the rest of the game, ending with over 58% of possession. KC did find a way back into the game before half time with some good short passing in Minnesota’s half of the field before a long ball over the top found Daniel Salloi running behind his marker. Salloi laid the ball off to the top of the box for Alan Pulido who was trailing the run and with some help from a deflection on the way through beat Dayne St. Clair to make it 2-1.

The second half saw Sporting Kansas City continue to control possession for the game, but they struggled to produce the end result. Down a goal KC controlled the game, but Minnesota was compact and organized defensively and didn’t give KC much in terms of opportunities and chances on goal. In fact, KC didn’t produce a shot in the second half until the 79^th minute when a Dany Rosero flick header was saved by St. Clair. KC did look more dangerous over the final ten minutes with Salloi having a chance and substitute Alenis Vargas forcing Boxall and St. Clair into a dangerous situation. But overall, Minnesota looked comfortable seeing out the one goal win at home, something Kansas City has struggled with over the month of April.

KC will now head out on the road again to take on a Real Salt Lake team that is unbeaten in their last six games (4-0-2).