Sporting Kansas City 4, Montreal Impact 0 | MLS Match Recap

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – For the first 70 minutes, Sporting Kansas City seemed content to let Montreal do all their scoring for them.

But with Aurelien Collin's goal in the 71st minute and Dom Dwyer's brace in the 74th and 86th, Sporting broke open a close game and cruised to a 4-0 victory over the winless and cellar-dwelling Impact on Saturday night.

Sporting (3-1-2) extended their unbeaten streak to five matches and moved into a first-place tie with Columbus atop the East standings. The Impact, who fell behind 1-0 on Calum Mallace's own goal in the 31st minute, dropped to 0-4-3.

Montreal nearly struck first on a 14th-minute counterattack, when Felipe got free on the right flank with only Collin not caught forward. Felipe crossed to a wide-open Marco Di Vaio near the penalty spot, but Collin blocked the shot off the line and Eric Kronberg saved Collen Warner's attempt at a putback.

• OPTA Chalkboard: KC convert plenty of chances on the night in Impact's box

The own goal – originally credited to Collin, who wasn't even involved in the play but celebrated anyway – came just after the half-hour after a long throw-in from Sporting's Matt Besler. Mallace and Kansas City's Lawrence Olum both went up for the ball, and it hit Mallace's head and looped just inside Troy Perkins' far post.

That's how things stood until the 71st minute, when Olum won the ball inside Montreal's area and sent it back out to Collin. This time, the big French center back had just cause to celebrate after curling his left-footed shot inside the near post.

Three minutes after that, second-half sub Jacob Peterson sent in a long cross from the right corner. Collin made a dummy run over the top of the ball, and Dwyer beat two defenders at the edge of the 6-yard box and put his sliding shot home for his third goal in Kansas City's last four matches.

Make that four in four. In the 86th, Dwyer ran onto Graham Zusi's looping cross, beating defender Maxim Tissot, and snapped a header down and into the net to make it 4-0.

Kronberg recorded his second straight clean sheet and third of the year, needing only one more save to do it after that early threat.

• FULL LINEUPS AND STATISTICS

Before the match, the three victims of last weekend's fatal shootings at two Jewish centers in Overland Park were honored with a moment of silence.

A classmate of Reat Griffin Underwood, one of the victims, performed the National Anthem, and Sporting's Cauldron supporters section displayed a banner with a heart, a stylized state line like the one on the club's crest, and the message, “too much love to let hate win.”

Both teams are in action next Saturday, Sporting at New England and Montreal at home against the Philadelphia Union.

MLSsoccer.com Men of the Match