KANSAS CITY, Kan – D.C. United had already endured a diverted flight, a late arrival, a kickoff pushed back by 2 1/2 hours.
What was another weather delay, after all that?
In the end, the only interval that really mattered was the 33-second span between Alhaji Kamara's MLS debut and his first goal – an especially sweet shot for the young forward from Sierra Leone, after his European career was derailed by the discovery of a heart condition.
“It’s great, and I am so happy for him,” United coach Ben Olsen told reporters after Kamara's 86th-minute goal lifted D.C. to a 1-0 victory over struggling Sporting Kansas City on Friday night. “He has been through a lot. You guys don’t know him yet as a person, but he is a wonderful guy. I couldn’t be happier for him.
“I think the team couldn’t be happier for him because they know what he has been going through."
After a throw-in in Sporting's defensive end, United left back Taylor Kemp launched a long diagonal ball into the penalty area. Keeper Tim Melia came out to challenge Kamara for the ball – but Sporting forward Jacob Peterson, tracking back on the play, collided with both of them. The ball fell to Kamara for an easy left-footed finish.
“I saw the ball coming, and then I tried to run the ball into the goal,” Kamara told reporters. “But then I saw the ball on the ground and immediately I just reacted in the moment and then I shot.”
That wild play put paid to United's two-day ordeal, which began when bad weather Thursday night in Kansas City forced the team's flight to land instead in Chicago, where they spent the night. They landed in Kansas City around 1 pm Friday, just five hours before the original kickoff time – which was pushed back to 8:30 pm local time to accommodate the late arrival.
“I don’t want to be too dramatic about it,” Olson said. “We didn’t fly in right before kickoff. The guys got some good sleep last night. We flew in this afternoon and jumped off. It wasn’t that taxing physically, but emotionally it was a little bit draining.
“The message is that there are no excuses. We couldn’t use this as an excuse. You can take this two ways. One is not acceptable and the other is getting something out of the trip.”
United did – but not before one more delay, with lightning forcing an hour-long pause in Friday night's proceedings just as the two sides were about to return to the pitch after a scoreless first half.
“You can’t control any of these things, so when you find out, you just prepare the best that you can,” Kemp said. “We knew that it was going to be a weird day and a weird couple of days once it started unfolding yesterday, and you just do whatever you can to be ready.
“This group isn’t shaken up by a lot of stuff. We’re a pretty blue collar team, and I knew that if we weren’t at our best quality-wise, if we put 100 percent effort out there which we always do, we’d give ourselves a good chance.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
