Recap: Sporting Kansas City 1, San Jose Earthquakes 1

Jason Le Miere

Sporting Kansas City struck a stoppage-time equalizer to rescue a point in a dramatic finale to a 1-1 draw against the San Jose Earthquakes at Children's Mercy Park on Wednesday night.

Daniel Salloi grabbed the leveler for Sporting KC by following up a Johnny Russell free kick that came back off the crossbar. That effort canceled out a first MLS goal for Nathan that would have given the Quakes an upset win over their high-flying hosts.

Salloi's goal came during an action-packed nine minutes of stoppage time in which Sporting KC thought they had a penalty for a challenge on Russell, only to have the decision overturned through Video Review. San Jose also went down to 10 men after conceding the equalizer, with Judson shown a second yellow card, allowing Sporting chances to take all three points in the closing moments.

The two sides couldn't have come into the contest in more contrasting form. While Sporting were riding a three-match winning run, San Jose hadn't won in nine games. But San Jose took advantage of SKC missing Alan Pulido and Gianluca Busio, among others, to take a surprise lead in the 53rd minute. Nathan, signed just last month from Swiss side FC Zurich, rose highest in the penalty area to head home a corner from Cristian Espinoza into the far-side of the net.

That looked to be that, until stoppage time arrived and Salloi was the quickest to react in the penalty area, grabbing the simplest of his eight goals so far this season.

Goals

53' – SJ – Nathan | WATCH
90+4 – SKC – Daniel Salloi | WATCH

Three Things

THE BIG PICTURE: Both teams will have an element of what might have been at the end of this one. A point on the road against the No. 2 side in the Western Conference is certainly a positive for San Jose given their recent form, though conceding a stoppage-time equalizer never leaves a pleasant taste in the mouth. Sporting will be relieved to have avoided just a second defeat since May 12, but could well have won the game at the death.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH: We could have selected several moments from second-half stoppage time alone, but we'll go with Salloi's equalizer after Russell's free kick hit the bar.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Captain Johnny Russell did more than anyone to get his team back into the match. He could, and he'll feel that he should, have had a penalty before his free kick allowed for Salloi to equalize.