KANSAS CITY, Kan. – At least the Montreal Impact won't have to face Dom Dwyer any more during the regular season, after Sporting Kansas City's move to the Western Conference this year.
Sporting's center forward scored his seventh career goal – in just two seasons – against the Impact in Saturday night's 2-1 victory, making him one of only two players in league history to score seven times on Montreal.
The other? Former New York Red Bulls star Thierry Henry.
“That's a pretty cool stat,” Dwyer told reporters after scoring his sixth goal in MLS play and 10th across all competitions. “That's good company to have, I think – the legend, Thierry Henry. But I'm very pleased to win tonight. That was the main thing.”
Dwyer delivered a left-footed strike inside Evan Bush's near post to put Sporting up 2-0 in the 34th minute, after a long through ball from Benny Feilhaber found him all alone in space near the Impact's penalty area.
“We've been working on that in training,” Dwyer said. “I know as soon as he wins it in the middle, I always try and tell him, 'I'm going to be right on there, ready to go through. He played the perfect pass, and I only had to take a touch and slide it past the keeper.”
The goal was Dwyer's sixth in his last five matches across all competitions, including four in a 6-2 U.S. Open Cup fifth-round win over FC Dallas on July 1. After a slow start to the season, he now has six league goals and 10 overall.
“Sometimes luck goes your way, and sometimes it doesn't,” he said. “I missed a few chances here and there. I've started to get there and find my feet a little and shrug off some injuries. I've had a few knocks here and there. I'm just getting sharper throughout the season, and now it's coming business time. It's getting closer and closer to playoffs, and we're climbing up that table.”
And while Sporting have shown a newfound scoring balance this year – Dwyer is one of three players with at least six goals in league action – manager Peter Vermes sees last year's Golden Boot runner-up closing in on the form that saw him score 22 times in MLS and 24 across all competitions in 2014.
“I love the progression that Dom is going through right now,” Vermes said in his postmatch news conference. “He’s got this hunger that is really coming from game to game and you can see it. Every time he is facing the goal he is on the verge of putting it in the back of the net or getting a good chance off. He’s starting to feel it again.”
Dwyer came close to adding to his scoring total later in the first half, only to be denied by two saves from Bush – one on Dwyer's initial shot and another after Dwyer collected the rebound and fired again.
“I'd like to have got more tonight,” Dwyer said. “I think maybe I should have had a couple more. The keeper made some good saves. But we got the result, so we're pleased.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
