KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Kevin Hartman came up huge against his old club – once. It wasn’t enough.
Hartman saved Kei Kamara’s penalty kick early in the second half, but Kamara got the last word when he scored in the 88th minute to give Sporting Kansas City a 2-1 victory over FC Dallas in front of 15,161 at Livestrong Sporting Park on Sunday night.
The goal came from a Chance Myers overlap at the end of a quick, six-pass sequence. Myers beat Hernán Pertúz to a ball played into space and crossed for Kamara to slide in at the near post.
OPTA Chalkboard: Myers has a busy night on the right flank
It was a frenetic end to a game that had started out at a more reasonable pace, with both teams exchanging midfield hacks through the first 20 minutes.
In the 25th minute, FCD made one of those fouls pay. They became the first team to score against KC this year when Ricardo Villar drove home a free kick, curling his shot over Jimmy Nielsen’s wall and leaving the KC ‘keeper rooted to his line after Myers was whistled for bringing down Blas Pérez.
Dallas seemed happy to take that 1-0 lead into the break, but it wasn’t to be as Aurélien Collin equalized three-and-a-half minutes into first-half stoppage time.
The goal came on a set piece after Roger Espinoza was fouled by Daniel Hernandez 35 yards out. Graham Zusi sent his free kick deep into the box, and Collin put his no-look header past Hartman for the 700th goal in Kansas City’s history.
It looked like Sporting would take the lead just on the other side of halftime. Myers got loose on an overlap and drove hard into the Dallas area before being brought down by Ugo Ihemelu in the 50th minute.
Kamara stepped to the spot and fired toward the lower left corner, but Hartman guessed right, sprawled and tipped the ball over the endline. Sporting had converted 13 straight penalties since Carlos Marinelli’s miss on July 29, 2007, against Chivas USA.
That set the stage for a frenetic, up-and-down second half in which SKC spurned a number of chances. Kamara put two headers wide from six yards, Zusi failed to pull the trigger from the top of the box, and Hartman got a hand to everything that came his way.
Pertúz almost stole three points for FCD in the 86th minute, but his shot from 25 yards sailed high. Two minutes later, Myers ran into the corner to corral Zusi’s pass, then crossed to Kamara for the game-winner.
Zusi had two assists for Sporting (3-0-0) to lead MLS with four in three games. Dallas, who got off only one shot on goal all night, dropped to 1-1-1. Sporting have nine points after three matches for the second time ever, and the first time since 2006.
FC Dallas are back in action on Friday when they travel to D.C. United (7:30 pm ET; NBC Sports Network). Sporting, meanwhile, head to Carson, Calif. to face Chivas USA on Sunday (9 pm ET; MLS Live).
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com. Write to him at steve@artkc365.com.
HIGHLIGHTS: KC vs DAL
