FRISCO, Texas — In a wild and physical match at FC Dallas Stadium on Saturday night, the home side scored two late goals in the final two minutes of regulation to complete a dramatic comeback and pick up a 2-2 draw against a Sporting Kansas City side that was down to 10 men after C.J. Sapong was given a red card earlier in the second half.
The tie prevented FC Dallas from suffering their first defeat at home this season and extended Sporting KC's current winless run to four games.
The rally began when Ramon Nuñez, seeing his first action of the season, served a ball from the run of play that Andrew Jacobson flicked past Sporting KC goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen in the 88th minute. Two minutes later, Walker Zimmerman, who came off the bench at halftime to replace Matt Hedges, scored the first goal of his career off of a corner by David Ferreira to tie the score.
COMPLETE LINEUPS AND BOX SCORE
FC Dallas dominated possession and generated twice as many shots on goal in the first half, but were unlucky not to break through. Kenny Cooper first saw a diving header smack off the post in the 13th minute, and Je-Vaughn Watson was also denied by the woodwork on his own headed effort in the 27th.
That misfortune allowed SKC to jump out in front two minutes before halftime through a penalty kick from Kei Kamara. On a scramble in FCD’s 18-yard box after a Graham Zusi free kick, Sporting KC center back Aurélien Collin took a shot that Dallas goalkeeper Raúl Fernández saved before Collin knocked home the rebound. The goal was waived off, however, as referee Mark Geiger had awarded the 37th penalty kick of his 112 matches in MLS after Jacobson tussled with Collin on initial ball whipped in by Zusi.
OPTA Chalkboard: FC Dallas take advantage of Sapong's ejection
Kamara stepped to the spot and chipped the ball to the left side of the net as Fernández guessed incorrectly. It was Kamara’s second goal of the season since returning from his loan to Norwich City of the English Premier League and put FC Dallas behind in a match at home for only the second time this season.
Sporting KC doubled their lead early in the second half off of the first own-goal given up this year by FC Dallas. Zusi sent in a corner from the left and the ball took a bounce before ricocheting off Watson and past Fernández for the score.
While it seemed like the hosts were on the brink of defeat, they received a lifeline when Sapong was sent off in the 68th minute for knocking a ball onto fallen Jacobson during a stoppage in play. That man disadvantage ultimately cost Sporting, as Dallas started pushing numbers forward before finding the late headed finishes from Jacobson and Zimmerman.
FC Dallas now have to quickly turn their attention to the important midweek fixture at home with the Portland Timbers in Lamar Hunt US Open Cup quarterfinal action. Sporting KC, meanwhile, will have a week to prepare for their Eastern Conference clash with the Columbus Crew next Saturday at Sporting Park.
MLSsoccer.com Men of the Match
Rank |
Player |
What We Saw |
1 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/aurelien-collin"><span style="font-size: 12.222222328186035px;">Aurelien Collin</span></a> |
Once again, a monster defensively and he helped draw the first-half penalty kick. Not much he could do on either of FC Dallas' late goals. |
2 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/george-john"><span style="font-size: 12.222222328186035px;">George John</span></a> |
Was a threat on seemingly every FC Dallas set piece and nearly scored on a couple of occasions. Also helped negate Sporting KC's talented attack. |
3 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/walker-zimmerman"><span style="font-size: 12.222222328186035px;">Walker Zimmerman</span></a> |
The rookie could not have picked a better time to score his first career goal and he also held up well in the second half in place of Matt Hedges. |
