KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Dom Dwyer's now-famous selfie was not an entirely spontaneous act – but the young Sporting Kansas City forward's preparation for it turned out to be prophetic.
“It was set up,” Dwyer told reporters after Sunday's 1-1 draw with Chicago, which saw him score his club-leading 12th goal and then celebrate by grabbing a camera and snapping a photo with teammate Soony Saad as fans cheered in the background. “It was mentioned earlier today before the game, and it sounded like quite a cool idea.”
Well, a cool idea to Dwyer, Saad and a lot of other people. But there were some naysayers, chiefly referee Alan Kelly.
Fans' reactions via Twitter to Dwyer's self-abration were immediate and overwhelmingly positive …
He earned shout-outs from some media giants as well …
but there was also some hand-wringing over This Sort of Thing …
Most importantly, as everyone who has seen the sequence knows, Kelly issued Dwyer a caution afterward.
“It was a good bit of fun, but I got a yellow for it,” Dwyer said. “I was lucky I didn’t get another yellow, or else I would have been in big trouble. It was on my mind after that, but it didn’t change how I played. Obviously I wasn’t going to go hard into a 50-50 (challenge), and luckily that opportunity didn’t come.”
The aftermath of the goal overshadowed the hustle and opportunism Dwyer showed when he put Sporting up 1-0 in the 33rd minute. He stripped Patrick Ianni of the ball 30 yards out, drove on keeper Sean Johnson and curled his left-footed shot inside the left post.
“I remember the defender got a bad ball, and he didn’t take the best touch,” Dwyer said. “He kind of panicked because I was coming at him quick. He kind of stumbled over the ball, and I nicked it from him. I was going to shoot across the keeper’s body, but I saw (Johnson) take a little step to the middle. So I hit it early and slid it past him. Normally you’d go around him, but he’s a big goalie. I just saw a little gap and slid it in there.”
The rest is history. Because the Internet is forever, you know.
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
