Sporting Kansas City 3, Seattle Sounders 0 | 2017 MLS Match Recap

German Sferra

Sporting Kansas City kept their home dominance going with a 3-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders Wednesday evening at Children's Mercy Park.

After a lifeless first half, in which SKC failed to get a shot off, Gerso broke the game open early in the second half with three goals in a span of 13 minutes. His first, in the 56th, somehow found its way through the Seattle defense at the near post. He doubled the lead two minutes later, getting his own rebound off the post before placing his second goal of the night. The Guinea-Bissau native completed his hat trick by finishing a nicely worked play which saw Benny Feilhaber register his 50th career assist.

The win extended SKC's home undefeated streak to 15 straight games.

Goals

56' - SKC - Gerso WATCH
58' - SKC - Gerso WATCH
69' - SKC - Gerso WATCH

Three Things

HAT TRICK HERO:
Gerso's hat trick was the first by an SKC player in an MLS game since October 23, 2010, when
Birahim Diop
put three away in a 4-1 home win over San Jose. You may have noticed Gerso's unique celebration, in which he appears to be swinging with his arms. Well, there's apparently nothing to it. Now with five goals on the season, he
says he used to do that in Portugal
, but just because he likes to. Another fun note:

Gerso Fernandes makes Guinea-Bissau the 33rd different country (and 9th from Africa) in which an @MLS hat-trick scorer was born.
— Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) May 18, 2017

MELIA COMES UP BIG: SKC dominated possession in the first half by a 68-32 clip. They completed 410 passes to Seattle's 191. But they weren't dangerous on the attack, not even getting a shot off. Instead, it was Seattle that nearly took the lead into the half, if not for some spectacular saves in the closing seconds by Sporting's Tim Melia. He first denied Alvaro Fernandez with a fantastic kick-save and then going full-stretch to stop a long-range shot by Cristian Roldan. The shutout was Melia's seventh of the season.

SEATTLE STRUGGLING: Seattle's last regular season game at SKC also ended with a 3-0 loss. And while the slump is far from the same, Seattle have now lost three straight, have conceded seven goals in their last two games (both on the road), and only have two wins in their first 11 games. They did have a few lineup changes tonight, with Joevin Jones out due to suspension, Osvaldo Alonso out with right quad tightness, and Clint Dempsey resting.

Next up

SKC: Saturday, May 20 – at Vancouver Whitecaps FC (7 pm ET | TSN 1 / TSN 4; MLS Live in the U.S.)
SEA: Saturday, May 20 – vs. Real Salt Lake (5 pm ET | MLS Live)

German Sferra

Seattle Sounders FC Sporting Kansas City