A red card to former Sporting Kansas City player Krisztian Nemeth opened the door for SKC to turn a one-goal deficit into a convincing 3-1 win over the New England Revolution Saturday night at Children's Mercy Park.
Down 1-0 after another former Sporting player, Teal Bunbury, scored in the fourth minute, Sporting Kansas City got a brace from Diego Rubio and a goal from Gerso and scored three unanswered goals to cruise to victory.
Nemeth inexplicably threw a high elbow at Graham Zusi's face that led to video replay, which led to Nemeth being sent off. The Revolution had to go with 10 men from the 11th minute and lost all momentum from the early goal.
Sporting Kansas City moved into a tie for second place in the Western Conference on 44 points from 28 games, playing a full-strength lineup despite the U.S. Open Cup final only days away. New England lost a chance to move up in the East standings and remain out of playoff position.
Goals
- 4' – NE – Teal Bunbury | WATCH
- 16' – SKC – Gerso Fernandes | WATCH
- 45' – SKC – Diego Rubio | WATCH
- 57' – SKC – Diego Rubio | WATCH
Three Things
- GO DIEGO GO: Rubio picked up his first career multi-goal game, but got some very strong help while getting himself in position to score. Zusi's long ball found Gerso, whose perfect touch across the goal mouth landed at the hustling Rubio's feet for his first goal just before the half. The second-goal was just the Chilean being in the right spot, as he put in Benny Feilhaber's shot that caromed off the post.
- HELLO AGAIN: The Revolution's three starters up top, Kei Kamara, Bunbury and Nemeth, all made a big impact on the match. Bunbury scored, Nemeth provided the turning point of the match and became the third Revs player to be red-carded in the past two games and Kamara was active -- and applauded by the SKC faithful -- as the striker.
3. OLIVEIRA DEBUTS: Sporting Kansas City was afforded the luxury of sending on 21-year-old Kevin Oliveiria, the Cape Verde international signed from USL side Swope Park Rangers on Friday, for the final minutes. Oliveira looked good in his 13 minutes and was a part of his team's 23rd straight regular season home game without a loss. He almost had an assist to Latif Blessing in the 91st minute.
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