KANSAS CITY, KS -- In front of another sellout crowd of 20,933 fans at Children's Mercy Park, Sporting Kansas City fought back to claim a share of the points after a poor first half, but lost winger Gerso Fernandes to injury against the Portland Timbers on Saturday night.
Portland midfielder Diego Valeri opened the scoring in the 26th minute. After receiving a short pass from Sebastián Blanco near midfield, Valeri ran through the space he was given by the Sporting defense he was given for about 30 yards. When no one tried to close him down, Valeri let loose a rocket just outside the penalty area and it ricocheted off the bottom of the crossbar and into the back of the net. To be fair, while defender Kevin Ellis should probably have tried to close on Valeri, he did have a run coming in behind him and was caught between a rock and a hard place.
About three minutes later, Fernandes went down in the Portland penalty area after an apparent foul from a Portland player. When play was finally stopped, Sporting's medical staff was able to attend to him and had to help him off the pitch, supporting his arm and shoulder. It was later revealed that Fernandes had separated his shoulder, but it had popped back in. An MRI will be performed soon and, assuming everything is clean, Fernandes should be out for two to three weeks.
Approximately two minutes after Diego Rubio was subbed on for Soony Saad to provide a spark to the offense, Sporting got the equalizer it needed. Midfielder Roger Espinoza put in an inch-perfect ball over the top to forward Daniel Salloi from about 40 yards away. Salloi settled the ball with his right foot and then roofed it over goalkeeper Jake Gleeson, also with his right foot. It was Salloi's first MLS goal and made him the 7th youngest player in club history to score in league play.
Twelve minutes later, Portland was awarded a penalty kick after it appeared Portland's Fanendo Adi had been taken down in the penalty area by Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia. However, after watching replays, it looked like Melia didn't make contact with Adi at all. Valeri stepped up to take the penalty and shot the ball down the middle, but Melia was ready for it and palmed it away. Sporting's defenders were alert and made sure Portland wasn't able to pounce on the rebound.
The penalty kick save was Melia's third of the season, one away from the league record for spot kick saves. The record is held by Real Salt Lake's Nick Rimando, who saved four in 2014. Melia's also saved three more PKs than Sporting KC has taken all year. The wait continues for the club to be awarded a spot kick.
If there's one thing that's different about this year's version of Sporting KC it's that they can play poorly and still manage to find a way to get at least a point out of a game. Even Peter Vermes admitted after the game that Portland was the better team in the first half. The thing about this team is they don't let adversity get them down. In past years, this team would have lost a game they played this poorly in the first half, but that's not true in the current incarnation of the residents of the Soccer Capital of America.
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Tonight's sellout was the 96th straight sellout in MLS play at Children's Mercy Park. If the streak continues (which it should, considering the way the team's playing), the 100th straight would be Saturday, August 19th against Dallas.
The next home match, though, is Thursday, July 6th at 7:30pm against the Philadelphia Union. Former Sporting KC forward CJ Sapong leads the Union in scoring with eight goals to go along with three assists.
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