The Benny Feilhaber Show: Sporting Kansas City 2-1 Columbus Crew

Benny Feilhaber provided the assist on the first goal and scored the second as Sporting Kansas City defeated the Columbus Crew 2-1.

Sporting KC would do well in the first half to take advantage of the Crew's lackluster offense, playing a high press and trying to force a goal through the Crew defense. They really started to take control of the match in the 25th minute, creating many opportunities that would eventually yield a goal.

After threatening with their high press for the previous fifteen minutes or so, Sporting Kansas City finally broke through in the 43rd minute. Benny Feilhaber sent in a beautiful corner kick which found the head of CJ Sapong and was knocked into the open net for the goal. It was Sapong's first goal of the year and Feilhaber's fifth assist as Sporting Kansas City took a 1-0 lead.

Sporting KC would get a couple more chances as the half closed but weren't able to put any away, going into the half carrying a 1-0 lead.

The second half would be much more frustrating for the away side due to shoddy refereeing and defensive lapses. The entire match changed in the 55th minute when Aurelien Collin would be sent off on a controversial red card. The ref saw a high elbow from Collin going in on a header and sent the defender off, knocking Sporting Kansas City down to ten men for the rest of the match.

Columbus would use that man advantage to finally equalize in the 69th minute. Chad Barson caught up with a ball headed towards the end line and sent it in towards the center of the box. Federico Higuain was charging into the box and caugh Igor Juliao by surprise, forcing the ball off Juliao and into the goal for the own goal.

For the next twenty minutes or so Columbus would continue to press Sporting KC, using the man advantage to create a few more scoring opportunities. In the 89th minute, however, the momentum would shift back to Sporting Kansas City when Will Trapp was given his second yellow card of the match and was sent off. Trapp now has four yellow cards in his two games against Sporting KC this season.

Two minutes in to the three minutes of stoppage, Sporting Kansas City would be granted one more opportunity. Gruenebaum sent the ball forward on a free kick, which lead to the ball being pushed forward on the wing by Igor Juliao. Julaio sent in a cross to the top of the box, which was stopped by Jacob Peterson and teed up for a charging Benny Feilhaber. Feilhaber hit the shot from just outside the box, sending it in off the underside of the bar and into the net for the game-winning goal. It was his second goal of the year and guaranteed three points for Sporting KC.

With the win, Sporting KC set their franchise record with the fourth straight road win and moved into first in the Eastern Conference. They are currently one point ahead of DC United, who has a game in hand. Sporting KC heads home next for a match with the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday.