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Leaving LA seeing stars - OR - Benny hits the nets.

In which we look back on Sportings 2 - 1 win over LA and wish we scored more run of play goals.

Gary Rohman/Sporting KC-USA TODAY Sports

 So Benny with another big game, huh? Confidence kicking in? Just a good two games? I'm not sure, but I'm loving what I've seen, I feel like he's having his best year yet, and this is the Benny we all wanted to see when SKC signed him.

Generally speaking I was pretty happy with how SKC played, but I hate to sound like a broken harp... where are the run of play goals? Dom seems to be the only one who scores them, and honestl I think that's a little worrying. I'll have to sit down some day and figure out where we rank in regards to that stat, but I feel like we do real well on set pieces but struggle to really score anything off the (often abundant) chances we have in fluid play.

All that said, a goal is a goal, and 9 points from 8 days? I'll take it.

And is Robbie Keane the angriest man around? All the offside calls looked legit to me, and maybe even his goal had a hint of him being in the wrong place once more... but who am I to judge.

So let's go to some numbers. In addition to just a numerical ranking, I tried to pull out some key stats to help put a players rating into a bit of perspective. One thing I think Kansas City did well was keeping Donovan pinned back and taking on a bigger defensive role. Honestly, Donovan was a bit of a non-factor this game...

Anyway, here's the table. 

 

LA Galaxy Rating Key Stat
Jaime Penedo 5.5 4 Saves
Leonaro 5.0 9 CBIs
Tommy Meyer 4.5 7 CBIs
AJ DeLaGarza 4.5 6 Recoveries
Kofi Opare 5.0 94% pass success
Gyasi Zardes 4.5 2 aerial dules won
Stefan Ishizaki 4.0 2 crosses
Baggio Husidic 5.0 3 key passes
Juninho 5.0 96% pass success
Kenney Walker 4.0 1 accurate long ball
Landon Donovan 5.0 7 recoveries
Marcelo Sarvas 5.0 8 recoveries
Robbie Keane 6.5 1 goal
Bradford Jamieson 6.0 1 assist
Team Average 4.9  
     
Sporting Kansas City Rating Key Stat
Andy Gruenebaum 5.0 1 big save
Lawrence Olum 7.5 1 goal
Matt Besler 5.0 10 CBIs
Aurelien Collin 5.5 8 CBIs
Seth Sinovic 4.5 88% pass success
Igor Juliao 4.5 89% pass success
Kevin Ellis 4.0 1 CBI
Benny Feilhaber 7.0 1 goal
Graham Zusi 7.0 6 key passes
Jacob Peterson 4.0 3 shots
Toni 4.0 2 crosses
CJ Sapong 4.0 3 recoveries
Soony Saad 5.0 6 recoveries
Dom Dwyer 4.5 3 shots
Team Average 5.1  

 

So there's that. Although I think Kansas City had the better of much of the match, LA definitely hung around and had their chances. I was getting pretty nervey towards the ending, but all's well that ends well (see last week for a prime example).

Really excited for the Toronto match, I think we line up against them well so it should be an entertaining one.