Afternoon Contrite: Sporting Kansas City 1-1 Chicago Fire

A quick counter by the Chicago Fire after Sporting Kansas City went up was enough to negate the advantage as Sporting Kansas City drew 1-1 with the Fire.

This match also saw the return of Graham Zusi to the lineup while Matt Besler was absent from the 18.

Chicago almost got on the board early when Mike Magee got behind the Sporting KC defense. Ellis made a marking miscue and Magee was one-on-one with Kronberg. Kronberg did well to force Magee to the side after the Fire attacker hesitated, and his shot was weaker because of the angle. Collin was there to clear it off the line and to keep the match scoreless.

A couple of minutes later, the Fire had an open header on a corner kick, which was put towards goal by Ianni. The far post header was cleared off the line by Dom Dwyer, however, to keep the Fire off the board once more. Chicago was looking dangerous early.

In the 12th minute, the tide started to shift. The first big chance of the game for Sporting KC came when Benny Feilhaber sent a through ball to Soony Saad down the open middle, but Saad shot too early and right at Johnson.

More opportunities would be coming for Sporting KC in the first half. In the 21st minute, Soony Saad won a ball on the side and sent in a cross to Dom Dwyer, who went for an incredibly athletic jumping side volley that was on frame but right at Sean Johnson.

Magee would continue to provide defensive issues for Sporting KC when he got behind the defense on a diagonal cross in the 31st minute. Kronberg did well to defend the near post as Magee's far post shot was off target, narrowly missing the goal. It went off the post and was cleared away by the Sporting KC defense.

Sporting KC finally broke through in the 34th minute when Dom Dwyer pressured Ianni and forced a steal, giving him an open shot alone with Johnson. Dwyer calmly put the shot away for his 12th goal of the year to give Sporting Kansas City a 1-0 lead. He was then given a yellow card for taking a selfie in celebration of his goal.

In the 40th minute, Chicago struck right back. Alex surged through Collin and Olum in the middle and got the ball to Mike Magee, who finished the shot once he was behind the defense and Kronberg was helpless. It was Magee's fifth goal of the year and the game was level once more.

Sporting KC would get one more shot on goal in stoppage time when Soony Saad rifled a free kick, but Sean Johnson easily caught it to end the half. The teams went into the locker room level at 1-1.

Sporting Park got the sub they were looking for in the 60th minute when Graham Zusi was brought on for Soony Saad. He received a large ovation and immediately won a corner on his first possession of the game.

Chicago played a more defensive style in the second half, so Sporting KC was having more trouble getting good opportunities. They pressed forward towards the end and almost scored on two occasions, The first was when CJ Sapong, who had come in earlier for Dom Dwyer, got a shot off that was blocked by Sean Johnson. Sapong almost pounced on the rebound but it was deflected away by Johnson once again.

The last chance came on a cross in the final minute of stoppage time. The low driven ball by Zusi was out of reach for every Sporting man in the box as it rolled unthreateningly out of bounce. That would be the final play as the match ended with a 1-1 tie.

Sporting KC maintained their status as second in the Eastern Conference while Chicago notched their league-leading tenth tie of the year. Sporting is back in action next week as they take on Montreal on Saturday evening.