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Sporting Kansas City played on the defensive for most of the game, but an early goal from Conor Hallisey was enough to earn them a draw in their final preseason match.
Obafemi Martin was the goal-scorer for the Sounders and had several more chances throughout the game that could have given them the victory.
With most of the starters in the lineup for the afternoon match against Minnesota United FC, Sporting KC's reserves got the spotlight in the preseason closer. Here's how Sporting lined up against the Sounders.
#SportingKC XI vs @SoundersFC: Melia; Abdul-Salaam, EPB, Anibaba, Sinovic; Carrasco, Lopez, Nagamura; Medranda, Ansu Rogers, Hallisey.
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) February 28, 2015
The Sounders, on the other hand, did not have an earlier fixture and had their first team for this match.
Your #Sounders XI to face @SportingKC: Frei Mears Marshall Evans - C Gonzalez Neagle Azira Pineda Pappa Dempsey Martins #SEAvSKC
— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) February 28, 2015
Sporting KC was on the board within the first ten minutes with Hallisey's goal. Jimmy Medranda carried the ball into the box and slotted it to Hallisey, who rolled it home for the score.
Tim Melia put on a good performance in his 45 minutes in net, making a few saves and acting as a sweeper behind the back line. At halftime, however, he was switched out so that Jon Kempin could get his first minutes in Sporting KC's preseason. At the break, Sporting KC still held a 1-0 lead.
Kempin was called on to make a couple of big saves early on, including a huge save in the 57th minute where he denied Clint Dempsey from ten yards out after the forward had made a run through the middle of the pitch. Three minutes later, however, the Sounders finally broke through.
Dempsey was able to find Obafemi Martins in the middle of the box and he tapped it home for the equalizer. This came at the end of relentless pressure from the Sounders, who were controlling possession for the most part. Martins almost gave Seattle the lead only a couple of minutes later when he had an open header in the box but it went wide and out of danger.
The Sounders continued to pressure the Sporting KC back line and forced Kempin to make a couple more saves over the next few minutes. Sporting KC made a substitution in the 67th minute when FC Tucson man Marquis Brooks came on for Mikey Lopez. Brooks served as a substitute for the game only.
In the 76th minute, Sporting KC got an advantage when Gonzalo Pineda was shown a red card and was ejected from the match. With no replay, it was difficult to tell whether it was warranted or not, but Sporting KC still had a man-up for the rest of the match.
Seattle had one more big chance in the closing minutes when Dempsey got around Kempin in the box and got a shot off, but Servando Carrasco was there to clear the ball off the line in heroic fashion. That would be the last big chance of the game as Sporting held on for the draw.
This match closed out the preseason for Sporting KC and, barring a strike, they will open their 2015 regular season against New York Red Bulls on March 8. Sporting finished 3-2-2 in preseason and came third in the Desert Diamond Cup.