Scoreless in Seattle: Sporting Kansas City 0-0 Seattle Sounders

Sporting Kansas City, stretched paper-thin with injuries, put in a decent defensive performance to earn a 0-0 draw at Seattle. The draw added a point to their season total and extended their unbeaten streak to six games.

Already without Roger Espinoza, Seth Sinovic and Graham Zusi in the starting lineup, Sporting received another blow when Dom Dwyer was named as a late scratch to the starting lineup. Dwyer reportedly had been battling with a stiff neck for most of the season and tonight it had reached a point where Vermes encouraged the striker to sit.

Jimmy Medranda was slotted into the starting lineup as the starting left winger while Krisztian Nemeth moved to center forward, a position he is familiar with from his time in Europe but has not played much with Sporting KC.

Sporting was unable to muster much offense in the first half, getting a few weak shots off but none to really test Stefan Frei. The Sounders controlled the tempo of the game but were unable to break Sporting KC's defense. Former backup keeper Tim Melia put in another strong performance by intercepting and punching out dangerous balls from the Sounders to eradicate potential scoring chances. Still, Seattle was in charge in the first half and controlled nearly 70 percent of the possession going into the break.

In the second half there were more chances for the visitors but not enough to make a significant change in tempo. The best opportunity came in the 92nd minute when Benny Feilhaber fired a strike from 25 yards out that was pushed over the bar by Frei. This would bring an end to the action as Sporting KC held on for the 0-0 draw.

This game did see some interesting developments regarding player injuries. Graham Zusi returned to the pitch for the first time since his concussion against DC United on May 10. On the other hand, Jacob Peterson had to leave the match in the middle of the second half with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. Conor Hallisey, who was originally supposed to come on for Jimmy Medranda, replaced Peterson instead in the 56th minute.

With the draw, Sporting earned their 18th point of the season and climbed to fourth in the Western Conference. Next up for Sporting KC is a home date with FC Dallas May 29 before rematching with the Sounders at Sporting Park June 6.