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Sporting Kansas City entered Sunday with just about every result in MLS going there way, but they still had business to take care of. Already the leader on points per game before the start of the match, Sporting needed to convert their games in hand to results to solidify a top spot in the West, and thanks to stellar performances from Tim Melia, Soni Mustivar, and Kevin Ellis, they did just that.
The Vancouver Whitecaps have a potent offense, but Sporting handled them well for the most part, and when needed, Tim Melia came up big with six big saves. Soni Mustivar had a beast of a game, and I've started to see comparisons of him to Uri Rosell, and perhaps rightly so.
I've gotta say that Melia, Ellis, and Mustivar are probably all equally worthy, but, much like Highlander, there can be only one!
| Vancouver Whitecaps | |
| David Ousted | 5 |
| Kendall Waston | 5 |
| Steven Beitashour | 4.5 |
| Jordan Harvey | 5 |
| Tim Parker | 4.5 |
| Matias Laba | 4 |
| Christian Techera | 4.5 |
| Maruo Rosales | 5.5 |
| Gershon Koffie | 4 |
| Deybi Flores | 4 |
| Erik Hurtado | 4 |
| Octavio Rivero | 4 |
| Kekuta Manneh | 4.5 |
| Robert Earnshaw | 4 |
| Team Average | 4.5 |
| Sporting Kansas City | |
| Tim Melia | 7.5 |
| Matt Besler | 7 |
| Kevin Ellis | 8.5 |
| Amadou Dia | 6 |
| Saad Abdul-Salaam | 6 |
| Benny Feilhaber | 4.5 |
| Roger Espinoza | 5.5 |
| Soni Mustivar | 6.5 |
| Jacob Peterson | 5 |
| Conor Hallisey | 4 |
| Krisztian Nemeth | 5 |
| Dom Dwyer | 4 |
| Team Average | 5.8 |
And I will add that I personally thought Melia really kept the team in it with some excellent saves, but the game winning sole goal and being part of a back line that held the Whitecaps to nothing at home certainly has a case. Kudos to Kevin Ellis. It is always fantastic when an argument can be made for multiple players. Sporting have been playing exceptionally well lately. Points per game leaders. Best goal differential in the league. Let's keep on rolling.