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It was a familiar scene for the 18,866 fans at Sporting Park. Only three minutes into the match, Cordell Cato scored to put the San Jose Earthquakes ahead. Last Saturday, Kekuta Manneh scored in the ninth minute for the Vancouver Whitecaps. And one week ago, Olmes Garcia gave Real Salt Lake the first tally at Sporting Park.
However, this time, Sporting Kansas City could not come back from the early deficit. In fact, San Jose would score two more and log nine shots to the home team's three in the first half. And ultimately, the home side's unbeaten streak would end at 16.
The Quakes' second goal came in the 16th minute, when a penalty kick was called after Chance Myers pushed down Quincy Amarikwa inside the box. Chris Wondolowski stepped up to the spot and sent Tim Melia diving the wrong way.
Clarence Goodson hit the back of the net next for San Jose in the 20th minute, but the offside flag was raised. That wouldn't stop the visitors - just seven minutes later, Anibal Godoy dodged a tackle from Kevin Ellis and slid the ball into the bottom right corner to make it 3-0.
Still, the odds were not in Sporting KC's favor. Despite the halftime substitutions of Marcel De Jong and Mikey Lopez, Sporting KC gave up another goal to Cato, who was left open in the middle of the box to receive a cross from Shea Salinas. And in the 61st, Wondolowski notched his second of the night with a spectacular header.
The score was 5-0 and Kansas City was about to be handed their first home defeat of the season. Things couldn't get worse, right? Wrong.
In the 71st minute, Sporting KC star Benny Feilhaber was ejected from the match for denying a goal scoring opportunity on Quincy Amarikwa. As you can see below, Feilhaber was the last man between the forward and the goal. It doesn't look like Feilhaber's tackle was intentional to me, but nonetheless he will miss Saturday's game against the Columbus Crew.
Benny Feilhaber given a straight red for this. #SKCvSJ pic.twitter.com/CBJBRzL9xy
— Ben Jata (@Ben_Jata) August 20, 2015
There really were no highlights for Kansas City in tonight's match. It was the product of what happens when you play three games in a week, and are pushed to the limit to come back 4-3 just three days earlier.
Next up, Sporting KC begins a four game road trip, starting on Saturday against Columbus.