Split the Pot: Sporting Kansas City 0-0 San Jose Earthquakes

Many fans in Kansas City missed a good chunk of the Sporting Kansas City match with San Jose on Saturday night due to technical difficulties with Fox Sports Kansas City. The poker tournament that aired instead might have had more excitement as Sporting KC drew with San Jose 0-0.

Sporting KC’s record moved to 7-4-6 overall and 1-4-4 overall.

Coming off a mid-week US Open Cup match with Minnesota United FC where head coach Peter Vermes opted for a strong lineup, Sporting KC trotted out nine of the same starters against the Earthquakes.

Sporting Kansas City dominated the first half and came close to scoring in the opening minutes when a Benny Feilhaber cross missed everyone in the box and clanged off the post, almost going in for the score.

For the rest of the half Sporting KC dominated possession, holding 60.4 percent at the end of the half.

Moving on to the second half, Sporting KC started to show some fatigue. Dom Dwyer was subbed out in the 76th minute in favor of the returning Diego Rubio after Dwyer was losing pace. This was Rubio’s first match since he tore his ACL last summer and he played 14 minutes in his return.

For the lack of attack from Sporting KC this evening, their defense was stellar. They only allowed five shots all match with three coming on target, leading to a quiet night for keeper Tim Melia.

In the 94th minute it looked like Sporting KC might steal the whole match when Graham Zusi received a beautiful pass in the box from Gerso in the midfield. Zusi was one-on-one with San Jose keeper David Bingham, who managed to get his body on the ball and knock it just wide, keeping the match level as time ran out.

The point earned was Sporting KC’s 27th of the season which momentarily is good enough for first place in the Western Conference. Next week they head back to California for a 9:30 p.m. central time date with the Los Angeles Galaxy.