Two goals and one point each - SKC draws Dallas

Sporting Kansas City (2-6-2, 8 points) and FC Dallas (4-1-4, 16 points) fought to a 2-2 draw Saturday night. Sporting KC took the early lead but had to come from behind earn the point at home. The game had a little bit of everything, ten yellow cards, a red card, a penalty and a spectacular goal. It was also the first time in 2022 that SKC scored more than one goal.

The home team earned the penalty in the 22nd minute after Johnny Russell crossed into Daniel Salloi who was brought down in the center of the box by Jose Antonio Martinez. Russell easily beat Maarten Paes to give SKC the lead.

Graham Zusi checked out a minute later with a quad injury and was replaced by Cam Duke. It was Zusi’s 286th regular season start, putting him at the top of the SKC’s all-time chart ahead of Matt Besler.

Alan Velasco leveled the score for FC Dallas in the 36^th minute when the 19-year-old took advantage of a foul outside the box to send a kick curling into the far corner.

“Their first goal is a bit of magic. You can’t really do anything about that,” Russell stated after the match.

Paul Arriola setup Jesus Ferreira six minute later. The pair of teammates for Dallas and the U.S. National Team combined when Arriola slid a ball through to Ferreira who then juked Robert Voloder to the left before cutting back to his right and then curling a ball past Tim Melia.

SKC Manager Peter Vermes gave his thoughts on the two Dallas goals postgame. “Having played defense for half of my career, I’m always very critical when it comes to defending and I think that the first goal shouldn’t happen because we shouldn’t make a foul in the situation that we did. I know it was a good shot, but we’ve got to do better to keep that ball out, but we shouldn’t foul in that situation. The second goal, not all of our line, but part of our line is stepping up when they shouldn’t. There’s no pressure on the ball. They’re running in behind us and then we don’t get a body to the player. So we give up those two goals, which is just incredibly disappointing at that moment.”

Coming out of halftime, Sporting KC had raised their intensity for a bit, creating chances including two good attempts by Daniel Salloi.

One of the key moments was when Brandon Servania subbed in for Dallas in the 60^th minute. He received a yellow three minutes later and a second yellow and the corresponding red card in the 67^th minute from referee Nima Saghafi, giving SKC the man advantage.

It took a few minutes for SKC to start taking advantage of the numerical superiority. Salloi tied it up in the 77th minute when Duke drove towards the endline before cutting it back through the bunker of Dallas defenders. Salloi received the pass and turned towards goal and sliding it inside the post.

SKC fought for a game winner but came up short as Dallas sat back and absorbed pressure for the rest of the match.

The need to step up

It was the first match since Oct. 27, 2021 that Sporting KC has scored more than one goal in a match. SKC Captain Johnny Russell told the media that he spoke with fellow winger Salloi about that.

“I spoke to Daniel before the game actually, and just said, ‘it’s about time that we step up.’ It’s all good talking and we have to get to those standards that we set last year and help get us out of the situation we’re in because no one’s going to help us out. It’s got to come from us.”

“Yes, he did talk to me and it’s nothing new in a way.,” Salloi agreed. “We realize that there are lots of injuries. We can be the creative attacking players who have to get the goals and try to win the game. We have to step up in moments and I’m glad both of us could score. This is a tough year. It’s been a tough start and I think we are doing better. I think it’s obvious that game by game we’re improving.”

Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Graham Zusi (Cam Duke 23’), Kortne Ford, Robert Voloder, Logan Ndenbe; Uri Rosell (Felipe Hernandez 63’), Remi Walter, Roger Espinoza (Marinos Tzionis 80’); Johnny Russell (C), Khiry Shelton, Daniel Salloi

Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Andreu Fontas, Kaveh Rad, Ben Sweat, Jake Davis, Nikola Vujnovic

FC Dallas: Maarten Paes; Ema Twumasi, Nkosi Tafari, Jose Antonio Martinez, Marco Farfan (Nanu 85’); Tsiki Ntsabeleng (Brandon Servania 60’), Facundo Quignon, Paxton Pomykal; Paul Arriola (Edwin Cerrillo 81’), Jesus Ferreira (Franco Jara 85’), Alan Velasco (Joshue Quinonez 81’)

Subs Not Used: Jimmy Maurer, Lucas Bartlett, Jader Obrian, Szabolcs Schon

Scoring Summary:

SKC — Johnny Russell 2 (penalty kick) 22’

DAL — Alan Velasco 2 (unassisted) 36’

DAL — Jesus Ferreira 6 (Paul Arriola 2) 42’

SKC — Daniel Salloi 2 (Cam Duke 1) 77’

Misconduct Summary:

DAL — Tsiki Ntsabeleng (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 25’

SKC — Remi Walter (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 27’

SKC — Kortne Ford (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 34’

DAL — Ema Twumasi (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 44’

SKC — Johnny Russell (yellow card; dissent) 50’

DAL — Alan Velasco (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 53’

DAL — Jesus Ferreira (yellow card; delaying a restart) 62’

DAL — Brandon Servania (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 63’

DAL — Brandon Servania (red card/second yellow; unsporting behavior) 67’

DAL — Maarten Paes (yellow card; time wasting) 90+4’

Referee: Nima Saghafi

Assistant Referee: Adam Wienckowski

Assistant Referee: Diego Blas

Fourth Official: Lukasz Szpala

VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero

AVAR: Jonathan Johnson