KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Sporting Kansas City had already seen one team blow a man advantage and get bounced from the U.S. Open Cup at home. They weren't about to make it a Two-fer Tuesday.
“We've got a solid team, and we're going to keep fighting until the end,” said forward Dom Dwyer, who delivered the late go-ahead goal – after having a penalty kick saved earlier in the second half – of Sporting's 3-1 quarterfinal victory over the Houston Dynamo on Tuesday night. “I think we showed that. We just had to break them down and get one, and once we did, it opened up and we managed to finish the game off in style.”
Up a man but trailing 1-0 after 70 minutes, Kansas City roared to life down the stretch with goals from Benny Feilhaber in the 71st minute, Dwyer in the 86th and Krisztian Nemeth in the 88th to book a home semifinal date against Real Salt Lake on Aug. 12.
And in doing so, they set a new club record with their ninth straight home victory across all competitions – and are still unbeaten (10-0-3) in MLS and cup play at Sporting Park in 2015.
A good deal of that home success, center back and captain Matt Besler said, is rooted in Sporting's ability to seal victories that might have become draws – or even losses – in the past.
“I think a very positive sign that we’re seeing is that late in games, when we have maybe a one-goal lead, or a two-goal lead, we put the game away,” Besler said during Sporting's postmatch news conference. “That’s really where you can kill teams and kill the game off. I think those are the instances where it takes a lot of pressure off your defense.
“In the last five minutes of the game, if you can get that insurance goal, then the game is won.”
In Tuesday's early quarterfinal, the New York Red Bulls played 11-v-10 for 80 minutes – the last 50 of regulation and all of extra time – before being eliminated on penalties by the Philadelphia Union.
That result wasn't lost on Feilhaber, who was determined not to repeat it.
“I thought about it, actually, because there were some similarities in how the game went, with the red card and all – and then, obviously, the other team getting the goal.” he told reporters. “But we didn't want to go down the same path they did. We definitely didn't want to lose, and we didn't want to take it into overtime. So it was a good response after their goal.”
Houston went down a man in the 30th minute, when midfielder Luis Garrido was issued a straight red card for a two-footed challenge on Sporting left back Amadou Dia. Still, the Dynamo took a 1-0 lead on Will Bruin's goal in the 59th minute and held onto it – for a while, at least – when Joe Willis saved Dwyer's penalty attempt a few minutes later.
But after Feilhaber's strike from 20 yards tied the match, Dwyer delivered the win with his fifth Cup goal of the year – and team-leading 11th across all competitions – after a perfectly delivered pass from Nemeth found him with space to operate on the left side of Houston's penalty area.
“I had no doubt that he was going to score because I just know his determination,” manager Peter Vermes said during the news conference. “It was almost as if it wound him up. There is no doubt in my mind he was going to score.”
Dwyer called the chance to make up for his earlier miss “massive.”
“I was starving for it,” said Dwyer, who assisted on Nemeth's insurance goal two minutes after his own strike. “I wasn't going to stop until the whistle went, and I was determined to score one. Every time that you miss a chance, I didn't want to be the reason that we got out of this competition. I think we did a fantastic job, front to back, to grind out the result.”
It took falling behind to get Sporting on track, though, right back Chance Myers said.
“We played like crap in the first half,” Myers told reporters. “We just didn't move the ball quick enough. Defensively, we weren't good. We weren't sharp on second balls. But coming out after halftime, being up a man and then giving up the goal – that finally woke us up, I think. So kudos to the guys who bailed us out up front: Dom and Krisztian and Benny.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
