By Sam Kovzan – SportingKC.com
Sporting Kansas City (2-1-4, 10 points) battled the Portland Timbers (2-3-2, 8 points) to a wild 3-3 draw on Sunday afternoon at sun-drenched Children’s Mercy Park.
Willy Agada struck twice and Dany Rosero buried a header to give Sporting a 3-0 lead at halftime, but Portland responded through Evander, Felipe Mora and Eric Miller to split the points in a thrilling Western Conference encounter that was televised nationally on FOX and Apple TV.
Fielding an unchanged side from last weekend’s 3-1 road victory over Toronto FC, Sporting dominated the first 45 minutes and wasted little time drawing first blood. Shortly after having a side-footed effort saved by Portland goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau on the breakaway, Agada landed his first haymaker in the 13th minute on a long-range blast that took a wicked deflection before nestling into the left corner.
Losers of three straight games entering the day, Portland almost grabbed a goal back in the 26th minute when Antony hammered home at the back post off a cross from Jonathan Rodriguez, but the goal was rightly disallowed for an offside infraction on Rodriguez.
Sporting doubled their advantage in the 38th minute on a corner kick that resulted from Crepeau’s diving save to deny Daniel Salloi at the near post. The ensuing set piece delivery from Memo Rodriguez was planted firmly into the back of the net by a leaping Rosero, who has now accounted for five of Sporting’s eight headed goals since the start of 2023. During the entire 2023 regular season, Sporting had three total goals scored by defenders. Seven matches into the 2024 campaign, Kansas City has already equaled that total with Rosero bagging twice and Jake Davis tallying once.
Agada made the score 3-0 on the stroke of intermission. Erik Thommy’s searching free kick to the far post was headed back across the face of goal by center back Robert Voloder and smashed low into the corner by Sporting’s in-form Nigerian, who now has 12 goals in 11 career regular season home starts at Children’s Mercy Park and ranks 10th in club history with four multi-goal games. The German duo of Voloder and Thommy picked up their first assists of the season on the play and sent Portland to the locker room with a formidable three-goal deficit.
In a tale of two halves, Portland responded over the final 45 minutes. Davis did brilliantly to prevent Portland from scoring in the 56th minute, sticking out his boot in mid-air to intercept a teasing Antony cross from reaching Rodriguez on the doorstep. Five minutes later, Agada spurned his chance at a hat trick by dragging a penalty kick wide of the frame after Thommy was clattered inside the box by Portland defender Claudio Bravo.
The Timbers pocketed two goals in as many minutes midway through the second stanza. Evander kickstarted the rally by converting a penalty kick that was awarded for Leibold’s foul on Mora after the two rose for an aerial challenge. The score was 3-2 a few short moments later as Mora latched onto Rodriguez’s cross and snapped a header that Melia could only scoop away after the ball had already crossed the goal line.
Antony forced a save from Melia in the 75th minute and Rodriguez had a floating header miss by inches not long later. The Timbers would find their equalizer, however, when Miller sent a rebound effort into the roof of the net after Melia had initially saved a headed shot from Cristhian Paredes.
Sporting had two fleeting chances to win the game in the dying embers off a pair of Remi Walter corner kicks, but Alenis Vargas’ header lifted over the bar and Leibold’s piledriver was blocked through traffic.
With a frustrating result in the books, Sporting will look to return to winning ways on Saturday by hosting Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF in a colossal showdown at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT and a limited number of tickets are available online. The mouthwatering cross-conference clash will also be shown live on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.
2024 MLS Regular Season | Match 7
Children’s Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas
Attendance: 17,424
Weather: 66 degrees and sunny
Sporting Kansas City 3-3 Portland Timbers
| Score | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sporting Kansas City (2-1-4, 10 points) | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Portland Timbers (2-3-2, 8 points) | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Jake Davis, Dany Rosero, Robert Voloder, Tim Leibold; Nemanja Radoja, Remi Walter, Memo Rodriguez (Alenis Vargas 82′); Erik Thommy, Willy Agada (Alan Pulido 71′), Daniel Salloi (C)
Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Zorhan Bassong, Robert Castellanos, Andreu Fontas, Kayden Pierre, Felipe Hernandez, Marinos Tzionis
Portland Timbers: Maxime Crepeau; Juan Mosquera (Claudio Bravo 46′), Miguel Araujo, Kamal Miller, Eric Miller; Cristhian Paredes (Eryk Williamson 90+6′), David Ayala (Diego Chara 54′); Santiago Moreno (Felipe Mora 46′), Evander (C), Antony (Dairon Asprilla 89′); Jonathan Rodriguez
Subs Not Used: James Pantemis, Dario Zuparic, Nathan Fogaca
Scoring Summary:
SKC — Willy Agada 2 (unassisted) 13′
SKC — Dany Rosero 2 (Memo Rodriguez 2) 38′
SKC — Willy Agada 3 (Robert Voloder 1, Erik Thommy 1) 45+3′
POR — Evander 3 (penalty kick) 64′
POR — Felipe Mora 2 (Jonathan Rodriguez 1, Antony 2) 66′
POR — Eric Miller 1 (unassisted) 81′
Misconduct Summary:
SKC — Dany Rosero (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 25′
POR — Kamal Miller (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 34′
SKC — Memo Rodriguez (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 48′
POR — Eric Miller (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 82′
SKC — Jake Davis (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 90+8′
Match Statistics
| Stat | SKC | POR |
|---|---|---|
| Fouls | 16 | 20 |
| Offsides | 0 | 2 |
| Corner Kicks | 7 | 1 |
Referee: Armando Villarreal
Assistant Referee: Cameron Blanchard
Assistant Referee: Jeremy Hanson
Fourth Official: Matthew Corrigan
VAR: Sorin Stoica
AVAR: Jonathan Johnson
