April 24, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Sporting Kansas City News Release
Sporting Kansas City (2-6-1, 7 points) and the Columbus Crew (2-3-3, 9 points) snapped their three-match losing streaks by playing to a 0-0 draw on Saturday night at rain-drenched Children’s Mercy Park. In a tightly contested battle that was paused in the second half for 47 minutes due to inclement weather, Sporting posted its third shutout in four home games this year by limiting the Crew to a single shot on target. The result pushes Sporting’s record against Columbus to 7-1-3 in the last 11 regular season meetings since 2013.
Sporting received a personnel boost with the return of holding midfielder Uri Rosell, who had worked his way back from a lingering hamstring injury. The Spaniard accounted for one of two lineup changes from last Sunday’s 3-1 road loss to LAFC, with diminutive winger Marinos Tzionis dropping to the bench and center back Kortne Ford replacing Andreu Fontas for his first start at Children’s Mercy Park in a Sporting uniform.
Elsewhere, a host of Sporting veterans hit notable milestones on Saturday, chief among them Scottish captain Johnny Russell who logged his 500th professional appearance for club and country. Midfielder Roger Espinoza passed Matt Besler for second in club history with his 295th regular season appearance, while right back Graham Zusi tied Besler atop Kansas City’s all-time charts with his 285th regular season start.
The hosts suffered a twist of misfortune inside the first three minutes as center back Nicolas Isimat-Mirin suffered a head injury in a midfield collision with Columbus winger James Igbekeme. The end result was Sporting’s first ever concussion substitution, summoning 20-year-old German defender Robert Voloder for his Children’s Mercy Park debut.
Not long after Isimat-Mirin’s exit, Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia-who jumped to seventh on the club’s all-time charts with his 204th regular season start-did well to sprawl right and corral a…
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