Sporting KC Falls 2-0 to Austin FC

July 30, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Sporting Kansas City News Release

Sporting Kansas City (5-14-5, 20 points) fell 2-0 to Supporters’ Shield contenders Austin FC (13-5-5, 44 points) on Saturday night at Children’s Mercy Park. The visitors struck at the tail end of the first and second halves through midfielder Alex Ring and MLS MVP frontrunner Sebastian Driussi as Sporting suffered their third straight league loss and their fifth consecutive MLS defeat at home.

Less than 72 hours removed from a debilitating shootout loss at Sacramento Republic FC in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals, Sporting fielded a reshuffled lineup as right back Kayden Pierre, winger Marinos Tzionis, striker Willy Agada and midfielders Cam Duke and Felipe Hernandez entered the fray. Agada earned his first start for the club after arriving from overseas earlier this month and coming off the bench in each of Sporting’s last two matches.

Entering the weekend unbeaten in five road matches and boasting the best scoring offense in MLS, Austin threatened inside seven minutes as Driussi settled a pass from Maxi Urruti and sent a 25-yard firecracker inches wide of goalkeeper John Pulskamp’s left-hand post.

Sporting responded with a beautifully orchestrated move of their own at the quarter-hour juncture. Agada did brilliantly to touch Andreu Fontas’ long ball into the path of Hernandez, who embarked on a 40 yard run goalward before spreading the ball left to Tzionis. The 21-year-old Cypriot fired low and forced a save from Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver before the visitors managed to scramble the rebound clear.

Not long later, a wild sequence saw Austin have three goals rightly disallowed. Urruti picked out the top corner with a thunderous long-range blast, Diego Fagundez tapped home on the doorstep and Ethan Finlay slotted home on the breakaway, but all three players were in offside positions upon receiving their passes.

At the opposite end, Sporting captain Johnny Russell dashed onto a long throw-in from Pierre and crossed low for Tzionis near the endline, but Austin center back Ruben Gabrielsen intervened to extinguish the danger near the 30th minute.

Two minutes before halftime, Sporting were reduced to 10 men as Duke picked up his second yellow card and was thusly ejected from the match. Things went from bad to worse for the hosts on the strike of intermission when Ring’s long-range strike skipped through the legs of Pulskamp and tricked into the back of the net, giving…