SANTA MONICA – Philadelphia Union, the eighth place team in the Eastern Conference, tied the top ranked team in the Western Conference, Sporting KC, on Thursday.
Before the game even started Sporting KC already had quite the disadvantage. They had to replace many of their most seasoned vets who were off preparing for the Gold Cup with younger, less experienced players.
The game started out pretty slow, with Sporting KC getting some decent chances on goal, but not being able to finish. They continued to dominate possession, but struggled to score for the duration of the first half.
After the first half ended in a scoreless draw, Sporting KC came back ready and scored right away. In the 49th minute Diego Rubio shot a beauty past several defenders and into the far corner of the net. After many failed attempts, Sporting KC was finally in the lead, 1-0.
However, that lead would not last. Just 20 minutes later, Philadelphia Union answered with a goal of their own. Sporting KC fouled Philadelphia in the box and Roland Alberg took the penalty kick, tying the game up 1-1.
While this was a good showing for Philadelphia, Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes was not too pleased with the results. “We should have had three tonight. This is a game where we should’ve had three points. We were the better team. Whatever statistics say, it doesn’t really matter. You can just watch the game and know that…Whether it’s young guys out there or not – to me it doesn’t matter – tonight we should have got three points. It’s not a night that we should have gotten one. And I’m disappointed in that regard,” he said according to sportingkc.com
Next, Sporting KC will play in the U.S. Open Cup Quarter-final against FC Dallas on July 11th at 5:30, while Philadelphia will play Montreal on July 19th at 4:30.
Diego Rubio scored the first goal of the match.
Photo by: Bill Barrett
Photos by ISI.
