Sporting Kansas City (4-16-3, 15 pts.) suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 defeat against FC Dallas (10-6-7, 37 pts.) at Toyota Stadium on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
After taking a 2-0 lead through Taylor Calheira and Stephen Afrifa, Sporting found themselves 3-2 down at halftime. Sporting controlled the second half and equalized through Calheira, only for a controversial penalty kick in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time to break SKC hearts. Sporting dominated much of the game, setting a season high with 3.1 expected goals and recording nine shots on target \u2013 the most the team has recorded in a road match since 2011.<\/p>\n
Head coach Raphael Wicky made three changes to the starting lineup from last week\u2019s loss against the Vancouver Whitecaps, highlighted by Designated Player Andre Luiz making his first start since arriving in a club-record transfer from Olympiacos FC. Andre started in place of the injured Calvin Harris, while\u00a0Afrifa and Kwaku Agyabeng returned to the lineup in place of Shapi Suleymanov and Jacob Bartlett, respectively.<\/p>\n
Sporting got off to a dream start when Calheira scored his first career MLS goal in the fourth minute. Capita Capemba showed brilliant skill down the left wing to drive toward goal and when his shot was saved by Jonathan Sirois, Calheira was on hand to fire home the rebound to make the score 1-0.<\/p>\n
Sporting continued to push forward, with Andre forcing Sirois into a low save from distance before Justin Reynolds pinched a ball in the final third and saw his low strike pushed away by the Dallas\u2019 goalkeeper. Calheira almost grabbed his second in the 12th minute but Sirois again produced heroics to deny the forward from close range off Reynolds\u2019 deflected cross.<\/p>\n
Sporting doubled the lead in the 20th minute when Afrifa\u2019s high press paid off as he closed down Dallas captain Ramiro on the edge of the area and deflected his attempted pass into the back of the net with Sirois stranded. The goal was Afrifa\u2019s third of the season and ninth of his Sporting career.<\/p>\n
Afrifa almost added another two minutes later but dragged the effort just wide on his weaker left foot after being sent scampering through by Calheira. Instead, Dallas pulled a goal back with their first shot of the game in the 27th minute when Logan Farrington slotted home after being set up by star striker Petar Musa.<\/p>\n
Dallas found the equalizer three minutes later when Musa expertly headed home Bernard Kamungo\u2019s cross. The hosts completed the turnaround in the 45th minute when Kaick slammed the ball home from the edge of the area to make the score 3-2.<\/p>\n
Sporting had a penalty shout on the stroke of halftime when Calheira played Andre in behind before the Brazilian was brought down by Nolan Norris. Following a lengthy VAR check, referee Lorenzo Hernandez\u2019s decision of no penalty stood as Sporting went into halftime with work to do.<\/p>\n
Sporting pushed hard in the second half and went agonizingly close on multiple occasions as Andre saw a shot tipped around the post by Sirois before substitute Shapi Suleymanov fired over from close range, Afrifa saw an effort saved by Sirois and Calheira had a shot blocked right in front of goal.<\/p>\n
Sporting finally got the goal their second-half performance deserved when Calheira headed home his second goal of the night off a brilliant cross from Emir Karic in the 78th minute. Karic and Agyabeng were credited with assists on the goal, their first for the club.<\/p>\n
With the game wide open heading into second-half stoppage time, Dallas was awarded a controversial penalty kick when Moises Mosquera was adjudged to have brought down Musa on the very edge of the area. Musa stepped up to stroke home his MLS-leading 18th goal of the season and give Dallas all three points.<\/p>\n