Houston adds to Sporting KC’s home woes
A mixture of lightning and heavy rain enveloped Sporting Park on Friday, causing a 77-minute weather delay between Sporting Kansas City and Houston.
After that break, a budding rivalry resumed. So did Sporting Kansas City’s home woes.
Houston broke a seven-game road losing streak in the unlikeliest of venues when it emerged from Sporting Park with a 3-1 victory Friday.
Sporting KC missed an opportunity to return to the top of the Eastern Conference standings by dropping its second straight home match in front of the stadium’s 50th straight sellout, which included 20,332 fans Friday. The club has won only five of its 14 home matches this season.
Dom Dwyer appeared ready to change that with a game-tying goal in the 55th minute — his 17th of the season — but Houston quickly answered with two set-piece finishes in a match that showed all the characteristics of rivalry.
Lightning produced the lengthy delay, which started in the 17th minute and lasted an hour and 17 minutes. It also produced some pent-up energy. When the two clubs returned from the 77-minute break, the match adopted more of its traditional rivalry flavor.
A fracas broke out in the 42nd minute when midfielder Benny Feilhaber shoved Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie, who immediately retaliated with a two-hand push that sent Feilhaber to the grass. Several players joined the melee before they were separated by referees. No punches were thrown.
Feilhaber and Sarkodie were issued yellow cards for their role in igniting the scrum. It will cost Feilhaber a chance to play his former team. He will miss Sporting Kansas City’s match Wednesday in New England because of a yellow-card accumulation.
So, too, will Dwyer after he was shown a yellow card in the first half. Dwyer moved within one goal of the club’s single-season scoring mark. Preki scored 18 for the Kansas City Wizards in 1996.
It wasn’t enough.
Sporting Kansas City bolted out of the delay and took control of the match, but Houston jumped on the scoreboard first nonetheless. Sporting KC defender Aurelien Collin attempted to clear a cross, but his touch instead fell to Will Bruin, who had no problem firing his 10th goal of the season into the back of the net. Bruin suffered an apparent leg injury on the play and left the match four minutes later.
Houston marched on just fine without him. The Dynamo connected on a pair of set pieces started by captain Brad Davis. Horst headed the first one home in the 62nd minute before Clark repeated the task only five minutes later. Both players were poorly marked.
Sporting Kansas City will leave Sporting Park for a three-game road trip — perhaps a welcome one.
The club has won seven of its 12 road matches this season, including five of its past six. It fell to 5-3-6 at home.
The road trip begins Wednesday with a match in New England. After subsequent road matches against New York and Chivas USA, the club returns to Sporting Park for a Sept. 18 match against Saprissa in the CONCACAF Champions League.
This story was originally published August 29, 2014 at 10:58 PM with the headline "Houston adds to Sporting KC’s home woes."