After going 10 straight Major League Soccer matches without a win to start the season, Sporting Kansas City has launched a new streak.
Dany Rosero and Daniel Salloi scored and Tim Melia stopped a penalty kick that resulted from a foul he created. And that was just during the first half. Gadi Kinda landed the final blow with an 84th-minute goal as Sporting KC beat Minnesota United 3-0 at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan.
It’s Sporting’s second straight MLS victory after last weekend’s 2-1 win at Seattle — two league triumphs sandwiching Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup loss at Houston, a game played with more than a few KC subs.
Saturday’s victory was additionally meaningful because it moved Sporting KC out of the Western Conference cellar at 2-3-7.
The last time Sporting KC went on a winning streak was last season, when Peter Vermes’ club won three in a row. That mini-streak started with positive results against — wait for it — the Sounders and Minnesota, in that order.
Rosero opened the scoring less than 10 minutes into Saturday night’s match. Minnesota goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair couldn’t keep out Rosero’s header off a corner kick.
Salloi got the assist on the corner kick and then scored a goal of his own 13 minutes later. The sequence began in Sporting’s midfield with a vicious turn from Alan Pulido.
Pulido dumped off the ball to Remi Walter, who back-heeled a pass right into Salloi’s path. From there, the Hungarian winger lashed a curling shot past St. Clair for his second goal of the season.
Sporting KC was dominant throughout the match, holding Minnesota to six shots. Melia’s penalty-kick save was the only save he needed to make in the first half.
Kinda tallied Sporting KC’s third late on a beautiful sequence between Johnny Russell and Pulido to unlock space in the midfield. As Russell drove at goal, he slipped a pass in behind the Minnesota backline to Kinda, who chipped St. Clair for his first goal since undergoing surgery.
Melia had to come out of the match after an injury to his hip flexor. Kendall McIntosh replaced him.
Sporting KC continues its busy May schedule this coming week in Southern California. Sporting takes on high-flying LAFC on Wednesday night before heading east along I-70 to play St. Louis for the first time.