The game in 100 words (or less): Just like Peter Vermes drew it up, Benny Feilhaber (second of the season) and Dom Dwyer (third of the season) provided the goals as Sporting Kansas City grabbed a 2-0 win at Red Bull Arena on Saturday, allowing 22 shots (6 on target) in the process. OK, so maybe that last part wasn’t part of the plan, but it mattered very little on the night, as goalkeeper Tim Melia put in another Herculean performance en route to his third clean sheet of the season (five games played). With the victory, Sporting KC are the first side to four wins in MLS 2016 and back to the top spot in the Western Conference (12 points, two ahead of FC Dallas who play later on Saturday).
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Three moments that mattered
17' — Feilhaber slots home after some beautiful build-up — The key to successfully defending counter-attacks is to limit the amount of space in which your opponent operates. The Red Bulls did an extremely poor job of that on this Sporting counter, and Feilhaber, by way of Dom Dwyer and Graham Zusi, made them pay.
.@gzusi --> @ddwyer14 --> @gzusi --> @b_feilhaber22 --> @SportingKC goal. #NYvSKC https://t.co/o4Z0zRrFc7
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 9, 2016
60' — Dwyer finishes from close range for 2-0 — Chris Duvall let the ball bounce over his head from Saad Abdul-Salaam’s throw-in, and that was a bad thing to do. Dwyer finished with ease.
.@ddwyer14 sneaks one in off the throw-in. @SportingKC double their lead. #NYvSKC https://t.co/raa3Me3uGm
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 10, 2016
64' — Melia stone-walls BWP from the spot — Melia is making a serious case for the title of best goalkeeper in MLS, to be sure. Poor Bradley Wright-Phillips: 10 shots (4 on target) on the night, absolutely nothing to show for his relentless efforts.
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Man of the match: Tim Melia
Goalscorers: Feilhaber (17'), Dwyer (60')