Sporting Kansas City keeps up the soccer magic, rallies again for victory over LAFC

No matter the language, there’s one thing many agree on worldwide about soccer: It’s The Beautiful Game.

Even nature seemed to concur Saturday afternoon as Sporting Kansas City defeated LAFC 2-1 at a rainy, sunny and joyous Children’s Mercy Park.

After falling behind for the seventh time this season, Kansas City was in need of another comeback to pull three points out of the bag. They have done it before. Prior to Saturday’s match, KC had fallen behind in six games already this season, yet had won four of those and taken 13 out of 18 points.

But an hour in and trailing 1-0 on Saturday, things were looking bleak for KC. And as worry entered Children’s Mercy Park, so did the weather. A strong storm swept over the stadium, swollen water droplets lashing down on the players on the pitch.

“Honestly, I didn’t understand what was happening,” Sporting’s Daniel Salloi said. “We went from sun to pouring rain, and you couldn’t see anything.”

Just minutes into the deluge, though, Salloi broke down the left side of the field, beating LAFC right back Tristan Blackmon. With nothing left to do, Blackmon dragged down Salloi, receiving a straight red card for preventing a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

Blackmon had already earned a yellow in the 12th minute for dragging down Salloi in a similar manner.

“Daniel’s movement to play the one-two and get around him, I think that’s what killed (Blackmon),” KC head coach Peter Vermes said.

Gianluca Busio’s freekick following the red card clanked off the crossbar, but the volume in Children’s Mercy Park was steadily rising.

Three minutes later, when Alan Pulido fired home a first-time shot into the bottom right corner in the 61st minute, the fans blew the roof off.

And with the fans still roaring, the torrent of rainwater ceased up immediately.

In its place? A literal rainbow sprung up over the north side of the stadium, where KC’s supporter’s section sits.

And the magic wasn’t over. In the 87th minute, Salloi scored his fourth goal in four games with a beautiful curler into the top corner to secure KC the victory.

Twelve games into the 2021 season, Salloi is already creeping into early MVP discussions. He has seven goals and three assists in 10 starts and a couple of nicknames have begun to spring up for him.

First came the “Hungarian Assassin” from Sporting KC announcer Nate Bukaty, then “Showtime Salloi” appeared following his late winner on Saturday.

“That’s good, that’s good,” Salloi laughed. “Nate’s Hungarian Assassin was good too, but maybe I like Showtime Salloi more.”

Still, it wasn’t all rainbows for Kansas City.

Not long after Pulido’s goal, KC’s star forward went down after a nasty collision that resulted in a laceration on his leg that left him unable to walk off the field unaided.

KC’s issue of falling behind also continued in the first half, when a defensive breakdown allowed Kim Moon-Hwan to give the visitors the lead in the 24th minute.

As LAFC attacked down the left flank and Jaylin Lindsey was caught further up the field, centerback Ilie Sanchez shifted over to cover the right side of the field. That resulted in the whole defense shifting, so when Andreu Fontas stepped up, right back Luis Martins was forced to follow the run of Danny Musovski inside.

Behind Martins? A wide-open Moon-Hawn, who received the ball, cut inside past a retreated Salloi, and fired home the opener.

KC continued to control possession but didn’t get a shot on target in the first half. That trend continued into the second half, up until the point of Blackmon’s red card.

Moon-Hawn ended up moving to right back as LAFC shifted to a back five, but KC continued to attack down his side. The breakthrough came off a cross from the left side of KC’s attack, which was headed down right into the path of Pulido who fired home.

Salloi’s late winner ensured all three points for Kansas City and marked the fifth time in seven occasions that Sporting KC fell behind yet won the game.

Sporting’s 16 points from trailing positions through 12 games this season has now matched the 16 points it gained from trailing positions throughout the entire previous two seasons.

“I think it’s having faith in ourselves and not getting away from it when we concede,” said Graham Zusi, who came on in the 40th minute for an injured Jaylin Lindsey.

“We continue to trust our style and rely on that throughout the whole 90 minutes, eventually that’s going to tire a team out and we break them down.”

This story was originally published June 26, 2021 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Sporting Kansas City keeps up the soccer magic, rallies again for victory over LAFC."