Sporting KC leave Minnesota with 3 points thanks to Melia’s goalkeeping, Kinda’s strike
In a match that stood scoreless until the 84th minute, Gadi Kinda made winners of Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.
Kinda’s left-footed goal accounted for all of the scoring in a taut Major League Soccer affair at Allianz Field in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Sporting KC had beaten Minnesota in Saint Paul only once before, but Kinda’s goal off the bench doubled that win total. Veteran KC goalkeeper Tim Melia earned the clean sheet.
“We have to take a ton of confidence from this game,” Melia said. “This is no easy place to play, against a very good team. Overall, it was just a massively gritty performance that we should be proud of.”
Sporting KC (9-12-8) moved into the ninth spot in the MLS standings with the victory. Kansas City holds a playoff tiebreaker with FC Dallas on goals scored, but Dallas has played two fewer games.
Last week, Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes had voiced his displeasure about Kinda’s selection to the Israeli national team despite being injured for the previous two games.
But that seems like water under the bridge now.
“We talked about it when he got back,” Vermes said. “I told Gadi, ‘It’s behind us. Let’s move on. And when you play, you need to go give it your all.’”
Kinda was brought on for the final 15 minutes Saturday, as were Roger Espinoza and Khiry Shelton. All three played key roles in the goal.
Shelton received the ball just outside the Minnesota penalty area and held up well before passing back to Espinoza. Espinoza saw Kinda wide open on the right side of the field and played a perfect pass to lead Kinda toward the goal.
Kinda took a touch inside and cut back onto his left foot to shoot the ball past Minnesota goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair.
“I would say this is a mature performance by us,” Vermes said. “It’s really nice to see with all the different ups and downs we’ve had over the season, that at a time when we needed a mature performance, the guys actually executed on it.”
Two critical moments occurred early in the second half. The first was a Minnesota shot that skimmed off Jake Davis’ head and over the SKC goal, which was empty at the time.
The second involved yet another expert goalkeeping display by Melia. Minnesota’s Emmanuel Reynoso had Sporting’s defense scrambling all night. but in one particular sequence he passed to summer signing Teemu Pukki, who took too long to shoot. That gave Melia time to make a sprawling dive at it.
“I thought our guys actually did a good job covering back in (the box),” Melia said. “It forced (Reynoso) to have to pull the ball back just a little bit further because (Sporting defender) Andreu Fontas was dropped to my right. That allowed me the time to kind of get across goal and make myself as big as I could.”
Sporting KC will return home for their next two matches, playing host to Nashville Wednesday before welcoming a red-hot Houston Dynamo team to Children’s Mercy Park next Saturday. Kickoff for both matches is set for 7:30 p.m.
This story was originally published September 16, 2023 at 9:34 PM.