Coming off a win in a friendly against one of Liga MX’s most storied teams on Wednesday, one would think that match against last-place Sporting Kansas City, albeit on the road, would’ve almost certainly meant the Galaxy were coming out with points.
Kansas City however showed that despite their current standing in the West, they still have plenty of fight in them. William Agada provided that fight for Kansas City, as his two goals inside the final five minutes of the first half, combined with goals from Erik Thommy and Daniel Salloi carried Sporting to a 4-2 win over the Galaxy at Children’s Mercy Park.
“Again, we get ourselves in the hole,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said. “There’s still one-third of the season left, but the same time, we’ve got to stop being in this position and having this discussion.”
Thommy got Kansas City going 10 minutes into the match. Salloi played a short pass to Roger Espinoza, who then played Thommy into the penalty area, an unmarked Thommy timed his run perfectly to get to the ball, chested a ball, which got him into a windup position and Thommy one-timed a right-footed shot past keeper Jonathan Bond far post to open the scoring for Kansas City.
Then it was Agada’s turn to impose his will on the match. Agada got his first goal with a little assistance from instant replay. Salloi sprung Espinoza down the right side of the pitch, Espinoza touched into the penalty area, sent a left-footed cross into the six-yard box, Agada touched a ball at goal, Bond dove to his right to make the stop, but in the process sent the ball back to the feet of Agada, but his rebound attempt was stopped by Bond at the goal line, Agada got the ball back and this time tried to head the ball into goal, but Bond didn’t flinch and managed to catch the ball at the goal line.
Replays however later showed that Agada’s first rebound chance may have crossed the goal line. Video review was initiated, and it was concluded that the entire ball did cross the goal line as Bond, who himself was inside the goal, got his hands on the ball, thus awarding the goal to Agada and a 2-0 Kansas City lead. Agada then gave Sporting an all-important goal right before the half, as Graham Zusi sent a long ball that took a bounce, Galaxy left back Chase Gasper tried to clear the ball, only to see it deflect off his head and go into the box, Salloi tracked the ball down, played a short cross into the six and Agada charged into the back post area and finished the open netter, and Kansas City headed into the locker room up 3-0.
“There’s this threshold that’s supposed to be clear and obvious,” Vanney said of Agada’s awarded goal. “Either the ball is over the line or it’s not over line. It shouldn’t take you six minutes or five and a half minutes to figure out whether it’s over the line or not. It’s clearly not clear and obvious, in my opinion.”
The Galaxy though refused to go down without a fight. Javier Chicharito Hernandez got the Galaxy on the board in the 83rd minute, as Efrain Alvarez sent a ball off his right foot into the penalty area, Chicharito just managed to get behind the Kansas City defense, got the ball just outside the six and slotted the shot past keeper John Pulskamp far post. The goal was initially waived off as Chicharito was ruled offside, but this time, Video Review benefitted the Galaxy, as it saw that Chicharito did stay onside the Sporting back line after Alvarez got the ball off, and the call was reversed to a Galaxy goal.
The Galaxy made things really interesting in stoppage time. Julian Araujo chased down a long ball and dribbled into the penalty area, Araujo then played a ball back outside the six, Kansas City’s Uri Rosell made a play on the ball, with his feet, but the ball also deflected off his left hand area, referee Michael Radchuk awarded the Galaxy the penalty, which Chicharito scored on and suddenly, the Galaxy were just a goal away from salvaging a point in the match. The Galaxy however stumbled late in stoppage time, as Araujo, pressured by Salloi, attempted a back pass to Bond, but Araujo made a bad pass towards Bond, Salloi alertly tracked down the ball and slotted a shot past Bond far post to seal the three points for Kansas City.
“We’re not getting the basics right, we’re doing sloppy things,” Bond said. “We’re putting ourselves in bad positions. We’re going behind every first half and it’s just a mountain to climb.”
The Galaxy will try to rebound next Saturday, as they host the Vancouver Whitecaps.
