(Photo Credit Jeff Wong)
Due to weather concerns, last nights match in Kansas City was delayed for about two hours before the Blues could face the Portland Thorns. When the match resumed and the rain had passed, Portland displayed their dominance and starting attacking early with several close shots to put pressure on Kansas City.
The Blues also had several potential opportunities when midfielder Desiree Scott managed to gain possession of the ball and made a solid cross to Erika Tymrak, who missed the header. Lo’eau Labonta then took a follow-up shot, which went just wide of the goal.
With Kansas City upping the pressure, the Thorns also came back to prove themselves the dominant team. Defender Brittany Taylor took a corner kick in the 27th minute to send it into the box, but it was then deflected by Kansas City forward Sydney Leroux, which allowed for another corner kick which was once again cleared before the ball could see the back of the net.
In the 44th minute, the Thorns made their way down to the Blues goal and the rebound ball fell to the feet of Thorns forward Christine Sinclair, who was then tackled by Becca Moros and received a foul to give Portland a penalty kick, which was taken by midfielder Amandine Henry to put the Portland Thorns in the lead with a 1-0 advantage.
As the Thorns came out with increasing their score advantage, Kansas City remained strong with their backline clearing out any opportunity for the Thorns. In the 65th minute, the tables turned and Moros earned a free kick for the Blues as Ashleigh Skyes was fouled. Yael Averbuch took the kick and shot low at the goal to score the equalizer for Kansas City, who were now 1-1.
Several minutes later, Brittany Ratcliffe made her way down the field and sent the ball across the field where it reached Leroux, who headed the ball in to put the Blues up 2-1. The Thorns continued to persevere to try and see the back of the net, but they couldn’t find it.
Kansas City made quite the comeback from an early goal to see their second consecutive win with a 5-8-5 record as they have 20 points. The Portland Thorns put a hold on their four-game winning streak, but stand in second place with 31 points.
Head coach Vlatko Andonovski of Kansas City made a comment of last nights match result by stating: “It’s good that we got the win and the three points, but the biggest thing is for these players to see that we can play with and beat anyone.”
Kansas City will make their way to Chicago to face the Chicago Red Stars on Sunday, August 20th at 6:00 p.m. ET. The Portland Thorns will host the Houston Dash on Saturday, August 19th with kickoff scheduled to take place at 10:00 p.m. ET.
SCORING SUMMARY:
POR-Amandine Henry 44’
KC-Yael Averbuch 65’
KC-Sydney Leroux 69’
BOOKING SUMMARY:
None
FC KANSAS CITY: #18-Nicole Barnhart, #3-Becca Morris, #10-Yael Averbuch, #4-Becky Sauerbrunn, #13-Brittany Taylor, #31-Christina Gibbons, #11-Desiree Scott, #15-Erika Tymrak (#25-Brittany Ratcliffe 62’), #9-Lo’eau Labonta (#6-Katie Bowen 62’), #2-Shea Groom, #14-Sydney Leroux (#44-Maegan Kelly 80’)
Subs not used: #17-Sydney Miramontez, #19-Cat Parkhill, #21-Caroline Flynn,
#88-Alexa Newfield
PORTLAND THORNS FC: #24Adrianna Franch, #2-Katherine Reynolds, #16-Emily Sonnet, #4-Emily Menges, #25-Meghan Klingenberg, #28-Amandine Henry, #7-Lindsey Horan, #14-Ashleigh Skyes (#26-Mallory Weber 72’), #21-Hayley Raso, #12-Christine Sinclair, #11-Dagny Brynjarsdóttir (#9-Nadia Nadim 63’)
Subs not used: #33-Britt Eckerstrom, #27-Meghan Cox, #30-Celeste Boureille, #15-Kendall Johnson
TOTAL SHOTS: KC 15-13 POR
SHOTS ON GOAL: KC 4-5 POR
FOULS: KC 8-10 POR
OFFSIDES: KC 0-1 POR
CORNER KICKS: KC 7-6 POR
SAVES: KC 4-2 POR
FC Kansas City
