Luke Stergiou
Equinox Staff
In one of the craziest games of the 2019 Major League Soccer (MLS) season so far, The New England Revolution played Sporting Kansas City in Kansas City. This game produced 8 goals, 2 red cards and two penalties. Despite all this craziness, the game ended in a 4-4 draw.
Coming off of a rather demoralizing defeat to Montreal Impact at home earlier in the week, the Revolution were looking to give themselves a boost in the next game. However, the club would be traveling to Kansas City to play Sporting Kansas City, which is never going to be an easy feat. With a fiercely loyal fanbase and a very strong side, Playing at Kansas City is never easy. Plus, going up against former teammates Kelyn Rowe and Krisztian Nemeth would pose an awkward challenge as well.
New England drew first blood in the 18th minute after Juan Agudelo made a run down the wing, past the SKC defense and sending a cross into the box to Juan Fernando Caicedo who settled the ball down and with no hesitation sent the ball right into the net. This unlikely early goal put the Revolution up 1-0.
Sporting Kansas City would tie up the game in the 32’ minute, after a cross sent in by Sporting Kansas City captain Graham Zusi found the head of striker Krisztian Nemeth, who headed it comfortably past Revolution goalkeeper Cody Cropper. Even though Kansas City started out the game very lackluster, the club started to bounce back.
Shortly After Juan Fernando Caicedo scored a brace to make the score 2-1 to the revolution, New England regained the lead once again in the 42’ minute after midfielder Tajon Buchanan, who received his first MLS start, found his way down the wing and sent in a cross to Juan Agudelo, who put in the loose ball past Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia, making the score 3-1 to the Revolution just before halftime.
New England went down to playing with 10 men in the 55’ minute after Brandon Bye was issued a red card after a late tackle against Sporting Kansas City winger Gerso Fernandes. Shortly after, Tajon Buchanan conceded a penalty, which prompted Sporting Kansas City player Felipe Gutierrez to slot it past Cody Cropper comfortably, making the score 3-2, with New England still on top.
In the 65’ minute, Sporting Kansas City would concede a penalty. Carles Gil would step up to take it, but ultimately have it saved. New England Defender DeJuan Jones would bury the deflection past Tim Melia to make it 4-2 to the Revolution. Felipe Gutierrez helped Sporting Kansas City inch closer to tying up after scoring a second goal in the 70’ minute to make the score 4-3. This was followed up by Krisztian Nemeth scoring his second goal of the game to make the final score of the game 4-4 in the 83’ minute.
This game was so unexpectedly wild that it was almost hard to keep up with. The Revolution had two players sent off with red cards, played with 9 men, and still somehow managed an 8 goal draw. It’s hard to say what my takeaway is from this game, as there’s so many things to talk about. But let’s see if the Revolution can redeem themselves when the club travels to Philadelphia to take on the Philadelphia Union on Sat. May 4.
