DC United 0-1 Sporting Kansas City.

DC United lose late after substitute CJ Sapong heads home after losing his marker to ruin the opening day festivities for United fans.

The match started out with United being very direct. Hoofing balls to the forwards and bypassing the midfield, shooting themselves in the foot. Sporting Kansas City is deadly with the ball, and if it wasn’t for Bill Hamid, Kansas City could’ve won the match several goals to none.

Kansas City outshot United 17-7 and had 57% of the possession. This is a recipe for disaster against the Eastern Conference Champs. The brightest moment of the match was Hamid’s stop on Kai Kamera’s point-blank header.

Despite Kansas City controlling the match, we can take something from the match, we didn’t let them score until stoppage time. So close to a draw.

The attack of United lacked the supply on the ground they desperately needed. MVP Dwayne de Rosario and DP Hamdi Salihi were stuck fighting for balls in the air and weren’t given enough support on the ground. This let Kansas City run all over the black-and-red.

Salihi said after the game,

“We tried to go to goal and to score in the wrong way I think,” added Salihi. “We have to move the ball, to wait and to be patient. [We can't] just kick it and go with no idea to goal.”

This basically sums up United’s match against Kansas where they managed to only put one shot on target.

The season has already begun, but we go to Los Angeles to face the Galaxy on Sunday.

Category: DC United Team News