Manu Garcia and Stephen Afrifa provided the sparks that manager Raphael Wicky wanted, as the two second-half subs netted goals over a four-minute span that lifted Sporting Kansas City to a 2-1 win over Austin FC on Saturday, May 16 in the Texas capital.
Fresh off their midweek humbling of the LA Galaxy, Sporting made no changes from that lineup. SKC controlled the game for much of the first half, but Austin would claim the halftime lead against the run of play in stoppage time when Mikkel Desler volleyed home a cross from Guilherme Biro. Sporting continued to threaten, finally leveling things in the 79th minute when Garcia and fellow sub Shapi Suleymanov slipped passes through the Austin midfield to set up Garcia’s rocket from just inside the penalty area. Four minutes later, Afrifa curled the game-winner into the top corner of the net.
Sporting KC outshot Austin 21-7, with nine shots on goal to Austin’s three.
The win is Sporting’s second straight, bringing them up to 11 points on the season. That’s still at the bottom of the Western Conference. Sporting will conclude the first half of the season next Saturday when they host Red Bull New York.
Chris Durkin scored against his former club, but St Louis City SC saw their lead slip away in stoppage time as they split the points with DC United 1-1 on Saturday night at Audi Field.
Durkin, who was traded to City in the off-season, netted his second goal of the year in the 50th minute when he made a right-footed shot outside the box that sailed to the bottom left corner. Sangbin Jeong recorded his first assist of the year with Durkin’s goal. City went down a man later in the half when Conrad Wallem picked up his second yellow card. That left ten men to defend the lead, which went away with João Peglow’s goal in the 90th minute.
City outshot DC 17-15, while DC recorded five shots on goal to City’s three. St Louis City remain second from the bottom of the Western Conference on 13 points. It’s a quick turnaround for City, as they return home to host Houston on Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup; kickoff is at 7 p.m.