Sporting sweeps aside Portland in dominant 4-1 home win
Sporting have impressed in two of their last three games and return to Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday by hosting the San Jose Earthquakes (6-11-9, 27 points) at 7:30 PM CT. Tickets for the clash are available on SeatGeek.com and the competition will be streamed live on 38 The Spot, the Sporting KC app and SportingKC.com.
For the first time since April 2017, Sporting have fielded an unchanged lineup in three straight regular-season games. Sunday’s 4-3-3 setup saw the in-form Agada in attack flanked by captain Johnny Russell and winger Daniel Salloi, supported by the midfield trio of Thommy, Remi Walter and Roger Espinoza. Fontas, Graham Zusi, Nicolas Isimat-Mirin and Ben Sweat manned the back line and 21-year-old goalkeeper John Pulskamp stepped between the posts.
The hosts created their first scoring chance of the game in the 10th minute, when Thommy’s corner was headed over the goal by Espinoza at the near post and headed over the bar by a tightly marked Fontas on the edge of the six-yard box. Six minutes later, Espinoza questioned the Portland defense further and shoved a clever through ball behind Agada, but the Nigerian lacked the pace and direction to beat Timbers goaltender Aljaz Ivacic.
Agada gave Sporting a deserved lead after half an hour. Zusi, who had made room on the right wing, hissed in a teasing cross that Portland central defender Larrys Mabiala couldn’t clear. The ball fell kindly to Agada, who netted his fourth goal in three games with a thunderous finish. The 22-year-old is the first Sporting player to score four goals in three games since Russell last October and is second in MLS with four goals in August.
Full of momentum, Sporting doubled their lead in the 40th minute with the 1,200. regular season goal in club history. With the Timbers on the backfoot, a pinball sequence in the penalty area culminated as Fontas gained possession, pivoted and slammed a left-footed bomb past a helpless Ivacic into the left corner. Fontas, 32, has now scored goals in consecutive league games for the first time in his announced career after opening his 2022 account in last weekend’s 4-3 defeat at Austin FC.
Not to be outdone, Thommy blew the roof of Children’s Mercy Park three minutes later with a world-class shot from 25 yards. Chasing a long ball, Agada turned center with his back to goal and put the ball down on Thommy, who pocketed a superb flick into the right corner to score his second goal of his fledgling and thriving MLS career. Notably, the long-range shot made Sporting the first team in MLS history to score three first-half goals in three straight games.
After dominating the first half, Sporting Pulskamp owed the team’s zero-zero protection shortly after the restart. The homegrown keeper sped off his line first and got a paw on the ball to stop Yimmi Chara from putting a shot at the breakaway, then produced a phenomenal save on the rebound, pulling back and heading Sebastian Blanco’s daring 30- meter curler touched over the bar. Not long after, Pulskamp dropped low to smother Dairon Asprilla’s close shot after a Santiago Moreno cross.
Sporting brimmed with persuasion and came tantalizingly close to scoring a fourth goal in the 54th minute. Salloi led the breakaway, feeding and overlapping Agada, who clipped the ball back for Russell. The Scotland winger had his shot deflected by Ivacic before Agada thundered an inch-high right-footed volley.
Immediately afterwards, Pulskamp made another brilliant save against Asprilla from an acute angle. End-to-end action unfolded enticingly as Thommy and Zusi almost created a combination on the hour and Moreno strapped a 20-yard shot just over the bar in the 63rd minute.
After Pulskamp fended off Asprilla brilliantly again in the 73rd minute, Agada completed a masterly performance with 75 minutes on the clock. Sweat poured down the left channel and swept an inch-perfect cross down the run of Agada, who fired home from near the penalty spot to become the second player in Sporting history to score five goals in the span of three regular-season appearances and Eddie Johnson joined in 2007. Agada is also the third player in Sporting history to score five goals in his first five regular-season games for the club, joining Felipe Gutierrez in 2018 and Miklos Molnar in 2000 .
Blanco added an insignificant goal for the Timbers in the 90th minute, denying Pulskamp a goal despite the keeper’s strong display. The melee was initially flagged for offside, but VAR intervened and referee Armando Villarreal gave the goal straight away.