Beyond The Box Score: Sporting KC balanced from back to front

Dom Dwyer’s 150th competitive appearance for Sporting Kansas City was one to remember.

The prolific striker struck twice in Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat of the New York Red Bulls as Manager Peter Vermes’ men surged to the summit of the Western Conference table.

Dwyer now has five goals in as many games — the last three of which with his weaker right foot. His 46th-minute opener on Wednesday, an opportunistic finish following a deflected effort from Benny Feilhaber, proved to be a historic match winner. It was Dwyer’s 13th career game-winning goal in the MLS regular season, tying Preki’s long-standing club record.

While it took Preki 218 games to amass 13 game-winners, it’s taken Dwyer just 122. Taking a look at the table below, arguably no Kansas City player has been more impactful in deciding games than the England-born forward.

SPORTING KC: MOST GAME-WINNING GOALS
(ALL-TIME, MLS REGULAR SEASON)

As the spearhead of a Sporting Kansas City attack that has racked up eight goals in its last three home games, Dwyer’s scoring touch just may be the catalyst for extending the club’s strong start into the month of May.

“We just want him to score goals, and he’s doing that — he’s getting good chances,” Vermes said postgame. “That first goal was a scrappy goal, but that’s the kind of goal that gets you going. And you need those sometimes. The second goal was a very good buildup down the right side.”

The buildup Vermes refers to brings us conveniently to another star in yesterday’s comfortable victory. Feilhaber was a thorn in New York’s side from start to finish, assisting Dwyer’s goal and finishing with a jaw-dropping six chances created — one shy of tying Sporting KC’s single-game record during the Opta era (2010-present).

Only three players since 2010 have created more chances in a match than Feilhaber’s six on Wednesday. Graham Zusi has racked up seven on four occasions — but not since July 2014 — while Bobby Convey carved out seven almost five years ago to the day. The other player to do so was Feilhaber himself in March 2013.

Indeed, Dwyer may have done the scoring damage, but Feilhaber pulled the strings in a man of the match performance that saw him create three times as many chances as New York’s entire team (two).

SPORTING KC: MOST CHANCES CREATED IN SINGLE GAME
(MLS REGULAR SEASON SINCE 2010)

“We feel good about where we are, but I think everybody has a good sense of how early it is in the season, and there is a lot of season left,” Feilhaber said after the match. “We are keeping level-headed and taking it game-by-game.”

Indeed, the 2017 campaign is still young, but it’s hard to ignore the gaudy numbers being posted by Tim Melia. The Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper needed to make just two saves on Wednesday, but one was an absolute stunner that denied New York’s Fredrik Gulbrandsen in the 28th minute. Vermes’ opening remarks in the postgame press conference summed it up succinctly: “There was one mistake by us, but Tim made an incredible save tonight.”

Melia currently leads MLS goalkeepers in three of the most relevant statistical categories: shutouts (six), goals against average (0.33) and save percentage (84.4). Throw it all together, and he’s off to one of the best nine-game starts in Kansas City’s goalkeeping history.

“We had some moments where we put them under pressure, and if Tim doesn’t make such a great save on Freddy’s chance, we’re talking about a different game,” Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles said postgame.

SPORTING KC GOALKEEPERS: FIRST NINE GAMES OF AN MLS SEASON

Melia and Sporting KC will look to carry their impregnable defensive form into Sunday’s road test against expansion side Minnesota United FC. The inaugural installment of what might become a new MLS rivalry will kick off at 12:30 p.m. CT on FS1, FOX Deportes, ESPN 99.3 FM and La Grande 1340 AM.