Recap: Willy Agada nets brace in wild 4-3 loss to Real Salt Lake

Willy Agada struck twice and Stephen Afrifa scored in his second straight match as Sporting Kansas City (3-11-5, 14 points) fell to first-place Real Salt Lake (10-2-7, 37 points) in a 4-3 thriller on Wednesday night at Children’s Mercy Park.

Afrifa knotted the score at 1-1 near the half-hour mark and Agada bagged two second-half goals, bringing his team-leading tally to five on the season, but Real Salt Lake never trailed and extended the club’s unbeaten run to 15 MLS matches behind an Andres Gomez brace and additional goals from Anderson Julio and Matt Crooks. The result comes despite an engaged Sporting side hitting season-highs in shots (29), shots on target (10) and expected goals (4.4).

With losses in nine of 10 league games since late April, Sporting will look to turn the tide on Saturday by visiting the reigning MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. The interconference clash will be shown live on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV with local radio broadcasts on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

Navigating a stretch of three matches in eight days, Manager Peter Vermes made five changes to Sporting’s lineup from a 4-2 loss at the LA Galaxy on Saturday. Defenders Kayden Pierre and Dany Rosero joined the backline, Jake Davis slotted into midfield, and forwards Afrifa and Agada entered the attack. Goalkeeper Tim Melia, left back Zorhan Bassong, center back Andreu Fontas, captain Johnny Russell and midfielders Nemanja Radoja and Erik Thommy retained their places from the weekend.

In a breathless, back-and-forth encounter, the visitors drew first blood on 14 minutes by capitalizing on a Sporting turnover at midfield. RSL midfielder Diego Luna was afforded space to feed Gomez down the right side and the pacey winger made no mistake from there, rifling low into the far left corner.

The hosts were awarded a penalty kick in the 20th minute when Braian Ojeda was whistled for a foul on Erik Thommy inside the box, but RSL goalkeeper Gavin Beavers dove left to cast aside Russell’s penalty attempt.

Afrifa pulled Sporting level in the 28th minute, receiving an incisive pass from Radoja and dragging a low shot into the left corner for his second goal in as many games and his third tally in his last five appearances since May 21. Sporting leads MLS with 10 goals from outside the box this season, three more than any other team.

Parity was short-lived, however, as RSL regained the lead on 33 minutes. Luna had more midfield real estate to operate in and pinged an accurate through ball into the path of Julio, who dinked a clever finish over Melia and into the back of the net.

Sporting were unfortunate not to equalize once more in the 38th minute when Agada intercepted a pass in RSL’s own box and played to Davis, who lofted a ball toward the penalty spot for an open Thommy. The German attempted an acrobatic side volley and although he made clean contact, the effort lifted over the crossbar. Five minutes later, Afrifa curled an admirable attempt marginally wide from the left side of the area.

Both teams exchanged good scoring chances on the cusp of halftime. Luna ignited a counter attack by spinning free into the final third and playing a give-and-go with Gomez before seeing his shot from point-blank range saved by a sprawling Melia. At the opposite end, Agada planted a header high off Thommy’s pinpoint cross from the left flank.

RSL were fortunate not to concede an own goal in the 50th minute—Bode Hidalgo’s headed clearance nearly drifted into his own net—before building a 3-1 cushion in the 51st. Corralling a loose ball at midfield, Gomez made Sporting pay by breaking down the right side and chipping a deft finish into the net for his 10th goal of the 2024 regular season.

Facing a formidable deficit but not lacking intent, Sporting committed numbers forward during the final half hour and forced Beavers into a pair of stops at the hour juncture, the first from Russell and the second an audacious long-range dipper from Thommy that was destined for the right corner. Thommy remained active and in the 70th minute floated a pass in for Agada, who settled himself well before burying his shot high into the net to cut the gap to 3-2.

Beavers did brilliantly to prevent an own goal in the 80th minute, stretching to palm away a redirection from Brayan Vera after Russell had whipped in a teasing cross. Minutes later, Russell’s low drive off a Bassong cutback was corralled by the RSL gloveman.

RSL took a 4-2 lead in the 84th minute as Gomez clipped a searching diagonal ball to the feet of MLS Golden Boot leader Chicho Arango on the left edge of the box. From there, Arango steered a well-aimed delivery into the path of Crooks, who nodded home at the doorstep to open his MLS scoring account.

A chaotic stoppage time period saw Sporting nearly grab an unlikely point from the pulsating affair. Agada shook free of his marker on a corner kick in the 95th minute to head home his second goal of the game and his team-best fifth goal of the year, giving midfielder Memo Rodriguez a team-leading five assists in his debut campaign with the club.

Only a minute later, Sporting almost salvaged a point. With all SKC field players advancing into the final third, Thommy won possession at the top of the box and unleashed a low strike that caromed off the left post and hit the back of an outstretched Beavers, who had time to collect the loose ball before a Sporting player could react to the rebound.

2024 MLS Regular Season | Match 19
Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas
Attendance: 16,414
Weather: 79 degrees and partly cloudy

Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Kayden Pierre (Khiry Shelton 67'), Dany Rosero, Andreu Fontas (Robert Voloder 60'), Zorhan Bassong; Nemanja Radoja (Memo Rodriguez 60'), Jake Davis, Erik Thommy; Johnny Russell (C), Willy Agada, Stephen Afrifa (Alenis Vargas 60')

Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Robert Castellanos, Chris Rindov, Marinos Tzionis

Real Salt Lake: Gavin Beavers; Andrew Brody (Bode Hidalgo 46'), Philip Quinton, Brayan Vera, Bryan Oviedo (Alexandros Katranis 62'); Emeka Eneli (C), Braian Ojeda; Andres Gomez, Diego Luna (Matt Crooks 62'), Fidel Barajas (Chicho Arango 46'); Anderson Julio (Maikel Chang 75')

Subs Not Used: Zac MacMath, Tommy Silva, Bertin Jacquesson, Nelson Palacio

Scoring Summary:
RSL -- Andres Gomez 9 (Diego Luna 8, Braian Ojeda 2) 14'
SKC -- Stephen Afrifa 2 (Nemanja Radoja 2) 28'
RSL -- Anderson Julio 6 (Diego Luna 9, Emeka Eneli 2) 33'
RSL -- Andres Gomez 10 (unassisted) 51'
SKC -- Willy Agada 4 (Zorhan Bassong 1) 70'
RSL -- Matt Crooks 1 (Chicho Arango 10, Andres Gomez 7) 84'
SKC -- Willy Agada 5 (Memo Rodriguez 5) 90+5'

Misconduct Summary:
RSL -- Brayan Vera (yellow card; time wasting) 77'
SKC -- Zorhan Bassong (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 90+2'

Referee: Mark Allatin
Assistant Referee: Keivn Klinger
Assistant Referee: Diego Blas
Fourth Official: Matthew Corrigan
VAR: Daniel Radford
AVAR: Peter Balciunas