The penalty kick king did it again and this time Tim Melia put himself in the record books after leading Sporting Kansas City over the San Jose Earthquakes in Round One of the Audi 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Melia saved all three San Jose attempts in the shootout, the first goalkeeper to do so in MLS Cup Playoffs history, according to Opta.
Melia went to his left to stop Oswaldo Alanis and then dived to his right to deny both Jackson Yueill and Cristian Espinoza to help send Sporting to the Conference Semifinals.
Melia is now a perfect 6-0 in penalty-kick shootouts, which includes Sporting advancing in the MLS is Back Tournament against the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1 on PKs after the teams played to a 0-0 draw in the Round of 16 match in July.
"Penalty shootouts are different than penalties in a game," Melia said after that game. "You're trying to pick up little queues, you're trying to see what directions people are looking, tendencies of the shooter, their run-up, their approach. I kind of put everything together all at once and hopefully pick the right side. Tonight I thought the guys taking the shots on our team, they were really good penalties. As a goalkeeper you're just trying to tell yourself to just try to save one and the guys are going to put all theirs in and tonight we were lucky to get out of there in four rounds.
"I think it's just another piece [of my game]. You try to be the most complete goalkeeper you are and you try to work on all different facets of your game. In all the penalty shootouts I've been in, the shooters, especially on [our] team have done so well and most of them have scored and I've had to make a save or two, so a lot of that comes down to the team.”
This was Melia’s fourth PK shootout triumph with Sporting after his first two came with lower-division Rochester and Charleston — albeit against MLS competition — in the US Open Cup.
Melia’s heroics aren’t limited to shootouts. He’s tied with Joe Cannon (11) for third all-time in PK saves, with first belonging to recently-retired Real Salt Lake legend Nick Rimando (24) and second going to now-LA Galaxy academy director Kevin Hartman (12).
Melia's All-Time PK Shootout Record:
- June 30, 2009: Rochester* 1, Columbus Crew 1 / 5-3 on PKs (US Open Cup)
- June 29, 2010: Charleston 0, Chicago Fire 0 / 3-0 on PKs (US Open Cup)
- Sept. 30, 2015: Sporting KC 1, Philadelphia 1 / 7-6 on PKs (US Open Cup)
- Aug. 9, 2017: Sporting KC 1, San Jose 1 / 5-4 on PKs (US Open Cup)
- July 26, 2020: Sporting KC 0, Vancouver 0 / 3-1 on PKs (MLS is Back)
- November 22, 2020: Sporting KC 3, San Jose Earthquakes 3/ 3-0 on PKs (MLS Cup Playoffs)
= Melia played for Rochester Rhinos and Charleston Battery
