Sporting Kansas City entered Sunday's match against the Portland Timbers with an impressive regular season shutout streak against the reigning MLS Cup champion Portland Timbers.
Ike Opara had no plans for that streak to end.
Sporting Kansas City's strapping center back delivered a resolute performance at rainy Children's Mercy Park on Sunday, anchoring the backline in a 1-0 victory that saw the Timbers extend their scoreless skid in the regular season series to 482 minutes. Opara, who helped limit an explosive Portland side to a single shot on goal, landed MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week honors on Monday as his team won its fifth straight home game and moved five points ahead of Portland in the ultra-competitive Western Conference playoff race.
Opara added four clearances, four interceptions, completed 88 percent of his passes and further endeared himself to the Children's Mercy Park faithful, limiting the impact of Timbers attacking trio Fanendo Adi, Lucas Melano and Diego Valeri.
This weekend presents an opportunity for Opara and Sporting Kansas City to notch their sixth consecutive regular season shutout against Portland. The sides will meet in the second of a home-and-away set at 3 p.m. CT Sunday on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, 99.3 FM and 1340 AM. Fourth-place Sporting KC (10-10-4, 34 points) and seventh-place Portland (7-8-8, 29 points) remain squarely in the playoff picture as Major League Soccer rolls into the month of August.
