Sporting KC Drops 5-1 Decision in Second Leg at Estadio Azul
March 20, 2014 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release
Sporting Kansas City's run in the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League ended on Wednesday evening after a 5-1 loss at Estadio Azul. Cruz Azul's Mariano Pavone had a hat trick as the Mexico side won 5-2 on aggregate and advanced to the semifinals.
Cruz Aul took an early lead with a second minute Mariano Pavone goal. After receiving the ball near the 18-yard-box, Pavone slotted a shot into the upper right corner past Eric Kronberg to make it 1-0. The home side continued to have the upper hand and midway through the first half took the aggregate lead with Pavone's second of the match. Kronberg was able to block Marco Fabian's initial shot but the rebound fell into the path of Pavone for the easy tap in.
Two minutes before halftime, Sporting KC responded with a Benny Feilhaber 44th minute strike. The midfielder received a Graham Zusi pass before dribbling towards the 18-yard-box and sending a low shot off the fingertips of goalkeeper Jesus Corona and into the back of the net. The goal tied the match at 2-2 on aggregate and gave Sporting KC the advantage on away goals.
In the second half, Cruz Azul replied with three goals including Pavone's third. In the 55th minute, the Argentine redirected a Fabian pass inside the near post to give Cruz Azul a 3-2 lead on aggregate.
Cruz Azul added to their lead with two more goals in a four-minute span. Mauro Formica followed up a saved shot in the 66th minute and Christian Gimenez struck a left-footed shot off the far-post and across the goalline in the 70th minute.
Sporting KC will participate in the upcoming 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League after clinching a berth by winning MLS Cup 2013. The group stage begins in August 2014.
The team returns to MLS action on Saturday night when they host the San Jose Earthquakes at Sporting Park. A limited number of tickets remain for the match and can be purchased online via Ticketmaster.com.
FAST FACTS
Cruz Azul defeated Sporting KC in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday with a 5-2 score on aggregate. Sporting KC won the first leg 1-0 at Sporting Park last week but conceded five goals in the second leg at Estadio Azul. Sporting KC homegrown defender Kevin Ellis scored the lone goal of the first leg. Cruz Azul's Mariano Pavone opened the scoring on Wednesday in the 2 nd minute. Pavone added a second goal in the 24 th minute and completed his hat rick in the 55th minute. Benny Feilhaber scored for Sporting Kansas City in the 44th minute, to give Sporting KC the advantage heading into halftime. Graham Zusi earned the assist on Feilhaber's goal. Sporting KC are 2-6-2 all-time in competitive matches against Mexican teams. Cruz Azul is 6-1-0 in the quarterfinal round of CCL all-time. The lone loss was against Sporting KC in the first leg. Cruz Azul is 6-2-0 all-time against MLS teams in CCL. Wednesday's match aired live on Fox Soccer Plus until the conclusion of San Jose versus Toluca and then moved over to Fox Sports 2. The match also aired on Galavision. Cruz Azul will advance to the semifinals and face Club Tijuana. All three Major League Soccer team's that remained in the 2013-14 CCL were eliminated this week in the quarterfinals. The loss on Wednesday was the first for Sporting KC in the 2013-14 CCL. Toluca is now the only unbeaten team remaining in the tournament. Sporting KC used all three substitutions on Wednesday with Mechack Jerome, C.J. Sapong and Dom Dwyer replacing Josh Gardner, Paulo Nagamura and Claudio Bieler respectively. Cruz Azul also used all three of their substitutions. David Stringel, Pablo Barrera and Ismael Valadez Arce entered the match for Sergio Napoles Saucedo, Marco Fabian and Mariano Pavone respectively. Sporting KC received seven yellow cards on Wednesday. Seth Sinovic was unavailable for Wednesday's match while serving a suspension for yellow card accumulation. Sporting KC are 6-4-4 in CCL all-time and 7-9-7 all-time in competitive international matches. Wednesday's loss marks Sporting Kansas City's first to an international opponent under Manager Peter Vermes. Cruz Azul currently leads Liga MX with 28 points and a 9-1-1 record in 2014. Sporting KC qualified for the 2013-14 edition of the CONCACAF Champions League by winning the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup against the Seattle Sounders FC in a penalty kick shootout in 2012. Cruz Azul finished as runner-up in the 2013 Liga MX Clausura Liguilla to qualify.
QUOTES
Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match...
"We obviously gave up two goals very early which we didn't want to do. Benny does a great job to get us back in the game and we are tied but in the second half I thought they were the better team. We gave four goals from the outside wing channels and that was the difference in the game."
"At the end of the day, they (Cruz Azul) were very intelligent in the way they played and we switched certain things off in the game and they took advantage of them."
On the team's run in CONCACAF Champions League...
"We've come a long way as an organization. I thought we did well going through the group stage and I thought we did the job at home against the best team in Mexico at the moment. Unfortunately we learned a good lesson here today and the good thing is that as a team we'll grow and get better from these types of games."
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