Substitutes Stephen Afrifa and Manu Garcia scored goals within three minutes of each other late in the game as visiting Sporting Kansas City rallied to stun Austin FC 2-1 on Saturday in a Western Conference match.
Sporting (3-8-2, 11 points) captured their second game in four days after snapping a seven-game winless streak on Wednesday with a 3-1 victory at home over the LA Galaxy. Kansas City earned points for the first time ever in a match in Austin against the Verde after losing on their first five trips to the capital of Texas.
Garcia, who entered in the 63rd minute, started the rally with a goal on a blistering shot from outside the box in the 79th minute. The goal came on the counterattack on an assist from Shapi Suleymanov.
That set the table for Afrifa. Austin failed to clear its zone after a missed shot by Calvin Harris and Afrifa pounced on the loose ball, uncorking a shot that went over the Verde defense, clanged off the crossbar and bounced down into the net for the deciding tally.
The Verde (3-6-5, 14 points) lost their second game in four days after forging a three-match unbeaten streak (2-0-1) that had included back-to-back shutout wins at home.
Seven players from Sporting were making their third start in an eight-day period. Still, Kansas City dominated the first 45 minutes of play, producing 12 shots, three of them on target and all saved by Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver.
Harris tested Stuver with a weak shot to the lower right corner in the 12th minute that the keeper dove to stop. Capita Capemba’s chance in the 32nd minute was also easily swallowed up by Stuver, keeping the match scoreless.
All that changed on the half’s final shot, which came one minute into stoppage time. The Verde’s Desler waited unchecked at the far post for Guilherme Biro’s high, cross-box pass and made quick work of opportunity, calmly directing the ball into the open net past Kansas City goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland to give Austin a 1-0 lead.
After Afrifa’s go-ahead goal, the Verde did not even manage to produce a shot on goal over the final eight minutes and four minutes of added time.
–Field Level Media
