LDN - Sports

Late goal lifts NYCFC past Sporting K.C.

[September 07, 2017] The Sports Xchange

Jack Harrison scored on a left-footed shot past a diving Tim Melia in the 84th minute as New York City FC defeated Sporting KC 1-0 on a slick Yankee Stadium pitch Wednesday night in New York.

The game was played in a near-constant downpour.

NYCFC controlled much of the action late in the second half before converting the game-winner.

NYCFC had a golden opportunity to grab the lead in the 65th minute. Maximiliano Moralez slid the ball between Melia's legs, but NYCFC's Khyri Shelton deflected the ball out of the goal mouth from just beyond the goal line.

Moments later, Melia made a dynamic save to preserve the shutout.

New York City had another scoring chance in the 81st minute when Sporting K.C.'s Jimmy Medranda was whistled for a foul just outside the box. However, Andrea Pirlo's free kick was headed away by Saad Abdul-Salaam.

Sporting Kansas City (10-6-10, 40 points) missed a chance to gain ground in a tight Western Conference. Sporting remains in third place, two points behind Seattle with a game in hand on the Sounders, and a point behind second-place Portland with two games in hand on the Timbers.

New York City (15-7-5, 50 points) remained in solid possession of second place in the Eastern Conference. NYCFC is now 10-1-3 at home this season.

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The first half was more of a shoving match than a soccer game, as both clubs were trying to find their form without several regulars in the lineup.

New York City owned a slight 51-49 percent advantage in time of possession. Neither team had many scoring chances. NYCFC had seven shots, including the only two shots on goal in the half, and Sporting KC had just five shots.

For the game the home team wound up with 50.6 percent of the ball possession and a 6-1 edge in shots on target. New York City goalie Sean Johnson made one save for the shutout.

Sporting was without the U.S. men's national team duo of Matt Besler and Graham Zusi, as well as New Zealand midfielder James Musa and Lebanon forward Soony Saad.

NYCFC was be missing Alexander Ring (Finland), Rodney Wallace (Costa Rica) and Yangel Herrera (Venezuela), who all had national team commitments this week. That's not to mention star striker David Villa, who sustained an adductor strain last weekend with the Spanish national team.

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