Sporting Kansas City jumped to a 2-0 first half lead on tallies by Johnny Russell and Daniel Salloi, and held on the second half for a 3-1 win at Seattle, in matchup of the top-two teams in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference.
The win improves 9-3-3 Kansas City to within two points of 9-2-5 Seattle, with Sporting having a game at hand. New England now has the overall MLS points lead, taking that advantage by a single point over the Sounders.
Russell gave Kansas City the early lead with a free kick past Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland in the 31st minute, rocketing the ball off the inside of the post. Just prior to the half, Kansas City finished off a counter attack fueled by a Sounders turnover, with Salloi scoring his ninth goal of the season.
Early in the second half, Seattle cut the lead to 2-1 on a Fredy Montero blast, but Cameron Duke scored his first MLS goal in the 72nd minute, with SKC holding on for the road win.
The victory pushes Sporting’s unbeaten run to five games in a row, with four of those in the win column.
