Sporting Kansas City held by Philadelphia Union

Aug 2, 2014 at 1am UK

Zusi (54')

FT(HT: 0-0)

A strike from Brian Brown earns the Philadelphia Union a point in their MLS clash with Sporting Kansas City.

Published: August 2 2014 | 03:29

Last updated: August 2 2014 | 09:13

Sporting Kansas City missed the chance to put pressure on DC United at the top of the MLS Eastern Conference as they were held to a 1-1 draw by the Philadelphia Union.

Kansas City could have taken the lead in the 11th minute when Dominic Dwyer met a corner from the right with a powerful header, but Brian Carroll was on the line to clear the ball away.

The Union responded and the home side were grateful to a great save from Andy Gruenebaum as he tipped Vincent Nogueira's powerfully-struck free kick over the bar.

Just before half time, Mikey Lopez was presented with a great opportunity to hand his side the lead as he chased a ball over the top, but his volleyed effort was saved by the legs of Zac MacMath.

In the second half, Danny Cruz produced a moment of magic to release Carroll with an inch-perfect through-ball and the midfielder fired a powerful shot at goal which was well stopped by Gruenebaum.

Sporting used the save to their advantage as they went ahead when Toni released the run of Graham Zusi into the penalty area and the midfielder slotted the ball past MacMath with a neat finish.

Zusi came within centimetres of adding a second for Kansas City minutes later as he latched on to Dwyer's clever back-heel in the box, but his effort with the outside of his foot drifted agonisingly wide of the target.

The miss was to cost the home side as Philadelphia earned a point when Brian Brown guided Raymon Gaddis's cross into the bottom corner of the net from close range.

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Eastern Conference

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Inter Miami Inter Miami	34	22	8	4	79	49	30	74
2	Columbus Crew	34	19	9	6	72	40	32	66
3	FC Cincinnati Cincinnati	34	18	5	11	58	48	10	59
4	Orlando City	34	15	7	12	59	50	9	52
5	Charlotte FC Charlotte FC	34	14	9	11	46	37	9	51
6	New York City FC NY City	34	14	8	12	54	49	5	50
7	New York Red Bulls NY Red Bulls	34	11	14	9	55	50	5	47
8	CF Montreal Montreal	34	11	10	13	48	64	-16	43
9	Atlanta United Atlanta	34	10	10	14	46	49	-3	40
10	DC United	34	10	10	14	52	70	-18	40
11	Philadelphia Union Philadelphia	34	9	10	15	62	55	7	37
12	Toronto	34	11	4	19	40	61	-21	37
13	Nashville SC Nashville	34	9	9	16	38	54	-16	36
14	New England Revolution New England	34	9	4	21	37	74	-37	31
15	Chicago Fire	34	7	9	18	40	62	-22	30

Western Conference

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Los Angeles FC Los Angeles	34	19	7	8	63	43	20	64
2	Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy	34	19	7	8	69	50	19	64
3	Real Salt Lake Salt Lake	34	16	11	7	65	48	17	59
4	Seattle Sounders Seattle	34	16	9	9	51	35	16	57
5	Houston Dynamo Houston	34	15	9	10	47	39	8	54
6	Minnesota United Minnesota Utd	34	15	7	12	58	49	9	52
7	Colorado Rapids Colorado	34	15	5	14	61	60	1	50
8	Portland Timbers Portland	34	12	11	11	65	56	9	47
9	Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver	34	13	8	13	52	49	3	47
10	Austin FC Austin	34	11	9	14	39	48	-9	42
11	Dallas	34	11	8	15	54	56	-2	41
12	St Louis City	34	8	13	13	50	63	-13	37
13	Sporting Kansas City Kansas	34	8	7	19	51	66	-15	31
14	San Jose Earthquakes Earthquakes	34	6	3	25	41	78	-37	21