Sporting Kansas City win MLS Cup on penalties

MLS Playoffs | Final

Dec 7, 2013 at 9.25pm UK

Collin (76')

FT(HT: 0-0)

Saborio (52')

Sporting Kansas City win the MLS Cup for the second time with a 7-6 win on penalties against Real Salt Lake.

Published: December 8 2013 | 00:30

Last updated: December 9 2013 | 01:02

Sporting Kansas City have won the MLS Cup by beating Real Salt Lake 7-6 on penalties at Sporting Park.

Paulo Nagamura had the first chance of the match, firing wide after being set up by Graham Zusi.

Robbie Findley then had a left-footed shot blocked after good play from Javier Morales created space on the edge of the box.

Kansas pressed for the opener midway through the first half, with Nagamura, Chance Myers and C.J. Sapong failing to make the most of decent opportunities.

However, it was Jason Kreis's side who almost broke the deadlock. The ball reached Findley in the box after a free kick, but his shot from about six yards out came back off the post.

Nick Rimando saved Dominic Dwyer's header and Zusi squandered two further chances, as neither side could find a goal before the break.

Dwyer and Sapong again failed to find the target, and Salt Lake made the most of those missed chances by taking the lead when Alvaro Saborio finished well from Kyle Beckerman's pass.

Morales then hit the post, but Kansas were level with just under 15 minutes remaining when Aurelien Collin headed into the bottom corner.

Beckerman forced Jimmy Nielsen into a stop and Lawrence Olum missed for Sporting as both teams searched for a winner, but the match went into extra time.

Zusi had a header saved and Claudio Bieler fired over, but neither side could find a second goal in the first half of extra time.

The second 15 minutes failed to produce a winner, meaning that the match went to penalties.

Bieler converted the first spot kick for Sporting, but Saborio missed for Real Salt Lake. Nagamura made it 2-0 and Ned Grabavoy missed again for Kreis's team, but then so did Matt Besler.

Beckerman scored to make it 2-1, but Benny Feilhaber slotted in to give Sporting a 3-1 lead.

Joao Plata was successful with his kick and Zusi missed, which meant that Morales's goal made it 3-3.

Soon it 5-5 and then following misses from both teams, while Myers and Nat Borchers converted for 6-6.

Collin held his nerve for Sporting, putting them 7-6 ahead, and victory was confirmed when Lovel Palmer crashed his spot kick against the bar.

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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