In what began as a sunny, joyous occasion in Seattle, the Sounders' opening day matchup with Sporting KC quickly turned as dark as the city's skies when a fairly uneventful first half ended with a red card for right-back Oniel Fisher. Fisher had been Seattle's most influential player in the first half, shuttling up and down the right side of the pitch up until his sending off.
Fisher had been Seattle’s most influential player in the first half. Stats courtesy of @StatsZone pic.twitter.com/QcmSRfxmuK
— Spenser Davis (@spenserdavis) March 7, 2016
The first half was otherwise punctuated by a few solid chances for both sides, including a near dream moment for Jordan Morris as he went through on goal but put his shot over the crossbar. The Sounders' only shot on target was from a Clint Dempsey free kick, which would have been reminiscent of his wonderful goal last week had Sporting KC keeper Tim Melia not tipped it over the bar.
The Sounders came into the second half with only ten men, and shifted from the initial 4-3-3 formation to more of a 4-4-1 (due to the red card) with Nelson Valdez continuing to play up top. The Sounders weren't able to do much, and Sporting KC eventually broke through with a long-range strike from defender Nuno Coelho. Between Kansas City's time-wasting tactics and an obvious lack of match fitness, the Sounders found it difficult to draw level. Things got even worse for Seattle when captain Brad Evans went down with an apparent injury late on and had to be withdrawn for Dylan Remick. The Sounders were unable to find an opening in the dying minutes and ended 1-0 to Sporting KC.