KANSAS CITY, Kan. – C.J. Sapong scored the first Major League Soccer goal at the new Livestrong Sporting Park, and Sporting Kansas City held on for its first victory in its new home, beating the San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 on Friday night
Kansas City (3-6-4) won consecutive games for the first time this season and is unbeaten in its last five matches. San Jose (5-5-4) had a six-match unbeaten string broken.
The crowd of 18,467, while an announced sellout, was noticeably quieter than the standing-room-only 19,925 who saw Sporting play to a scoreless draw with Chicago when the $200 million stadium opened eight days ago.
This time out, Kansas City — coming off a 4-1 win at FC Dallas on Sunday — saw its offensive pressure pay off before halftime.
In the 31st minute, after Ramiro Corrales fouled Sporting's Davy Arnaud about 45 yards from the goal, Graham Zusi sent a long free kick into the penalty area. Sapong leaped at the edge of the 6-yard box, put out his left foot and deflected the ball past Jon Busch.
Sporting keeper Jimmy Nielsen, coming off a one-match suspension for a red card against Chicago, made four saves for his first shutout of the season.
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