43 shots, 3 on target: Roldán's 90th-minute winner sinks Kansas City 2-1

Highlights

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Forty-three shots. Three on target. Two goals for the home side. Friday's MLS meeting at Lumen Field ended Seattle Sounders FC 2-1 Sporting Kansas City, a scoreline built on patience, a 90th-minute Cristian Roldán strike and a shared allergy to hitting the frame.

Kansas City did the early running. Calvin Harris was denied by a goal-line clearance on 19 minutes — the biggest chance of the match at 0.347 xG — and further efforts from Wyatt Meyer, Taylor Calheira and Stephen Afrifa were saved or missed. The breakthrough came in the 44th, André Luiz finishing a 0.24 xG chance created by Afrifa. Seattle's first half produced blocks and misses: Paul Arriola squandered a 0.24 xG opening on 36, Albert Rusnák and Alex Roldán saw shots charged down. 0-1 at the interval.

The match flipped inside six minutes of the restart. Sebastian Gomez, sent on for Daniel Musovski at 46, took Jordan Morris's assist and converted a 0.207 xG chance on 51. Seattle then owned the ball — 59% possession — and kept shooting. Roldán missed from close range on 70, Caden Clark dragged one wide, Rusnák was blocked again on 84. Calheira was saved and missed twice more for the visitors. With the clock at 90, Roldán converted from 0.102 xG, and Jacob Bartlett's stoppage-time effort was smothered in the fifth added minute.

Roldán's evening was a two-act play: a miss on 70 from a chance worth 0.143 xG, a winner on 90 from one worth 0.102. Gomez needed five minutes off the bench to make his mark; Roldán needed the entire night and one clean strike to settle it.

The expected-goals column leaned Kansas City's way, 2.05 to 1.70. The scoreboard disagreed. Three shots on target, three goals — and the last one decided everything.