Pulido, Kinda shine again as Sporting KC routs Dynamo

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:16 am

Alan Pulido and Gadi Kinda showed up big for the second straight game for host Sporting Kansas City in a 4-0 win over the Houston Dynamo.

Pulido scored one goal and assisted the two others as Sporting beat the Dynamo on Saturday night. Pulido has two goals and two assists in his first two games with the club.

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The third goal was a beautiful feed from the right side of the box to Kinda, another newcomer to the SKC side, who fired it past Houston keeper Marko Maric in the 65th minute.

Kinda also has two goals in his first two Sporting games.

Khiry Shelton, back with SKC after a year with Bundesliga side SC Paderborn, scored Sporting's fourth goal from close range in the 77th minute.

Sporting (2-0-0, 6 points) joins Atlanta and Minnesota as the first three clubs to reach 6 points.

Sporting KC players celebrate after scoring a goal against the Houston Dynamo.
Sporting KC players celebrate after scoring a goal against the Houston Dynamo.
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Houston (0-1-1, 1 point) never mounted much of an attack against the Sporting defense with just one shot on goal.

Sporting jumped in front on a goal in the 16th minute by Pulido. Kinda recovered a loose ball just inside the Houston box. After a brief scramble, the ball found Pulido's right foot and he obliged with a shot to the lower right corner past Maric.

In the 26th minute, Roger Espinosa extended the lead to 2-0 on a sliding goal past Maric. Johnny Russell fed Pulido from a free kick. Pulido couldn't get a good strike on it, but Espinosa finished it.

Sporting almost had a third goal in the 38th minute. Maric came out of his box to stop a breakaway by Pulido. The ball hung in space before Russell tried to lob it over a quickly retreating Maric. The shot just missed the goal to the right as the crowd of 21,188 gasped.

Sporting controlled the pace, holding possession just over 60 percent of the time. Neither team mounted a lot of chances in the first half, combining for just nine shots. SKC had the only two shots on goal, with both of them counting for goals.