Seattle rallies late, beats Kansas City 2-1 on Roldan's 89th-minute strike

Sporting Kansas City had taken the lead right before halftime and held onto it until the closing stretch, but Cristian Roldan spoiled the party with a finish into the back of the net in the 89th minute off a counterattack. The Seattle Sounders FC came away with a 2-1 win at Lumen Field in MLS action, on a night when they had to fight uphill to find the three points.

The script didn't go as expected. André Luiz put Kansas City ahead in the 43rd minute with a left-footed strike from the center of the box that found the top corner, assisted by Stephen Afrifa, sending the home side into the break trailing despite having controlled much of the first 45 minutes. Seattle had already given warning signs with shots from Albert Rusnák, Jordan Morris and Peter Kingston that failed to find the target, but it was Kansas City who struck first.

The response came quickly in the second half. Just minutes after the restart, with Sebastian Gómez having just come on for Danny Musovski, Gómez himself leveled the score in the 50th minute with a right-footed shot from the center of the box, assisted by Morris. The match stayed even from there, with chances for both sides (Taylor Calheira and André Luiz tested the Seattle defense for Kansas City, while Paul Arriola and Rusnák pressed for Seattle) until Roldan settled it with a right-footed shot from outside the box that found the inside of the left post, sealing the comeback in the final stretch.

By the numbers

Seattle controlled the ball, with 58.6% possession and 555 passes compared to the visitors' 388, but Kansas City generated more danger than the final scoreline against them usually suggests: they had more shots on target despite seeing less of the ball.

Expected goals calculated from the match's shots ended up nearly even: 1.914 for Seattle against 1.883 for Kansas City, a number that confirms just how close the match was beyond the final result.

Heading into the match, our model gave Seattle a 69% chance of winning, with just 12% for Kansas City and 19% for a draw, alongside a projection of 2.47 expected goals for the home side against 1 for the visitors. The final score lined up with that favoritism, though the path there was far bumpier than those numbers suggested: Seattle had to come back from a second-half deficit to deliver on the projection.

What it means in the standings

In the Western Conference, Seattle Sounders FC moves to 38 points and sits in seventh place through 27 matches, while Sporting Kansas City remains in 15th with 21 points after 27 matches, the product of 6 wins, 3 draws and 18 losses. The gap between the two sides in the standings stands at 17 points, a margin that tonight's match only partly reflected: Kansas City competed on even terms for long stretches and even grabbed the lead, but lacked the finishing touch to hold onto it.

For Seattle, the win came thanks to the bench, with Sebastian Gómez entering at the start of the second half to score the equalizer and Roldan popping up from outside the box at just the right moment. For Kansas City, there's the nagging feeling of having created enough to walk away with at least a point.