Ike Opara saves the day for Sporting KC as it ties its season opener against New York

About halfway through Sunday evening’s Sporting Kansas City match, defender Ike Opara lay on the ground, writhing in pain from a hard tackle.

It took him awhile to get up, long enough to cause concern among the Sporting KC faithful.

While Matt Besler is the name-brand player on Sporting KC’s defensive back line, Opara plays a crucial role for the team and represents something of a gamble by the club’s front office. It jettisoned two-time MLS All-Star centerback Aurelien Collin after last season, placing its trust in the capable but injury-prone Opara (he missed most of last season due to injury).

Opara eventually got up and resumed play, and in doing so showed why he will be such an important part of this year’s Sporting KC squad if he can stay healthy.

Opara scored Sporting KC’s lone goal in Sunday’s 1-1 tie against the New York Red Bulls to open the 2015 season. Opara flew into the penalty area unmarked and put his head to a wonderful Benny Feilhaber cross from the right side of the field to give Sporting KC a one-goal advantage shortly after a listless first half.
The lead didn’t last long. New York’s Lloyd Sam outmaneuvered Besler just three minutes later and fired a shot past Sporting KC goalkeeper Luis Marin to even the score.
Besler, who had far from his best match, was ejected in the 70th minute after picking up his second yellow card. New York smelled blood after Besler hit the showers but never got its go-ahead goal, despite a couple of close opportunities. One of those was when Bradley Wright-Phillips, MLS’s leading scorer from a year ago, flew past the Sporting KC defense at midfield and looked to have a one-on-one shot on goal against Marin.

But Opara recovered and tracked Wright-Phillips down before he could get a shot off. Opara deftly took the ball from Wright-Phillips and passed it back to Marin, who cleared it to safety

Sporting KC striker Dom Dwyer almost secured a smash-and-grab victory for his shorthanded team in the dying minutes of the game but couldn’t put another beautiful pass from Feilhaber to the middle of the penalty area on goal, sending the ball wide of the frame instead.
Overall, it was a mixed effort from Sporting KC, which showed signs of the same shaky form during home games that vexed the squad last year. But the team is probably somewhat pleased to emerge from the game with at least a tie, given New York’s unexpectedly solid effort and playing short a man for nearly a third of the match.