Revolution Vs. Sporting Kansas City Final: New England Blown Out 3-0 In Kansas City

The New England Revolution traveled to LiveSTRONG Park in the American Heartland to take on Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night, and left battered and beaten. Kansas City routed the Revs 3-0 behind goals from Graham Zusi, CJ Sapong, and Kei Kamara.

Lee Nguyen and Saer Sene were granted their first MLS starts, and in Sene's case, his MLS debut. Unfortunately, things went south quickly for the Revs when Stephen McCarthy was shown a straight red card in the 14th minute. Referee Silviu Petrescu adjudged him to have denied CJ Sapong a clear goalscoring opportunity with a shirt tug, but replays of the incident leave some controversy as to whether it was really a clear chance and whether it warranted a dismissal.

After the red card incident, New England failed to stamp their impact on the match and Kansas City took over. Graham Zusi scored first off of good service from Kei Kamara. Kamara himself made it 2-0 in the 38th minute, putting away his own rebound after a Seth Sinovic cross was parried away by Matt Reis.

The Revs came out for the second half having brought on Ryan Guy for Kelyn Rowe, but it made little difference. CJ Sapong finished a Sinovic lay-off in the 47th minute to raise SKC's advantage to 3-0, and Kansas City never looked back from there.

New England managed a few decent chances as the match went on, but only forced a few nervy saves from Jimmy Nielsen. Diego Fagundez made his season debut as a substitute, and Jeremiah White made his MLS debut late in the match. Lee Nguyen and Clyde Simms were standout performers for the Revs.

For more on the New England Revolution, visit SB Nation's Revs blog, The Bent Musket.

Revolution Vs. Sporting Kansas City Score Update: CJ Sapong Adds A Third For KC

The New England Revolution are sinking without a trace in Kansas City. Sporting Kansas City's CJ Sapong has finished past Matt Reis to give SKC a 3-0 lead in the 47th minute.

An excellent through ball from Graham Zusi played Seth Sinovic in the box behind the defense. As Reis moved to close down the angle from the left, Sinovic unselfishly laid the ball off to an onrushing Sapong, who finished easily to pick up his second goal in as many games for 2012.

New England has struggled to create chances after going down to 10-men, and they appear to be wholly unable to cope with Kansas City's attack. Striker Saer Sene has repeatedly dropped deep into midfield just to see the ball, but has been unable to make anything happen.

Since halftime, the Revolution have also made a single change, bringing on Ryan Guy for Kelyn Rowe. Guy is a more natural winger, so either Heaps is looking to change tactics a bit or Rowe may be carrying a knock.

Revolution Vs. Sporting Kansas City Score Update: Kei Kamara Doubles KC's Advantage

It has gone from bad to worse for the New England Revolution, as Sporting Kansas City has doubled their lead through Kei Kamara in the 39th minute. Matt Reis made two saves in the sequence, but it wasn't enough to keep the ball out of the net.

Good interplay between Bobby Convey and former Rev Seth Sinovic launched Sinovic to the byline in the left channel of the eighteen-yard box. The fullback launched a cross toward the center of the six-yard box that Reis palmed away, but only as far as Kei Kamara. Kamara's first shot was saved well by Reis, but the rebound fell right back to the big striker, and he buried his second attempt.

Shalrie Joseph could have done more to close down Sinovic's cross and perhaps Reis could have done better with his initial save off the cross, but again it seems to be Kansas City's superior numbers that is allowing them to swarm the penalty area and overwhelm the New England defense. The Revs will look to hold on until halftime, when they will hope to regroup.

Revolution Vs. Sporting Kansas City Score Update: KC Open Scoring Through Graham Zusi

The New England Revolution's away clash with Sporting Kansas City is scoreless no more. Kansas City has broken the deadlock in the 28th minute through midfielder Graham Zusi. Kei Kamara brought down a loose ball in the box and played a low, driven delivery across the six-yard box. Zusi tried to sweep it home but had his effort blocked, but the rebound fell at his feet and he repeated his efforts, this time finding paydirt.

New England has been struggling to get any of the ball since losing Stephen McCarthy to a red card in the 14th minute, and Sporting has been peppering Matt Reis' goal in the meantime. There was a sense that the first goal was coming, and KC look good value for their lead.

The Revs' strongest player so far has been Lee Nguyen, who has shown flashes of speed and dribbling brilliance when on the ball. Benny Feilhaber and Shalrie Joseph have appeared mostly frustrated.

Revolution Vs. Sporting Kansas City Update: McCarthy Sent Off Early

Defeating Sporting Kansas City, one of the consensus strongest teams in the Eastern Conference, was always going to be a tall ask for the New England Revolution. Unfortunately, it just got even taller.

Central defender Stephen McCarthy was shown a straight red card for denying CJ Sapong a clear goalscoring opportunity in the 14th minute. It was a controversial call, with McCarthy claiming he was also being tugged and some dispute as to whether or not Sapong had a clear opportunity.

With another 75 minutes remaining in the match, the Revolution's plan of trying to play fluid, possession-oriented soccer has likely been foiled before it really had a chance to begin. Shalrie Joseph has moved to center-back for the interim while head coach Jay Heaps gets some substitutes ready. It is unclear what the Revolution will do to deal with this disadvantage, considering their only available defensive substitute is Tyler Polak, a left-back. Chris Tierney could possibly be slid inside to play in central defense, which he has done before, but it looks as though there's no avoiding a player out of position in defense.

Revolution Vs. Sporting Kansas City Lineups

The lineups are out, and thinks are looking fairly interesting from the New England Revolution front.

Revolution: Matt Reis; Kevin Alston, Stephen McCarthy, AJ Soares, Chris Tierney; Lee Nguyen, Clyde Simms, Benny Feilhaber, Shalrie Joseph, Kelyn Rowe; Saer Sene

Bench: Bobby Shuttleworth, Tyler Polak, Ryan Guy, Diego Fagundez, Jeremiah White, Blake Brettschneider, Fernando Cardenas

Sporting: Jimmy Nielsen; Chance Myers, Matt Besler, Aurelien Collin, Seth SInovic; Roger Espinoza, Julio Cesar, Graham Zusi; Kei Kamara, CJ Sapong, Bobby Convey

Bench: Jon Kempin, Michael Harrington, Soony Saad, Lawrence Olum, Paulo Nagamura, Luke Sassano, Jacob Peterson

It looks as though the Revolution have moved to a 4-5-1 look that will probably morph into more of a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 when on the attack. This will allow the Revs to take greater advantage of their strength in the midfield, allowing Clyde Simms and Shalrie Joseph to maximize their talents as holding and box-to-box midfielders, respectively. Also, Benny Feilhaber has been pushed to his more favored central position, where he will hope to see more of the ball and create chances.

French striker Saer Sene is making his first MLS start - and his MLS debut - up top after missing last week's match with knee swelling. He will have to work hard in the solo striker position tonight. Also, after an impressive performance last week, Lee Nguyen has earned his first MLS start on the left wing.

For more on the New England Revolution, visit SB Nation's Revs blog, The Bent Musket.

Revolution Vs. Sporting Kansas City: New England Travels To KC For Eastern Conference Opener

Benny Feilhaber and the New England Revolution will look to put their First Kick loss behind them when they face Sporting Kansas City in their first Eastern Conference clash of the new season at 8:30 PM EST at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park in Kansas City. (TV/Radio: CSN Alternate Channels/98.5)