Subs Manu García, Stephen Afrifa Rally Sporting KC Past Austin FC 2-1 for Club's First Win at Q2 Stadium

Stephen Afrifa had been on the field for seven minutes when the ball found him in the left channel. One Austin defender stood in front of him. He shifted onto his right foot and hit a shot into the top right corner, and the comeback was complete.

That 82nd-minute strike finished a 2-1 comeback win for Sporting Kansas City over Austin FC on Saturday night, three minutes after fellow substitute Manu García had leveled it. According to Sporting, it was the club's first-ever win at Q2 Stadium. It was also Sporting's second win in four days, and for a team that spent most of the spring getting run over, back-to-back victories counted as genuine news: it was the first time all season Sporting won consecutive matches.

"It's a shot I like a lot, cutting inside and curling it back post," Afrifa said afterward.

Sporting Ran the Show, Austin Ran Off With the Lead

For 45 minutes, this looked like a game Sporting would regret. Raphael Wicky's side owned the ball and the shot count, but its efforts kept running into a leg, drifting off target or meeting Brad Stuver. Calvin Harris forced Stuver into a low save in the 12th minute, had another attempt blocked in the 23rd, and Capita narrowly missed the top left corner with a shot from the center of the box off a Jayden Reid cross in the 27th. Zorhan Bassong went close twice from distance, and Lasse Berg Johnsen's long-range attempt was pushed away by Stuver in the 41st minute.

Then Austin punished all that wastefulness. In the 45th minute, Guilherme Biro whipped in a cross, Mikkel Desler arrived in the center of the box and finished into the bottom left corner. Austin went to halftime up 1-0 despite spending most of the half on the back foot.

Wicky's halftime message was simple. "We said in halftime that we have to just keep doing what we do and that we were the better team in the first half as well and that we can turn this around," he said.

Stuver Holds the Door, Then the Door Falls Off

Shapi Suleymanov replaced Capita at the break, and the pressure only intensified. Harris was denied again in the 50th minute. Between the 69th and 72nd minutes, Stuver stopped a Dejan Joveljic header, a Harris finish off a Berg Johnsen through ball and a Suleymanov shot from the center of the box. It was a goalkeeping clinic, and it was also unsustainable.

Austin had its moments. Stefan Cleveland saved a Myrto Uzuni drive in the 68th minute, and Brandon Vázquez, on in the 73rd, headed a corner just wide before forcing Cleveland into another save in the 77th.

Two minutes later, Sporting finally broke through. Suleymanov slipped the ball to García, who smashed a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner from the center of the box. The club said it was his first goal of the season. Harris nearly took the lead on a fast break in the 81st minute, sending a shot just wide to the right, and a minute later Afrifa ended the debate. ESPN credited no assist on the winner.

Turning Point: Wicky's 64th-Minute Gamble

The game turned on a double change. Wicky sent on García for Bassong and Justin Reynolds for Jake Davis in the 64th minute, and the coach explained the thinking afterward.

"The plan was if we're still losing 1-0 that Manu comes in center mid with Lasse (Berg Johnsen) together to help bring the ball forward and he did that," Wicky said.

Reynolds set up a Suleymanov chance in the 67th minute and the Joveljic header in the 69th. García scored the equalizer. Afrifa, introduced in the 75th, scored the winner. Sporting's bench produced both goals, the assist on the first one and a fresh set of legs for the final push. Austin's subs produced a Vázquez threat and two yellow cards.

Star Turns: Harris Never Stopped, Stuver Nearly Stole It

Harris did not score, but he was the most dangerous player on the field: six shots, three on target, and constant pressure down the left. Wicky was blunt about him. "He's always a threat," he said.

Stuver deserves real credit. Six saves, several of them on clean looks, kept Austin ahead for more than half an hour of second-half pressure. Suleymanov was the other quiet difference maker, with three shots and the assist on García's goal.

As for Afrifa, his coach loved the shot selection as much as the finish. "When we speak with him, it's always to try to hit the ball on target. If you hit the ball on target, you have a chance that it goes in. Today, obviously, you can't hit it better," Wicky said.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Sporting 20, Austin 8. That is not a typo.
• Shots on target: Sporting put eight on frame; Stuver saved six of them.
• Possession: Sporting held 54.1 percent of the ball.
• Crosses: Sporting sent in 24 crosses to Austin's eight.
• Clearances: Austin needed 32 clearances to Sporting's 15, which says plenty about where this game lived.

What It Means

Sporting moves to 3-2-8 with 11 points, still a long way from comfortable, but a week that began with a 6-0 loss at Portland ended with two straight wins. Wicky did not hide how low things had gotten.

"A week ago, obviously we were in a bad place and then the team and the boys show up twice like that with two really, really brave and good performances and as a team," he said.

García put the turnaround in simpler terms. "We've been trying to play this way since the start. It's difficult at times, but now it's starting to click," he said.

Austin falls to 3-5-6 with 14 points and has lost two straight, following a 5-0 defeat at San Diego on Wednesday with this one at home. The hosts are now winless in three. Sporting, meanwhile, hosts Red Bull New York on May 23 in what the club called its final match before the World Cup break.

Closing Take

Every sports movie has the montage where the team that cannot win anything suddenly starts winning. Sporting's version arrived in four days, starred two substitutes, and ended with Afrifa doing exactly what he said he likes to do. "These two results are very massive in us turning the season around," he said. One week ago that sounded like wishful thinking. Now it sounds like a plan.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and match notes as reported by Sporting Kansas City (sportingkc.com).