Sporting erupted on offense and rolled to a 4-1 victory. Graham Zusi scored twice and tacked on an assist to lead the way against the reigning MLS Cup runner-up.

“This was a tough one for us,” Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes said. “We expended a lot of nervous energy Thursday night, and to come back down here in such a short turnaround and knowing full well the game was played at six o’clock and knowing that the heat was going to be a factor. Omar (Bravo) is out from the tackle (against Chicago on Thursday), we have another player that came back from Grenada, Craig Rocastle, so we’ve lost some players and we have guys that are on national team duty as well for Guadeloupe, Honduras and Jamaica, so it is definitely a testing period for us, but I give a lot of credit to the guys for their commitment physically.”

Zusi gave KC a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute with a goal off of an assist from Davy Arnaud. Dallas countered four minutes later when Brek Shea scored, and the game remained tied at 1-1 at intermission.

Kansas City’s offense exploded in the second half, however. Aurelien Collin buried a shot just four minutes into the second half for the game-winner that was assisted by C.J. Sapong and Zusi.

Zusi struck again in the 55th minute on a freekick from 45 yards out.

Sporting, which has been plagued by penalties this season, was later forced to play a man down when Milos Stojcev received his second caution of the match and was forced to the bench. That left KC with just 10 players.

The shorthanded side didn’t matter, however. Sporting tacked on a final goal in the 78th minute when Luke Sassano scored off of an assist from Birahim Diop.

Dallas dropped to 7-4-4 with the loss while Kansas City moved to 2-6-4. Sporting is in the ninth position in the Eastern Conference standings and is unbeaten in four straight matches.

Sporting next plays at 7:3 p.m. Friday at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park against the San Jose Earthquakes.