Month: June 2018

Sporting KC home Sunday against Minnesota United

Sporting Kansas City kicks off the month of June on Sunday with a nationally televised showdown on FS1 against Minnesota United FC at 7:30 p.m.at Children’s Mercy Park, Kansas City, Kansas.

Tickets for the match are available via SeatGeek.com or by calling 888-4KC-GOAL.

Local radio broadcasts of Sunday’s Western Conference clash will air on ESPN 94.5 FM (English) and ESPN Deportes KC 1480 AM (Spanish).

Entering the weekend with a two-point lead atop the Western Conference table, Sporting KC (7-2-4, 25 points) will put a four-game unbeaten run on the line when the club faces Minnesota (5-7-1, 16 points) for the second time in three weeks.

The regional rivals previously met on May 20 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, settling for a 1-1 draw after Sporting KC striker Khiry Shelton and Loons forward Darwin Quintero traded first-half goals.

A scoreless home draw last Sunday against Columbus Crew SC gave Sporting KC their sixth clean sheet in nine games dating back to March 31.

Since then, manager Peter Vermes’ men have conceded a league-low four goals over 810 minutes of action while keeping their perch at the Western Conference summit.

Second-place FC Dallas (23 points) will play host to third-place Los Angeles Football Club (21 points) on Saturday, meaning Sporting KC could be supplanted for top spot in the West by the time Sunday’s contest kicks off.

Minnesota approaches the fixture with a degree of confidence, having disposed the Montreal Impact by 2-0 last Saturday on home turf. Forward Christian Ramirez bagged his team-leading third goal of the campaign in the 52nd minute before playmaking midfielder Miguel Ibarra doubled the hosts’ lead six minutes later.

The result came after the Loons were outplayed by Sporting KC in the most recent meeting, as Vermes’ side enjoyed a 24-6 edge in shots, 61 percent of possession and forced Minnesota goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth to make a career-high nine saves.

Sporting KC will hope Sunday’s rematch translates into three points, having smashed the Loons on both of their visits to Children’s Mercy Park last season.

Minnesota’s first regular season trip to Kansas City coincidentally occurred on June 3, 2017, a one-sided affair that resulted in a 3-0 win for the hosts with Ike Opara and Jimmy Medranda among the goal scorers.

Eleven days later, Sporting KC defeated the Loons 4-0 in the U.S. Open Cup Fourth Round – with Daniel Salloi and Gerso Fernandes joining Opara on the scoresheet – en route to lifting the tournament title last September.

As Sporting KC turns the page to June, the team’s captain continues to rewrite history books. Kansas City native Matt Besler is one shy of his 240th career regular season appearance for the club, which would tie the team record currently held by Davy Arnaud.

A regular staple of Sporting KC’s backline since joining out of the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, Besler is already the club’s leader in regular season starts (233) and minutes played (21,001).

Vermes could be without multiple players on Sunday, as midfielder Felipe Gutierrez (sports hernia) and defender Jimmy Medranda (knee) are certain absentees.

Joining them on the current injury report are a trio of players listed as questionable: Shelton (thigh), midfielder Brad Evans (thigh) and forward Diego Rubio (back).

On the opposite sideline, Minnesota head coach Adrian Heath will field a squad without a host of its normal starters.

Influential midfielders Ethan Finlay and Kevin Molino will miss the rest of 2018 with ACL injuries, while veterans Marc Burch (knee), Sam Cronin (head) and Jerome Thiesson (leg) are also ruled out. That’s not to mention the absence of center back and captain Francisco Calvo, who has joined Costa Rica for 2018 FIFA World Cup preparations.

– Story from Sporting KC

T-Bones held scoreless, fall to Wingnuts 1-0

Missed opportunities plagued the Kansas City T-Bones against the Wichita Wingnuts Friday night in Kansas City, Kansas.

Tommy Collier (1-2) pitched six quality innings, allowing one run on four hits. Kansas City out-hit Wichita 9-6, but fell to the Wingnuts, 1-0.

The T-Bones failed to score a run, after a nine-hit outing against Wichita. Timely hitting became an issue for Kansas City, leaving seven runners on base and hitting into three double plays.

Kansas City’s best scoring opportunity came in the third inning when Angel Rosa was thrown out at home by Logan Trowbridge to end the inning.

Newly acquired right fielder Todd Cunningham hit a two-out triple in the bottom of the ninth to keep the T-Bones rally alive, before Dexter Kjerstad grounded to the short stop for an easy put out at first.

Collier, who pitched six innings, had a good outing, with six strikeouts, although he took the loss.

Tony Thomas hit a solo homerun to left field in the second to give the Wingnuts an early 1-0 lead.

Corbin Osburn (2-0) pitched six innings for Wichita, allowing six hits, and zero earned runs. The Wichita Wingnut bullpen completed the shutout in Kansas City, pitching three more scoreless innings.

The T-Bones record fell to 8-6 and firmly into third place in the South Division after the loss, while Wichita goes to 9-5 to hold sole possession of second place.

The T-Bones will play game two of this three-game series at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, June 2, at T-Bones Stadium in Kansas City, Kansas.

Season, group, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale and can be purchased by visiting the box office at T-Bones Stadium. Call the box office at 913-328-5618 or purchase and print at www.tbonesbaseball.com. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

– Story from T-Bones