Month: June 2019

Sporting KC to visit Toronto Friday

Two teams looking to build momentum ahead of the Concacaf Gold Cup break will lock horns Friday when Sporting Kansas City (3-5-6, 15 points) ventures north of the border to face Toronto FC (5-6-3, 18 points) in a 6 p.m. kickoff.

FOX Sports Kansas City Plus, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports Go will provide three hours of live coverage beginning at 5:30 p.m., while listeners can catch the action on ESPN 94.5 FM (English) and ESPN Deportes KC (Spanish). Additional in-game updates will be available via the Sporting KC App.

Manager Peter Vermes’ men are set to play their second of five away matches during the month of June, having earned a 1-1 tie at the Houston Dynamo last Saturday.

Frenchman Yohan Croizet fired the visitors ahead near the hour mark with a superb chip shot, but Houston equalized shortly thereafter through Alberth Elis.

With 14 MLS fixtures played and 20 to go, Sporting occupies 10th place in the Western Conference and sits four points below the seventh and final playoff spot.

Toronto stormed to a historic treble of trophies in 2017, winning the MLS Cup, Supporters’ Shield and Canadian Championship, but crashed back to earth last year and missed the playoffs.

Head coach Greg Vanney’s team most recently scrapped to a 1-1 road draw at Vancouver Whitecaps FC last Friday, as substitute Nick DeLeon bagged a 90th-minute equalizer to halt the Reds’ losing streak at two games.

Sporting and Toronto have experienced similar ups and downs in 2019, storming out of the gates before hitting a springtime slump.

After hammering Toluca and Independiente in the Champions League and hanging seven goals on the Montreal Impact, Sporting has earned just one win in its last 10 league matches. Toronto began the season with three straight wins but has gone 2-6-3 since then, and its current six-game winless drought is the longest active skid in MLS.

Through their highs and lows, Toronto has seen unquestioned consistency from midfielder Alejandro Pozuelo. The 27-year-old Spaniard joined TFC at the start of the season and has recorded five goals and six assists across 11 MLS appearances, ranking fourth in the league in chances created.

Sporting has ruled the head-to-head series with an iron fist. Vermes’ side is 11-1-4 in the last 16 meetings against Toronto, going unbeaten in nine straight since 2013 with a 6-0-3 record. Toronto’s 14 regular-season losses to Sporting are their second-most against any MLS opponent.

Perhaps more remarkably, Sporting is 4-0-3 in its last seven visits to BMO Field and hasn’t lost at the venue since April 2009. Toronto last beat Sporting in March 2013, a 1-0 home win at Rogers Centre. Kansas City’s five road wins in Toronto (5-3-4 overall) are the second-most in MLS history behind D.C. United’s eight.

Neither team will be at full strength on Friday, largely because national teams across the globe will take the field this weekend.

Sporting will be without European quartet Botond Barath, Krisztian Nemeth, Nico Hasler and Johnny Russell, all of whom have traveled abroad for UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying.

Toronto, meanwhile, has been stripped of numerous Concacaf Gold Cup participants, including influential Americans Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley and Canadian Jonathan Osorio.

Sporting’s ever-improving bill of health could ease the effects of four international absences. Important contributors Gerso Fernandes, Andreu Fontas, Jimmy Medranda, Daniel Salloi and Graham Zusi have all missed time this spring, but none is on the club’s injury report going into Friday. Captain Matt Besler is questionable with a hamstring injury, while Roger Espinoza remains out as he rehabs a PCL sprain in his knee.

  • Story from Sporting KC

Group calls for changes in police department

More2, a group that marched on Wednesday evening in downtown Kansas City, Kansas, is calling for an outside investigation of the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department, the firing of the police chief and an independent hotline to report police misbehavior.

According to Marcus Winn, Kansas organizer for the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, More2, the group was disturbed when reports surfaced of a female cadet who was fired after a reported sexual assault from her supervisor.

“We were also in contact with multiple women who over time told similar stories independent of one another,” Winn said.

More2 made several demands of Mayor David Alvey, Winn said. The first was to terminate the police chief, he said. The second was for outside investigations of police officers who are accused of conduct including sexual assault.

The third is to fund and create and independent bilingual hotline so victims would have an avenue for reporting misbehavior that does not go through the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department, he said. The victims do not feel safe and do not trust anything associated with the police department, he added.

“We’re hopeful despite all the terrible stories we were told, and hope Mayor Alvey will do the right thing,” Winn said. “We’re also hopeful that forums like the ones we are demanding would be good for everyone, including police. It would increase safety for everyone, including law enforcement officers.”

The police department issued a response on Wednesday:

The police department’s statement:

“The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department has already made statements regarding the lawsuits filed against the Department and will not be making any further comments on those issues as they will be addressed through litigation.


“The Police Department has a hotline (913.573.6373) where citizens can call to report any type of police misconduct. The Department welcomes complaints from all citizens and encourages anyone with any issue to call either the hotline or the Internal Affairs Office (913.573.6370) to report police officer misconduct. The Police Department is accredited through CALEA (The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies), which includes the processes and procedures governing how Internal Affairs operates.


“The Department will cooperate with any outside investigation as we are confident we meet or exceed currently accepted practices/standards in law enforcement regarding how we handle citizen complaints through the Internal Affairs process.


“If members of the More2 organization has information about current police misconduct by a member of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department they are encouraged to provide the information to Internal Affairs or any other organization who has jurisdiction so it can be thoroughly investigated and the proper corrective action taken.”