Category: Sporting KC

Sporting Kansas City (5-11-4, 19 points) kicked off a three-game road trip with a hard-fought 2-1 come-from-behind victory against CF Montreal (9-8-2, 29 points) on Saturday at Stade Saputo.

After falling behind in the first 15 minutes, Roger Espinoza scored a goal from 45 yards out to spark the rally and Remi Walter struck in the second half to complete the comeback.

The victory is Sporting’s first of the season against an Eastern Conference opponent and the team’s first regular season win after trailing in more than a year dating back to a 2-1 win over LAFC on June 26, 2021.

Sporting Kansas City improves to 8-4-3 – including a 4-2-2 record at Stade Saputo — in a series with CF Montreal that had been dormant since Sporting’s 7-1 win in 2019 and Peter Vermes’ squad is now 6-1-2 in the last nine meetings with the Canadian club.

Sporting Kansas City’s first chance of the game came in the seventh minute as Montreal goalkeeper Sebastian Breza, on loan from Serie A club Bologna FC, played a pass from the top of the penalty area directly to Johnny Russell.

The SKC captain alertly controlled the ball and immediately tried to catch the goalkeeper off his line with an ambitious attempt from distance, however Breza recovered in time to collect the shot for his first save of the night.

Montreal, who lead MLS in first-half goals this season, opened the scoring and grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the 13th minute as Romell Quioto headed home a cross from Lassi Lappalainen for his team-leading seventh goal of the year and his fourth in his past three starts at Stade Saputo.

Espinoza, a former teammate of Quioto’s on the Honduras Men’s National Team, responded for Sporting in spectacular fashion to level the match at 1-1. In the 29th minute, Espinoza won the ball off Quioto inside the center circle at midfield and launched a shot from 45 yards out that looped over the outstretched arm of Breza and inside the post.

Espinoza’s equalizer – his 13th MLS goal in 13 seasons – snapped a 247-minute scoreless streak for the club and the goal was ultimately made possible by his tenaciousness on the defensive side of the ball, which was again on full display in the 40th minute with a recovery run to block Matko Miljevic’s shot from inside the box.

Montreal threatened again on the cusp of halftime as Mason Toye’s header was directed just wide of the near post by Lappalainen.

Having clawed back from a 1-0 deficit to level the match – an accomplishment SKC had only achieved once this season prior to Saturday – Sporting stunned the hosts by pulling ahead in the 63rd minute.

Khiry Shelton raced onto a throw-in from Kayden Pierre down the right flank and cut the ball back into the penalty area where Walter was first to reach it. The Frenchman, playing in one of the largest French-speaking cities in the world and making his 50th MLS appearance, made no mistake with a left-footed finish past Breza for his third goal of the year, a single-season career high.

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia – who has started all 20 of the team’s MLS matches this season along with Walter – produced four saves in the victory, with a pair of those stops coming in the game’s final 30 minutes to preserve the three points. In the 66th minute, Melia kept Sporting in front with a diving save at his near post on a shot from Miljevic. Then in the 85th minute, Melia made his best save of the night by reacting quickly to deny the first-time shot from second-half substitute Joaquin Torres

Sporting Kansas City’s three-game road trip – which will take the team through three different time zones in a nine-day span — continues on Wednesday with an MLS Rivalry Week match against Minnesota United FC. Kick off is set for 7 p.m. at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the match will be nationally televised on ESPN and ESPN Deportes.

• Story from Sporting KC

Sporting Kansas City (4-11-4, 16 points) will continue the club’s MLS campaign with a trip north of the border to take on reigning Canadian Championship winners CF Montreal (9-7-2, 29 points) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Stade Saputo.

Saturday’s match will be locally televised on 38 The Spot with three hours of coverage beginning at 6 p.m. The broadcast will also stream live on SportingKC.com and in the Sporting KC app for viewers in Kansas and Missouri (excluding the St. Louis area per MLS policy), as well as ESPN+ for out-of-market subscribers. Local radio broadcasts will also air on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

Saturday’s cross-conference clash kicks off a three-game road trip in which Sporting will play in three different time zones in a nine-day span. The challenge comes as four players remain sidelined with injuries – including designated players Gadi Kinda and Alan Pulido – while Graham Zusi missed the club’s last match with a quad injury and is questionable to return.

Montreal is coping with a major absence of its own as MLS MVP candidate Djordje Mihailovic has been sidelined since May 28. The U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder has seven goals and four assists this season for a high-scoring squad that leads the league in first half goals and features eight different players with multiple goals in 2022.

Among those are Mason Toye, who last month completed a 10-month comeback from shoulder surgery, and Romell Quioto, a Honduran international who has six goals and three assists this season, as well as former Sporting KC striker Kei Kamara. The 37-year-old spent five seasons in Kansas City from 2009 to 2013 and his 133 career regular season goals are fourth most in MLS history, one shy of tying Jeff Cunningham for third on the league’s all-time chart.

Sporting has not played in Montreal since June 2018 and last faced Montreal in March 2019 when Johnny Russell scored twice in a record-setting 7-1 victory at Children’s Mercy Park that marked the most goals scored in club history and the team’s largest margin of victory.

Montreal’s nine wins in 2022 are tied for most in the Eastern Conference, however Montreal enters Saturday’s match coming off a 4-0 loss to the LA Galaxy on July 4 which was the side’s most lopsided loss since the 7-1 defeat in Kansas City.

In the all-time series, Sporting holds the advantage with a 7-4-3 record against Montreal since it joined MLS a decade ago. That includes a 5-1-2 mark in the last eight regular season meetings and a winning record (3-2-2) at Stade Saputo.

• Story from Sporting KC

by Brian Turrel

Sporting Kansas City let too many opportunities go wanting Sunday evening and let three sorely needed points slip through its grasp and into the clutches of the New York Red Bulls, who triumphed 1-0.

Despite taking 17 shots, including a couple of fine one-on-one chances by Johnny Russell against New York goalkeeper Carlos Coronel, Kansas City could not find the back of the net.

Sporting was most successful creating chances down the left side with speedy left back Logan Ndenbe connecting passes to Daniel Salloi and Cam Duke.

The teams were scoreless at halftime, but New York got the game-winner in the 53rd minute via a long range delivery from Lewis Morgan to Aaron Long, who headed the ball in from 6 yards out.

The Red Bulls’ defense played on the edge of violence, racking up a 20-10 disparity in fouls called, and even more uncalled. The brutal play caught up with them in the 68th minute when defender Sean Nealis was shown a red card for a handball that denied Cam Duke an obvious goal-scoring opportunity as he made a clean run into the New York 18-yard box.

Kansas City was unable to turn the man advantage to its favor, and New York still found counter-attacking opportunities despite limited possession time.

An insincere rash of injuries plagued the Red Bulls in the late stages of the match as one after another hit the turf in a barely disguised scheme of time-wasting. The cynical ploy drew the wrath of the Kansas City faithful, and of Kansas City manager Peter Vermes, who denounced it after the game.

“That’s a mockery what took place on the field,” said the coach. “Just the antics, I don’t believe in it. I have no respect for it. I think those things have to be different in our league.”

Kansas City plays its next three games on the road, starting at CF Montreal on July 10. The team’s next match at Children’s Mercy Park will be on July 23 against Los Angeles FC.