Category: Sporting KC

Sporting Kansas City (3-9-4, 13 points) reaches the mid point of the 2022 MLS regular season with match 17 of 34 set for this Sunday at Nashville SC (6-4-5, 23 points).

Sunday’s match will kick off at 5:25 p.m. from GEODIS Park, the nation’s newest and largest soccer-specific stadium which opened last month with a capacity crowd of 30,109, as Sporting plays away to Nashville SC for the first time.

The Western Conference clash will be nationally televised on FS1 and FOX Deportes with Sporting play-by-play voice Nate Bukaty on the FS1 call. Local radio coverage will also air on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

Both clubs will be wearing jerseys featuring Juneteenth-inspired numbers as part of a league-wide initiative in partnership with Black Players for Change. The game-worn and player-signed jerseys, presented in commemorative boxes, will be available to fans via an online auction from June 20 – July 5 and proceeds from the auction will benefit Kansas City G.I.F.T. among other organizations supporting and uplifting black communities.

After three straight home matches, Sporting returns to the road in the Music City as the club embarks on a stretch of the schedule which features five of the team’s next six MLS matches away from home. Sporting has struggled on the road this season (0-6-2) – conceding a league-high 20 goals in road matches – and will be looking to snap a 10-game road winless streak with the team’s first away win since October 2021.

Meanwhile, Nashville SC is unbeaten in 25 consecutive home matches across all competitions. The team has just two losses in 35 competitive home matches (16-2-17) since debuting in Major League Soccer as an expansion club in 2020, including a 2-0-3 record in their new home at GEODIS Park.

Since the start of 2021, Nashville’s eight regular season losses are the fewest in MLS. The team’s recipe for success has been a stout defense – anchored by U.S. Men’s National Team centerback Walker Zimmerman, who was named MLS Defender of the Year in 2020 and 2021, and goalkeeper Joe Willis, who leads MLS in clean sheets since the start of 2020 – and a dynamic attack led by Hany Mukhtar. The 27-year-old German playmaker not only leads the team with six goals and five assists this year but also leads MLS with 39 combined regular season goals (22) and assists (17) since the start of last season.

After a scoreless draw with San Jose last weekend that snapped a 19-match home scoring streak, Nashville enters Sunday on a five-match unbeaten run (3-0-2) in all competitions. Conversely, Sporting is coming off back-to-back losses. Manager Peter Vermes’ squad most recently suffered a 2-1 setback to reigning MLS Supporters’ Shield winners New England in a match that saw Sporting concede in the 87th minute after playing a man down for nearly all of the second half.

Captain Johnny Russell scored on a sensational free kick in the defeat for his fourth goal in his past four games and now leads the team with seven goals across all competitions this season. The 32-year-old Scottish winger has 76 combined regular season goals (45) and assists (31) since arriving in MLS in 2018 – third most in MLS over that span – and his five direct free kick goals since the start of 2019 are second best in MLS.

Sporting’s attack – which ranks last in the league in goals per game – will be bolstered by the return of Daniel Salloi (Hungary) and Marinos Tzionis (Cyprus) from international duty. Salloi’s next start will be his 100th for Sporting in MLS competitions and could come on Sunday in a match-up with Mukhtar as the 2021 MLS MVP finalists go head-to-head.

Salloi is one of the top performing homegrown players in Major League Soccer, coming through the Sporting KC Academy along with midfielders Cam Duke and Felipe Hernandez, who are tied for the team lead with three assists this season. Hernandez, 24, was raised in the Nashville area before joining the Sporting KC Academy at age 15 in 2014.

Sporting Kansas City and Nashville SC will meet for the second time this season on Sunday as each team also prepares for the upcoming quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open Cup. Sporting prevailed in the inaugural match-up between the two sides in October 2020, however Nashville rallied for a come-from-behind victory on April 9, 2022, as Dave Romney and former Sporting KC striker C.J. Sapong scored second-half goals to even the series at one win apiece.

Remi Walter scored the game’s opening goal in the previous encounter and had played every minute for Sporting this season — leading the league in distance covered — before exiting with an ankle injury in the first half last weekend. The 27-year-old Frenchman is questionable for Sunday along with midfielder Jake Davis (adductor) and Nikola Vujnovic (calf), while Sporting will be without Ozzie Cisneros (hamstring), Gadi Kinda (knee), Alan Pulido (knee) and Uri Rosell (suspension).

Three Nashville SC players will be sidelined with injury, including former Sporting KC forward Teal Bunbury (knee), and Zimmerman is questionable with a foot injury sustained with the U.S. Men’s National Team during the international window. Midfielder Anibal Godoy, who started three matches at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, has returned to the club after playing for Panama in the 2022-23 Concacaf Nations League group stage.

• Story from Sporting KC

Sporting Kansas City (3-9-4, 13 points) slipped to a 2-1 loss against the New England Revolution (5-5-4, 19 points) on Sunday afternoon at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.

Captain Johnny Russell treated a fervent crowd to the game’s best moment early in the second half, bagging a brilliant free kick for his 50th career Sporting goal in all competitions, but New England claimed victory behind goals in either half from Gustavo Bou and Emmanuel Boateng.

With Sunday’s encounter in the books, Sporting will now prepare for a challenging road test against a Nashville SC outfit that owns a 24-match home unbeaten streak. Next Sunday will mark the inaugural meeting between the clubs at the new GEODIS Park in Nashville, with kickoff set for 5 p.m. and national coverage on FS1, FOX Deportes and the FOX Sports app.

Taking the field for the first time in two weeks, Sporting deployed a reshuffled lineup as Academy product Felipe Hernandez assumed a false nine role alongside fellow attackers Russell and Cam Duke.

Oriol Rosell, Remi Walter and Roger Espinoza were in the midfield, while Sporting’s defense received a boost with the return of veteran right back Graham Zusi to support Kortne Ford, Robert Voloder, Logan Ndenbe and goalkeeper Tim Melia.

Rosell created Sporting’s first chance inside five minutes, applying pressure in New England’s defensive third to win the ball from Wilfrid Kaptoum and find Hernandez in an open pocket of space. The 24-year-old swiveled near the top of the box and unfurled a low blast that sizzled marginally wide of the left post.

Hernandez was involved once more on the half-hour mark when Duke embarked on a dazzling 50-yard solo run down the left side and pulled the ball back to his homegrown counterpart. Hernandez faked the first-time shot and moved the ball onto his left foot, but his ensuing shot from 18 yards was blocked.

New England drew first blood on the possession that immediately followed. Dylan Borrero looped a clever lob over the top for Bou, who settled the ball crisply and finished with conviction into the low left corner for his second goal of the MLS campaign.

Sporting’s matters were further complicated a few minutes later when Walter, who had played every MLS minute of the season entering Sunday, was forced to exit through injury. Center forward Khiry Shelton was summoned as his replacement and Hernandez dropped back to his more customary central midfield position in Walter’s absence.

An explosive start to the second half—preceded by a double substitution in central defense with Andreu Fontas and Nicolas Isimat-Mirin entering the fray—saw Sporting suffer a major setback as Rosell received his marching orders for a bad tackle in the center of the park. Shortly thereafter, however, the hosts drew level behind a stunning bit of magic from Russell.

Awarded a free kick 22 yards from goal near the right side of the penalty area, Sporting’s captain promptly delivered by sending a sublime left-footed curler high inside the near post past outstretched New England goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic for his milestone 50th goal at the club.

Russell, who now has four strikes in his last four games and a team-leading seven for the season, is the fourth Kansas City player to eclipse half a century of goals alongside Preki (71), Dom Dwyer (57) and Davy Arnaud (52), who on Sunday was formally inducted as the newest Sporting Legend.

New England went frighteningly close to reclaiming the lead on 54 minutes when Tommy McNamara was played through on goal, but Melia’s phenomenal reflex save kept the score at 1-1. A dozen minutes later, Petrovic produced a solid stop of his own to deny the marauding Russell on the breakaway.

Hot and humid conditions weighed heavily on both sides as the battle neared its conclusion, but the search for a winner remained delicately poised. Melia was summoned to make another splendid save with 10 minutes remaining, dropping low to cast aside a long-range Bou strike that deflected through traffic.

The Revolution conjured its winner in the 87th minute. Shortly after DeJuan Jones’ blistering strike fizzed inches wide of the far right post, Melia spread himself to block a right-footed attempt from the edge of the box.

Newly introduced substitute Boateng was on hand for the rebound, however, and snuck a follow-up effort under Melia that bounced into the net for his first tally of the campaign.

• Story from Sporting KC