Category: Sporting KC

Children’s Mercy Park will play host to a compelling cross-conference battle on Wednesday when Sporting Kansas City (6-4-2, 20 points) and Orlando City SC (6-2-4, 22 points) square off at 6:30 p.m.

The contest will be shown nationally on FS1, FOX Deportes and the FOX Sports app in addition to airing locally on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM, with The Final Whistle postgame show immediately following on 810 WHB.

Tickets for Wednesday’s showdown are available online at SeatGeek.com and all fans in attendance will receive a free pop socket.

Currently a point behind first-place Seattle Sounders FC in the ultra-competitive West, Sporting will seek a bounce-back performance after slipping to a narrow 3-2 loss on Saturday against FC Dallas at Children’s Mercy Park.

The hosts fell into a 2-0 hole before Scottish international Johnny Russell bagged a second-half brace to move atop the club’s scoring charts with five goals on the season. However, Dallas hit back in the 86th minute through Ryan Hollingshead to take all three points and deliver manager Peter Vermes’ men a frustrating defeat.

Despite Saturday’s setback, Sporting remains in the thick of a wild Western Conference race, as just seven points separate leaders Seattle from 11th-place Real Salt Lake.

Vermes’ side has also scored in 12 straight league matches to start the year — tied for the longest such streak in club history — and is the only MLS team yet to be shut out in the 2020 regular season.

Sitting behind Russell with four goals apiece are midfielder Gadi Kinda and forward Khiry Shelton, while Mexican striker Alan Pulido has added three goals and four assists. Pulido has missed four straight games with a knock, but Vermes indicated last week that the club’s record signing was on the brink of returning to the pitch. Additionally, Sporting’s midfield received a lift on Saturday when Ilie Sanchez made his first appearance since the MLS is Back Tournament.

On the opposite sideline, head coach Oscar Pareja has Orlando enjoying its best season to date. The Lions currently occupy third place in the Eastern Conference, five points back of Supporters’ Shield leaders Columbus Crew SC, and boast a 4-0-2 record in their last six games. Orlando has gone 8-2-4 since MLS resumed with the MLS is Back Tournament in July, including a run to the finals of the historic competition in Walt Disney World.

Orlando has ridden a balanced and explosive attack toward the top of the East. Forward Chris Mueller is the only MLS player with at least seven goals and five assists, while fellow attacker Daryl Dike has three goals and three assists in the club’s last seven games.

Portuguese star Nani, who had a team-best 12 goals and 10 assists last season, has six goals and five assists this time around, including two goals and an assist in the MLS is Back Tournament knockout rounds. The Lions are coming off an emphatic 4-1 victory over Chicago Fire FC on Saturday that saw Mueller, Nani, Junior Urso and Benji Michel find the back of the net.

Sporting has gone 2-2-1 in five previous regular season meetings against Orlando, having won both previous matchups at Children’s Mercy Park. In Orlando’s inaugural visit to the stadium in May 2016, Sporting outshot the Lions 34-7 en route to a 2-1 comeback triumph. The most recent meeting in Kansas City took place in September 2018 when Felipe Gutierrez sealed the 1-0 result with a 53rd-minute strike.

Vermes, who took the managerial helm in Kansas City in August 2009, is notably one shy of his 150th regular season coaching win. Should Sporting prevail on Wednesday, he would become just the fifth head coach in league history to reach the 150-win milestone behind Sigi Schmid (240), Bruce Arena (213), Dominic Kinnear (169) and Bob Bradley (165).

For the fourth straight home game, SportingStyle locations will offer a variety of Kick Childhood Cancer retail items, including limited-edition scarves and beanies, in support of The Victory Project and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. For every beanie sold, Sporting will donate a beanie to Children’s Mercy Hospital for patients fighting cancer.

• Story from Sporting KC

by Brian Turrel

A late giveaway by Sporting Kansas City defender Graham Zusi cost the team its opportunity to retake the top spot in the MLS Western Conference. The 82nd minute goal by FC Dallas put it ahead 3-2, overcoming a second-half brace by Johnny Russell.

Franco Jara scored Dallas’s first goal in the 42nd minute, diving to head in a cross from defender John Nelson. He scored again just after halftime by knocking in the rebound off a Dallas corner kick.

Kansas City battled back from the two-goal deficit, with its halftime tactical and personnel changes paying off in scoring opportunities. To create more offensive action, head coach Peter Vermes brought in center midfielder Ilie Sanchez. Sanchez, missing from game action since Sporting left the MLS Is Back tournament in late July, got a warm reception from the fans.

Russell scored his first goal in the 53rd minute by sending back an attempted clearance off a Sporting corner kick. The ball zipped low just inside the left goalpost and gave Dallas goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer little chance of a save.

Russell struck again in the 83rd minute, redirecting a free kick from Gianluca Busio into the upper right corner of the net. After the game, Russell commended Busio’s assist.

“Busio strikes it great,” he said, “and any touch from us, Dallas players, or even if it misses everyone, is on target. With that power, it can always go in.”.

Russell’s enthusiasm after his score fired up the limited-attendance crowd with visions of a come-from-behind victory, but those visions departed moments later when longtime defensive standout Graham Zusi hit a weak back pass to goalkeeper Tim Melia.

With the ball stranded between Zusi and Melia, diminutive Dallas forward Michael Barrios seized the opportunity. Melia blocked Barrios’s attempt, but the rebound fell to forward Ryan Hollingshead to put away the winner.

Dallas’s delaying tactics late in the game drew the wrath of its opponents, the crowd, and the officials, who handed out four yellow cards for time-wasting. Dallas midfielder Bryan Acosta was also sent off in the 90th minute for a foul that earned his second yellow card of the match.

Even with the man advantage and six minutes of stoppage, Sporting wasn’t able to earn the equalizer, and a direct kick opportunity in the closing seconds was stopped by Dallas.

The loss, combined with Seattle’s Friday night win, drops Sporting KC to second place, jostling for playoff position in a crowded field. Sporting will play at home against Orlando City FC on Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m.

First-place Sporting Kansas City (6-3-2, 20 points) will play FC Dallas (4-2-4, 16 points) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.

Live match coverage will begin nationwide at 2:30 p.m. on Univision and TUDN during National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Tickets for the Western Conference clash between the pair of MLS charter clubs can be purchased online at SeatGeek.com as Sporting KC plays the club’s 200th match at the world-class venue with comprehensive health and safety protocols in place for a reduced-capacity crowd of 18 percent.

In addition to the nationally televised Spanish-language broadcasts, FOX Sports Kansas City and FOX Sports Midwest Plus will broadcast three hours of on-site commentary from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Live streams will be available to viewers on Twitter and FOX Sports GO, as well as local radio coverage on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

Sporting Kansas City vaulted to first place in the ultra-competitive Western Conference with a 1-0 victory over Minnesota United FC on Sunday, courtesy of a late game-winner from Johnny Russell and a strong defensive performance in which the Loons were held without a shot on goal for the first time in their 114-game MLS history.

Sporting will now continue a three-game homestand as the 2020 campaign reaches its midway point in Week 12 of the abbreviated 23-game MLS regular season.

FC Dallas won just two of its first eight games in 2020 – and did not participate in the MLS is Back Tournament in Florida – but has found its rhythm in the past week with back-to-back home wins, beating rivals Houston by a 2-1 scoreline on Saturday before Santiago Mosquera’s hat trick lifted Dallas to a 4-1 win over Colorado on Wednesday.

With six points in five days, FC Dallas is now fourth in the West and is the only team in the conference to emerge victorious in its past two outings.

Saturday’s showdown will serve as a rematch of the 1-1 draw between the two sides on Sept. 2 at Children’s Mercy Park, which saw Franco Jara and Khiry Shelton trade first-half goals as Sporting outshot Dallas by a 22-5 margin.

Iowa native Kyle Zobeck made his MLS debut in net for FC Dallas that night, replacing Jimmy Maurer in the first half due to injury, and the former 2013 MLS SuperDraft pick has since started each of the last three games for the Western Conference’s stingiest defense.

As indicated by the last meeting, the regular season series between the MLS originals is deadlocked at 25-25-13 through 63 meetings dating back to Kansas City’s first ever road match in April 1996. However, Sporting is 8-2-3 against Dallas in its last 13 home games across all competitions – highlighted by a 10-game unbeaten run from 2012-2018 – despite going 0-2-1 in the most recent three encounters in KC.

Saturday’s splendid forecast calls for 72 degrees and sunny skies throughout the mid-day match. Across all competitions, Sporting boasts an 18-0-9 record in 27 all-time home matches at Children’s Mercy Park that have kicked off at 4 p.m. or earlier.

While Sporting aims to keep that run going in the race for first place, below are four additional statistical milestones of potential note on Saturday:

• Sporting’s 11-game scoring streak is one shy of matching the club record for most consecutive games without being shutout to start a season.
• Vermes is one shy of the 150th regular season win of his coaching career, an achievement reached by four previous MLS managers.
• Saturday will be Sporting’s 200th match at Children’s Mercy Park (including friendlies) since the stadium opened on June 9, 2011.
• Sporting is one shy of the team’s 250th home win in club history across all competitions.

SportingStyle locations will be selling Kick Childhood Cancer retail items, including limited-edition scarves and beanies, in support of The Victory Project and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. For every beanie sold, Sporting KC will donate a beanie to Children’s Mercy Hospital for patients battling cancer.

• Story from Sporting KC