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Sporting KC hits the road for match at Nashville

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

Monarchs drop game to Milkmen

David Thompson of the Kansas City Monarchs hit a solo home run in the third inning Saturday, June 18, at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas. The Monarchs dropped the game to the Milwaukee Milkmen 7-4. (Photo credit by John Ellis, Kansas City Monarchs)

Jan Hernandez of the Kansas City Monarchs rounded the bases following his seventh inning solo home run Saturday, June 18, at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas. The Monarchs dropped the game to the Milwaukee Milkmen 7-4. (Photo credit by John Ellis, Kansas City Monarchs)

by Kaitlyn Sanders, Monarchs

The Kansas City Monarchs (21-11) could not battle back after a heavy hitting fifth innin

g from the Milwaukee Milkmen (18-14), losing game two of the series 7-4 on Saturday.

Milwaukee got on the board early in the first inning after Mason Davis hit a double, and Corelle Prime brought him in with an RBI single. Kansas City couldn’t respond after the loading the bases and lining out to center to end the inning at 1-0.

In the bottom of the second, Pete Kozma and J.C. Escarra both reached base with a single before Willie Abreu hit one out to right field for an RBI single, tying the game at 1-1.

David Thompson homered in the bottom of the third with a rocket straight to the home run patio in left field to give the Monarchs their first lead at 2-1.

The Milkmen tied the game in the top of the fourth as Aaron Hill reached first base on a single to right before advancing to second and third on an error from Monarchs starting pitcher Akeem Bostick. Logan Trowbridge singled to left and brought in Hill, 2-2.

The top of the fifth was a busy one for the Milkmen as they scored five runs. With the bases loaded–Mason Davis on third, Correlle Prime on second and Will Kengor on first–the Monarchs made a pitching change from Bostick to Frank Rubio.

Dylan Kelly hit an RBI single to make the score 4-2, but was thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double by Jan Hernandez to Pete Kozma. Christ Conley had a base hit for another RBI before Bryan Torres doubled to left field, earning another 2 RBI, the score at 7-2.

The Monarchs got back a run in the bottom of the sixth as Casey Gillaspie was hit by a pitch, and Pete Kozma walked. Willie Abreu got a single to left field for an RBI and lessened the Milkmen’s lead to 7-3.

Kansas City picked it back up in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run to left center from Jan Hernandez, his 14th as the American Association home run leader, to bring the Monarchs within three at 7-4.

Kozma was left stranded on third in the eighth, and the Monarchs could not piece together any runs in the ninth.

The Monarchs will face the Milkmen at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 19, at Legends Field for game three of the series.

The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 2:30 p.m. and the video stream airing on aabaseball.tv.

Tickets to Monarchs games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com.

Kizer scores first KC goal in 2-2 draw with Chicago

Forward CeCe Kizer scored on a shot from just outside the 18-yard box. The goal, Kizer’s first since joining Kansas City from Racing Louisville, secured a 2-2 result for the Current against the Chicago Red Stars. (Photo copyright 2022 by Brian Turrel)

by Brian Turrel

The new-look Kansas City Current offense continues to bring results, scoring once early and once late to fight back for a 2-2 draw against the first-place Chicago Red Stars at Children’s Mercy Park Saturday evening.

Blue Valley Northwest alumna CeCe Kizer scored the equalizing goal, her first in a Kansas City uniform, in the 68th minute. Kizer took a pass from Elyse Bennett on the run, closed quickly to the edge of the 18-yard box, then blasted a shot into the upper right corner of the goal before Chicago defender Amanda Kowalski could close on her.

Chicago scored twice early in the second half to take a 2-1 lead. The first goal came in the 53rd minute on a corner kick beautifully placed at the far post by Mallory Pugh for Kowalski to head in. The Red Stars went ahead on a penalty kick by Pugh in the 58th minute.

Kristen Hamilton opened the scoring for the Current in the 8th minute. Hailie Mace received a corner kick played wide on the left side and dropped the ball neatly into the 6-yard box for Hamilton to poke between the back post and Chicago goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.

Current goalkeeper A.D. Franch made four saves to preserve the draw. Her lunging kick save in first-half stoppage time kept the Red Stars scoreless in the first half, and she leaped to tip a would-be game-winning goal over the crossbar in the 86th minute.

After the match, Kizer talked about what this first goal meant to her.

“For my family and all of them to be here — it was amazing,” she said. “Just a lot of energy, a lot of emotion, and I just hope that I can inspire young girls around Kansas City to one day play here.”

Kansas City finishes its four-game home stand with two wins and two draws. The Current will play on the road in Houston and Washington, D.C., before the next home match on July 17 against OL Reign.