SportingKC.com will feature exclusive content leading up to the club's 20th anniversary match against the Colorado Rapids on April 13 at Children's Mercy Park. Limited tickets are available for the match, including South Stand GA tickets for just $19.96. Visit Ticketmaster.com and use code WIZ1996 at checkout. This week we rank Sporting Kansas City's top 20 moments in ascending order. Here are moments ranked 20-16 and 15-11.
#10: KC captures 2000 Supporters' Shield
Trailing 2-1 at the Tampa Bay Mutiny, Kansas City needed at least a draw in their 2000 regular season finale on Sept. 9 to win the Supporters' Shield. The Wizards' star striker would deliver in the 66th minute as Miklos Molnar scored his 12th goal of the campaign, finishing a play orchestrated by Matt McKeon and Peter Vermes, to secure a 2-2 draw.
Kansas City's result gave them 57 points to close the regular season, tied atop the league standings with rival Chicago Fire. The Wizards claimed the 2000 Supporters' Shield, their first trophy in club history, by the slimmest of margins with a barely superior goal difference. Propelled by a stingy defense that posted an MLS record 16 shutouts, Bob Gansler's side finished at plus-18 (47 goals, 29 against). Chicago boasted greater offensive firepower but ended at plus-16 (67 goals, 51 against). To the delight of Wizards fans, it wouldn't be the last time Kansas City narrowly edged Chicago for a major title in 2000.
#9: First match at Children's Mercy Park
Sporting Kansas City opened its new stadium to rave reviews as an over-capacity crowd of 19,925 filled Children's Mercy Park for its first match. The state-of-the-art venue helped Sporting KC set a path toward long-term growth and success in MLS and gave Kansas City a crown jewel worthy of hosting elite international matches.
The inaugural game at Children's Mercy Park ended in a scoreless draw, but the moments leading to kickoff remain some of the most powerful in stadium history. After playing 12 years at a cavernous football stadium and three more at a minor league baseball stadium, Sporting KC had a soccer-specific home of its own. In the five years since, Children's Mercy Park has welcomed hundreds of thousands of fans for the country’s biggest soccer matches, hosted championships at the college, professional and international levels, and become an annual stop for famous musicians.
#8: Miklos Molnar's goal sends KC to 2000 MLS Cup
The 2000 Western Conference Finals were played over three games between the Kansas City Wizards and LA Galaxy, who at the time had forged one of the league's fiercest rivalries. The first game at Arrowhead Stadium ended in a scoreless draw and the second ended in a 2-1 Galaxy win at the Rose Bowl. This meant that Kansas City had to win the decisive third game at Arrowhead in regulation to force sudden-death extra time. The Wizards did just that, receiving a first-half penalty kick from Miklos Molnar to extend the series.
Six minutes into the sudden-death frame, Kansas City scored one of the biggest goals in club history to book a spot in the 2000 MLS Cup. Forward Mo Johnston won a 50-50 ball, sustaining a kick to the face in the process, to play Molnar through on goal with only Kevin Hartman to beat. The Dane calmly rounded the Galaxy netminder and fired emphatically into the back of the net, igniting wild and emotional celebration on the field and in the stands.
#7: Jordi Quintilla converts penalty to win Open Cup title
Sporting KC had the luxury of winning its first two Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup titles on home soil. That wasn't the case in 2015, as Peter Vermes' men traveled to face the Philadelphia Union in front of a hostile crowd at Talen Energy Stadium. The match hung in the balance for 120 minutes, with Sebastien Le Toux and Krisztian Nemeth scoring on either side of halftime to force a penalty shootout.
Goalkeeper Tim Melia turned away Andrew Wenger's shot in the eighth round of spot kicks, opening the door for newly acquired midfielder Jordi Quintilla to bring the Open Cup back to Kansas City. The young Spaniard, aged 21 at the time, had played less than 200 minutes for Sporting KC the entire season. Yet the weight of the moment would not deter Quintilla, who wrong-footed John McCarthy and calmly slotted low into the net. On-field celebrations ensued near the traveling Roaddron, comprised of 1,000 fans who had made the trip to see Sporting KC win their third major trophy in four years.
#6: First match in club history
On a Saturday evening at Arrowhead Stadium in April 1996, the Kansas City Wiz hosted the Colorado Rapids in the club's inaugural match. A crowd of 21,141 saw Kansas City score three goals in a 12-minute span to earn a convincing 3-0 win. Vitalis "Digital" Takawira tallied the first and third while striker Frank Klopas provided the second in the 77th minute. It was a strong start for the Wiz who held Colorado to zero shots on goal while generating 12. The 1996 squad finished with a 17-15-0 record in the regular season and advanced to the Western Conference finals.
The match was several years in the making with Major League Soccer's formation announced in 1993 and Kansas City announced as one of ten charter members in 1995. In 20 years, Kansas City has captured two MLS Cups, one Supporters' Shield, and three Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cups.
