With the 2020 MLS season on temporary hold, SportingKC.com is taking daily strolls down memory lane with an "On This Day" web series that celebrates memorable moments in team history. As one of Major League Soccer's proud charter members, Sporting has a decorated past full of thrilling victories, amazing goals, momentous off-the-field developments and more. "On This Day" pays tribute to these specific instances, turning back the clocks while treating fans to nostalgia and club history lessons. To catch up on the series as it unfolds, visit SportingKC.com/OnThisDay.
In both 2016 and 2017, Sporting Kansas City's fifth match of the MLS regular season fell on April 9. On both occasions, Manager Peter Vermes' men emerged with memorable victories.
Four years ago today, Sporting moved atop the MLS Supporters' Shield standings with a 2-0 road win over the New York Red Bulls. Benny Feilhaber and Dom Dwyer scored on either side of halftime, while goalkeeper Tim Melia enjoyed a brilliant night at Red Bull Arena with six saves, including one from the penalty spot to deny prolific English striker Bradley Wright-Phillips.
With the result, Sporting snapped a six-game winless run against the Red Bulls and notched consecutive road wins for the first time since July 2014. New York held a 22-7 edge in shots but dropped to 1-4-0 on the season, although head coach Jesse Marsch's side would ultimately rebound to finish atop the Eastern Conference table.
Precisely 365 days after topping the Red Bulls, Sporting extended its unbeaten start to the 2017 campaign with a commanding 3-1 defeat of the Colorado Rapids at sold-out Children’s Mercy Park. Veteran Seth Sinovic bagged his first career regular season goal in the sixth minute before Gerso and Dom Dwyer added second-half strikes of their own in a wire-to-wire performance. Colorado pulled one back through Kevin Doyle’s late penalty kick, but it wasn’t near enough to deny the hosts all three points in front of a national television audience on FS1.
The dominant win pushed Sporting's home unbeaten run to 12 regular season matches, which equaled the club record at the time. Sporting would extend that streak to a remarkable 24 games before narrowly falling to Vancouver on Sept. 30, 2017.
