Sporting Kansas City is set to conclude the club’s 2024 season this weekend with a trip to take on FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium on Decision Day on Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. CT and will be available to stream on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV. The match will also be available on the radio locally on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish).
1. DRAWING THE CURTAIN ON 2024
Sporting Kansas City concludes the club’s disappointing 2024 season this Saturday with a visit to take on FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium on Saturday night. Both Sporting and Dallas enter Decision Day having been eliminated from postseason contention.
Sporting also visited Toyota Stadium on Decision Day in both 2019 and 2022, ironically the only other two seasons that Sporting has failed to make the MLS Cup Playoffs since 2011. Sporting lost both of those matches as Dallas successfully made the postseason on Decision Day in 2019 and the Texans also clinched home-field advantage on the final day in 2022.
Saturday’s match will see Sporting KC’s 29th season come to a close, having begun play as a charter member of Major League Soccer in 1996. While Sporting’s MLS season did not go to plan, the club embarked on a memorable run to the U.S. Open Cup Final which clinched a berth in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup where the club will compete against the region’s elite teams next Spring.
Inconsistency has marred Sporting’s 2024 campaign, as the team has won each of its last seven matches in all competitions when scoring at least twice, but is simultaneously winless when scoring just once this season. Sporting has also fielded 33 different lineups in its last 33 matches across all competitions.
2. DECISION DAY IN DALLAS FOR THIRD TIME IN SIX SEASONS
Sporting Kansas City will close out the 2024 campaign this weekend with a trip to take on FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas on Saturday night. The match marks the third time in the last six seasons that Sporting has faced Dallas on the road on Decision Day.
Sporting has already defeated Dallas twice this year in the MLS regular season and the U.S. Open Cup, with the wins coming just three days apart. First, Sporting claimed a late 3-2 victory at Children’s Mercy Park on July 7 with William Agada bagging a brace and Memo Rodriguez tallying an 82nd-minute winner.
On July 10, the two sides met once against Children’s Mercy Park in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals, with Sporting advancing 2-1 following a lengthy weather delay and extra time. Agada struck to give Sporting the lead only for Petar Musa to equalize shortly before the end of regulation. Dany Rosero rose highest to head home in extra time to seal the victory for Sporting.
Sporting also visited Toyota Stadium on Decision Day in 2019 and 2022, losing both matches to a Dallas team still active in the playoff hunt while Sporting’s season was already over. This year, both Sporting and Dallas have been eliminated from postseason contention.
3. MELIA ADDS TO PENALTY STOPPING LEGEND
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia continued to solidify his legacy as the greatest penalty-stopper in Major League Soccer history during the club’s last match, saving another penalty in the 3-0 loss to LAFC at Children’s Mercy Park on Oct. 5.
Staring down LAFC star Denis Bouanga, Melia held his ground and saved the reigning MLS Golden Boot winner’s penalty down the middle - only for David Martinez to react quickest and fire home the rebound to open the scoring. The save was Melia’s third penalty stop this season on five faced, having also denied stars Sebastian Driussi in Austin and Albert Rusnak in Seattle.
All-time, Melia has a penalty save percentage of 43.9 percent on penalty kicks (18 of 41), the highest in MLS regular season history among keepers with at least 15 penalties faced. His 18 penalty saves in the regular season since 2015 are the most in MLS during that time.
Melia was named the club’s Defensive Player of the Year on Oct. 10.
4. ROSERO UNDERGOES SURGERY, SEASON OVER
Sporting Kansas City announced on Oct. 4 that defender Dany Rosero has undergone a successful arthroscopic procedure on his right ankle. Rosero is expected to make a full recovery in eight to 10 weeks and will miss the remainder of the 2024 season.
Rosero has scored four goals in 28 matches across all competitions during the 2024 campaign, including two goals in Sporting’s run to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final. He bagged a dramatic extra-time match-winner in a 2-1 quarterfinal victory over FC Dallas on July 10 and scored again in a 2-0 semifinal win over Indy Eleven on Aug. 27 at Children’s Mercy Park.
Rosero has logged 61 appearances for Sporting since joining the club in early 2023. The center back has scored seven goals in a Kansas City uniform, six of which have been headers off set pieces.
5. DAVIS & RUSSELL NOMINATED FOR MLS YEAR-END AWARDS
Major League Soccer announced on Oct. 7 the nominees for its 2024 MLS Year-End Awards, with Sporting Kansas City nominating two players for awards at the conclusion of the campaign.
Midfielder Jake Davis, a 22-year-old product of the Sporting KC Academy, has earned a nomination for MLS Young Player of the Year, while captain and forward Johnny Russell is up for the Audi Goals Drive Progress Impact Award.
The voting window for the annual postseason awards opened on Oct. 7 and will conclude on Monday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. CT. Finalists for each award will be announced on Thursday, Oct. 24.
The winner in each category will be determined following a vote by journalists, club technical staffs and MLS players, with each group accounting for 33.3% of the total vote.
The MLS Goal of the Year and MLS Save of the Year will be determined by an online fan vote on MLSsoccer.com. Fan voting for these awards will open on Monday, Oct. 21 and close on Monday, Oct. 28.
