Sporting Kansas City hits the road this weekend to take on Toronto FC for the first time in almost five years on Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and will be available to stream on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV in English and Spanish, while the match will also be available on the radio locally on ESPN 94.5 FM (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish).
1. UNBEATEN START CURTAILED
Sporting KC saw the club’s four-game unbeaten start to the 2024 campaign come to an end this past weekend when the team surrendered a 2-0 halftime lead to fall 3-2 to the LA Galaxy following a fierce second-half comeback from the visitors at Children’s Mercy Park. The result dropped Sporting to 1-1-3 (6 pts.) on the season.
Sporting, currently sitting in ninth at this early juncture in the season, will be ruing the points dropped at home to start the year as the club would be in first place had it held on to wins over Philadelphia (96th minute Union equalizer) and the Galaxy (2-0 up with 20 minutes to go).
Entering Saturday night, Sporting was 26-0-2 in the club’s last 28 regular season home games when scoring two or more goals. The loss to LA also marked the first time in club history SKC has lost when holding a two-goal lead at 70:00 in a regular-season match.
The result also snapped Sporting’s six-match unbeaten streak at Children’s Mercy Park, having gone 4-0-2 since a midweek loss to Nashville SC on Sept. 20, 2023. Sporting has still been relatively strong at home since last summer, posting an 8-3-3 record since the start of July 2023.
2. HEADING NORTH FOR RARE TORONTO BOUT
Sporting Kansas City hits the road this weekend as the side heads north of the border for a rare matchup with Eastern Conference side Toronto FC at BMO Field on Saturday night. The match marks the first meeting of any kind between the two sides since the summer of 2019 - an almost five-year hiatus which marks the longest period between meetings that Sporting has experienced in the club’s history.
The two sides last faced off on June 7, 2019 at BMO Field in a wild 2-2 draw. Felipe Gutierrez twice gave Sporting the lead from the spot but both times the visitors were pegged back, first by Nick DeLeon before Jordan Hamilton buried a devastating 95th-minute equalizer to deny Sporting all three points.
The last meeting at Children’s Mercy Park took place on July 7, 2018, playing out another 2-2 draw. Jonathan Osorio gave Toronto a halftime lead, only for an Ilie Sanchez penalty kick and Johnny Russell’s 100th career goal to turn the game around. However, Hamilton struck from distance with 20 minutes to go as the two sides shared the points.
Sporting hold a distinct upper hand in the regular-season series against Toronto FC, going 14-4-8 overall and 5-3-5 in Toronto. Peter Vermes’ side is 11-1-5 in their last 17 meetings with Toronto, including 6-0-4 in their 10.
3. AGADA OFF THE MARK IN 2024
Sporting Kansas City forward Willy Agada made the most of his first start this past weekend, bagging his first goal of the 2024 campaign in the 3-2 loss to the LA Galaxy at Children’s Mercy Park.
Agada snuck in undetected on a corner kick in first-half stoppage time to fire home Daniel Salloi’s delivery and make the score 2-0 just before the break. The goal was the 50th of Agada’s professional career, while he has now scored 10 goals in 10 regular season starts at Children’s Mercy Park since joining the club in 2022.
On Saturday night, the Nigerian marksman tied his MLS high for shots in a game with seven as Sporting rolled out an unfamiliar 4-2-3-1 formation with regular starting striker Alan Pulido sitting underneath Agada to help facilitate the team’s attacks.
Despite having much of his 2023 season derailed by surgery on his tibia, Agada has still scored 13 goals and two assists in just 18 starts across all competitions for the club since August of 2022. In fact, Agada is averaging a goal contribution every 121 minutes.
4. RADOJA SCORES FIRST SPORTING KC GOAL
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Nemanja Radoja scored his first goal for the club during last weekend’s 3-2 defeat to the LA Galaxy at Children’s Mercy Park, firing home from close range after being picked out by Daniel Salloi following a corner kick.
Not only was the goal Radoja’s first in Sporting colors, but it was also his first professional goal since Nov. 2, 2019, when he scored for Levante in a 3-1 La Liga win over Lionel Messi and Barcelona.
With his primarily role being a defensive one, the goal was just the fifth of the Serbian’s professional career - tallying once Sporting, once with Levante, once with Celta Vigo and twice with hometown club Vojvodina.
Radoja joined Sporting ahead of the 2023 campaign and after dealing with injuries early in the campaign, cemented himself as a key part of the club’s midfield. The 31-year-old tallied three assists and helped the team go 12-8-6 in all competitions when he started last season.
5. SALLOI TALLIES PAIR OF ASSISTS
Sporting Kansas City forward Daniel Salloi got his name on the scoresheet for the first time this season with a pair of assists in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the LA Galaxy at Children’s Mercy Park.
The Hungarian attacker first showed great composure to volley a pass into the path of Nemanja Radoja to give Sporting the lead before his corner found Willy Agada to fire home his team’s second just before the halftime interval.
With two assists, Salloi recorded the fifth multi-assist game of his regular season career, with four of the five coming at Children’s Mercy Park. The 27-year-old now has 97 goal contributions for Sporting KC in all competitions (58 goals, 39 assists), tying former Chris Klein for fourth most in club history.
