Sporting Kansas City is back on the road this weekend looking to build momentum when the team faces the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 9:30 p.m. CT and will be available to stream in English and Spanish 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. BACK TO WINNING WAYS
Sporting Kansas City returned to winning ways this past weekend, with the club’s 2-1 victory over Seattle Sounders FC at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night snapping their 10-game winless run in MLS regular-season play and seven-game losing streak. The seven-game losing streak in regular season is Sporting’s longest since 2006 and tied for the longest in club history. In 2023, it took a 2-1 victory over Seattle - that time at Lumen Field - to snap a 10-game winless streak and propel Sporting to the best record in the West from May through the end of the regular season.
Both the 10-game winless streak and seven-game losing run were tied for the longest in club history, so the victory over Seattle prevented an unwanted footnote taking hold in the 2024 season. The club did have two wins during the barren 10-game period, claiming victories over Union Omaha and FC Tulsa to advance to the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals where the side will face FC Dallas at Children’s Mercy Park on July 10.
Sporting has continued to find ways to score in 2024, tallying 1.53 goals per game which ranks ninth in MLS and would be the team’s fourth best scoring season since rebranding to Sporting in 2011 if it held for the remainder of the year - while Sporting also leads MLS with nine goals from outside the penalty area.
2. STRIKING BACK AGAINST THE GALAXY
Sporting Kansas City snapped their recent poor run of form last weekend, earning a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Seattle Sounders FC at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night. The team will be looking to build some momentum this weekend when the squad heads to Southern California to take on the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday night at 9:30 p.m. CT.
Sporting and LA have already met once this season, with the Galaxy earning a comeback 3-2 victory at Children’s Mercy Park on March 23, 2024. Sporting dominated the first half and took a 2-0 lead into the interval following goals from Nemanja Radoja and Willy Agada, but the Galaxy roared back in the second stanza through Eriq Zavaleta, Dejan Joveljic and Marky Delgado to snatch all three points.
The last meeting that took place at Dignity Health Sports Park was almost a year ago on June 21, 2023 when the two sides played out a riveting 2-2 draw. Sporting took an early lead through Alan Pulido’s header but the Galaxy responded with goals in either half from Martin Caceres and Preston Judd. With LA on the verge of closing out the match, Remi Walter’s strike was blocked by the hand of Daniel Aguirre and Pulido stepped up to convert the penalty in the 90th minute to salvage a point for the visitors.
Sporting trails the all-time series with the Galaxy 26-27-18, but Sporting has had a lot of joy against LA over the past decade - going 7-3-7 since midway through the 2015 campaign with a 3-1-3 mark at Dignity Health Sports Park.
3. RUSSELL ROUNDING INTO FORM
Sporting Kansas City captain Johnny Russell continued his excellent recent form with another goal in the club’s 2-1 victory over Seattle Sounders FC at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night.
Just seven minutes after falling behind, Russell latched onto a half-cleared ball on the edge of the Sounders penalty area and stroked a lovely shot beyond Stefan Frei and into the bottom corner to make the score 1-1. The goal was his third in his last four starts, dating back to his first goal of the season on May 18.
Russell now has seven goals against Seattle in the regular season, his most against any MLS opponent.
Russell has 59 goals in MLS regular-season action for Sporting KC, two ahead of Dom Dwyer for second all-time in club history and only trailing Sporting Legend Preki by 12. His 65 goals for the club in all competitions are third all-time, two behind Dwyer’s 67.
4. VARGAS MAKES THE DIFFERENCE OFF THE BENCH
Sporting Kansas City forward Alenis Vargas made all the difference this past weekend, producing a game-changing performance in the club’s 2-1 victory over Seattle Sounders FC at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night.
Entering the match as a 72nd-minute substitute, Vargas wasted no time in making an impact as within 60 seconds he dribbled beyond Seattle’s Reed Baker-Whiting and was tugged back by the young Sounders defender, resulting in a second yellow card leaving Sporting to play the closing stages of the contest up a man.
It got better from there as in the 85th minute, Vargas latched onto an inch-perfect pass from Khiry Shelton behind the Sounders backline and hammered a shot low and hard beyond Stefan Frei in the Seattle goal to give Sporting all three points. Vargas, the youngest player on the club’s matchday roster at the age of 20, had already opened his MLS scoring account in a 3-1 win at Toronto on March 30.
5. SHELTON PROVIDES CREATIVE SPARK
Sporting Kansas City forward Khiry Shelton has made four of his last five appearances for the club in an unfamiliar role, filling in at right back over the past six weeks. The positional shift has resulted in Shelton providing two assists in his last three appearances, including on the game-winning goal in Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Seattle Sounders FC at Children’s Mercy Park.
Shelton, who had come on as a 72nd-minute substitute, picked out a perfectly-weighted pass behind the Seattle backline to find Alenis Vargas who fired beyond Stefan Frei and give Sporting all three points. Shelton has now tallied nine game-winning assists for Sporting KC, ninth most in club history and second on the active roster - only trailing Daniel Salloi’s 12.
On May 29, Shelton had recorded his first assist of the campaign after weaving beyond multiple Vancouver defenders before setting up Marinos Tzionis’ consolation goal in the 2-1 setback against the Whitecaps.
