Sporting Kansas City closes out a hectic stretch of seven matches in 22 days this weekend when the club welcomes cross-state rivals St. Louis to Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT and will be available to stream for free on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV while the match will also be nationally televised on FS1. The match will be available on the radio locally on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish). Tickets are available via SeatGeek.com.
1. RIVALRY SHOWDOWN ON THE DOCKET
Sporting Kansas City is set to wrap up their grueling stretch of matches this weekend when the team plays host to cross-state rivals St. Louis at Children’s Mercy Park. The match sees the team end a seven-game stretch in 22 days from June 29 through July 20.
The stakes don’t come much higher than a rivalry match against the team directly below Sporting in the Western Conference standings, while the club will also be looking to protect their home unbeaten record against St. Louis (2-0-1) and their current three-game winning streak at Children’s Mercy Park in all competitions since June 29.
Sporting has won four of their last five at home dating back to the 2-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders on June 8, while St. Louis are one of two teams in MLS that are yet to taste victory this season away from home alongside FC Dallas, going 0-6-5.
2. LOOKING TO REMAIN UNBEATEN AT HOME vs. STL
Sporting Kansas City closes out the club’s congested schedule this weekend having played midweek and weekend games over the past three weeks. When Sporting hosts cross-state rivals St. Louis at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday, the club will close out their spell of seven matches in 22 days from June 29 through July 20.
Sporting will be looking to maintain their fine home form against St. Louis, going an unbeaten 2-0-1 across three meetings at Children’s Mercy Park in all competitions to date. The first meeting took place on Sept. 2, 2023 in the regular season with Sporting falling into an early deficit but Peter Vermes’ side stormed back and claimed all three points behind a brace from Alan Pulido.
The two sides then met in Round One of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs and one week after Sporting had thrashed St. Louis 4-1 at Citypark to take game one, Sporting swept the Best-of-3 series with a 2-1 victory at Children’s Mercy Park on Nov. 5, 2023. Logan Ndenbe and Daniel Salloi put Sporting in total control before a late St. Louis goal made the closing stages nervy but Sporting saw it out to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals.
Sporting’s most recent meeting with St. Louis came on April 20, 2024 when the two teams played out a wild 3-3 draw at Children’s Mercy Park. Sporting raced into the lead through Pulido’s fine finish but a physical St. Louis bullied their way back into the game behind goals from Joao Klauss and Celio Pompeu to take a halftime lead. After the break, a Roman Burki own goal brought Sporting level before Erik Thommy fired the hosts into the lead, only for Tomas Totland to find a stoppage-time equalizer.
3. AGADA CONTINUES TO FIND THE BACK OF THE NET
Sporting Kansas City forward Willy Agada produced a somewhat rare feat during Wednesday night’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place, in that the Nigerian frontman scored a goal on the road.
Agada has been in torrid form lately, scoring four goals in his last three starts for the club across all competitions. The 24-year-old leads the team with eight goals in the regular season and nine goals across all competitions after scoring the opener in Sporting’s 2-1 victory over FC Dallas in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals last week.
Agada’s eight goals in the regular season match his tally from 2022 when he arrived midseason and took the league by storm, tallying eight goals and two assists across just 10 starts to close out the campaign.
While Agada has flourished at home, scoring 18 goals while starting just 17 matches at Children’s Mercy Park, he has struggled on the road as Wednesday’s strike was just his third away from home since joining the club - also scoring on Aug. 13, 2022 at Austin and Sept. 30, 2023 at St. Louis.
4. SALLOI REACHES 200 REGULAR-SEASON APPEARANCES
Sporting Kansas City forward Daniel Salloi reached a major personal milestone during Wednesday night’s 2-1 setback against the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place, playing in his 200th MLS regular-season match for the club.
By reaching the 200 appearance mark, Salloi becomes the first Sporting KC Academy product to reach the milestone and just the 12th player in Kansas City history to hit the double century.
Salloi, who is now tied for 11th all-time in regular-season appearances alongside Sporting Legend Chris Klein, has tallied 46 goals and 35 assists in the regular season for Sporting and his 81 goal contributions rank fifth in club history.
The only player on the current roster with more regular-season appearances than Salloi is longtime goalkeeper Tim Melia with 254, while the only player on the current roster with more goal involvements in the regular season is Johnny Russell with 99.
5. SPORTING UNVEILS NEW THIRD KIT
Major League Soccer and adidas announced on Tuesday the official unveil of the adidas x MLS Archive Collection which includes Sporting Kansas City’s highly-anticipated third jersey featuring the Kansas City Wizards logo and colors in tribute to the iconic uniforms from the team’s early era.
Sporting will wear the third jersey during select matches throughout the remainder of the 2024 season, and debuted the kit on Wednesday night when the club faced off against Canadian club Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
Sporting Kansas City is one of five clubs who are a part of the first year of the adidas x MLS Archive Collection along with Inter Miami CF, LA Galaxy, LAFC and Portland Timbers. The collection leans into a retro theme of each club’s city that captures authentic stories important to the local community through bold and progressive designs.
