Sporting Kansas City remains at home this weekend as the club takes on Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Children’s Mercy Park. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT and will be streamed on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV in English, Spanish and French. The match will also 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. BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
Sporting Kansas City suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Chicago Fire FC at Children’s Mercy Park and has seen the club’s excellent record from the start of May to early June come to a grinding halt with a 0-2-1 record over the last three matches.
After starting the season 0-3-1 at home, Sporting clawed their way back to bring their home record above .500 with four conescutive home wins from May 13 to June 10. With an opportunity to build on that form, Sporting instead has now lost back-to-back home matches against Los Angeles FC on June 17 and Chicago on June 24 with a 2-2 draw on the road at the LA Galaxy sandwiched between.
However, Sporting has gone 5-3-3 since the start of May and still leads the Western Conference in wins (five) and points (18) during that time period. The team is also tied for the MLS lead in goals (20) over the past month two months, alongside the Philadelphia Union.
Sporting will be hoping to get back to winning ways as soon as possible since the club has played the most games of anyone in MLS to date (21), having played on every Matchday so far in 2023.
2. VANQUISHING VANCOUVER
Sporting Kansas City remains at home this weekend to host Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Children’s Mercy Park. The match will bring Sporting level with 11 games played both at home and away, marking the first time those stats have been even all season.
Sporting and Vancouver met just under a month ago on June 3, 2023 at BC Place in Canada, playing out a 1-1 draw. Alan Pulido headed Sporting into the lead midway through the first half off Erik Thommy’s corner, but the Whitecaps stole a point late as Ryan Gauld converted from the penalty spot after Robert Voloder had brought down Deiber Caicedo in the area.
Sporting last hosted Vancouver 13 months ago on May 28, 2022, suffering a 1-0 defeat at Children’s Mercy Park. Lucas Cavallini scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot after a foul from Uri Rosell, and Sporting were unable to claw a goal back despite seeing Nicolas Isimat-Mirin’s header cleared off the line in second-half stoppage time.
Sporting leads the all-time series with Vancouver 11-6-5, including a dominant 6-2-2 mark at home. Sporting have gone 2-1-1 in their last four regular-season home matches against Vancouver, and also topped the ‘Caps at home in the 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs.
3. PULIDO BEST IN MLS THROUGHOUT JUNE
Sporting Kansas City forward and Designated Player Alan Pulido enjoyed a brilliant run of form in the month of June, leading all MLS players with six goals and seven goal contributions as he fully recovers his form and fitness from the knee surgery that saw him miss all of the 2022 campaign.
Earlier in June, Pulido scored in four straight league matches for the first time in his professional career, while he has six goals in the past five games. Pulido not only leads MLS with seven total goal contributions throughout June (six goals, one assist), he also leads Sporting with 11 goal contributions in all competitions this season (eight goals, three assists).
Among players with 20 career regular season goals for the club, Pulido’s .52 goals per 90 minutes is the best rate in club history and Pulido’s .43 goals per game rate is second best in club history.
4. WALTER REMAINS DEPENDABLE
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Remi Walter remains as dependable as ever, having become a virtually ever-present figure in the team over the last two years.
Walter was the only Sporting player to appear in all 34 regular-season matches in 2022, and recently saw his 56-game streak of consecutive starts come to an end during Sporting’s 4-1 victory over the Portland Timbers on May 28, 2023.
The Frenchman, who leads MLS with 154 recoveries this season, has tallied four goals and seven assists in 91 appearances across all competitions since joining the club ahead of the 2021 campaign. Walter has played in 22 of Sporting’s 23 games in 2023.
5. SALLOI THE IRONMAN
Sporting Kansas City Homegrown forward Daniel Salloi is Sporting’s lone ironman in 2023, appearing in all 23 of the club’s matches across all competitions, starting 22 of them across MLS regular season and U.S. Open Cup play.
The only match that Salloi did not start was the 1-0 loss in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 on the road at Houston Dynamo FC. He has started all 21 MLS regular season matches, tallying four goals and four assists from the left wing, while he also added a goal and an assist in the Open Cup.
Last season, only Remi Walter played in all 34 of the club’s regular-season matches, and Salloi is more than halfway to the same feat in 2023. Now in his eighth season with Sporting’s first team after graduating from the SKC Academy, Salloi has become a fan favorite and key member of the club’s attack, tallying 53 goals and 30 assists in 195 appearances across all competitions.
