Sporting Kansas City is set ready to travel east this weekend to face off against star-studded Inter Miami CF at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida 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. The match will also be available on the radio locally on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish).
1. BUILDING ON BACK-TO-BACK VICTORIES
Sporting Kansas City has enjoyed a positive restart to MLS action these past two weeks following the Leagues Cup break by claiming six points out of six with a pair of home wins over the San Jose Earthquakes and most recently St. Louis.
Despite the absence of influential Designated Player Gadi Kinda due to an ankle injury, Sporting cruised to a 3-0 win over San Jose on Aug. 26 before producing a valiant comeback performance to see off St. Louis by a 2-1 scoreline on Sept. 2. Sporting’s match against St. Louis saw the club announce a full standing room capacity crowd of 21,650 for the first time in the regular season, having previously reached the fire marshal capacity in the 2013 Eastern Conference Final, 2013 MLS Cup and 2021 Western Conference Final.
In front of a raucous crowd, Sporting fought back from an early Sam Adeniran goal to claim all three points courtesy of a brace from Designated Player Alan Pulido who rose to fourth in the MLS Golden Boot charts with his 11th and 12th goals of the MLS campaign.
Since the start of May, Sporting have gone 8-4-5 in MLS play and rank second in MLS with 33 goals scored (1.94 goals per match). The team went 0-7-3 and scored just three goals in its first 10 league matches through the end of April.
2. WELCOME TO MIAMI
Sporting Kansas City is set to head east this weekend to face off against the hottest team in MLS, Inter Miami CF, at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Saturday night. Both teams are set to be missing key contributors due to international duty, including Sporting Designated Player Gadi Kinda (Israel) and Miami superstar Lionel Messi (Argentina).
The match marks the first time that Sporting have faced Miami since the Floridians joined MLS as an expansion team in 2020. In their previous 20 occasions that Sporting has faced an expansion team for the first time, the club has gone 11-4-5 - including a tough 4-0 loss on the road to St. Louis earlier this year on May 20.
Similar to Sporting, Miami began the season in a tough run of form by going 5-14-3 prior to the Leagues Cup break in late July. However, buoyed by the signing of global superstars Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, Miami won Leagues Cup 2023 and have gone 2-0-1 out of the gates in their return to MLS play - including an impressive 3-1 road win over reigning MLS Cup champions LAFC this past Sunday.
3. PULIDO CONTINUES CHASE FOR GOLDEN BOOT
Sporting Kansas City star forward Alan Pulido produced a Man of the Match performance this past Saturday as Sporting downed cross-state rivals St. Louis at Children’s Mercy Park.
After falling a goal behind midway through the first half, Pulido scored a pair of goals in the 31st and 44th minutes to turn the game on its head and lead Sporting to a 2-1 victory on the night. Pulido, who was named to the MLS Team of the Matchday earlier this week, has been in red-hot form this summer with an MLS-best 11 goals since the start of June and the Mexican international is now fourth in the MLS Golden Boot race with a dozen MLS goals in 2023.
In his fourth season with the club, Pulido now has 28 goals and 11 assists in 60 appearances across all competitions for the club. With 26 goals in 55 MLS regular-season matches, Pulido is now first in club history in goals per game.
Player | Goals | Games | Goals/Game |
Alan Pulido | 26 | 55 | 0.47 |
Dom Dwyer | 57 | 128 | 0.45 |
Kei Kamara | 38 | 113 | 0.34 |
4. THOMMY TALLIES ANOTHER PAIR OF ASSISTS
Sporting Kansas City Designated Player Erik Thommy produced a brilliant performance on Saturday night to help Sporting overcome a one-goal deficit to defeat their cross-state rivals St. Louis by a 2-1 scoreline at Children’s Mercy Park.
After falling behind to Sam Adeniran’s strike, Thommy sparked the comeback in the 31st minute by attracting the attention of seven St. Louis defenders before scooping the ball into the path of Daniel Salloi whose cross was turned home by Alan Pulido to level the score. Thirteen minutes later, Thommy’s pass sent Jake Davis scampering down the right wing and his cutback was converted by Pulido for what would be the game-winner.
Thommy, who joined Sporting midway through the 2022 campaign, has now tallied 20 goal contributions (7g, 13a) for the club in just 44 appearances across all competitions. In 2023 alone, the German midfielder has four goals and 11 assists 31 appearances, while Sporting is 9-0-3 when he scores or assists in 2023.
5. KINDA & TZIONIS ON INTERNATIONAL DUTY
Sporting Kansas City duo Gadi Kinda and Marinos Tzionis will both miss the club’s upcoming road match against Inter Miami this Saturday night as the pair jetted off to represent Israel and Cyprus, respectively, at the international level earlier this week.
Venturing overseas for his first national team involvement since October 2021, Kinda is part of an Israel side that will visit Romania on Saturday before hosting Belarus on Tuesday. Kinda has earned five career caps for Israel and punctuated his internaitonal debut with a sensational long-range goal in a 3-1 friendly win at Montenegro on June 5, 2021, before making his first start for the team four days later in a friendly defeat at European powerhouse Portugal.
Tzionis and Cyprus will resume their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with two matches during the next FIFA window, hosting Scotland on Friday before visiting world powerhouse Spain on Monday. Tzionis has blossomed as a key contributor for the Cyprus national team, amassing 24 caps and scoring two goals for his home country while competing in the UEFA Nations League and FIFA World Cup qualifying.
