"Five Things"_ is a season-long series presented by the Children's Mercy Sports Medicine Center that highlights the top storylines and players to watch ahead of each match. To visit the series archive, click here._
After a defeat in Atlanta, Sporting Kansas City (0-1-0, 0 points) turns its attention to Houston Dynamo FC (0-0-1, 1 point) as the bitter rivals face off at Children’s Mercy Park. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT with the game being broadcasted locally on 38 The Spot and nationally on Univision and TUDN. The match will also be streamed on MLS’s Twitter page.
This will be the 39th time these two sides take the field against one another, with the last meeting coming last October. Sporting defeated the Dynamo 4-2 with goals from Daniel Salloi, Gadi Kinda and a brace from Johnny Russell. Houston comes to Kansas City after opening their season with a scoreless draw against Real Salt Lake.
Here are five storylines to keep an eye on as soccer returns to Children’s Mercy Park.
1. Home Opener
For the first time since November of last year, Children’s Mercy Park is the site of an MLS match. The first of 17 MLS regular season matches at Children’s Mercy Park sees the Houston Dynamo stroll into town. The Dynamo have been to Kansas City 19 times for MLS regular season matches, with Sporting KC holding a slighted edge with seven wins to Houston’s five. There have been seven draws as well in Kansas City.
Currently, Sporting has a two-game win streak against the Dynamo in Kansas City and is looking to extend that streak to three on Saturday. Fans can purchase tickets for the home opener at SeatGeek.com and can purchase other ticket packages at SportingKC.com/tickets. Sporting holds a 15-3-8 record in MLS regular season home openers, one of the best records in MLS.
2. Salloi Strikes Again
Sporting’s 2021 MLS MVP finalist Daniel Salloi started 2022 in a similar fashion, scoring a goal in the season opener at Atlanta. Salloi became the eighth player in Sporting’s club history to score in back-to-back season-opening matches and his now 17-non penalty goals are tied for the most in MLS since the start of last season. The Hungarian international has two career goals in eight starts against Houston and has added three assists against the Dynamo.
3. Grudge Match
These two clubs have a rather storied history against one another. Houston came into MLS in 2006 and promptly won back-to-back MLS Cups in 2006 and 2007. With Sporting’s success after moving into Children’s Mercy Park and Houston riding the waves of their early success, Sporting and the Dynamo played in plenty of consequential matches, culminating in today’s rivalry.
Over the last 10 years, Sporting faced Houston four times in the MLS Cup Playoffs. In 2011 and 2012 Houston knocked Sporting out of the playoffs en route to back-to-back MLS Cup defeats. In 2013 Sporting got their revenge, bouncing Houston in the Eastern Conference and winning the 2013 MLS Cup in Kansas City a few days later. Sporting and Houston also played five times in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018).
4. Homecoming
Two key players in a handful of those consequential matches were Paulo Nagamura and Jimmy Nielsen. Nagamura is now in charge of the Dynamo as a first-year head coach, and Jimmy Nielsen is on the Dynamo staff as an assistant coach. Nagamura was in charge of SKC II for the past four years before taking the job in Houston, while Nielsen is Sporting Legend. Saturday will be a homecoming for those two as they return to Kansas City in orange for the first time.
5. 38 The Spot
Saturday marks Sporting’s first 2022 match on 38 The Spot after they became Sporting’s official broadcast partner. The broadcast begins at 2:30 and will feature TRACAB technology which has never been seen before in MLS. Fans will have unprecedented access to Sporting KC all season long, with Saturday being just the beginning. Nate Bukaty and Jacob Peterson will be on the call with Aly Trost providing commentary from the sidelines.
