"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.
Following the shortest offseason in MLS history, Sporting Kansas City is back with a season-opening road match against Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 27. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT with the game being broadcasted nationally on FS1 and FOX Deportes and streamed in the FOX Sports app as well as on foxsports.com.
It has been almost three years since these two clubs have taken the field on opposite sides of one another. The most recent meeting between these two took place on May 5, 2019, at Children’s Mercy Park with Atlanta leaving town with a victory.
Here are five things to keep in the back of your head for this installment of Sporting KC vs. Atlanta United.
1. Prolific Scorers
Sunday’s match brings two of MLS’s best offensive weapons to the forefront. Since joining Sporting in 2018 Johnny Russell has 71 goal contributions (40 goals, 31 assists), the third-most in that time span. Atlanta United forward Josef Martinez has the most contributions in that time span with a league-leading 70 goals added to his 11 assists for 81 goal contributions. Martinez is coming off a hamstring injury in 2021 but is looking to get back to his unprecedented goal-scoring ways.
While Russell has been incredible for Sporting in the past four seasons it was fellow winger Daniel Salloi leading the way last year. Salloi netted 16 goals and added eight assists in 2021. Sporting’s wingers played a key role in Sporting’s success last season and will look to continue to build upon that success in 2022.
2. Big League Backstops
While Sporting and Atlanta’s offenses are dangerous, their goalkeepers have the potential to snuff them out. Tim Melia has been the cream of the crop for MLS goalkeepers since joining Sporting in 2015. He has seven consecutive 10-win seasons and is looking to become the first keeper in league history to win double-digit games in eight consecutive seasons.
Brad Guzan, the Atlanta keeper, joined the Five Stripes in 2017 after nine seasons in the British Premier League. Guzan has also been capped 64 times by the U.S. Men’s national team and has been named to the MLS All-Star team twice. Keep an eye on both keepers as they try to simmer these fiery offenses.
3. Sporting Success in Road Openers
For a fourth consecutive season, Sporting begins the regular season away from home. While the club cannot wait to get back in front of a raucous Children’s Mercy Park crowd, they have enjoyed success in road openers. Sporting has won two consecutive regular season-opening matches on the road and has 10 wins in road openers, the most in MLS. Sporting is looking to keep the status quo and get the season started on the right foot.
4. Busy Offseason for Both Clubs
As mentioned above, this past offseason was the shortest offseason in MLS history, 91 days to be exact. Despite this, both teams kept busy. Sporting brought in seven players addressing key issues from 2021. Head coach and sporting director, Peter Vermes and the entire technical staff added defensive depth by signing Ben Sweat, Logan Ndenbe, Kortne Ford and Robert Voloder. returned midfielder Uri Rosell to the club he won the 2013 MLS Cup with and bolstered the attack with wingers Marinos Tzionis and Nikola Vujnovic.
Atlanta’s offseason started with them losing two defenders with a combined 133 matches played for the club as Franco Escobar and Anton Walkes ended up on other MLS teams. They then loaned designated player, Ezequiel Barco to River Plate in Argentina. Using that open DP spot, they signed midfielder Thiago Almada for a league-record $16 million deal. Atlanta wrapped up the offseason by signing for Sporting Kansas City striker Dom Dwyer.
5. Breaking the series deadlock
Since joining the league as an expansion team in 2017, Atlanta United has enjoyed loads of success. They have won an MLS Cup (2018), a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2019) and a Campeones Cup (2019) all in the last five seasons. That being said, Sporting has gone toe-to-toe with Atlanta and the results are rather even with both sides posting a 1-1-1 record. The two drew their inaugural match 1-1 on Aug. 6, 2017, before Sporting handed Atlanta their first shutout loss at Mercedes-Benz Stadium 2-0 on May 9, 2018. Atlanta got the last laugh, winning 3-0 on May 5, 2019. Sunday’s match gives both teams the chance to break the deadlock.
