Sporting Kansas City vs. CF Montreal
2023 MLS Regular Season | Match 10
Saturday, April 29 | 7:30 p.m. CT (7:39 kickoff)
Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kan.
Broadcast Schedule:
Apple TV | MLS Season Pass
English Radio | Sports Radio 810 WHB
Spanish Radio | La Grande 1340 AM
Sporting Kansas City will welcome CF Montreal to Children's Mercy Park for the first time since 2019 when the clubs meet at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday in the 200th regular season MLS match at the state-of-the-art stadium.
Tickets for the cross-conference clash are available via SeatGeek, including the SKC x Royals Ticket Pack featuring a limited edition co-branded scarf as well as the Bud Light Easy to Enjoy Pack and the Sporting U Pass. In addition, Sporting Kansas City will celebrate the club's annual Sporting Sustainability match with One Planet jerseys available to purchase at SportingStyle and fans are encouraged to support the Recycle Your Game initiative by bringing new or gently used soccer gear to donate at the gates.
Saturday's showdown will kick off at 7:39 p.m. CT and will stream live on Apple TV for MLS Season Pass subscribers in English, Spanish and French with pre-match programming starting at 7:10 p.m. CT. The MLS Season Pass subscription features every MLS match in 2023 and fans can watch on billions of devices through the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes and game consoles as well as on the web at tv.apple.com.
All of the action will also be shown at each of the club's pub partners in the Sporting Pub Network and radio coverage will air locally in English on Sports Radio 810 WHB and in Spanish on La Grande 1340 AM with streams available in the Sporting KC app.
Sporting Kansas City enters the match-up with Montreal coming off a 3-0 win in the U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday. Daniel Salloi, Alan Pulido and Marinos Tzionis each scored for Sporting in the victory as Salloi - who has scored or assisted on four of the club's six goals this season -- recorded his club-record eighth U.S. Open Cup goal and Pulido scored for the first time since Aug. 14, 2021 after returning earlier this month from knee surgery.
Fellow Designated Player Gadi Kinda made his own highly-anticipated return from a long-term knee injury on Tuesday, logging his first appearance for Sporting since Nov. 28, 2021 - which also marks the last time time all three of Sporting Kansas City's Designated Players took the field together.
Despite the recent returns of Pulido and Kinda, Manager Peter Vermes could remain without as many as seven players on Saturday. Andreu Fontas, who was named the team's Defensive Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons, will serve a one-match suspension while Willy Agada, the team's reigning Newcomer of the Year and Golden Boot recipient, is expected to miss three months with a stress fracture in his tibia. Right back Graham Zusi and holding midfielder Nemanja Radoja are questionable to return from injury while defenders Kortne Ford (Achilles), Tim Leibold (hamstring) and Kayden Pierre (hamstring) remain out on Matchday 10.
CF Montreal find themselves in a similar position with seven players unavailable on Saturday. Jojea Kwizera, Lassi Lappalainen, Jules Vilsaint, Samuel Piette, Mason Toye and Romell Quioto are listed as unavailable due to injury while Ilias Iliadis will serve a one-match suspension for a red card received in CF Montreal's 2-0 win over the New York Red Bulls last weekend.
Amidst the absences, midfielder Remi Walter has been a steady presence for Sporting as the Frenchman has made 51 straight regular season starts dating back to Sept. 29, 2021. The feat ranks as the second longest active streak among MLS field players and a start on Saturday would tie Walter with Jimmy Conrad for the second longest streak in club history among field players.
Walter scored the game-winning goal in the most recent meeting with CF Montreal, which came on July 9, 2022 in a 2-1 victory for Sporting at Stade Saputo. After falling behind early, Roger Espinoza scored a sensational equalizer from 45 yards out to spark the rally before Walter struck with a well-taken finish in the second half to complete the comeback.
Sporting last hosted Montreal more than four years ago on March 30, 2019 when SKC scored a club-record seven goals in a 7-1 win that equaled the largest margin of victory in team history. Sporting is 6-1-2 against CF Montreal in the last nine regular season meetings, giving the side an 8-4-3 all-time advantage in the series since Montreal joined MLS as an expansion team in 2012.
Both sides have endured challenging starts to the 2023 MLS season as the two lowest scoring teams in Major League Soccer this year. Sporting has opened the regular season winless in nine matches (0-6-3) for the first time in club history and sit last in the Western Conference after a string of three straight losses. After finishing 2022 with a club-record 65 points, CF Montreal are tied for last in the Eastern Conference with a 0-5-0 road record and have yet to score away from home.
