Sporting Kansas City (2-3-5, 11 pts.) fell to a 2-1 defeat against Minnesota United (5-2-2, 17 pts.) at Allianz Field on Saturday night. After falling into a two-goal deficit early, Sporting struck through Alan Pulido late in the first half but was unable to find an equalizing goal in the second half.
Manager Peter Vermes made one change to the team that drew with St. Louis last Saturday, as Sporting KC Academy product Kayden Pierre made his first start of the season at right back in place of fellow Homegrown defender Jake Davis who was serving a one-game suspension due to yellow card accumulation.
The change snapped Davis’ 36-game start streak in all competitions dating back to May 28, 2023 and also marked a reintroduction for Pierre – who missed the majority of the 2023 campaign with hamstring issues – as he made his first MLS appearance since March 18, 2023 and first MLS start since Sept. 17, 2022, also against Minnesota.
Sporting fell into an early hole as the team conceded their quickest goal of the 2024 season when Minnesota captain Michael Boxall fired home after Robin Lod had flicked on Joseph Rosales’ corner kick just 65 seconds into the match.
Willy Agada almost mustered the perfect response in the seventh minute, latching onto a sumptuous pass from Tim Leibold but fired over the bar with only Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair to beat. The hosts could have doubled their lead six minutes later, but DJ Taylor could only find the outside of the side-netting from close range.
Minnesota doubled their advantage in the 25th minute as Rosales snuck in behind the Sporting backline and squared the ball to Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi who tapped home. The goal stood despite a lengthy check for offside.
Sporting pulled a goal back in the 38th minute with Pulido finishing off a flowing move for his third goal of the season. Nemanja Radoja clipped a ball over the top for a streaking Daniel Salloi down the left wing who in turn picked out Pulido on the edge of the area and the Mexican showed class and composure to settle the ball before finding the corner, making the score 2-1 heading into halftime.
The goal saw Pulido move into a four-way tie for ninth place in Sporting KC history with 31 regular season goals, joining the company of Benny Feilhaber, Mo Johnston and former teammate Graham Zusi. Salloi’s assist saw him rise to 97 career goal contributions (58 goals, 39 assists) in all competitions for Sporting, tying Chris Klein for fourth most in club history.
Minnesota brought on flying South African forward Bongokuhle Hlongwane at halftime and the 23-year-old immediately began causing Sporting problems – first teeing up Oluwaseyi who mishit his shot wide before testing Tim Melia himself with an effort from 20 yards out.
Sporting almost found a leveler in the 78th minute as Salloi’s free kick from the left wing picked out Dany Rosero in the middle of the area but his flicked header flew straight into the hands of St. Clair. Moments later, Pulido played Salloi through on goal but the Hungarian could only drag his finish wide on his weaker left foot as Sporting fell to their first road loss of the 2024 campaign.
Sporting KC remains on the road next weekend when the team heads West for a trip to take on Real Salt Lake at America First Field next Saturday night. Kickoff set for 8:30 p.m. CT on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV as well as Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish) on the radio.
2024 MLS Regular Season | Match 10
Allianz Field | St. Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 19,712
Weather: 57 degrees and cloudy
Score | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
Sporting Kansas City (2-3-5, 11 points) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Minnesota United FC (5-2-2, 17 points) | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Kayden Pierre (Khiry Shelton 70’), Dany Rosero, Andreu Fontas, Tim Leibold; Nemanja Radoja, Remi Walter; Erik Thommy, Alan Pulido (Alenis Vargas 83’), Daniel Salloi (C); Willy Agada (Johnny Russell 62’)
Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Zorhan Bassong, Robert Castellanos, Robert Voloder, Memo Rodriguez, Marinos Tzionis
Minnesota United FC: Dayne St. Clair; DJ Taylor, Kervin Arriaga, Michael Boxall (C), Devin Padelford (Carlos Harvey 80’), Joseph Rosales; Robin Lod (Alejandro Bran 92+), Wil Trapp; Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi (Miguel Tapias 66’), Teemu Pukki (Caden Clark 46’), Franco Fragapane (Bongokuhle Hlongwane 46’)
Subs Not Used: Alec Smir, Zarek Valentin
Scoring Summary:
MIN – Michael Boxall 1 (Robin Lod 6, Joseph Rosales 2) 2’
MIN – Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi 4 (Joseph Rosales 3, Robin Lod 7) 25’
SKC – Alan Pulido 3 (Daniel Salloi 2, Nemanja Radoja 1) 38’
Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Andreu Fontas (Yellow Card; Dissent) 23’
MIN – Devin Padelford (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 32’
MIN – Michael Boxall (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 63’
Stat | SKC | MIN |
|---|---|---|
Shots | 7 | 9 |
Shots on Goal | 3 | 5 |
Saves | 3 | 1 |
Fouls | 11 | 16 |
Offsides | 5 | 0 |
Corner Kicks | 4 | 5 |
Referee: Ted Unkel
Assistant Referee: Kevin Lock
Assistant Referee: Eduardo Jeff
Fourth Official: Marcos DeOliveira
VAR: Kevin Stott
AVAR: Felisha Mariscal
