Recap: Agada scores again as Sporting ties St. Louis 1-1

Willy Agada scored his fifth goal in five matches as Sporting Kansas City (6-14-6, 24 points) came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw against St. Louis City SC (4-10-11, 23 points) in a fiercely contested rivalry match on Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park.

Nokkvi Thorisson fired the visitors ahead near halftime—scoring minutes after he could have been sent off for a rash challenge—but Sporting’s dominance paid off with Agada’s 73rd-minute equalizer off an assist from substitute Alan Pulido. The result ends Sporting’s run of 19 consecutive matches in all competitions without a draw, the most recent of which was a 3-3 stalemate between the cross-state rivals on April 20 at the same stadium.

Sporting’s regular season campaign will now pause for five weeks as Leagues Cup 2024 takes center stage. Manager Peter Vermes’ men will open their tournament campaign next Sunday, July 28, by hosting Chicago Fire FC in the West Region Group 4 opener. Kickoff is slated for 8 p.m. CT with tickets available at SeatGeek.com and live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.

With his team ending a grueling stretch of seven matches in 22 days, Vermes made four changes to his starting lineup from Wednesday’s 2-1 road loss at Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Outside backs Tim Leibold and Khiry Shelton joined the defense, Erik Thommy slotted into the attacking midfield and captain Johnny Russell returned to the right wing.

St. Louis was outplayed for extended periods on Saturday but conjured the first fleeting chance inside five minutes, Akil Watts slithering past two tacklers and dragging a 20-ayrd shot marginally wide of the left post. Leibold then went agonizingly close at the opposite end in the ninth minute, unleashing a long-range curler with his weaker right foot that St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Burki did brilliantly to touch onto the crossbar.

Burki produced all five of his saves in the first half and was called into action once more in the 19th minute, corralling Robert Castellanos’ bouncing header off a Russell free kick. At the half-hour mark, Sporting winger Daniel Salloi settled a clever pass from Leibold inside the box, split a pair of St. Louis defenders and cannoned a shot from a tight angle that Burki touched over the woodwork.

Thorisson was lucky not to be sent off in the 36th minute. Already on a yellow card for a cautionable offense minutes earlier, the St. Louis forward caught Sporting midfielder Nemanja Radoja with a studs-up challenge that went unpunished by referee Rubiel Vazquez, much to the dismay of the Children’s Mercy Park crowd. Thorisson would vault his team in front in the 42nd minute, culminating an attack involving Watts and John Klein by cutting centrally and barreling a shot into the right corner from near the penalty spot. The go-ahead goal came shortly after Radoja was denied by Burki on a breathless sequence that began with Thommy’s free kick into the box.

The second half was played amidst steady rainfall and thoroughly controlled by the hosts. Agada had a decent look to level the score in the 59th minute, connecting with Salloi’s low, driven cross from the right side, but he was unable to put his backheel attempt on target. Thommy then threatened with two deflected strikes in the space of five minutes, the first of which on a counter-attack and the second a venomous free kick, but both skipped inches wide.

Salloi fired high from the edge of the penalty area in the 68th minute and St. Louis playmaker Eduard Lowen struck the woodwork with a dipping free kick three minutes later.

Sporting found their deserved equalizer with 17 minutes remaining. Shortly after entering the game for Russell, Pulido stamped his name on proceedings by finding a pocket of space to cross from the left side of the area and clipping a delectable ball to the back post for Agada to head home on the doorstep. Agada has bagged a team-leading 10 goals this season in all competitions, including nine in the regular season, and now has a remarkable 17 goals in 17 regular season home starts at Children’s Mercy Park since joining the club in the summer of 2022. With his assist on the play, Pulido has seven goal contributions—three goals and four assists—in seven career appearances against St. Louis.

Sporting dictated terms during the dying embers of the match, but neither side was able to create a clear scoring opportunity before Vazquez blew the full-time whistle. Sporting is now 3-2-2 in seven all-time meetings against their closest rivals, with the teams slated to meet once more on Sept. 28 at CityPark in St. Louis.

2024 MLS Regular Season | Match 26
Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas
Attendance: 19,876
Weather: 73 degrees and cloudy

Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Khiry Shelton, Robert Castellanos, Robert Voloder, Tim Leibold; Nemanja Radoja, Remi Walter, Erik Thommy (Stephen Afrifa 90+2'); Johnny Russell (C) (Alan Pulido 64'), Willy Agada, Daniel Salloi

Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Zorhan Bassong, Andreu Fontas, Kayden Pierre, Chris Rindov, Danny Flores, Alenis Vargas

St. Louis City SC: Roman Burki (C); Kyle Hiebert, Tim Parker, Jayden Reid; Tomas Totland (Josh Yaro 70'), Njabulo Blom, Akil Watts (Jake Girdwood-Reich 84'), John Klein (Anthony Markanich 63'); Eduard Lowen, Cedric Teuchert (Hosei Kijima 63'); Nikkvi Thorisson (Cayden Glover 84')

Subs Not Used: Ben Lundt, Jake Nerwinski, Michael Wentzel, Indiana Vassilev

Scoring Summary:
STL -- Nokkvi Thorisson 3 (John Klein 1, Akil Watts 1) 42'
SKC -- Willy Agada 9 (Alan Pulido 4) 73'

Misconduct Summary:
STL -- Nokkvi Thorisson (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 34'
STL -- Akil Watts (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 45+1'
SKC -- Tim Leibold (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 83'
SKC -- Khiry Shelton (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 89'
STL -- Hosei Kijima (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 90+4'

Referee: Rubiel Vazquez
Assistant Referee: Nick Uranga
Assistant Referee: Jeffrey Greeson
Fourth Official: Matthew Corrigan
VAR: Ricardo Montero
AVAR: TJ Zablocki