Sporting Kansas City vs. Deportivo Toluca FC
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 | 7 p.m. CT
Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas
2019 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League
Round of 16 | Leg One
Broadcast Schedule:
English Stream | YahooSports.com, Yahoo Sports App
Spanish TV | Univision Deportes
English Radio | Sports Radio 810 WHB
Spanish Radio | ESPN Deportes KC 1480 AM
Mobile | Sporting KC App
New Sporting KC App | By The Numbers | Five Things to Know | Videos
Champions League Countdown | Match Notes | Media Guide | MatchCenter
A colossal matchup comes straight out of the gates as Sporting Kansas City open their 2019 season Thursday against Mexican outfit Deportivo Toluca FC in the first leg of the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Round of 16.
Kickoff at Children’s Mercy Park is slated for 7 p.m. CT, pitting two accomplished sides that aim to take their first step toward winning North America’s most prestigious club tournament. Tickets for the match are included in Sporting KC Season Ticket Member packages and can be purchased at SeatGeek.com.
Thursday’s highly anticipated showdown—the earliest competitive match in Sporting KC history—will stream live in English on YahooSports.com and the Yahoo Sports app, while Univision Deportes will broadcast the game live in Spanish and the all-new Sporting KC app will provide in-game updates and exclusive offers. Listeners can also follow the action locally on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and ESPN Deportes KC 1480 AM (Spanish), with The Final Whistle postgame show airing immediately afterwards on 810 WHB.
Coming off a historic 2018 campaign that yielded club records in goals, assists, shots and goal differential, Sporting lift the curtains on 2019 as one of 16 participants in this year’s Concacaf Champions League. Manager Peter Vermes’ side qualified for the competition as winners of the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and will make their fourth Champions League appearance since the tournament’s modern era began in 2008-09.
On the opposite sideline, Toluca is set to become the first Mexican club to visit Sporting since Vermes’ men defeated eventual champion Cruz Azul in the first leg of the 2013-14 Champions League quarterfinals almost five years ago. Led by manager Hernan Cristante, los Diablos Rojos punched their 2019 Champions League ticket by finishing as Liga MX runners-up in the 2018 Clausura (spring) season.
In order to become the first MLS team to win the Champions League during the modern era, Sporting will have to navigate four separate rounds of two-legged series. The 16 contenders will play in a fixed, knockout-style bracket through the final, with games running from late February to the start of May. In the round of 16, the away goals rule will be applied if the aggregate score is tied after the second leg. If the teams are still tied, a penalty shootout will decide the victor.
Sporting are hot off a successful preseason in Arizona that saw the club go 5-0-1 and outscore opponents by a combined 28-4. Striker Krisztian Nemeth led the way with five goals, forward Johnny Russell bagged four, winger Gerso Fernandes tallied three assists and right back Graham Zusi amassed two goals and three assists. Sporting have officially completed the shortest offseason in team history, with just 83 days separating Thursday’s match and last year’s playoff defeat to the Portland Timbers in the Western Conference Championship.
Toluca began their 2019 Clausura season brightly, posting a pair of comfortable wins to take first place in Liga MX. The side has spiraled downward since then, however, going 0-4-1 over their last five fixtures with a single goal scored. Los Diablos Rojos nevertheless remain a dangerous side, boasting a slew of talented Argentines—namely defender Jonatain Maidana and forwards Emmanuel Gigliotti and Enrique Triverio—as well as experienced Mexican veterans in goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera, midfielder Antonio Rios and winger Carlos Esquivel.
Sporting and Toluca are both looking to vanquish Champions League shortcomings of the past. Los Diablos Rojos last appeared in the tournament in 2014, when they suffered a narrow loss to Cruz Azul in the finals by virtue of away goals. Founded in 1917 and a 10-time Mexican league champion, Toluca are still hunting for their first Champions League title but won the competition in its former iteration as the Concacaf Champions’ Cup in 1968 and 2003. Sporting, meanwhile, have never advanced past the quarterfinals.
Mexican clubs have dominated the Champions League over the last decade, winning all 10 titles since 2008. Until last year, MLS sides were a woeful 2-18 in two-legged knockout-round series against Liga MX opponents in the tournament. Yet the 2018 edition produced a noticeable shift—one that will give Sporting hope this time around. Last year, MLS clubs went a collective 3-3 versus Liga MX foes in Champions League knockout series. That gave the league more such wins in 2018 than the previous nine tournaments combined.
Following Thursday’s contest Kansas City, the teams will meet in the decisive second leg next Thursday, Feb. 28, at the 30,000-seat Estadio Nemesio Diez in Toluca, Mexico. The game will kick off at 9 p.m. CT, with the series winner advancing to the quarterfinals to face the victor between Toronto FC and Independiente of Panama. Champions League quarterfinal fixtures are set for March 5-7 and March 12-14.
