As fellow charter members of Major League Soccer, Sporting Kansas City and FC Dallas have grown plenty familiar with one another over the course of 25 seasons.
In a longstanding rivalry that has ebbed and flowed throughout the years, the clubs currently find themselves deadlocked after 62 meetings. Sporting and Dallas both own 25 wins and 12 draws across all competitions, and when the 2020 MLS schedule dropped in January, May 30 was pegged as the first opportunity for one of these teams to take the all-time series lead.
Instead of meeting this weekend at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, however, Sporting and FC Dallas are among the 26 MLS cubs waiting for a return to play amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. With Saturday's fixture postponed, let's look back at six of Sporting's best wins over their North Texas counterparts.
Kansas City Wiz 2-2 (3-2) Dallas Burn (Oct. 2, 1996 | Conference Semifinals)
Decisive Game 3 of the 1996 conference semifinals saw Kansas City edge Dallas by the slimmest of margins at Arrowhead Stadium. After falling behind early, the Wiz responded with goals from Mark Chung and Digital Takawira to take a 2-1 advantage. Gerell Elliott pulled the Burn level to force a penalty shootout, where Kansas City goalkeeper Garth Lagerwey produced two heroic saves to give the Wiz a dramatic series victory.
Kansas City Wizards 5-1 Dallas Burn (July 3, 2004)
Kansas City beat Dallas four times across all competitions in 2004, including a 4-0 win in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals. The Wizards would go on to win the tournament for the firs time ever, but their best game against the Burn that season came in early July at Arrowhead Stadium. Davy Arnaud scored a hat trick to go with goals from Chris Klein and Josh Wolff as a crowd of 20,011 was treated to a dominant, wire-to-wire performance.
Sporting 4-1 FC Dallas (June 12, 2011)
Alas, Graham Zusi's coming-out party. Three days after inaugurating Children's Mercy Park with a scoreless draw against the Chicago Fire, Sporting Kansas City traveled to Frisco and claimed an emphatic 4-1 win. Zusi ran the show with two goals and an assist, including a jaw-dropping free kick from almost 50 yards.
Sporting 6-2 FC Dallas (July 1, 2015 | U.S. Open Cup Round of 16)
Dom Dwyer exploded for the first four-goal salvo in Kansas City history, Krisztian Nemeth added two goals of his own and Benny Feilhaber recorded three assists in a scintillating display at Children's Mercy Park. Manager Peter Vermes' men would go on to win the Open Cup three months later.
Sporting 3-0 FC Dallas (July 11, 2017 | U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal)
Kansas City's runs to the 2004, 2015 and 2017 Open Cup titles all included defeats of Dallas. None were more dramatic than the 3-0 extra-time victory in the 2017 quarterfinals at Children's Mercy Park, which came just two days after the passing of co-owner Neal Patterson. Playing a man down for most of regulation, Sporting took the game to extra time tied at 0-0 before pulling off a proper miracle. The hosts notched three goals in the extra session, two from Latif Blessing and one from Daniel Salloi, to pull off an emotional and unforgettable win.
Sporting 3-0 FC Dallas (Oct. 21, 2018)
On the penultimate weekend of the 2018 regular season, Sporting ascended to first place in the Western Conference with a convincing 3-0 road win at Toyota Stadium. Goalkeeper Tim Melia saved a penalty kick while Salloi, Roger Espinoza and Johnny Russell all found the back of the net.
