Sporting Kansas City is back at the Children’s Mercy Park for a football game Sunday night against the New York Red Bulls at 7 p.m. CT on 38 The Spot. Tickets are available for purchase on SeatGeek.com since Sporting will play its first MLS game at home in more than two weeks. Sunday marks the start of a busy July that sees Sporting play in the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup on July 27, in addition to six regular-season MLS games throughout the month.
After three games in six days, Sporting will not need to play a game this week in the middle of the week, while the Red Bulls host Atlanta United on Thursday night. Last week, Sporting made Nashville their first home defeat since November 2020 and made their ticket to the Open Cup semi-finals with a 6-0 win over Union Omaha.
Here are five things to know for Sunday’s game between Sporting Kansas City and the New York Red Bulls.
Sporting KC’s Manager and Sporting Director, Peter Vermes, has left in more than half of Sporting’s regular season games of all time, he is the only person to win the MLS Cup as a player and manager of the same club and will be coaching him in his 500th Sporting match in all. Sunday competitions. An absolute legend, Vermes has lifted three Dewar Cups and one MLS Cup. His three Open Cup titles are the most among active MLS coaches. He is the longest-serving manager in MLS history and according to the CIES Football Observatory is the sixth-longest manager in global football.
Sunday could be a preview for the 2022 Open Cup final as Sporting and New York are both in the semi-finals. Sporting will face Sacramento Republic FC at Heart Health Park on Wednesday, July 27 at 9:30 p.m. CT while the Red Bulls travel to Exploria Stadium for a cup match with Orlando City SC the same day. Following last Thursday’s semifinal draw, the guests ’priority was set with first place Orlando, followed by Sporting, New York and finally Sacramento. If Sporting were to face New York in the Open Cup final, they would be at the Children’s Mercy Park in September.
If the cards fall into place, and Sporting host the Red Bulls in the cup final, it’s a rematch of the 2017 Open Cup final in which Sporting beat New York 2-1 at Children’s Mercy Park to lift his fourth Open Cup title. . That win was another fantastic Sporting performance against the Red Bulls, a common trend from the end.
Two founding MLS clubs, Sporting KC and the New York Red Bulls meet for the 58th time in the regular season on Sunday. Since the start of 2015, Sporting has been 3-1-2 against the Red Bulls in MLS play, in addition to that final win of the 2017 Cup. In the most recent meeting, Sporting opened the 2021 campaign with a win at Red Bull Arena. Gadi Kinda and Daniel Salloi scored one minute apart to give Sporting the lead and John Pulskamp earned his first MLS victory in a 2-1 Sporting triumph.
The last time these two clubs met at Children’s Mercy Park was on April 14, 2019. Johnny Russell opened the scoring before two Red Bulls goals in the second half gave him the lead. Gianluca Busio was Sporting’s hero that day, scoring an unassisted goal in the 88th to pull the level of the match. Both teams took a point at home. In the all-time series, Sporting is 22-21-14 and will look to increase their lead in the series on Sunday.
Reinforcements who soon joined Sporting’s offense
Sporting’s offense looks set to round out form after two convincing victories last week. Both Salloi and Felipe Hernandez have battled twice against Omaha, giving Hernandez three goals in two games after sinking a free kick into Nashville. Khiry Shelton scored his second goal in the Open Cup game and Kornte Ford scored his first Sporting KC goal. Russell has always beaten the club with seven goals, five in the MLS game and two in the Open Cup, however, Salloi has set the club record for Open Cup goals with his sixth and seventh career goals in in the tournament. Sporting’s offensive weapons will receive some help in the coming weeks.
Sporting announced on June 23 that William Agada and Erik Thommy will join the club. The 22-year-old striker and 27-year-old offensive midfielder will be added to the roster once the secondary transfer window opens on July 7 following Sunday’s game against New York. Thommy played nine seasons in Germany, accumulating 42 goals and 33 assists, including nine goals and 14 assists in the Bundesliga, one of the top leagues in the world. Agada has scored 37 goals in four seasons of play in Israel. Both players reinforce Sporting’s offense and are additional weapons for Vermes.
A streaked team on the road, the Red Bulls find themselves in the middle of a streak of three games lost away from home. They haven’t won a road game since April 30, a 2-1 win at Soldier Field against the Chicago Fire. Despite all this, the Red Bulls ’five road wins are tied for most of the league, and their 14 road goals are second. Sporting conceded just eight goals at home in the regular season, and boasted a 6-3-2 record at Children’s Mercy Park in all competitions in 2022. The Red Bulls come to Kansas City led by Lewis Morgan who has seven goals in the regular. season, including four road goals, the fourth most away goals in MLS.
