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Sporting KC fall to Inter Miami in front record breaking crowd at Arrowhead

Lionel Messi had a goal and assist as SKC fell 3-2 in front of over 72k people at Arrowhead Stadium.

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2 years ago

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Lionel Messi prepares for a free kick vs Sporting Kansas City in a Major League Soccer match at Arrowhead Stadium.
Credit: Thad Bell

Lionel Messi bagged a goal and an assist in front of 72,610 fans at Arrowhead Stadium as Sporting KC fell by a final score of 3-2 against Inter Miami.

Exactly 28 years ago I was here at Arrowhead Stadium. I was a little bright-eyed redhead with a bowl cut that couldn’t possibly comprehend the momentous occasion. It was the inaugural match for the KC Wiz and the beginning of Major League Soccer in Kansas City. The start of a lifelong love affair with this club.

I no longer have that bowl cut, but I still had the glimmer in my eye as I entered the stadium on Saturday. Sporting KC had returned to Arrowhead to face the greatest soccer player of all time, Lionel Messi.

And the rest of his Inter Miami team too.

Peter Vermes deployed a 4-2-3-1 to combat the firepower of Miami, who were playing with all four of their big stars. The formation allowed for both Willy Agada and Alan Pulido to be on the field.

Erik Thommy got things going with his first goal in the 6th minute. Tim Leibold stole the ball with tons of room to run before setting up the German at the top of the box.

That lead wouldn’t last long. Out of nowhere, a quick diagonal pass from Lionel Messi put Diego Gomez on goal for a simple finish.

With Lionel Messi comes a fervor. Another level of excitement. Pink #10 jerseys filled the stadium. Unfortunately for the actual Sporting KC fans, the Argentinian wasn’t done.

It was exactly the kind of goal many of those fans were there hoping to see. But Erik Thommy was unimpressed. He was on a mission. In the 58th minute he scored another beauty to level the match at 2-2, kissing it off the post for effect.

The deciding moment came in the 71st minute off the boot of Luis Suarez. Gomez pounced on a mistake from Jake Davis and played it across the face of the goal for the 27-year-old Uruguayan.

The rest of the match involved a beachball, pitch invaders, and nine minutes of stoppage time. But Sporting KC couldn’t find the equalizer and the ref blew the whistle for a 3-2 final score.

The decision to move the match to Arrowhead Stadium wasn’t exactly popular with the fanbase. But it was a memorable night for the record breaking crowd of 72,610. It was the third highest attendance in regular season MLS history, and the largest crowd ever for a soccer match in the great state of Missouri.

The result wasn’t what I wanted, but the evening brought into focus how far the game has come throughout my life since those humble beginnings in 1996.

Up for SKC is another barn burner. Rival sT. lOuIs CiTy Sc is coming to Children’s Mercy Park on April 20.

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skcfanipromise

when was the last time this team looked like they not only knew what they were doing, but also scored goals because of it?

pulidos only goal this year?

whether he had the final say or not, re-signing pulido will further mar how skc remembers vermes; coach can’t even figure out how to use him

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Mister Murse

And pulido’s only goal was 100% on the effort from JFR. His finish was definitely not a sitter and required good skill… but the work was done well before him. Nor is he the only player that would have finished that (I think any of our start midfielders would have put it on frame… not all of our forwards though).

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KCSpurs1996

I know he had a great season last year, but I was just not a fan of resigning him as a DP. 33 year old injury prone striker, who sadly has been invisible this season, cannot be plan A. We reportedly had the chance to sell him back to Chivas or possibly Cruz Azul, but for some mystifying reason we decided to offer him a new contract at double his previous salary which killed off any interest from other clubs.

I genuinely don’t understand how he was worth double his original contract when you factor in his injury history and age. You look at someone like Salloi, and he’s playing for a fourth of Pulido’s salary but has stayed healthier and contributed more G+A than Pulido across seasons. Why is Pulido worth 4 times Salloi then? The past few years it’s just been one baffling decision after another by this damn club.

I know with DPs there’s a cap to what hits the budget, but that’s still money out the door that could otherwise be spent on other DPs or reinforcements. For me it’s not a smart move to pay someone like Pulido at that cost if you’re trying to build a competitive team for the long term.

Last edited 1 year ago by KCSpurs1996
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Mister Murse

Salloi needs to see the bench for a bit.

It was 9v11 between him and pulido.

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kcrews123

I’m tired of Pulido and Salloi being invisible, useless, and not making anything resembling and impact to the game.
Salloi more so, but Pulido is still getting lumped with him.

I don’t care of Vermes wants to play Pulido more of a #8 or 10’ish #9. 1. It’s not working, 2. Why not play players where they’re best suited? 3. If their best position doesn’t work with the way you want to run, why pay that player $4mil/year for 4 years?

Then Salloi. He has no business whatsoever to be making $1.1mil/year. He’s been on a decline, hitting a point where he kind of platued, and is now more on a decline. He’s invisible, and despite what some seem to think, he’s not creating anything off the ball.

Then Vermes. Man oh man, Vermes. There’s absolutely no reason your fan base should be chanting for subs before you even start to call anyone over; he should be well ahead of that. We went down in the 71st minute, you still have almost 30 minutes with stoppage time. The time to make a sub is the second that 3rd goal hit the back of the net.
Instead he waits till the 83rd to make take off our best player of the game and goal-scorer – who will keep running as hard as he possibly can and could have easily made it another 10 minutes – for a declining winger returning from an injury?

I’m so tired of Vermes, it’s exhausting as a far watching him make the same stupid, stubborn, predictable moves week after week.

12 points dropped from leading positions. 5 points out of the last 15 at home. Multiple multi-goal leads given up in the 2nd half.
While not technically worse than our winless 10-gsme streak last year, I’d almost consider this a worse start. Last year it seemed like we just needed that little piece to get things clicking. This year it’s inevitable goals being given up left and right, Jekylle and Hyde 1st half vs 2nd half, and a team that seems to completely check out once something happens (player goes down, PK is missed, etc)

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Mister Murse

Thommy went down holding his quad right above his left knee. He stopped running as much after getting wiped out in that atrocious no-call.

Other than that, yes.

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kcrews123

Ah I didn’t notice that

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kcwookie

get used to it, baby, Vermes isn’t going anywhere. Management is going to keep rewarding him for losing.

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KCOutsider

My crowd were beside themselves with disgust as PV blithely kept the same lineup out there as the minutes ticked away and Miami kept subbing in fresh legs. Both Salloi and Russell (once he finally made it on the pitch) are now riding the coattails of past success but really aren’t effective or even frightening, and whatever Pulido’s theoretical quality, it’s not showing up in how he’s being used (to be generous).

Losing Walter hurt, and while Hernandez didn’t make any blatant mistakes that I saw, he probably wasn’t game-ready. Which is why you need to sub more, so that someone like Hernandez DOES have more than a few minutes of game time on the season when he’s thrown in against the likes of Messiami.

I’ll admit, as a strong opponent of the Arrowhead move, that there was more SKC support there than I expected and that was cool. I still think they should have maintained their core home-field setting but whatever. Will we see any of those sweet Messibucks re-invested in the team, or are they just lining ownership’s pockets?

Fun game to watch, but feeling pretty disgusted this morning.

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Mister Murse

Hernandez was just 100% outclassed. He gave 110% and I want him to see the field more (sub in for pulido instead of for an injured remi), but he was out of his league against Miami (especially once pulido abandoned midfield in the 65th minute).

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Bryan Flores (aka Chzbro)

For the third goal, I blame Melia over Davis. There is no way Tim should have passed to Jake in the first place. He was immediately under pressure. Sometimes you have to kick it long.

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Mister Murse

That’s a fair take. Two opportunities to get it out while under pressure. I still think Jake will blame himself. I hate when a single moment can completely mar an otherwise OK performance.

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Howlie2

As a couch coach for SKC, I would have subbed Vargas for Thommy and Afrifa for Salloi around 65 minutes. Agada was having good luck getting long balls but rarely had any help up top. Go fast, long and direct with some wicked speed and I bet Miami would have been struggling to defend that.

Alas, PV is going to PV. No subs unless someone is injured or he can bring on an aging vet that he trusts completely and forgives unendingly. I’m super fearful that PV will blame Jake for that 3rd goal and bench him. I’m not sure he has another option that he is willing to play but if Graham Zusi is still in KC, perhaps PV gives him a call (sarcasm).

It is crazy to me that Gomez was lights out the best player on the pitch yesterday and dude is just 21. Miami also trusted some other young players that were quite good: Ruiz (20), Aviles (20), Cremaschi (19) and Bright (22). 5 players that are at or under the age of Jake Davis (SKC’s youngest player to get time by a long shot). Other clubs can find and play the youngsters in meaningful games…come on Pete…you said you want and value a pro pathway. Prove it for once…ugh, I’m so sick of watching SKC wither and die after the 65th minute. FRESH LEGS…5 freaking subs. Why is this so hard for PV to understand?

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Mister Murse

I think he was lights out partially because the consequences for actions were not equitable. He had more free reign to foul than davis did (or maybe just smarter about it).

My thoughts were to take pulido out and rotate thommy to middle (before he went off injured). We lost the midfield again and it showed.

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Sheens

I agree, Vargas should have been subbed on. I enjoy Felipe Hernandez but he was a step behind the ball when playing defense. On offense, I thought he looked fine. I’m not sure what the game plan is if you’re relying on the older players for every game. PV is going to exhaust them. We have offensive problems with Pulido and Salloi being non-existent for another game. I think they need to spend some time on the bench. Let’s see what the younger players can do. However, we all know that won’t happen unless someone is injured.
Afrifa wasn’t on the bench. Where is he? I’m not sure if he’s injured, but if he’s not injured it’s odd he’s not making the bench for SKC or SKC II.

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