Sporting KC
Match Thread: Sporting KC v Charlotte’s First Ever Meeting
Sporting Kansas City look to start their climb to the playoffs with just six points to make up through 16 games.
Sporting KC vs Charlotte FC
When: Wednesday, June 25th, 2024, at 7:30 PM CT
Where: Children’s Mercy Park
How to Watch/Stream: Apple MLS Season Pass
The 2025 Sporting Kansas City season is just past the halfway point. After a very rough and slow start to the season, Sporting KC fired long-time Manager Peter Vermes back at the end of March. At the time of PV’s dismissal, SKC had just one point on the season. Since Kerry Zavagnin has taken over as interim coach, things have ticked upward significantly, but there is still a ways to go.
One point has turned into 16, and until a week ago, that run had not included back-to-back losses. That changed when a Khiry Shelton red card and a dicey penalty kick were given to FC Dallas to propel them to victory and give Sporting KC their second straight set back.
With 16 games to go on the season, and four of the next five games at home, there is no time like the present for Sporting KC to get going. They will welcome in a very unfamiliar opponent in Charlotte FC. After officially joining the league in 2022, they’ve managed to avoid a matchup against Kansas City until now.
Charlotte is the only team in MLS that Sporting KC have never played.
Despite not playing each other, there is a history with Kansas City acquiring talent from North Carolina. Former star Gianluca Busio hailed from the area, as did right back Jaylin Lindsay, who was traded to Charlotte ahead of their inaugural season. None of them will be involved in this game, but Busio is rumored to be on the move.
With the CONCACAF Gold Cup going on, both teams will be without players, though Charlotte will surely be hurting worse. SKC will miss sometimes starting midfielder Zorhan Bassong while Charlotte are down Patrick Agyemang and Tim Ream, valuable stars of their squad.
Kansas City’s Form
- May 17th @ San Diego FC – 0-0 Draw
- May 24th vs. New England Revolution – 3-3 Draw
- May 31st @ Houston Dynamo – 3-1 Win
- June 8th @ LAFC – 1-3 Loss
- June 14th vs FC Dallas – 2-4 Loss
Stretching back two more games finds another loss (Portland) and another draw (St. Louis). That means SKC have just one win in seven tries.
Charlotte’s Recent Form
- May 21st @ D.C. United – 3-3 Draw (PK Loss) – US Open Cup
- May 24th vs. Columbus Crew – 3-2 win
- May 28th @ New York Red Bulls – 2-4 Loss
- May 31st @ Toronto FC – 2-0 Win
- June 14th @ Philadelphia Union – 1-2 Loss
If we extend this run back three more games, those were all losses by Charlotte (Nashville, Orlando and Chicago). Neither team is in great form coming into this match.
Injury/Availability Report
Official injury reports aren’t available until matchday minus one in the late afternoon/early evening, so here are last week’s reports with a few modifications from some Charlotte beat writers.
Sporting KC:
- OUT – Zorhan Bassong (Intl. Duty), Dany Rosero (ankle), Nemanja Radoja (quad), Robert Voloder (clavicle), Khiry Shelton (red card)
- QUESTIONABLE – None
Charlotte:
- OUT – Tim Ream (Intl. Duty), Patrick Agyemang (Intl. Duty), Nathan Byrne (neck)
- QUESTIONABLE – Nimfasha Berchimas (foot)
We’ll update this when more information is available.
Stats
Sporting KC
Goals: Dejan Joveljic (10), Daniel Salloi (5), Shapi Suleymanov, Erik Thommy, Manu Garcia, Santi Munoz (2), Logan Ndenbe, Tim Leibold, Zorhan Bassong (1)
Assists: Garcia (6), Salloi, Suleymanov (4), Thommy (3), Joveljic, Bassong, Nemanja Radoja (2), Leibold, John Pulskamp, Jake Davis, Andrew Brody (1)
Charlotte
Goals: Patrick Agyemang (6), Liel Abada, Wilfried Zaha, Pep Biel (5), Kerwin Vargas (2), five with one (1)
Assists: Biel (7), Zaha (3), Abada, Idan Toklomati, Ashley Westwood, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (2), four with one (1)
Predictions
With Charlotte being a bit more short-handed than Sporting KC, the door is open for a victory. Charlotte is just 2-7-1 on the road this year and have allowed 20 of their 29 goals while playing on the road. Without Ream to manage the defense, that may get even worse.
Then again, it’s not like Sporting Kansas City are dominant at home. They are just 2-4-2 at Children’s Mercy Park. However, that is a little misleading. Since Zavagnin took charge, the team is 2-2-1 at home, still not great but if you look at the losses, it’s not quite that bad. There is the loss last week against Dallas that the referee had an outsized impact on. The other loss? The Portland Timbers coming to town and winning on a golazo. KZ has been on the wrong side of a few ridiculous goals.
The opportunity to win is definitely there. Between a suspect Dean Smith defense (which is weird to say) and Charlotte being shorthanded, Sporting KC should find a way.
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Can we finally be done with the Khiry experiment… i know Brody has had issues so far but he’s still new to the team and I think down the road he’ll settle in. I just feel like any time Kirby Sheldon makes an impact on the game it’s more likely negative than positive.
Honestly, I don’t see either of them here long term. Play whoever you think gives you the best chance to win.
People have been saying, “Honestly, I don’t see [Khiry] here long term.” for a long, long time. And yet….
This is fair, but Peter is gone. I have a feeling he had a lot of say in keeping Khiry (and overpaying him).
Brody is pretty damn bad..
I really don’t like how many opportunities we’re giving Charlotte, but at least we’re holding decently strong. I have to remind myself that a lot of our defensive game is kind of last ditch.
Bartlett is getting better by the game. Very good in possession, won’t loose the ball cheaply (he did a few times early this season), really good at switching play with his long passing, and good positioning defensively. He’s going to be a great player in this league.
I feel like we don’t drive into open space quickly enough. I know it’s hot, but it seems like we move too slowly with the ball at our feet which gives the other team too much time to set their lines. I’d like to see us dribble into space quicker to force defenders to step rather than allowing them to keep their shape.
Offensively we are doing well but defensively this midfield is getting walked through right now. Very bad defensive positioning.
I think part of the issue is Bartlett dropping so deep on the backline. It’s nice because it allows us to shift into a 3-4-3 in the attack, but we lose his defensive presence in the middle.
I mean I think the biggest challenge here is that Thommy and Garcia aren’t tracking back, and when they do they are out of position leaving Bartlett to cover for their space. We are going to have to be in better positions defensively or change up this midfield.
Well that sucks. Another goal off a ball from the wide area. It’s frustrating how often that has been scored on us.
Salloi has to shoot that. Great build-up play feels wasted without a shot on goal.
What the hell was that Salloi??? It’s like he’s reverting back to his timid unconfident self. He should have hit that immediately!
He’s at his best when he plays instinctively and doesn’t think. Most of his goals this year were like that.
I wasn’t sure about Munoz at first but I must say, there is definitely a player in there. He’s got some good potential.
Agreed. He’s made a difference in our attack since coming on. This 4-4-2 has been an interesting shift from KZ as well
LETS GO!!! I almost turned this off but that was fantastic!
LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO!!!!!
Wow! Manu on both goals!
It was so hard not screaming because my wife is already asleep, but that was THRILLING at the end! Incredible from Manu! This felt like the Nagamura comeback from the 2010s!
I was at that game, brother visiting from Florida, in the South stands watching 6 of the 7 goals go in in front of us.
I was also Southstands! Brought my girlfriend at the time and we almost left because it felt hopeless
Great to see this result. I was feeling snakebit with Shapi hitting the post and Salloi doing whatever it was he did, but they kept fighting and were producing chances.
Pulskamp made a huge save, and then Garcia served up two wonderful passes that Toye, Munoz, and Jovelic put away.
Well done boys.