The best moments from Sporting KC’s win over STL

Saturday night at Children’s Mercy Park was a beautiful moment itself. The true chosen one of all the Sporting KC rivals has finally emerged in MLS and the environment for the first meeting in Kansas City was electric. Our Missouri brothers & sisters made their way across the state in large numbers and were loud 30 minutes before kickoff all the way through the final whistle. You couldn’t help but feel like a kid again, overcome by a confusing mixture of nervousness and excitement.

That being said… who can blame so many people for wanting to escape that inferior place in which they live to come stay in our beautiful city? Of course they’re desperate to watch. It took 30 years to get a team, I felt bad for them! These poor people can’t miss a moment of their team running around in those little off-pink, dog food jerseys. They’re all excited about this new soccer thing and it’s cute. We should be happy for them. Everyone wants the league to grow and even unfortunate places like St. Louis deserve a shot.

The high flying play on the field didn’t disappoint the standing room only crowd. Well… except for these people. They look pretty disappointed. Because they lost.

Let’s get to the best moments from the big 2-1 win over the top team in the Western Conference.

Pre-game Trophy Showcase

As an MLS Original, Sporting KC has created a storied history since 1996. Yes.. MLS does have history! Almost 30 years of it now.

Sporting KC piled up trophies over the years and chose this very particular game to showcase them on the field before the game.

Sporting Kansas City leaning hard into the soccer capital and history stuff.

They matched all their trophies into the field with players from those teams. #SportingKC #SKCvSTL pic.twitter.com/KrNgJUGxUU

— Chad Smith (@PlayFor90) September 3, 2023

Just showing St. Louis what a real club looks like. Something they can hope to become one day.

Thommy Creates Goal #1

His first shot was destined for the far corner, but was blocked. Erik Thommy picked it back up and was swarmed by what looked like every player on the field for St. Louis. Then the little lift over to Daniel Salloi was a lovely bit of play to create the goal.

The German had a fantastic performance on the night. Perhaps an even better pass than that one was a blind, curling cross to put Salloi 1v1 with the keeper. It (somehow) didn’t result in a goal, but Thommy is in top form as SKC fight for every last point to close out the season.

Burki comes up HUGE. Salloi has to score here. Two chances… #SportingKC #SKCvSTL pic.twitter.com/Cu4Cd8rPHJ

— Chad Smith (@PlayFor90) September 3, 2023

Jake Davis Slices Apart Defense

JFD, as Johnny Russell is now calling him, made a run all the way from the center line to set up Pulido on the winning goal. The 21-year-old already cemented himself into the starting lineup, but now he’s grown more comfortable at right back. And it shows.

Davis combined with Thommy on the right wing, split two defenders, and then rolled it over to the dedicated man to apply the final touch.

Jake Davis' second career assist gets Alan Pulido his brace and us the lead!#SportingKC pic.twitter.com/uTXGTYVhcu

— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) September 3, 2023

Jake isn’t used to media attention and after the game he was getting absolutely DRAGGED by his teammates. If he keeps playing like this, he’ll get used to the media real quick.

STL Fans Celebrating A Goal That Wasn’t

You know it. You love it. Fans in the stands on cloud nine, living in a world where their team gave them the ultimate reward of putting the ball into the net. Only to eventually notice the referee’s flag and play restarting.

At the start of the second half, St. Louis’ massive striker Samuel Adeniran thought he scored, but a late flag called it back. It took the STL fans a very long time to notice and I soaked up every ounce of it. Focusing in on individual people so I could truly feel their pain. I really hope you got to enjoy it too.

That’s really what sports are all about, you know? Moments like that. Soccer is beautiful.

A Party in the Locker Room

Two straight wins and a redemption game against the rivals. The players were obviously feeling good after the game. The beverages were flowing! They were singing, dancing, and laughing. There were howls coming from the showers where I believe shots were being thrown back.

You can hear all that commotion (as well as Daniel Salloi ask if he can leave the interview after hearing it) on this week’s Shade of Blue. All this excitement called for a long episode as we’ve got the Top 5 Reasons St. Louis Sucks and we pinpoint the main reason for our hatred of the new club. It’s the name. Everything about it. It’s not right. Change it.

So many moments to relive, so many tears to drink!

Find the KC Soccer Journal wherever you get your podcasts. Please subscribe, rate, & review! You can yell at Cody @ThatCodyTho, Thad @TheBackpost, and Robert @SpKCLife.

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