Sporting Kansas City’s start to the 2022 Major League Soccer campaign went worse than anyone could have imagined before the season began. A nine-game winless run showed many things that Peter Vermes’ squad lacks this year: a midfield playmaker, a reliable centerback partnership and a productive front three. However, SKC’s most recent results are providing some cause for hope. Sporting KC returned home a week ago to beat the Colorado Rapids. Daniel Salloi scored two goals, and the Rapids proved they were no pushover by shocking LAFC in a 1-0 just a few days before. Sunday’s 1-1 draw in San Jose ..read more

A battle between two of the most heavily struggled attacks in MLS Saturday night left Sporting Kansas City feeling it should have taken more from a 0-0 draw against the Columbus Crew. In the 42nd minute, Sporting KC midfielder Remi Walter raced toward a ball that bounced near the endline. Crew defender Pedro Santos knocked Walter as he tried to reach the ball, taking both players down. Center referee Fotis Bazakos called a goal kick on the play and was not alerted by the Video Assistant Referee to take a closer look. The ball seemed to be within Walter’s reach, but Bazakos may have ruled that ..read more

Sporting Kansas City welcomes the Vancouver Whitecaps into Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday, hoping to put an end to the Canadian side’s hot streak. Peter Vermes’ side has lost its last three encounters in MLS action – its worst string of results all season. The Whitecaps, by contrast, have proven they have what it takes to compete with MLS’s finest, having lost just one of their last 11 games. Sporting Kansas City vied for the top spots in the Western Conference all season, but ultimately finished in third place, just three points behind the Colorado Rapids following a poor run of results to ..read more

Daniel Salloi is done talking about last year. Only two MLS players have scored more goals through 14 games than Salloi, showing he’s come a long way from 2019 and 2020, seasons in which Salloi spent most of his time on the bench or injured. Salloi acknowledged the sudden improvement plenty of times already. Describing a crisis of confidence during the past two years, he told the Kansas City Star in early July, “I know what it seemed like. Like I forgot how to play soccer.” Recently, however, Salloi has shut down the conversation about the past two seasons. “I think it’s always nice to move fo ..read more

Gianluca Busio is in the midst of his first U.S. men’s national team camp, and preparing for the first senior competition of his budding international career, but his perspective on the opportunity tells you all you need to know about what a competitor the teenage midfielder is. The Sporting Kansas City sensation stands poised to make his USMNT at the Concacaf Gold Cup, and do so in the stadium where he plays professionally, but none of that has stopped Busio from seeing the possibilities that lie even beyond this month’s continental competition. The Gold Cup is very much an audition of sorts ..read more

Sporting Kansas City jumped into first-place in the Western Conference on Sunday after beating the LA Galaxy, completing a home-and-away sweep of the league’s Los Angeles teams. Sporting KC has strung some dominant performances together in recent matches, save for a 2-1 away loss to the Portland Timbers. This match, however, was different. Both teams were missing key cogs, with Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez suffering an injury in warmups for the Galaxy and Sporting KC striker Alan Pulido on Mexican national team duty. The Galaxy had 54% of possession and 18 shots to Sporting KC’s 12. Sporting ..read more

Nineteen-year-old Gianluca Busio grabs headlines as one of MLS’s hottest transfer targets and Sporting Kansas City’s key man in the midfield. But he’s far from the only youngster propelling Sporting KC to contention in the Western Conference. That was on display in Wednesday’s 3-1 win against the Colorado Rapids, when 23-year-old Sporting KC academy product Felipe Hernandez scored and set up fellow SKC homegrown player Daniel Salloi’s 38th-minute goal. Wednesday’s match against Colorado was Hernandez’s second straight start. Hernandez completed 94.3% of his passes, leading all midfield and att ..read more

Gianluca Busio is a rising talent in MLS and the 19-year-old provided a needed spark for Sporting KC on Saturday in an eventual comeback win over the Houston Dynamo. One day after his 19th birthday, Busio delivered a stellar free kick goal to help turn the tide in a 3-2 victory at Children’s Mercy Park. Busio also registered one assist in the match, and overall got to play the hero for Peter Vermes’ side for the first time this 2021 season. “I think it was really important,” Busio said when asked about his free kick sparking SKC’s turnaround. “Obviously, getting that first one to tie the game ..read more

Sporting Kansas City kept momentum rolling from last week’s home win with a 3-1 victory Saturday over the San Jose Earthquakes. Alan Pulido continues to look like one of the league’s best players this season, and Sporting KC’s younger players such as Kaveh Rad and Jaylin Lindsey turned in strong performances, too. Vancouver and San Jose are far from the toughest opponents, but Sporting KC is maintaining this form with all three of its starting-caliber centerbacks out injured. Sporting KC lies second in the Western Conference behind the Seattle Sounders thanks to this win. Sporting KC burns Qua ..read more

The summer and international soccer are starting to heat up, and so is Sporting Kansas City striker Alan Pulido. The Mexican forward again played a key role in Sporting KC’s 3-1 win against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday. Though Pulido facilitated most of Sporting KC’s attacking play up to that point, the Mexican striker found few scoring chances of his own until the 60th minute. Pulido rifled in a shot off the top left corner of the crossbar to bring Sporting into a 2-1 lead. The goal continues a scoring tear heading into the summer for Pulido. Since arriving at Sporting KC as the club ..read more