April 27, 2024 – Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release
Sporting Kansas City (2-3-5, 11 pts.) fell to a 2-1 defeat against Minnesota United (5-2-2, 17 pts.) at Allianz Field on Saturday night. After falling into a two-goal deficit early, Sporting struck through Alan Pulido late in the first half but was unable to find an equalizing goal in the second half.
Manager Peter Vermes made one change to the team that drew with St. Louis last Saturday, as Sporting KC Academy product Kayden Pierre made his first start of the season at right back in place of fellow Homegrown defender Jake Davis who was serving a one-game suspension due to yellow card accumulation.
The change snapped Davis’ 36-game start streak in all competitions dating back to May 28, 2023 and also marked a reintroduction for Pierre – who missed the majority of the 2023 campaign with hamstring issues – as he made his first MLS appearance since March 18, 2023 and first MLS start since Sept. 17, 2022, also against Minnesota.
Sporting fell into an early hole as the team conceded their quickest goal of the 2024 season when Minnesota captain Michael Boxall fired home after Robin Lod had flicked on Joseph Rosales’ corner kick just 65 seconds into the match.
Willy Agada almost mustered the perfect response in the seventh minute, latching onto a sumptuous pass from Tim Leibold but fired over the bar with only Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair to beat. The hosts could have doubled their lead six minutes later, but DJ Taylor could only find the outside of the side-netting from close range.
Minnesota doubled their advantage in the 25th minute as Rosales snuck in behind the Sporting backline and squared the ball to Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi who tapped home. The goal stood despite a lengthy check for offside.
Sporting pulled a goal back in the 38th minute with Pulido finishing off a flowing move for his third goal of the season. Nemanja Radoja clipped a ball over the top for a streaking Daniel Salloi down the left wing who in turn picked out Pulido on the edge of the area and the Mexican showed class and composure to settle the ball before finding the corner, making the score 2-1 heading into halftime.
The goal saw Pulido move into a four-way tie for ninth place in Sporting KC history with 31 regular season goals, joining the company of Benny Feilhaber, Mo Johnston and former teammate Graham Zusi. Salloi’s assist saw him rise to 97 career goal contributions (58 goals, 39 assists) in all competitions…
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