Sporting KC: Top 10 memorable matches

With much more free time due to the postponement of all major sports, here are the top 10 most memorable Sporting KC matches to look back on.

As the Coronavirus has hit the United States, Sporting Kansas City and all of Major League Soccer have been forced to take a hiatus after just two weeks. With so much time left to be filled due to the lack of sporting entertainment, let’s take a look at some of the greatest moments in the era of Sporting Kansas City.

While the organization certainly had some great games as the KC Wizards, the modern era has brought the club’s most recent and memorable matches. Playing nearly every home match in front of a sold-out Children’s Mercy Park, three of the club’s four trophies in the last decade have been won at home.

From the MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield in 2000 to the U.S. Open Cup in 2004, the Wizards had some talented players like Tony Meola, Preki, Mo Johnstone, Jimmy Conrad, and Davy Arnaud as well as Kerry Zavagnin and Peter  Vermes, the Wizards moments are still weird and surreal to look back on compared to today. Playing in front of crowds of several thousand at a stadium that held nearly 80,000 fans before moving to Community America Ballpark, which was the 10,000-seat home of independent league baseball’s Kansas City T-Bones, is drastically different than that of most MLS grounds today. And so, we have kept this list to matches following the Sporting KC rebrand.

Here is the top ten Sporting KC’s most memorable matches:

10. March 10, 2018: Sporting KC 4-3 Chicago Fire – Regular season

Sporting KC’s opening game of 2018 was one to remember. After SKC surrendered a 2-0 lead, the Chicago Fire pulled ahead 3-2 before Jimmy Medranda and Felipe Gutierrez scored to give Sporting their first of eight road wins in 2018, which was tied with the Seattle Sounders for most in the Western Conference.

9. April 26, 2015: Sporting KC 4-4 Houston Dynamo – Regular Season

This very humid match did not disappoint as an extra-time lazer from Benny Feilhaber ruined the Houston Dynamo’s night and rescued a crucial away point for SKC in a 4-4 draw at BBVA Compass Stadium. An early goal from Krisztian Nemeth was taken back after the Dynamo got goals from Giles Barnes and Will Bruin before halftime. Barnes got his second to make it 3-1, but Dom Dwyer and Benny Feilhaber’s penalty brought SKC back level at 3-3. Houston, with ten men, then pulled ahead 4-3 through a Raul Rodriguez header in the 82nd minute until Feilhaber’s rocket strike rescued a point.

8. August 15, 2015: Sporting KC 4-3 Vancouver Whitecaps – Regular Season

Perhaps the greatest comeback in club history, Sporting KC recovered  3-1 down in the final 10 minutes to down the Vancouver Whitecaps, winning 4-3 thanks to a brace from Paulo Nagamura. After going down 2-0, Kevin Ellis grabbed one back before Vancouver seemingly secured all three points with a Pedro Morales free kick in the 75th minute. The comeback restarted with a header from Dom Dwyer before Nagamura equalized and scored the winner in the final ten minutes.