Sporting Kansas City Knock Out St. Louis City SC From MLS Cup Playoffs
After one of the greatest inaugural season’s within Major League Soccer, St. Louis City have seen their season come to an end. After 17 wins, 56 points, 1.65 points per game, and 62 goals scored… the end to an amazing season has come to a close. St. Louis was the first club within Major League Soccer’s Western Conference to secure a 2023 MLS Cup Playoff spot. With locking down the 1st overall seed in the West, Bradley Carnell’s guys earned a spot to take on the winner of the play-in game.
Though that concept sounded amazing prior to the series, St. Louis City was quickly shown the pain and reality of the MLS Cup Playoffs. St. Louis had their first ever playoff match, this one at City Park in St. Louis. Sporting Kansas City’s leftback Logan Ndembe scored his first ever professional goal in the 27th minute to put his side up on the road. Only a minute later, Tim Parker scored for St. Louis to get them back into the game. The hopes for St. Louis would quickly end after that though, as within the next 11 minutes, Sporting Kansas City would score two more goals. SKC entered the half with a lead of 3-1. Gadi Kinda was helping lead the way as he had a goal and secondary assist for Sporting Kansas City’s surprising lead. SKC would add another goal in the second half to add insult to injury for St. Louis. Daniel Salloi would add a goal to his performance on the day, Alan Pulido added a second assist, as well as a second secondary assist for Gadi Kinda.
The road win by Sporting Kansas City was the only upset of the 1st round game ones. Sporting Kansas City decided to take the momentum of a play-in game win and upset win over St. Louis City into a home game against St. Louis with a chance to win the series. In stoppage time at the end of the first half, Logan Ndembe would start the scoring once again as he played some nice passing balls with Alan Pulido and Daniel Salloi leading to a clean finish. SKC then went on the defensive in the second half, but played the game almost perfectly, as Daniel Salloi striked at the right time (scoring in the 73rd minute) to double their lead. St. Louis City would get one late after a wonder strike from Celio Pompeu found the back of the net over a diving Tim Melia. The 2nd game of the series would end 2-1, with Sporting Kansas City sweeping their rivals with two upset wins.
After an abysmal start to their 2023 season, Sporting Kansas City and Peter Vermes really turned things around. This team has been hot since the summer, and their form is really coming together at the right time. They’ve knocked out the San Jose Earthquakes, St. Louis City, and now they are moving on to the MLS Cup Playoffs quarterfinals. SKC will see if their luck continues as they face the winners of the Houston Dynamo vs Real Salt Lake series.
