Soccer fans are in for a treat as Sporting Kansas City prepares to take on several of its rivals. Teams that will be competing include Seattle Sounders, Cruz Azul, FC Dallas, Colorado Springs, Montreal Impact, New England Revolution, Columbus Crew and Philadelphia Union. Currently competing in its eighteenth season, the Sporting Kansas City has qualified to compete for the MLS Cup for the 12th time. With this the soccer franchise has successfully entered the league of the teams with the most number of MLS Cup appearances. Defeating soccer giants like New England Revolution, Los Angeles Galaxy, New York Red Bulls, Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake and Houston Dynamo, the Sporting Kansas City bagged the MLS Cup for 2013. This time these teams are challenging the successful franchise to avenge their defeat. Sporting Kansas City tickets are available now.
About the Venue
The forthcoming string of soccer games are scheduled to take place at multiple facilities with a majority of the playoffs being held at the Sporting Park located in Kansas City. Other venues include the CenturyLink Field, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park and Gillette Stadium. The Sporting Park previously known as the Livestrong Sporting Park is a soccer stadium inaugurated in 2011. The grass surfaced facility cost 200 million dollars to construct and is currently owned by the Kansas Unified Development, LLC. Providing a capacity for as much as twenty five thousand audiences, the venue has held popular soccer events such as MLS All-Star Game for 2013, the 2013 MLS Cup and NCAA Division II National Football Championship games from 2014-2017. The facility received the 2012 award for the “Venue of the Year” presented by the The Stadium Business Awards.
Introducing the Kansas City MLS Franchise
The Sporting Kansas City is a professional American soccer franchise founded back in 1995. Currently partaking in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference, the team is often called by names such as Sporting, Wizards and the Wiz. Established by Lamar Hunt, who is also the founder of the Kansas City Chiefs, American Football League, Major League Soccer and the United States Association, Sporting played its debut game on 13th April, 1996. Winning this game with a score of 2-1 against the Colorado Springs, the soccer team was off to a successful start.
The first coach for the team was Ron Newman. Finishing in fifth place in its first season, the team qualified for the MLS Playoffs, making their way into the semifinal rounds before losing the title to Los Angeles Galaxy. In their second season, the Sporting Kansas City won their first Western Conference season championship with a record score of 21-11. In 1999, Bob Gransler replaced Ron Newman and in 2000 the Sporting Kansas City made the best record in the MLS league with a score of 16-7-9. With this the team won the MLS Supporters’ Shield. This season became a memorable one for the as the team defended itself against the Chicago Fire that fired 10 goals. Winning the MLS Cup Championship, goaltender Tony Meola was awarded the MLS Cup MVP honor.
More about the Sporting
In the year 2001, the Sporting faced some difficulties as its star player transferred to the Miami Fusion. Struggling to make it to the playoffs, the team did qualify for the championship game. In the following year, the Sporting Kansas City was seen landing in the last place in the Western Conference and finished the season with a score of 9-10-9. Success followed in the following years as the team was seen making its way to the playoffs every single year. Winning the championships in 2004 and then most recently in 2013, the Sporting Kansas City has enjoyed a successful career ever since its inception. Watch this team as it takes on a number of its rival clubs.