Sporting Kansas City opened its 2025 season Wednesday evening, facing off with Inter Miami in the first leg of their opening round pairing in the Concacaf Champions Cup.
The game was both the earliest and coldest match in Sporting’s history, and was decided by a second-half goal from Lionel Messi. Much of the attendant crowd of 15,178 was there to watch the Argentinian superstar, roaring whenever he touched the ball.
The match saw debuts from new Sporting players Dejan Joveljic and Jacob Bartlett in the starting eleven, as well as Manu Garcia who came on as a second-half substitute.
Sporting’s timing looked haphazard for much of the match, while Miami was able to create opportunities from the early going with Messi and fellow forward Luis Suarez clicking together on offense.
Suarez narrowly missed converting a couple of first-half chances, while Messi launched a promising set-up into the south stand seats.
The Messi fans still got what they came for early in the second half when Sergio Busquets served him up a beautiful diagonal from midfield to the right half of the penalty area.
The Argentinian legend touched the ball to his right, then fired back across the goal and inside the far post for the score.
Sporting’s best chance to equalize came soon after. Daniel Salloi broke past the Miami defense with a feed from Jake Davis and raced down field.
Feeling the defenders at his heels, Salloi’s shot was strong but came perhaps a bit too soon and squarely at Miami goalkeeper Oscar Ustari.
Manager Peter Vermes brought on Logan Ndenbe, William Agada, and Garcia in the 62nd minute, bringing some new urgency to the Kansas City attack. Garcia especially showed what he can bring to his new club.
The Spanish midfielder’s dynamic style, combined with the timing of a few more outings with his new teammates, has the potential to give the boys in Sporting blue a less predictable, more productive offense.
Erik Thommy, newly sporting the captain’s armband for the 2025 season, created multiple chances down the left channel but couldn’t convert on crosses or direct to goal, though he did draw iron on one late attempt.
After the match, Vermes praised his team’s performance, while also looking forward to even better days as his new players work in. “My expectation is: we’ve got to be competitive, and each game we’ve got to get better.”
The longtime coach also praised the effort from the grounds crew in getting a natural grass surface in Kansas City playable in February. “Our guys did a great job. Hats off to them, and I don’t think that even Miami expected the field to be as good as it was for this time of year and this kind of conditions.”
The teams will play the second leg of the opening round in Miami on Feb. 25. Limiting Miami to one goal preserves Kansas City’s hope of an upset and advancement in the tournament.
Sporting rounds out a busy week with its MLS opener on Feb. 22, visiting Austin FC. Sporting’s first home game of the regular season will take place Mar. 1 against the San Jose Earthquakes.
