Sporting Kansas City fell 2-1 to Liga MX squad Toluca Monday night in a Leagues Cup group stage game at Children’s Mercy Park.
Together with last week’s 2-1 win over Chicago, Sporting finished in second place in its group, good enough to advance to the tournament’s round of 32.
The game was a stalemate for most of the first half, both teams creating dangerous chances, but neither breaking through.
Toluca got on the board in the 40th minute when an attempted clearance by Sporting’s defense was blocked back into the path of attacker Jesus Angulo.
Jake Davis, just back from his role as a reserve on the U.S. Olympic team, came on in the 45th minute as an injury substitute for Nemanja Radoja, playing in the central midfield rather than his usual right back position.
Stephen Afrifa leveled the game before halftime, taking a pass from Johnny Russell and lofting a long shot over Toluca goalkeeper Tiago Volpi. A friendly bounce from the crossbar closed the deal.
Two minutes into the second half, Sporting spurned a chance to go ahead when Johnny Russell and Willy Agada got a two-on-one opportunity against Toluca goalkeeper Tiago Volpi.
Russell got Volpi’s attention then played over to Agada, but the Nigerian forward’s short-range shot sailed over the goal, drawing concern from head coach Peter Vermes.
“He’s just got to smash it home,” said the long-time Kansas City coach. “And he knows. We talked about it, him and I. I know where he’s coming from but he has got to smash that home.”
The second half action was more frantic, with both teams counterattacking with pace. The end-to-end action paid off for Toluca with the game winner in the 66th minute as Brian Garcia headed the ball across the goal for Maximiliano Araujo to bang in from close.
One upbeat note from the game was the return of midfielder Logan Ndenbe, returning to game action for the first time since he suffered an ACL tear in November 2023.
Sporting will travel to Columbus on Friday to play the Crew, which received a bye through group play as last year’s MLS Cup champion.
