Sporting Kansas City ends frustrating 2024 with second-worst record in club history

The final weekend of Major League Soccer’s regular season is known as “Decision Day,” as teams finalize playoff seeding and maybe book a last-minute spot in the postseason.

Of course, neither of those things were at play for Sporting Kansas City, having long been eliminated from the postseason picture.

Instead, Sporting KC finished with the second-worst point total in club history following a 2-1 loss to FC Dallas in Frisco, Texas, on Saturday night.

With the defeat, Sporting ended the season with 8 wins, 19 losses, 7 draws for a total of 31 points. That’s the club’s worst record for a 34-game season. Only the Wizards’ 1999 season (8-24 — two of those wins by shootout — 20 points) was worse.

Regarding Saturday’s match, Sporting hit the crossbar twice and outshot Dallas 6-2 in the first frame. But the scoreline after the first 45 minutes was 2-0 in favor of FC Dallas.

“I don’t think we were good in any particular area of the game in the first half,” Sporting manager Peter Vermes said. “Obviously, we hit the crossbar twice. But it doesn’t add up to any goals.”

Petar Musa scored in the 16th minute. He had plenty of time as Sporting’s defense failed to close him down. Musa took the ball off his chest and volleyed his shot past John Pulskamp, who was rooted to his spot in front of goal.

In the 40th minute, Sporting’s Joaquin Fernandez headed the ball into his own net at the back post for an own goal to make it 2-0.

Sporting’s answer: William Agada picked off a pass back to FC Dallas goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer and scored his team-leading 10th goal of the regular season.

Sporting’s focus now turns to the offseason, where 16 players either have expiring contracts or options that can be picked up. Decisions on those options are due to the league by November 27.

Change is expected after a disappointing season on the field, plus the commitment of the team’s ownership to a large budget over the coming transfer windows. Still, there are quite a few players who are under contract for next year, and Vermes says they’ll have to be ready to adapt and grow.

“All these guys who are going to come back next year are going to have to be ready for a different challenge, different intensity, different everything,” Vermes said. “Because what happened this year was just not enough.”

More from MLS “Decision Day”

Around the league on “Decision Day,” the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff picture got a refresh, with DC United falling out of eighth place to below the playoff line with a 3-0 loss at home to Charlotte FC.

Atlanta United’s 2-1 win over rival Orlando City punched a postseason ticket on the final day.

Inter Miami’s 6-2 win, capped by a Lionel Messi hat trick in a nine-minute span, clinched the best regular-season finish in MLS history with 74 points.

In the Western Conference, LAFC needed a win and an LA Galaxy loss to leapfrog into first in the West. While both trailed at halftime, LAFC came from behind to beat the San Jose Earthquakes 3-1.

The Galaxy converted a penalty kick after the LAFC match went final to tie the game at 1-1 in stoppage time. But Houston defender Daniel Steres scored against his former club in the 102nd minute to defeat the Galaxy and send LAFC into the playoffs as the Western Conference regular-season champion.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.

This story was originally published October 19, 2024 at 10:50 PM.