Five years had elapsed since Children’s Mercy Park last hosted a playoff match—much longer than Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes and his players would have liked.
On Sunday, they did everything they could to make up for it by serving their fans more than 90 minutes of heart-pounding excitement in one of the greatest playoff games in club history.
Diego Rubio scored early, Ilie Sanchez buried a penalty kick and Daniel Salloi struck twice as Sporting KC won a 4-2 thriller over Real Salt Lake to claim a 5-3 aggregate victory in the Western Conference Semifinals of the Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs.