It wasn’t easy, and that bye will be valuable as Sporting Kansas City players nurse a variety of knocks from a highly-contested regular season finale 2-1 win over Los Angeles Football Club, but Sporting KC has grabbed the top playoff seed in MLS’s Western Conference. Roger Espinoza’s long-distance bullet and Daniel Salloi’s goal after Carlos Vela’s equalizer after a Seth Sinovic red card won the day.
It all came down to Decision Day for Peter Vermes’ Sporting Kansas City side. Having exorcised the demon of a destiny of four straight years of a knockout-round away playoff games (and four losses), first-place Kansas City (17-8-8) hosted expansion side second-place LAFC (16-8-9) Sunday at Children’s Mercy Park.