Children’s Mercy Park will host its 100th MLS regular season match on Friday when Sporting Kansas City faces the Houston Dynamo at 7 p.m. CT. To honor the milestone, we take a chronological look back at the 10 best regular season games played at the state-of-the-art venue. Think we left one off the list? Have a favorite regular season memory of your own? Give us your feedback in the comment section below.
June 9, 2011: The Beginning of an Era
Sporting KC 0, Chicago Fire 0
Sporting Kansas City’s move to world-class Children’s Mercy Park signified a new era of success for the club. The stadium’s inaugural match wasn’t a spectacle to behold, but the evening of June 9, 2011 will forever remain a special chapter in Kansas City soccer history.
Oct. 15, 2011: Back in the Playoffs
Sporting KC 2, New York Red Bulls 0
Seemingly dead to rights at the end of May, Sporting Kansas City made the most of a back-heavy home schedule to surge up the Eastern Conference standings. After a three-year absence from the postseason, the team clinched a return to the playoffs with a 2-0 win over the New York Red Bulls on a sunny Saturday in October. Thierry Henry was sent off in the first half before Teal Bunbury and C.J. Sapong bagged late goals to seal the victory.
March 17, 2012: St Patty’s Day Celebration
Sporting KC 3, New England Revolution 0
Sporting Kansas City carried winning momentum into 2012, rattling off seven straight victories to start the year. The home opener at Children’s Mercy Park was the best of the bunch — an emphatic 3-0 triumph that saw Kei Kamara and C.J. Sapong celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in style.
Oct. 24, 2012: Beast of the East
Sporting KC 2, Philadelphia Union 1
In the 2012 regular season finale, Sporting Kansas City struck late to cement first place in the Eastern Conference for a second straight year and finish with a club-record 63 points. Jacob Peterson fired the hosts ahead before the break, then C.J. Sapong netted the dramatic game-winner eight minutes from time.
Aug. 31, 2013: Benny’s Blast and Graham’s Game-Winner
Sporting KC 2, Colorado Rapids 1
Sporting Kansas City began rounding into championship form at the end of August 2013. On this particular evening at Children’s Mercy Park, Benny Feilhaber scored a spectacular goal from distance with the outside of his right boot before Graham Zusi tucked home an 88th-minute winner. Peter Vermes’ men would lose just once the rest of the season en route to lifting the MLS Cup.
May 4, 2014: Running Rings Around Columbus
Sporting KC 2, Columbus Crew SC 0
A championship ring ceremony before the match set the scene for Sporting Kansas City’s dominant 2-0 win over Columbus Crew SC. Jacob Peterson scored early and Claudio Bieler scored late as the defending MLS Cup champions showed they wouldn’t relinquish their title easily.
April 5, 2015: Easter Sunday Resurrection
Sporting KC 3, Philadelphia Union 2
Trailing the Philadelphia Union 2-1 with 90 minutes on the clock, Sporting Kansas City staged a historic comeback on Easter Sunday. Jalil Anibaba drew the sides level in the 91st minute before Krisztian Nemeth conjured the winner — coincidentally the club’s 1000th goal in all competitions — in the 94th minute. The victory was just the seventh in MLS history by a team that trailed entering stoppage time.
May 29, 2015: Dallas Demolished
Sporting KC 4, FC Dallas 0
FC Dallas would finish the 2015 regular season comfortably atop the Western Conference, seven points clear of the pack, but not before suffering their heaviest loss of the year to Sporting Kansas City. Graham Zusi was the star of the show with a goal and two assists, while Krisztian Nemeth, Benny Feilhaber and Kevin Ellis also got in on the scoring action.
Aug. 15, 2015: The Nagamura Game
Sporting KC 4, Vancouver Whitecaps FC 3
Grizzled veteran Paulo Nagamura stamped his name on arguably the greatest comeback in Sporting Kansas City history. Trailing Vancouver 3-1 in the dying embers of the match, Dom Dwyer ignited the rally with a goal in the 81st minute. Nagamura then delivered his unforgettable heroics, burying a superb strike in the 87th minute before heading home in the 94th to complete the turnaround and secure three unlikely points. Sporting KC’s three late goals marked only the second time in MLS history that a team which trailed by two goals in the 80th minute came back to win in regulation.
July 3, 2016: The Besler Game
Sporting KC 3, Columbus Crew SC 2
Matt Besler came off the bench to score a dramatic game-winner in the 91st minute of Sporting KC’s pulsating 3-2 win over Columbus Crew SC this summer. Benny Feilhaber’s penalty kick and Graham Zusi’s left-footed rocket were sandwiched between a pair of goals from Crew SC’s Ola Kamara, giving both sides all to play for as the game drew to a close. Besler’s big moment came in stoppage time when he headed into the back of the net for his first MLS goal since 2011.
