Major League Soccer announced today the MLS Team of the Matchday presented by Audi for Matchday 26 of the regular season with Sporting Kansas City forward Andre Luiz honored as one of the top 11 players in the league following the team's 3-1 victory over LAFC on Saturday at Sporting Park.
Making his first start at Sporting Park since a club-record transfer from Olympiacos FC, the 24-year-old Designated Played opened the scoring with a brilliant first goal for the club in the 18th minute with a world-class finish past Hugo Lloris.
"That's why we bought him, right? That's why he's here," Sporting Kansas City head coach Raphael Wicky said in the postgame press conference. "He's a very good player. From the first moment he trained with us, you could see his individual quality, his change of pace, his 1v1, and obviously what he showed today he showed from the first day."
Andre's seven shots on Saturday were most of any player in the Western Conference, including a blocked shot that directly led to the team's third goal courtesy of Jacob Bartlett in the 71st minute, and Andre was voted Man of the Match for the performance.
Sporting Kansas City will next host the Philadelphia Union at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Sporting Park as The Victory Project celebrates the club's annual Kick Childhood Cancer theme night. Tickets are available via SeatGeek, including a Nurses Night ticket pack featuring a custom SKC bento box, and match title night partner Compass Minerals will give away custom teddy bears to children on the Sporting Plaza while supplies last prior to kickoff.
The Western Conference match-up will be available to watch in English and Spanish on Apple TV in addition to local radio coverage on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM with audio streams in the SKC mobile app.
