Sporting Kansas City midfielder Erik Thommy was selected to MLS Team of the Matchday presented by Audi on Monday for Matchday 11 of the 2023 MLS regular season.
Thommy opened the scoring in Sporting Kansas City's 2-1 road win against the first-place Seattle Sounders on Sunday and also provided the game-winning assist as Sporting earned the club's first win of the MLS campaign.
The 28-year-old German playmaker fired Sporting ahead after just three minutes and 21 seconds on Sunday by finishing off an incisive attack inside the penalty area. Thommy, the team's Newcomer of the Year in 2022, played Salloi into space down the right channel and continued his run into the box. Salloi sent a low cutback pass into the path of Gadi Kinda, whose deft touch near the penalty spot teed up Thommy to slot low into the left corner for his first goal of the season.
The strike snapped Seattle’s 453-minute home shutout streak and goes down as the earliest regular season goal scored by Sporting KC since Remi Walter scored at the 3:07 mark of a 2-1 win in Seattle in October 2021.
Turning from scorer to provider in the 31st minute, Thommy spun around his defender 30 yards from goal and slipped a brilliant through ball into the path of Pulido, who tucked a shot into the back of the net to give Sporting a stunning 2-0 lead against the reigning Concacaf Champions League winners.
Thommy, who led all players in SEAvSKC with a 96 percent passing accuracy rate, ranks second in Major League Soccer in shots on target (15) and fifth in total shots (36) this season. The Designated Player now has four goals and four assists in 25 appearances across all competitions since joining the club last summer and Sporting is 4-0-0 in matches that Thommy has scored.
Sporting will look to continue their winning ways on Wednesday with a trip to rivals Houston Dynamo FC in the 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 32. Kickoff at Shell Energy Stadium is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT with live streaming on the U.S. Soccer YouTube channel.
