Sporting Kansas City midfielder Jose Mauri has been selected to the bench of the latest MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi.
Mauri opened his MLS scoring account in the fourth minute of Saturday's 2-0 victory over Chicago Fire FC in front of a sold-out crowd at Children's Mercy Park.
Mauri struck for the early game-winner after receiving a pass from Remi Walter and unleashing a low drive from 23 yards that snuck fortuitously between the legs of Chicago goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth and into the back of the net.
"He’s done some really good stuff," Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes said of Mauri postgame. "I’m happy for him that he gets the goal. He got the first one for us and that was a big part of today’s theme: getting the first goal and getting the first goal early. Him doing that for us was good and good for him. For the majority of the game, he played very, very well. He helped us in a lot of little situations. He’s got good instincts to close guys down when they’re turning. All good steps in the right direction."
Sporting KC teammates Tim Melia and Johnny Russell echoed those comments.
"I’m excited about him," said Melia. "The things he does for our team: the way he wants to possess the ball, he’s got a very good right foot, he’s got a very good left foot. All those things are positive things and he’s only going to get better."
"He’s been great," said Russell. "He’s fit straight into the system. I think everyone can see the tenacity that he’s got, the quality that he’s got when he’s on the ball as well...He’s done well tonight and obviously getting the goal as well – that will do him a world of good."
Mauri, a 25-year-old Argentine-Italian, joined the club last month and he became just the fourth Sporting player to score a goal in his Children's Mercy Park regular season debut.
GOAL IN CHILDREN’S MERCY PARK DEBUT
(SPORTING KC PLAYERS IN MLS REGULAR SEASON)
- Soony Saad | 08/17/2011 | W 3-1 vs. Portland Timbers
- Gadi Kinda | 03/07/2020 | W 4-0 vs. Houston Dynamo FC
- Alan Pulido | 03/07/2020 | W 4-0 vs. Houston Dynamo FC
- Jose Mauri | 09/11/2021 | W 2-0 vs. Chicago Fire FC
Mauri and Sporting Kansas City can now jump atop the Western Conference standings on Wednesday when regional rivals Minnesota United FC (8-7-7, 31 points) visit Children's Mercy Park for a 7:30 p.m. CT kickoff. Tickets for the pivotal matchup are available at SeatGeek.com with live coverage on Bally Sports Kansas City Plus, Bally Sports Midwest Plus, BallySports.com and the Bally Sports app.
