"This Week in Sporting," presented by The Smile Generation, is a weekly series that highlights the biggest storylines and news updates from Sporting Kansas City. To visit the series archive, click here.
1. Splitting the Points
Western Conference leaders Sporting Kansas City (5-2-1, 16 points) came back to claim a 1-1 road draw against the Colorado Rapids (2-3-2, 8 points) on Saturday night at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Cole Bassett gave the hosts a 57th-minute lead before 18-year-old midfielder Gianluca Busio unleashed a stunning equalizer from long range to ensure Sporting a valuable point.
2. Brilliant Busio
Logging the full 90 minutes at the No. 6 position for the third straight match, Busio won a game-high five tackles against the Rapids—the most by a Sporting player this season and the second-most by an MLS player across the 11 league fixtures that took place this weekend. The only other player in Saturday’s match with more than one successful tackle was teammate Khiry Shelton, who finished with three. Busio also won seven duels, tied for second-most in the game behind Shelton’s 10. From a distribution standpoint, he completed 27 of 31 passes at an 87.1% clip and was successful on all 11 of his passes in the attacking half of the field.
3. Dueling Dallas
First-place Sporting Kansas City will return to Children's Mercy Park on Wednesday to face fellow MLS charter member FC Dallas (2-1-3, 9 points) at 7:30 p.m. CT. The matchup will be shown live on FOX Sports Kansas City Plus, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports GO, including 30 minutes of pregame and postgame coverage. Sports Radio 810 WHB will carry a local radio broadcast with The Final Whistle postgame show immediately following. Viewers in the U.S. who reside outside of the FOX Sports Midwest footprint can stream the contest on ESPN Plus.
Following detailed safety protocols developed in conjunction with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, Wednesday's match at Children's Mercy Park will be held at a reduced capacity of approximately 14% with extensive safety protocols in place. Tickets for the game will be available exclusively to Sporting Kansas City Season Ticket Members via lottery and no single-game tickets will be sold by the club on SeatGeek.com or at the stadium box office.
4. Rubber Match
Three days after battling FC Dallas, Sporting Kansas City will travel south for a meeting with the Houston Dynamo (1-2-4, 7 points) at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday at BBVA Compass Stadium. Three hours of live coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m. CT on FOX Sports Kansas City Plus, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports GO. Sports Radio 810 WHB will broadcast the match as well as The Final Whistle postgame show. ESPN Plus will stream the action for U.S. fans beyond the FOX Sports Midwest viewing area.
Sporting and Houston have already met twice this season at Children's Mercy Park, with the hosts cruising to a 4-0 win on March 7 before falling 5-2 last Tuesday. Saturday will mark the first battle between the sides at BBVA Compass Stadium since June 2019.
5. Winning Ways
Sporting Kansas City II (4-5-1, 13 points) earned a 2-1 away win at FC Tulsa on Saturday to move within four points of the second and final playoff spot in Group E of the USL Championship. Head coach Paulo Nagamura's side will play each of their last six league fixtures on the road, a daunting stretch that continues Friday with a visit to cross-state rivals Saint Louis FC (4-3-3, 15 points) at West Community Stadium in Fenton, Missouri. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. CT with a live stream on ESPN Plus and additional in-game updates via @SportingKCII on Twitter.
6. Wunderkind Wilson
In the 55th minute of Saturday's massive 2-1 road win over FC Tulsa at ONEOK Field, Sporting Kansas City II striker Wilson Harris etched his name into the history books. With a clever near-post run and first-time finish off Dillon Serna's low cross, Harris bagged his third game-winner of 2020 and took his goal tally to a team-leading five on the season.
Even more significantly, Harris became the youngest player ever to hit 20 career goals in the USL Championship. After scoring three times in 2018 and adding a dozen goals last year, Harris reached the 20-goal milestone on Saturday at the age of 20 years and 275 days. No other USL Championship player has accomplished the feat at a younger age.
7. How to Save a Life
The Victory Project, Sporting Kansas City and Community Blood Center (CBC) are teaming up to host blood drives at Children’s Mercy Park from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CT on Thursday and Friday. All donors will received a co-branded face mask. The blood drive will take place inside the Budweiser Brew House, located in the northeast corner of the stadium at the intersection of France Family Drive and Village West Parkway, and will be conducted in accordance with CBC protocols for social distancing and public health guidelines. Donors are required to wear a mask throughout their donation and CBC staff will also be wearing masks while taking extra precautions to maintain safe and sanitary conditions.
Appointments are strongly encouraged and walk-ins will only be accepted as capacity safely allows. Healthy blood donors wishing to participate can make an appointment online at savealifenow.org/group and enter Group Code: CB8D or call 1-877-468-6844. Appointments can also be made at other mobile drives in the area or one of CBC’s seven donor centers across Kansas and Missouri.
