Sporting KC announced today that the team will be playing a summer friendly this year as part of their Summer in the Soccer Capital. The first friendly since KC played Stoke City to a 1-1 draw at Sporting Park in 2012 will see Sporting KC take on a better English side, Manchester City on July 23rd.
Oriol Rosell had let word of the friendly slip back in December that the Capital One Cup winners this year would be traveling to Kansas City to play the defending MLS Cup champs at Sporting Park. It just took a few extra months to officially be announced. By the time these two teams play, City could have added Premier League Champs to their titles they've won this season.
City coming to Sporting Park would be the biggest team to play at Sporting Park and the biggest team to come to KC since Manchester United played the Wizards at Arrowhead Stadium in 2010.
The game falls on a Wednesday between two big league games, at home against LA and away at Toronto. So there will certainly be plenty of gnashing of teeth about that.
Another thing to be mindful of is that with the World Cup this summer, there's a chance we're not going to see some of City's World Cup players, depending on how far they advance. With players potentially representing England, Argentina, the Ivory Coast, France, Belgium, Spain, and Bosnia in Brazil, a number of first team players may not be traveling. Back in 2010 Sir Alex Ferguson left many of his World Cup veterans at home when they traveled to play KC just a few weeks after the World Cup.
A final thing to keep in mind if you're wanting to go to this, is expect to pay a bit more than you will for a regular Sporting game. With the game at Sporting Park and attendance likely capped around 20,000, the rules of supply and demand will certainly be in play here.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
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