Sporting Kansas City can’t hang with St. Louis City SC, falling 3-1 on the road

Sporting KC went into Saturday night’s road match against St. Louis City SC with designs on putting an end to the cross-state rival’s postseason aspirations.

So much as a draw would’ve gotten the job done. Instead, Sporting fell 3-1 at CityPark in St. Louis. (St. Louis City was eliminated anyway when Minnesota beat the Colorado Rapids.)

With Saturday’s defeat, KC cedes the season series with St. Louis City SC for the second straight year.

KC manager Peter Vermes made eight changes to the lineup he used in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup loss as Major League Soccer play resumed. Robert Voloder, Jake Davis, and Zorhan Bassong were the only retained starters.

St. Louis jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Cedric Teuchert picked up a loose ball at the top of the box and curled a powerful effort past Sporting KC goalkeeper John Pulskamp in the 33rd minute.

Rasmus Alm scored in the 54th minute, tapping in a loose ball from the top of the box.

Stephen Afrifa responded for Sporting 10 minutes later with a first-time effort against Burki off a pass from Jake Davis.

As Vermes seemed ready to bring on usual starters Johnny Russell, Daniel Salloi and Alan Pulido, St. Louis made it 3-1. Eduard Löwen scored on a deadly counterattack that had Sporting’s defenders well out of position.

Next Saturday is the final home game of the 2024 season for Sporting KC. It’s a rematch against LAFC at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.