- Sporting dominate CITY in game one
- Three goals from outside 18-yard-box
- First Away side to win road playoff match this year
TELL ME MORE: It was beyond dominant from SKC. Logan Ndenbe opened up the scoring with his first-ever professional goal 27 minutes in and CITY equalized not even 90 seconds later, but that's all the story had for them. Sporting added two goals in a span of three minutes before the halftime break with Remi Walter and Gadi Kinda finding the back of the net. Daniel Salloi scored a fourth in the 61st minute after he was fed a perfect ball by Alan Pulido.
Despite falling by an aggregate of 8-1 in St. Louis during the regular season, SKC thumped their intra-state rivals in a shocking result.
THE MVP: Peter Vermes: The SKC boss set his team up perfectly, and it came about by him resting his two most important players in Johnny Russell and Erik Thommy. The pair of Designated Players were on the bench & the latter subbed on, but each came into the match carrying a knock. Vermes' tactics were brilliant: he forced the ball onto a team who doesn't play in possession and hit them on the counter while putting pressure on the left side of their defense, where they were vulnerable.
THE BIG LOSER: Bradley Carnell: The CITY boss was absolutely overwhelmed by Sporting's gameplan and failed to adjust accordingly. Joao Klauss, a brilliant striker, was left with zero service and no room to punish the SKC defense because he had nobody to play off of. CITY's formation, personnel and tactics were all wrong, and through five playoff matches across the league, they became the first home side to lose the opening match of their respective series.
WHAT NEXT FOR BOTH TEAMS? Game 2, where Sporting host, is set to be played next Saturday. If SKC win on their home grass, they'll knock out the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
MATCH RATING (OUT OF FIVE): ⭐⭐⭐⭐