Record Arrowhead crowd watches Sporting fall to Messi, Inter Miami CF

Sporting Kansas City (2-2-4, 10 points) took a disappointing 3-2 setback against Inter Miami CF (4-2-3, 15 points) in a historic clash on Saturday night at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. 

A record-breaking crowd of 72, 610 witnessed the back-and-forth duel, marking the largest soccer attendance in the state of Missouri’s history, and the third-largest for an MLS regular season contest.  

Sporting had a goal from Erik Thommy, only to see the Miami side secure the win with a goal and assist from global superstar Lionel Messi, in addition to braces by Diego Gomez and Luis Suarez.

Up next for Sporting will be a home test in the first matchup of the season against cross-state rival St. Louis City SC on Saturday night, April 20th at 7:30 at Children’s Mercy Park.

Thommy opened the scoring for Kansas City in the sixth minute, with a Gomez equalizer in the 18th minute.  A superb individual effort by Messi in the 51st minute put the Floridians on top, with Thommy’s second tally, coming in the 58th minute, evening the score.  

A costly turnover by Sporting led to Suarez’s winning goal in the 71st minute, with a series of late-game surges by Kansas City failing to find the game-tying tally.