KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kansas City sports fans just can’t catch a break.
On the heels of World Series heartbreak at Kauffman Stadium Wednesday night, Kansas City sports fans were disappointed again as they watched Sporting KC fall to the New York Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round match.
The night started out optimistic, as dozens of fans packed into the Members Club at Sporting Park Thursday night for a watch party to root on their home team.
“Especially after last night, I’m still super excited and super proud of the Royals boys,” said Megan Werner, a sports fan at the watch party. “But no matter what, Kansas City is representing itself as a sports metropolis and I’m going to support each and every team the entire way through.”
Thursday’s game was away, so fans said coming to the stadium was the second best way to enjoy the game. They were surrounded by other passionate soccer fans who also wanted to see Sporting KC repeat as MLS Cup champions.
“It would’ve been nice to win yesterday, but maybe we can make a run like the Royals did,” said Juan Castro, a Sporting KC fan. “Maybe we can win this Wild Card type game and make a run for it.”
But their playoff dreams were squashed when Sporting KC got knocked out in their first playoff match, falling 2-1 to the Red Bulls in the one-game, single-elimination playoff match.
“It was a good game for the most part,” said Justin Hurley, a Sporting KC fan. “They seemed to have more offense than we did, but we got ahead for most of the game, but then they got that last goal in the last few minutes and they got us.”
The pressure was on, as the Red Bulls had already beat Sporting KC three times this season, including the last regular season game 2-0 on Sunday.
Fans had their fingers crossed for a Sporting KC win, especially after the Royals loss.
“This last month or so the whole town has been royal blue,” said Tyler Fisher, a fan at the watch party. “But if we can win a couple of games here in the playoffs, I think we’ll see big crowds and lots of fans coming back out.”
“It’s sad that the Royals are done and that they didn’t win,” said Kaylee Johnson, a sports fan. “But it’s nice that now we can transition into soccer and we can hopefully root on Sporting so they can repeat from last year.”
Now that they won’t get the chance to cheer on Sporting KC in playoffs, these fans are already looking into the future.
“We had kind of a rough season,” said Matt Sutherland, a Sporting KC fan. “Because we had World Cup and then injuries, and so it was kind of a tough season, so we’ll just start over next year.”
The Red Bulls will now advance to take on No. 1 seed D.C. United in the two-leg Eastern Conference semifinals.
