Sporting Kansas City will host Inter Miami at Children's Mercy Park in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup first round match on Tuesday.
The 2024 US Open Cup runners-up position qualified SKC for this competition alongside Inter Miami who secured the 2025 Supporters' Shield within Major League Soccer.
Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes wants his team to improve beyond all previous points records after finishing with a record-low 31 points during their 2024 regular season.
Vermes possesses two decades of coaching experience at Kansas City yet faces new challenges with both offseason departures of regular contributors and offseason acquisitions who can strengthen his attacking roster.
The former MLS Cup champions had an unproductive preseason with no wins during their six matches and three consecutive scoreless results.
Trusting in their run to US Open Cup final victory proved to be Sporting Kansas City's main achievement last year as they compelled Los Angeles FC to an intense matchup during extra time before the 3-1 defeat.
The 2024 regular season saw Sporting KC win half of their matches played at Children's Mercy Park together with securing points in two matches featuring Eastern Conference opponents at home.
The team showed impressive performance at the 2019 Champions Cup advancing to semi-finals after winning two matches by 6-0 combined score at Children's Mercy Park.
After finishing their preseason preparations the Herons plan to start their upcoming significant season by participating in the Champions Cup.
After winning two of their three games this month, including a 2-2 tie against Orlando City on Friday, Javier Mascherano's team finished undefeated in the preseason.
Miami lost to Monterrey in the quarterfinals of this competition last year (5-2 on aggregate), therefore this will be their second straight appearance.
Miami, which lost 3-1 in Monterrey last April and bounced back to secure a 2-2 draw at GEODIS Park against Nashville SC in early March, will have their first chance to win an away game in this tournament on Tuesday.
The Herons have not suffered a loss against a team from the opposing conference since mid-July of the 2023 domestic season (3-0 at St. Louis City), and they were unbeaten against Western Conference opponents in MLS in 2024.
This will just be their third competitive matchup with Sporting; last year, Inter Miami defeated them 3-2 in both of their encounters, including one that took place at Arrowhead Stadium in front of more than 70,000 fans.
