CONCACAF Champions League | First Round | 1st Leg

Feb 19, 2025 at 1am UK

Children's Mercy Park

Kansas vs Inter Miami

Match preview

Coming off their worst ever regular season in terms of points in 2024 (31), Peter Vermes will be hoping his side can only go up from there.

The veteran Kansas City head coach has a very different squad to work with this time around, after the front office let some of their regulars leave in the off-season, while adding some proven quality in the attacking third.

However, it has not been a great pre-season for the former two-time MLS Cup winners, who have failed to win any of their six matches, while failing to find the back of the net in their last three.

Their greatest achievement last season was reaching the final of the US Open Cup, where they gave an experienced Los Angeles FC side all they could handle before losing 3-1 in extra time.

Six of their eight regular-season victories in 2024 have come at Children's Mercy Park, while they have taken points from two of their three home games against Eastern Conference opponents.

In their last appearance in the 2019 Champions Cup, they reached the semi-finals, winning two of their three matches at Children's Mercy Park by a combined score of 6-0.

With the pre-season in the books, the Herons will now focus on what promises to be a big campaign for them, starting with the Champions Cup.

Javier Mascherano's men have gone unbeaten in pre-season, winning two of their three games this month, with their most recent result a 2-2 draw with Orlando City on Friday.

This will be their second successive appearance in the competition, with Miami losing 5-2 on aggregate to Monterrey in the quarter-finals a year ago.

On Tuesday, Miami will have their first opportunity to win an away match in the competition, having lost 3-1 in Monterrey last April and bouncing back to draw 2-2 with Nashville SC at GEODIS Park in early March.

In 2024, the Herons went undefeated against MLS clubs from the Western Conference, and they have not lost to a team from the opposite conference since mid-July in the 2023 domestic season (3-0 at St Louis City).

This will be only the third time they have faced Sporting in a competitive match, with Inter Miami winning both meetings last year by 3-2 scorelines, one of which was played in front of over 70,000 fans at Arrowhead Stadium.

Recent Performance

Sporting Kansas City Pre-season form:LLLDLD

Inter Miami Pre-season form:WWWWD

Team News

In the off-season, SKC added Dejan Joveljic, who led MLS Cup winners Los Angeles Galaxy with 21 goals in the 2024 regular season, while they also signed Mason Toye from Portland Timbers and Manu Garcia and Shapi Suleymanov from Aris in the Greek Super League.

They said goodbye to veteran Johnny Russell, who was out of contract, and Alan Pulido returned to Mexico to sign for Chivas, while the contracts of Remi Walter, Tim Melia and Robert Castellanos were not renewed.

Miami made four changes to the side that faced Orlando City, with Gonzalo Lujan, Jordi Alba, Yannick Bright and Telasco Segovia replacing Ian Fray, Noah Allen, David Ruiz and Federico Redondo.

Goals from Tadeo Allende and Fafa Picault ensured they ended their 2025 pre-season unbeaten, with the Haitian's strike in second-half stoppage time the difference.

Possible starting lineup

Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:

Pulskamp; Leibold, Fernandez, Voloder, Bassong; Rodriguez, Radoja, Thommy; Afrifa, Joveljic, Salloi

Inter Miami possible starting lineup:

Callender; Weigandt, Fray, Martinez, Alba; Allende, Busquets, Redondo; Messi, Suarez, Taylor