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KANSAS CITY, KS - Have you ever been to America’s Heartland?
In the span of two years in the early 2010s, I traveled to Kansas and Nebraska to see my uncle. As someone who was born and raised in New Jersey, it was a literal culture shock.
Now of course if I were to ever live in that area, I would fit right in given that I am a massive college football fan. I’ve seen Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium on a busy Saturday afternoon, but never Kansas’ home field, David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
Speaking of the Jayhawks, do you recall the time in 2024 when they played some non-conference home contests at Children’s Mercy Park? Known as Sporting Park today, Kansas Football played two games there while their stadium was getting renovated. I’m sure their friends Sporting Kansas City didn’t mind.
Hey, speaking of Sporting KC (3-9-2, 11 pts), they faced Red Bull New York (6-5-4, 22 pts) in a clash of two original 96 teams on Saturday night. For New York, they finished the first portion of the Major League Soccer (MLS) season with a 2-1 win over the home side.
What deserves the most attention from this match was the play of designated player, Jorge Ruvalcaba. Following their loss to CF Montréal at home in March, I asked head coach Michael Bradley a question regarding Ruvalcaba and Cade Cowell. It was something along the lines of “what more do you want to see out of them" given that, for Jorge in particular, he hadn’t scored at that moment.
That was March 8 and now, Ruvalcaba has seven goals in league play. Saturday, Ruvalcaba earned his second brace of the season.
The scoring came early for Ruvalcaba when he laced one in to give New York a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute. Then, in added time of the first half, Ruvalcaba, off a great pass from the team’s leading goal scorer in Julian Zakrzewski Hall, made it 2-0.
Ruvalcaba entering the World Cup break has certainly been worth the money he was paid.
Unfortunately, I can’t say it was a perfect game for Red Bull. Simply put, given that SKC might have one of the worst rosters in MLS, I expected more from New York. A win is a win, but the second half wasn’t great for New York.
SKC had multiple chances to create brilliant moments. But, to the relief of New York, SKC was called offside a few times. Except, in the 64th minute, Calvin Harris scored to make it 2-1.
Like the famous DJ of the same name, he did it his way, chipping it past New York goalkeeper Ethan Horvath. Side note and not anything soccer related but I prefer the DJ’s “My Way” over Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” Ok, back to the pitch.
Even after a disappointing second half, New York prevailed. The last half of the match did see defender Julián Bazán make his MLS debut.
Notably, midfielder Cam Harper made his return to MLS Saturday after suffering a right knee injury last June against Austin FC. Harper had been playing with the second-team recently and he nearly scored in his return with the first-team.
It’s now breaktime for Red Bull as their season will pause for two months with the World Cup coming to town. Their next match will be July 22 (my birthday) when they face the Philadelphia Union on the road.