Tomorrow, Sporting KC hosts 3rd-seeded MLS side Inter Miami in a much-anticipated encounter. With Lionel Messi in red-hot form, the match shifted to the Arrowhead stadium from the usual Children’s Mercy Park, increasing the stadium capacity from 18000 to 76000, presenting a huge advantage to the home side. Yet, according to the Sporting KC coach, Peter Vermes, he needs more than that to negate the Inter Miami captain.

In his latest presser, Vermes shared a rather hilarious petition he claims to have made to FIFA. He said, “Tickets have sold fast and we are expecting over 70,000 fans in the stadium and of course, it’s because Messi is in town. I’ve petitioned FIFA to see if I can put 15 players on the field .” While a humorous statement, Vermes’ comment highlights how hard it is to stop Lionel Messi’s influence. This season in four matches, the playmaker has scored four goals and four assists! It is worth noting that most of these came despite the Argentine not being at peak fitness. However, one thing that Sporting KC can take reference from is their preseason encounter against the Herons. Sporting came out on top 5-0 and Messi was not at his best. In fact, the pre-season game like tomorrow’s match was also at the Arrowhead stadium. Hence, it will be interesting to see how the Herons cope with the hostile atmosphere this time around.

It is worth noting that this is Sporting KC’s first competitive match at the Arrowhead Stadium since 2010. In fact, this is just a one-time affair as Sporting KC will be back at Children’s Mercy Park for the home encounter against St Louis. So, that begs a question.

Is Lionel Messi the reason for the shift to Arrowhead Stadium?

The Arrowhead stadium became the home of Sporting KC (then Kansas City Wiz) in 1996. Yet, the team was unable to bring in the sort of crowd needed to fill the large stadium. As a result, this impacted the match atmosphere negatively. Therefore, the club began plans for a new venue and the Children’s Mercy Park was born in 2011. Hence, the one-night move to the Arrowhead seems influenced by the Lionel Messi hype.

Also, the promotions for tomorrow are geared around Lionel Messi. Sporting KC even posted on X, “Ready to welcome Messi to the loudest stadium in the world.” As such there is significant fanfare for the contest and rumour has it that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce could even show up tomorrow. Moreover, with the attendance rates of the MLS increasing significantly, there is a possibility that we could see more matches at this gigantic stadium from now on.

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