For Gadi Kinda: Sporting Kansas City honor late former teammate | OneFootball

By Alex Calabrese

Emotions were running high Saturday at Children's Mercy Park as Sporting Kansas City played their first game since the tragic passing of former player Gadi Kinda.

SKC remembered their former No. 10 throughout their eventual 3-3 draw with the New England Revolution, including a special tribute from former attacking partner Dániel Sallói.

After scoring in the 53rd minute, Sallói raised his jersey to reveal a shirt underneath with Kinda’s name and number.

“We all feel [the loss],” interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin said of Kinda. “Throughout the week, everyone in the club has supported each other, and once again tonight, in a moment of adversity, there was that support again.

"I certainly believe that there was someone watching tonight.”

In addition to Sallói’s tribute, there were several other salutes to Kinda, who had 16g/17a in 80 games across all competitions for Sporting between 2020-23 before departing for Israeli Premier League side Maccabi Haifa FC.

SKC players wore t-shirts in honor of their ex-teammate as they walked out onto the pitch, as did New England’s Ilay Feingold, who played with Kinda at Maccabi Haifa.

The whole team also wore “Gadi” armbands, while the home fans chanted his name in the 10th minute, commemorating his jersey number in Kansas.

Zavagnin also felt that his team paid homage with their performance and three-goal comeback, overcoming a 2-0 deficit to salvage an emotional point.

“I think there was a part of emotion that led to the outburst [of goals],” Zavagnin said. “They didn’t want to let the night end that way.”

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