Western Conference top seeds St. Louis City suffered a shock 4-1 defeat at home to Midwest rivals Sporting Kansas City in the opening game of their best-of-three series in the MLS playoffs on Sunday. Expansion club St. Louis defied all expectations in their debut season but came crashing down to earth in game one of their first-round series. Logan Ndenbe fired Kansas City ahead with a thundering left-foot drive in the 27th minute but the lead lasted just a minute as St. Louis defender Tim Parker levelled from close range after a corner. Any hope St. Louis had of turning the game around ended in the 61st minute when Hungarian Daniel Salloi stole in at the back post to turn in the fourth. The teams meet again in game two on November 5 in Kansas City.
