Sporting Kansas City (6-15-5, 23 points) will play host to the Portland Timbers (7-7-12, 33 points) at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas, as the club celebrates Retro Night with a nationally televised Western Conference clash on FS1 and FOX Deportes.
Radio coverage of Saturday’s showdown will air on SiriusXM FC as well as Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.
Tickets for the match, presented by Children’s Mercy, are available online at SeatGeek.com.
Sporting will turn back the clock on Retro Night – highlighted by a special SportingStyle collection for fans – as the team plays its 500th home match across all competitions in club history.
Coming off a resounding 4-2 win over the LA Galaxy in the team’s last home match, Sporting now has the chance to secure a 100th regular season victory at Children’s Mercy Park on Sunday.
Midfielder Erik Thommy scored his first goal for the club in the 4-2 victory on Aug. 6, then won a free kick and a penalty kick that both led to goals in last weekend’s 4-3 loss at Austin FC.
Forward Willy Agada has also been impressive since being signed this summer as the 22-year-old Nigerian has three goals in his last two appearances.
After failing to score three goals in any of the team’s first 24 regular season games this year, Sporting has exploded for seven goals – the most of any MLS team in their two most recent matches – in the past two weeks. Nevertheless, Sporting remains last in MLS in home goals (12) and overall goals (26), however will be facing a Portland side that has conceded the most shots in MLS this season.
Timbers goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic boasts an MLS-best 87 saves and defender Claudio Bravo leads the league with 60 tackles won, while forward Jaroslaw Niezgoda has a team-high nine goals in 2022. Portland is the only MLS club to have four different players with at least six assists: Eryk Williamson (6), Santiago Moreno (7), Sebastian Blanco (8) and Yimmi Chara (9).
Yimmi Chara’s older brother Diego Chara is in his 12th season with the Timbers and his 331 MLS appearances rank second most among one-club players in MLS history – 23 more than Sporting midfielder Roger Espinoza and six behind Sporting defender Graham Zusi. The three veterans have been key contributors for two perennial powers in the Western Conference as Sporting won MLS Cup in 2013 and claimed U.S. Open Cup titles in 2012, 2015 and 2017.
The Timbers won MLS Cup in 2015 and advanced to MLS Cup in 2018 and 2021 to go along with an MLS is Back Tournament championship in 2020. Led by head coach Gio Savarese – a teammate of Peter Vermes with the NY-NJ MetroStars during Major League Soccer’s inaugural season in 1996 — the Timbers are in a four-way tie for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and enter Sunday’s match coming off a 3-1 loss at Toronto that snapped a 10-match unbeaten run.
Sporting narrowly leads the all-time regular season series against Portland with a 7-6-6 record, including a 3-1-4 mark at Children’s Mercy Park where Daniel Salloi has scored in three straight home match-ups with the Timbers. However, the Timbers are unbeaten in the last seven MLS meetings (4-0-3) between the two clubs since 2018 and Portland posted a 7-2 victory in the most recent encounter on May 14.
The hosts will be without four players on Sunday as goalkeeper Tim Melia (hamstring), defender Kortne Ford (suspension), midfielder Gadi Kinda (knee) and forward Alan Pulido (knee) remain sidelined. Forward Khiry Shelton (calf) is questionable on the club’s availability report after missing the last three matches.
Following Sunday’s match, The Final Whistle postgame show will air on Sports Radio 810 WHB with hosts Chad Reynolds and Dave Borchardt. Listeners can tune in via the Sporting KC mobile app or online at 810WHB.com.
- Story from Sporting KC