With two consecutive road matches in the books, Sporting Kansas City returns home to face the Chicago Fire at 4 p.m. on Sunday at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., in a nationally televised match on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
Tied for fifth place in the Western Conference (2-2-4, 10 points), Sporting KC will play host to Chicago as an intra-conference opponent for the first time since 2004.
Peter Vermes’ men have yet to lose at Sporting Park this season (1-0-3) and are unbeaten in four straight home games against the Fire. Midfielder Benny Feilhaber enters the match in a rich vein of form, leading MLS with five assists and recording his first MLS brace-including an MLS Goal of the Week nominee-in last Saturday’s 4-4 draw at the Houston Dynamo. First-year forward Krisztian is also on an uptick with three goals in the team’s last four matches.
Chicago (3-3-0, 9 points) missed out on the 2014 playoffs en route to an MLS record 18 draws last season and opened this year with three consecutive defeats.
Since then, however, Frank Yallop’s side has rattled off three straight home victories with two shutouts from U.S. international goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
Homegrown midfielder Harry Shipp, who earned an MLS Rookie of the Year nomination in 2014, leads the Fire with three assists, while first-year designated players Shaun Maloney and David Accam have both opened their scoring accounts.
Radio partners Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM will provide live broadcasts of the rivalry match. A limited number of tickets are available online at Ticketmaster.com, and the first 10,000 fans through the gates will receive Sporting KC rally towels.
– Story from Sporting KC