Sporting Kansas City plays host to the San Jose Earthquakes at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Sporting Park, Kansas City, Kan.
Sporting KC and the San Jose Earthquakes are coming off midweek matches in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. Both teams were eliminated from the tournament following their results in Mexico on Wednesday.
Sporting Kansas City boasts a seven-game home winning streak against San Jose that dates back to 2004 and stands as the club’s longest home-winning streak against one opponent in team history. The Earthquakes are in the midst of a 12-game unbeaten run in all competition dating back to last season.
In the two teams last meeting at Sporting Park, Sporting KC earned a 2-1 victory over the Earthquakes in 2012. Last season, San Jose defeated Sporting KC 1-0 at Buck Shaw Stadium as Chris Wondolowski provided the game-winning goal with a second-half header.
San Jose tallied a 95th-minute equalizer against Real Salt Lake in their MLS home opener last Saturday. Earthquakes centerback Victor Bernardez struck twice and Wondolowski added another in the 3-3 draw. The two goals by Bernardez last weekend place him behind only Houston Dynamo forward Will Bruin on the MLS goal scoring chart heading into week three.
Among the club’s 16 departures in the offseason, San Jose traded both of its starting outside backs by sending Justin Morrow to Toronto FC and Steven Beitashour to the Vancouver Whitecaps. In their place, third-year professional Cordell Cato and offseason signee Shaun Francis started last weekend.
Sporting KC also split the points in its last MLS outing, a 1-1 draw against FC Dallas at Sporting Park. Aurelien Collin headed home a Benny Feilhaber corner kick in the 81st minute before Matt Hedges re-directed Michel’s free kick past Eric Kronberg in the 90th minute.
Saturday’s match will be shown live on Channel 38 with coverage beginning at 7 p.m., and the cross-conference clash will also be available to watch on the Sporting Kansas City Television Network across the Midwest and via MLSsoccer.com’s Stream of the Week.
For more information, see www.sportingkc.com.