Category: Sporting KC

Sporting Kansas City (2-3-0, 6 points) will cross the Canadian border for a visit to Vancouver to face Whitecaps FC (0-3-1, 1 point) at 7 p.m. on Saturday at BC Place in a rematch from the 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs.

Saturday’s showdown will be locally televised on 38 The Spot with three hours of coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. The broadcast will also stream live on SportingKC.com and in the Sporting KC app for viewers in Kansas and Missouri (excluding St. Louis area per MLS policy), as well as ESPN+ for out-of-market subscribers.

Sporting Kansas City split the regular season series with Vancouver in 2021 but earned a 3-1 win over Vancouver in Round One of last year’s postseason bracket with goals from Khiry Shelton, Nicolas Isimat-Mirin and Graham Zusi.

Sporting has a commanding 11-4-4 lead in the all-time regular season series against Vancouver since the Whitecaps joined MLS in 2011 and the club has just one defeat (6-1-2) in the last nine meetings across all competition.

The lone loss in that span came in the team’s last trip to BC Place, site of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final.

Vancouver secured a 2-1 home victory in October 2021 as Ryan Gauld and Russell Teibert gave the hosts a 2-0 lead before Johnny Russell pulled a goal back just before halftime for Sporting Kansas City.

Russell’s four career goals against Vancouver are the most by a KC player in the all-time series, highlighted by his hat trick in a 6-0 win over the Whitecaps in April 2018.

The club captain opened his scoring account for 2022 last week with a late match-winner in Sporting’s 1-0 win over Supporters’ Shield co-leaders Real Salt Lake.

Vancouver is coming off back-to-back road losses at Houston and LAFC, most recently dropping a 3-1 result in Los Angeles two weeks ago. Tristan Blackmon scored his first goal for the Whitecaps, striking in the 12th minute on a set piece against his club of the past four years, however Vancouver was unable to hold onto the early lead for a second straight week.

The defeat kept the Whitecaps winless through the first four matches of the season and winless in the club’s last seven overall dating back to 2021.

After being shut out in the opening two games of the campaign in cross-conference clashes against Columbus and NYCFC, Vancouver’s two goals in 2022 are fewest of any team in Major League Soccer.

While the Whitecaps are the only team without a second half goal this season, Sporting is the only team without a first half goal to date.

Sporting will also be looking for the team’s first road points of the year on Saturday after falling in Atlanta, Denver and Chicago in the first month of the campaign.

Despite having the most road wins in Major League Soccer over the past 10 seasons, Sporting has suffered losses in the team’s last five road matches, a streak that matches the longest in club history during the non-shootout era (2000 to present).

Manager Peter Vermes welcomed back the attacking trio of Russell, Khiry Shelton and Daniel Salloi last week after all three had missed the club’s previous match due to injury.

However, Designated Players Gadi Kinda (knee) and Alan Pulido (knee) remain out with long-term injuries while midfielder Uri Rosell (hamstring) and defender Kortne Ford (ankle) are questionable.

Vancouver also has four players recovering from injuries on the team’s availability report. Midfielder Caio Alexandre (foot) and defender Erik Godoy (calf) are listed as out and have yet to appear in 2022, while midfielder Ryan Gauld (adductor) and forward Brian White (calf) are questionable and missed the club’s last match.

Both sides will welcome back players from international duty this weekend, headlined by Vancouver defender Cristian Gutierrez and forward Lucas Cavallini who were part of the Canada Men’s National Team that qualified to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

In addition, Whitecaps defender Javain Brown represented Jamaica in World Cup qualifying while Sporting KC midfielder Marinos Tzionis scored the match-winning goal for Cyprus in UEFA Nations League action and defender Logan Ndenbe started for Belgium as the country qualified for the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

• Story from Sporting KC

Sporting Kansas City (1-3-0, 3 points) will play unbeaten Real Salt Lake (3-0-1, 10 points) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.

Tickets are available online from match sponsor SeatGeek, including recently released standing room only tickets, as the teams meet for the first time since last November when the sides went head-to-head on Decision Day and the Western Conference Semifinals.

Saturday’s showdown will be locally televised on 38 The Spot with three hours of coverage beginning at 5:30 p.m. in addition to a national television audience on TUDN, as well as a live stream on Twitter. Local radio coverage will be available on ESPN 94.5 FM and La Grande 1340 AM.

After playing three of the team’s first four matches on the road, Sporting Kansas City returns home to the friendly confines of Children’s Mercy Park where the club defeated longtime postseason nemesis Houston Dynamo FC in the club’s home opener earlier this month. Now, Sporting will welcome Real Salt Lake in a rematch of the 2013 MLS Cup for the latest chapter in a rivalry between the Western Conference foes.

The all-time series between Sporting and RSL is deadlocked with 16 wins for each side across all competitions after Real Salt Lake swept all three meetings in 2021, including a 1-0 win on Decision Day with a 95th minute goal from Damir Kreilach and a 2-1 victory in the Western Conference Semifinals on a 91st minute goal from Bobby Wood three weeks later.

Wood is off to a strong start this season and has already matched his offensive output from a year ago with two goals and an assist in 2022, including a goal just 90 seconds into Real Salt Lake’s 2-1 win over Nashville SC last weekend as he headed home a corner from Justin Meram.

Homegrown forward Tate Schmitt provided the game-winning goal in the second half and has now scored in back-to-back matches after his dramatic 93rd minute strike a week earlier capped a thrilling 3-2 comeback win on the road at reigning Supporters’ Shield holders New England.

Real Salt Lake, currently tied with LAFC and Philadelphia atop the Supporters’ Shield standings, enters Saturday’s match riding a three-game winning streak and in pursuit of the club’s first four-match winning streak since 2013.

Led by head coach Pablo Mastroeni in his first full season at the helm, Real Salt Lake is off to the team’s best start to a season in over a decade despite the loss of two key attackers from a year ago with the departures of Albert Rusnak and Anderson Julio.

Hampered by injuries to key contributors, Sporting Kansas City is coming off back-to-back road defeats in Colorado and Chicago. Veteran midfielder Roger Espinoza scored in last week’s loss and now the 2008 MLS SuperDraft selection will look to make his 300th career start for Sporting in all competitions on Saturday.

Two longtime teammates of Espinoza are also on the cusp of major milestones, while Sporting Kansas City’s next goal at Children’s Mercy Park will be the team’s 400th inside the stadium.

Right back Graham Zusi is 57 minutes shy of passing Matt Besler for the most minutes played for the club across all competitions and Tim Melia’s next appearance will see him become the first goalkeeper in Sporting KC history to play in 200 regular season matches for the team.

Zusi leads all MLS players in touches this season (374), followed closely by Sporting KC centerback Andreu Fontas (371), and midfielder Remi Walter leads the league with 45 recoveries. Walter, who scored the lone goal in Sporting’s last home match, also ranks fourth in MLS with 28.4 miles covered through four matches.

Both teams will be shorthanded on Saturday as Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake each have five players out, with an additional four players apiece listed as questionable. Manager Peter Vermes remains without Designated Players Alan Pulido (knee) and Gadi Kinda (knee) due to injury, while Marinos Tzionis (Cyprus) and Logan Ndenbe (Belgium U21s) are currently on international duty.

Three players who started for Real Salt Lake in last year’s Western Conference Final — Nick Besler (nose), Justen Glad (hamstring) and David Ochoa (quad) – are sidelined with injuries and an additional three starters from that match are listed as questionable, including Kreilach – the team’s top scorer in 2021 with 16 goals and nine assists who has missed RSL’s last three matches. In addition, Meram has joined the Iraq men’s national team for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying.

• Story from Sporting KC