Sitting atop the Western Conference standings, Sporting Kansas City (10-4-4, 34 points) will put their four-game road unbeaten streak on the line Saturday when they visit red-hot FC Dallas (5-7-6, 21 points) in a showdown between MLS originals on Saturday night at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
Saturday’s contest will kick off at 7:30 p.m. and air live on Bally Sports Kansas City Plus and Bally Sports Midwest Plus, with three hours of live coverage beginning at 7 p.m. Fans can also stream the action on BallySports.com and the new Bally Sports app in addition to receiving in-game updates on the Sporting KC app . Local radio broadcasts will air on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM, with The Final Whistle postgame show immediately following on 810 WHB.
Sporting took sole possession of first place in the West and extended their road unbeaten run to four matches after claiming a 0-0 draw at the Colorado Rapids last Saturday.
Goalkeeper Tim Melia made three saves en route to his third shutout of the season, snapping a 32-game home scoring streak for the Rapids that dated back to 2018.
Sporting leads MLS with five road wins this year and 10 away victories since the start of 2020. The current road unbeaten streak has seen Sporting scalp the LA Galaxy, Seattle Sounders FC and LAFC — three teams presently in playoff position — since the start of July.
Sporting will play seven competitive matches in 22 days between July 31 and Aug. 21. Despite the schedule congestion, manager Peter Vermes will have several well-rested players at his disposal after Melia, Andreu Fontas, Graham Zusi, Roger Espinoza, Alan Pulido and Johnny Russell watched from the sidelines Tuesday as Sporting fell to LIGA MX powerhouse Club Leon in the Leagues Cup quarterfinals.
Led by third-year head coach Luchi Gonzalez, FC Dallas struggled out of the gates in 2021 by losing its first seven away matches. The Texas outfit got back on track with a 4-0 home win over the Galaxy on July 24 and has taken 10 points from their previous four matches, including a 2-1 victory against Sporting on July 31 at Children’s Mercy Park.
Jesus Ferreira has bagged two goals in his last three appearances, fellow homegrown Paxton Pomykal has flourished in midfield, winger Szabolcs Schon has four assists in as many games, and 18-year-old striker Ricardo Pepi has enjoyed a major breakout with eight goals.
FC Dallas has built one of the longest home undefeated streaks in MLS history, extending its run to 18 regular season matches with a 2-0 win in its inaugural meeting with Texas rivals Austin FC at Toyota Stadium last weekend. The home streak began almost exactly one year ago on Aug, 16, 2020, and with a result against Sporting, Dallas would move into a tie for the seventh longest home undefeated run in league history.
Having lost to Dallas 2-1 two weeks ago, Sporting will take a shot at revenge this weekend while also attempting to reverse a noticeable trend in the series.
Dallas is 5-0-1 in the last six regular season meetings since 2019, scoring 15 goals and conceding four. Sporting is 1-5-2 in its last eight visits to Toyota Stadium dating back to 2013 and has won only twice at the venue since the Peter Vermes era began in 2009, prevailing 4-1 in June 2011 and 3-0 in October 2018.
Sporting defenders Nicolas Isimat-Mirin and Jaylin Lindsey will miss out with hamstring issues for an otherwise healthy Sporting squad, while Felipe Hernandez remains unavailable for personal reasons.
Dallas, meanwhile, will be without a trio of youngsters in winger Beni Redzic (ankle) and defenders Justin Che (leg) and Johnny Nelson (back).
- Story from Sporting KC
