Sporting KC (5-6-2, 17 points) returns to Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan., again this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. to take on Real Salt Lake (5-3-2, 17 points) as part of MLS Rivalry Week.
The match will air on 38 The Spot and SKCTV with three hours of television coverage beginning at 7 p.m. Listeners can also follow the action on the radio in English or Spanish, with broadcasts on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.
Saturday’s contest is the second of three consecutive home games for Sporting KC, and a limited number of tickets for the rivalry matchup are still available on Ticketmaster.com or by calling 888-4KC-GOAL. The first 10,000 fans through the gates of Children’s Mercy Park will receive free cell phone wallets.
Both teams have spent the past few weeks hovering around the red line of the Western Conference standings and currently find themselves neck-and-neck with 17 points.
Sporting KC sits just below the line at seventh place, one spot below sixth place Real Salt Lake by virtue of goal difference. The teams aren’t only neck-in-neck in the standings, either. The all-time regular season series between the two clubs is tied at 8-8-5 with 26 goals scored apiece.
Saturday marks the second time Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake have gone head-to-head at Children’s Mercy Park this season.
The teams previously met on April 2 when Salt Lake ended Kansas City’s season-opening three-game win streak with a 2-1 result, RSL’s first win on KC soil since 2009. The match saw goals from Real Salt Lake’s Justen Glad and Luke Mulholland, putting manager Peter Vermes’ men down 2-0. A 94th-minute conversion on a penalty kick from Benny Feilhaber reduced the deficit, but ultimately Sporting KC was unable to equalize.
The rivalry reached a boiling point last season when the clubs met four times across all competitions. RSL had the upper hand during the regular season, winning twice at home and securing a 0-0 draw in Kansas City.
Sporting KC, however, won a dramatic U.S. Open Cup semifinal at Children’s Mercy Park, erasing an early deficit to win 3-1 before lifting the title a month later. The teams have also met in heated battles like the 2013 MLS Cup, when Sporting KC won the Cup on home soil after a thrilling 10-round penalty kick shootout.
Sporting KC remains without injured defender Kevin Ellis (groin), while fullback Seth Sinovic is questionable with a groin strain. Meanwhile, Real Salt Lake lists four players as questionable ahead of Saturday’s fixture: defenders Aaron Maund (hamstring), Phanuel Kavita (knee) and Boyd Okwuonu (concussion) and forward Emery Welshman (hip).
– Story from Sporting KC