Sporting Kansas City takes on first place D.C. United at 6 p.m. on Saturday at RFK Stadium in the nation’s capital.
The cross-conference match-up will air on KMCI-TV’s 38 the Spot locally and on SKCTV across the Midwest, with coverage beginning at 5:30 p.m. Fans can listen to the match on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish).
Saturday marks Sporting KC’s return to the nation’s capital for the first and only time during the 2015 MLS regular season. In 2014, the two teams met on three occasions and Sporting Kansas City went winless in the series (0-2-1).
However, the visitors have only one loss in their last five trips to RFK Stadium, including three shutouts and just two goals allowed. Sporting KC is undefeated against Eastern Conference opponents in 2015 (3-0-1) and is one of two MLS teams (Seattle Sounders FC) with a winning road record since the beginning of 2011 (30-28-18).
D.C. United is unbeaten in 16 straight home games across all competitions dating back to July 2014 and is off to the best eight-game start in club history with 17 points.
Most recently, D.C. United defeated Crew SC 2-0 at RFK Stadium courtesy of goals from Fabian Espindola and Sean Franklin. United midfielder Chris Rolfe earned the game-winning assist and Rolfe’s three assists in 2015 rank the ninth-year pro sixth in MLS this season — trailing Sporting KC’s Benny Feilhaber, who leads the league with five assists.
Sporting KC is also fresh off a three-point performance, which they obtained from a 1-0 victory against the Chicago Fire last weekend. Paulo Nagamura tallied the game-winner and goalkeeper Tim Melia garnered the shutout in his Sporting KC debut.
Sporting KC and D.C. United are 20-20-11 in the all-time series and will look to break the stalemate on Saturday. Sporting KC will be without Marcel de Jong as he recovers from a muscle strain in his left hip. Nagamura is also listed as questionable on the team’s injury report with a lower back sprain.
– Story from Sporting KC