A pair of in-form teams square off Wednesday when Sporting Kansas City (4-1-3, 15 points) welcomes the New York Red Bulls (5-3-1, 16 points) to Children’s Mercy Park for an inter-conference clash at 7:30 p.m.
Three hours of live television coverage will begin at 7 p.m. on FOX Sports Kansas City Plus and FOX Sports Midwest Plus.
Listeners can follow the action on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish).
Tickets for Wednesday’s matchup are available onSeatGeek.com as the first 10,000 fans through the gates at Children’s Mercy Park will receive free Sporting KC spirit sleeves. A Cinco de Mayo celebration will include a mariachi band and the Taco Republic Truck on the Sporting Plaza, and a limited-edition Cinco de Mayo scarf will be available at all SportingStyle locations inside the stadium.
Sporting Kansas City jumped to second place in the Western Conference after defeating rivals Real Salt Lake 3-0 on Saturday, extending their home unbeaten streak to a club-record 13 straight regular season matches. Benny Feilhaber opened the scoring in spectacular fashion, Dom Dwyer and Gerso added second-half strikes, and goalkeeper Tim Melia notched his MLS-leading fifth shutout in a wire-to-wire performance.
No MLS club is off to a better defensive start in 2017 than Sporting Kansas City, whose three goals allowed are tied for the third-fewest through eight games in league history. Melia tops the MLS charts with an 83.3 save percentage and has been protected by the same back four -Graham Zusi, Ike Opara, Matt Besler and Seth Sinovic – in every fixture this season.
New York enters Wednesday on a three-game winning streak, each of which coming in the friendly confines of Red Bull Arena. A 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire on Saturday saw prolific striker Bradley Wright-Phillips and defender Kemar Lawrence score on either side of Nemanja Nikolic’s second-half equalizer.
Third-year head coach Jesse Marsch guided New York to the 2015 Supporters’ Shield before leading another impressive, 57-point campaign in 2016. The club’s core during that time has largely remained intact, save the high-profile departure of former captain Dax McCarty this offseason. No player has more MLS goals since the start of 2014 than Wright-Phillips’ 78, while influential midfielder Sacha Kljestan has amassed 49 goals (14) and assists (35) in little more than two seasons. Between the posts, iron man goalkeeper Luis Robles has started an MLS record 149 consecutive matches since 2012.
Center back Aurelien Collin – who helped anchor the Sporting KC defense from 2011-2014 and notably won 2013 MLS Cup MVP honors – has featured regularly since joining New York in early 2016, but his status for Wednesday is day-to-day as the Frenchman continues to recover from a groin injury that forced him to miss Saturday’s contest.
The all-time series between Sporting KC and New York is dead even with both teams owning 20 wins and 13 draws. The sides last met on April 9, 2019, when Sporting KC secured a 2-0 road win behind goals from Feilhaber and Dwyer. Melia made six stops throughout the night, including a saved penalty kick from Wright-Phillips, as the visitors dealt New York its most recent home loss to date.
The home team has historically struggled in recent meetings, going just 1-5-4 in the regular season since 2012. The Red Bulls are unbeaten in five straight visits to Children’s Mercy Park, going 2-0-3 since losing their inaugural match at the stadium in October 2011. Fellow Englishmen Wright Phillips and Dwyer have both enjoyed success in the series: Wright-Phillips has six goals in his last six appearances against Sporting KC, while Dwyer has scored four in seven versus New York.
Forward Diego Rubio continues to be the only player on Sporting KC’s injury report, but the Red Bulls will have absences to address. Collin is listed as doubtful, midfielder Mike Grella is out with a knee injury, and defender Gideon Baah will miss the rest of 2017 with a broken leg. Sal Zizzo, a member of Sporting KC in 2014, is probable after missing the last two games with a calf strain.
– Story from Sporting KC