World-class Children’s Mercy Park will hold its first MLS home match in over five months when Western Conference leaders Sporting Kansas City (5-1-0, 15 points) battle for a fourth straight regular season win against rivals Houston Dynamo (0-2-4, 4 points) on Tuesday night.
The highly anticipated showdown will kick off at 7:30 p.m with three hours of live coverage on FOX Sports Kansas City Plus, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports GO beginning at 7 p.m. The match also is on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish).
Following detailed safety protocols developed in conjunction with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, Tuesday’s contest will be held at a reduced capacity of approximately 14 percent with extensive health and safety protocols in place.
Match tickets are available exclusively to Sporting Kansas City season ticket members via lottery and no single-game tickets will be sold by the club on SeatGeek.com or at the stadium box office.
With 15 points and a 5-1-0 record, Sporting currently owns a four-point lead at the summit of the Western Conference.
Manager Peter Vermes’ men are riding the waves of a three-game regular season winning streak, including a well-earned 2-1 road victory over Minnesota United FC last Friday.
Sporting is one point shy of Columbus Crew SC in the Supporters’ Shield race and tied for the league lead with 15 goals scored, an impressive clip of 2.5 goals per game.
Friday’s result in Minnesota was highlighted by an early strike from midfielder Gadi Kinda and a game-winning own goal forced by winger Johnny Russell 10 minutes into the second half.
Kinda is now tied for the team lead with three league goals this year alongside forwards Alan Pulido and Khiry Shelton. All three players notably joined the club in the offseason — Shelton returning for his second stint in Kansas City after spending 2019 at German side SC Paderborn 07.
Defensively, New Zealand international center back and English Premier League veteran Winston Reid landed his MLS debut against the Loons and recorded seven clearances, the most by a Sporting player in 2020.
A quartet of Homegrown Players made strong impressions as well: 18-year-old midfielder Gianluca Busio and 20-year-old defender Jaylin Lindsey went the full 90 minutes, while 19-year-old Cameron Duke and 22-year-old Felipe Hernandez came off the bench as midfield reinforcements. This marked the first time ever that Sporting finished a match with four Academy products on the pitch.
At the opposite end of the table, 12th-place Houston is still seeking its first win of 2020 after a 0-2-4 start. The club is led by first-year head coach Tab Ramos, a longtime club and U.S. international teammate of Vermes, who spent 2011-2019 as the U.S. U-20 head coach.
The Dynamo settled for a scoreless draw with FC Dallas on Friday but were unfortunate not to take all three points, having dominated for large portions of the match.
The Dynamo are the only MLS team without a win and their six-game winless drought to start the season is tied for the longest such streak in club history.
Houston has a 4-26-5 regular season road record since the start of 2018, recording just two shutouts in that 35-game stretch. Ramos has no shortage of weapons at his disposal, however, as the club ranks fifth in MLS with 10.5 chances created per game and boasts a formidable attack. Forwards Alberth Elis and Darwin Quintero are two of five MLS players — a group that includes Sporting’s Russell — with at least 20 goals and 20 assists in the regular season since the start of 2018.
By the time Sporting and Houston take the field on Tuesday, 171 days will have elapsed since the rivals last met at Children’s Mercy Park.
Sporting’s home opener on March 7 was the club’s final game before MLS suspended play for four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was one to remember for the hosts, as Pulido, Kinda, Shelton and Roger Espinoza all found the back of the net in a resounding 4-0 triumph.
Goalkeeper Tim Melia also set a club record with his 46th career regular season shutout as Sporting improved to 4-0-2 in their last six regular season meetings against the Dynamo. Melia is off to a flying start in 2020, posting a 4-0-0 regular season record with a 0.41 goals against average and .909 save percentage.
Sporting enters Tuesday with just one player unavailable for selection, as midfielder Felipe Gutierrez is out for the season after undergoing successful knee surgery this summer.
On the Houston sideline, forward Michael Salazar is out with a knee injury while defender Victor Cabrera, veteran midfielder Boniek Garcia and striker Mauro Manotas are all listed as questionable with thigh ailments. Manotas has scored seven goals in nine previous appearances against Sporting in all competitions.
Story from Sporting KC