Sporting Kansas City (9-3-6, 33 points) hits the road for a precursor of the U.S. Open Cup semifinal against Real Salt Lake (6-7-8, 26 points) at 10 p.m. on Friday in the club’s third game in a seven-day span.
The 2013 MLS Cup rematch will be nationally televised on UniMas and UDN (available in English), in addition to three hours of local coverage on KMCI-TV 38 the Spot beginning at 9:30 p.m. Radio listeners can follow the match live on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.
A win on Friday would see Sporting KC move provisionally into first place in the Western Conference standings.
The club leads MLS with 1.8.3 points per game and has just one defeat in their last 14 matches across all competitions, with the lone setback coming last month against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Second-half substitute Olmes Garcia came off the bench in that game to score a 93rd-minute winner after Sebastian Jaime and Dom Dwyer exchanged goals in the opening 30 minutes.
Both sides will be without veteran players as Graham Zusi (SKC), Kyle Beckerman (RSL) and Nick Rimando (RSL) are with the United States Men’s National Team at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes is one win shy of tying Bob Gansler as the winningest coach in club history. Vermes has 85 regular season wins and 107 victories in all competitions since becoming head coach in August 2009. Both totals are one behind Gansler, who coached the team from 1999-2006.
– Story from Sporting KC