Sporting Kansas City (6-8-7, 25 points) will visit iconic Yankee Stadium on Friday night for an interconference showdown with New York City FC (8-3-8, 32 points) in the Bronx, New York.
Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. with three hours of live coverage on FOX Sports Kansas City Plus, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports GO . Sports Radio 810 WHB and ESPN Deportes KC 1480 AM will also carry local radio broadcasts, with The Final Whistle postgame show running immediately afterward on 810 WHB.
Less than a week removed from a 2-0 home loss to FC Dallas, Sporting will look to bounce back at the expense of a New York City side that has just three league defeats this season-tied for the fewest in MLS and three fewer than any other team in the Eastern Conference. However, four of Sporting’s six victories and 16 of the team’s 25 points this year have come against opposition from the East.
Manager Peter Vermes’ men saw their two-game winning streak snapped last Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park, but the game wasn’t entirely void of positives for the hosts. Integral midfielder Roger Espinoza made his highly anticipated return from a knee injury as a second-half substitute, earning his first minutes since mid-April. Sporting now sits in 10th place in the West, five points shy of the seventh and final playoff position.
With Espinoza in contention for a start on the narrow Yankee Stadium pitch, Sporting’s midfield will be further bolstered by the return of Ilie Sanchez. The Spaniard’s remarkable run of 80 straight competitive appearances for Sporting ended against Dallas, as he was forced to serve a one-game suspension for caution accumulation.
Ilie, Espinoza and Sporting’s backline face the formidable task of containing an NYCFC outfit that has enjoyed plenty of success at home in recent years. The club boasts a 26-4-13 regular season home record since the start of 2017, and their four home losses during that time are the fewest in MLS (excluding 2018 expansion club LAFC).
Guided by second-year head coach Domenec Torrent, who was previously an assistant coach under heralded manager Pep Guardiola at FC Bayern and Manchester City, NYCFC occupy fifth place in the East but own the division’s second-best points per game clip. The club has at least three games in hand on each of its conference rivals and wields arguably the most balanced attack in MLS.
NYCFC’s Brazilian newcomer Heber has a team-best eight goals, while diminutive playmaker Maxi Moralez leads MLS with 13 assists to go with six goals of his own. Forward Valentin Castellanos (five goals), Alexandru Mitrita (five goals) and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi have also shown scoring pedigree over the course of 2019.
Sporting have also spread the scoring wealth this season, as they remain the only MLS team to have three players with at least seven MLS goals. Topping the charts is midfielder Felipe Gutierrez, whose eight goals are one more than his total from a year ago. Krisztian Nemeth and Johnny Russell have seven each, although neither player has found the back of the net since May.
Much like Sporting, NYCFC is expecting to receive a midfield reinforcement. Finnish international Alexander Ring missed his first game of the season last Saturday-a 2-1 road win over the Colorado Rapids-but figures to make his way back into Torrent’s lineup this time around.
Even without Ring, NYCFC managed to overturn a 1-0 deficit and find goals in either half from Heber and Mitrita at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The visitors played with a man advantage for the final 57 minutes after 16-year-old Sebastian Anderson-who scored his first MLS goal in the sixth minute-received a straight red card for serious foul play.
Sporting and NYCFC have met on four previous occasions and own two wins apiece. Vermes’ side won the first two meetings, prevailing 1-0 at Yankee Stadium in March 2015 before claiming a 3-1 triumph at Children’s Mercy Park in July 2016. NYCFC have won each of the last two, posting a 1-0 home result in September 2017 and emerging from Kansas City 2-0 victors on the opening weekend of 2018 behind goals from Moralez and Jesus Medina.
- Story from Sporting KC