Seattle Sounders vs. Sporting Kansas City | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Seattle Sounders vs. Sporting Kansas City
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 27
CenturyLink Field — Seattle
Sept. 1 — 4 pm ET | WATCH: UniMás, Twitter, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

Two of the league’s hottest teams meet at CenturyLink Field Saturday afternoon when the surging Seattle Sounders host the stout Sporting Kansas City in a heavyweight tilt.

Seattle are coming off an emotional 1-0 win over the Portland Timbers that extended a winning streak to seven games, while Sporting Kansas City have posted four consecutive shutouts after defeating Minnesota United FC, 2-0, at home.

The teams met April 15 at Children’s Mercy Park and played to a 2-2 draw with Graham Zusi matching Will Bruin’s equalizer in first-half stoppage time in the 78th minute, five minutes after Cristian Roldan put the visitors in front. Ilie Sanchez opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 34th minute.

One player who will not be featuring for the Sounders is Clint Dempsey, who retired from professional soccer on Wednesday. Dempsey’s last start this season came on June 30.

Seattle Sounders FC

Seattle (11-9-5) weren’t at their best, but they took advantage of a late defensive mistake for a first win at Providence Park since August, 2014.

The decisive moment came in the 76th minute when Julio Cascante redirected Kim Kee-hee’s cross into his own net. In their winning streak, the Sounders have conceded just three goals.

“It shows the determination, the fight, the ability to win games in different fashions,” Brian Schmetzer said. “I thought you had some monster performances in that locker room.

“We’re trying to collect points. I don’t care how we do it. Give Portland credit, they came out and they were on top of us, they were at home, it’s a derby match, but at the end of the day we walked out of here with three points and a little bit of satisfaction for what they did to us [earlier this season].”

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: D – Nouhou Tolo, D – Jordy Delem
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: F – Jordan Morris (torn ACL); QUESTIONABLE: M – Handwalla Bwana (right midfoot sprain), M – Victor Rodriguez (right hamstring strain)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Stefan Frei — Kelvin Leerdam, Kim Kee-hee, Chad Marshall, Brad Smith — Gustav Svensson, Osvaldo Alonso — Cristian Roldan, Nicolas Lodeiro, Harry Shipp — Raul Ruidiaz

Sporting Kansas City

Sporting (13-6-5) moved within one point of Western Conference-leading FC Dallas with a 2-0 win over Minnesota Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park.

Just three minutes after coming on as a halftime substitute, Yohan Croizet opened the scoring. Diego Rubio doubled the lead with his first shot of the game in the 62nd minute as Sporting recorded a fourth consecutive clean sheet.

“I thought when Yohan came on, when the forward leaves the space and he’s able to run in underneath it, it changed everything,” Peter Vermes said. “And then all of a sudden, everybody started to catch fire to it and we started creating many more chances in the game. It was the difference in the game for me.”

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: D – Ike Opara
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: D – Jimmy Medranda (knee surgery), F – Khiry Shelton (right MCL tear, lateral meniscus tear), D/M – Brad Evans (Achilles injury), M – Cristian Lobato (quad injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Tim Melia — Graham Zusi, Ike Opara, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic — Roger Espinoza, Ilie Sanchez, Felipe Gutierrez — Johnny Russell, Diego Rubio, Gerso Fernandes

All-Time Series

• Overall: Seattle Sounders FC 8 wins, 16 goals … Sporting Kansas City 5 wins, 17 goals … 4 draws
• At Seattle: Sounders FC 4 wins, 5 goals … Sporting 2 wins, 3 goals … 2 draws
• Last meeting at Seattle: Seattle Sounders FC 1, Sporting Kansas City 0 (Aug. 12, 2017)

Officials

Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Assistant Referees: Eduardo Mariscal, Ian Anderson
4th Official: Alejandro Mariscal
VAR: Dave Gantar