Aiming to end a barren run which has seen them win just one of their last six games, Sporting Kansas City welcome San Jose Earthquakes to Children's Mercy Park on Sunday.
On the other hand, the away side will be looking to string together a decent run of results having blown hot and cold in recent weeks.
Match preview
Sporting Kansas City were dumped out of the first knockout round of the Leagues Cup with a 4-1 defeat against Toluca on August 5.
Peter Vermes's men went behind thanks to a stroke of ill luck as Daniel Rosero put the ball past his own goalkeeper, and that set the tone for things to come as Pedro Raul, Robert Morales and Juan Dominguez all added insult to injury before William Agada pulled one back late on.
The Wizards' continental calamity was in keeping with their abysmal domestic campaign so far as they currently sit 11th in the Western Conference of the MLS table.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have managed only one win from the last seven encounters involving the teams.
However, that solitary victory did come in the most recent encounter back in April, when Saturday's hosts fell to a humbling 3-0 thrashing.
San Jose Earthquakes snapped a run of back to back defeats with a hard-fought 1-0 triumph over Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place on Monday.
Despite posing little goal threat on the day, Luchi Gonzalez's men took the lead against the run of play through Cristian Espinoza and held on to come away with all three points.
As a result, the Goonies have moved up to fifth in the Western Conference standings, four points clear of the chasing pack in the race for playoff contention.
Off the back of recently recording their first win on the road in six outings, Sunday's visitors now set out to pick up consecutive wins away from home for the first time since February.
- D
- D
- L
- L
- W
- L
- D
- D
- W
- L
- L
- W
Team News
Sporting Kansas City's Kortne Ford is a long-term absentee having ruptured his Achilles tendon towards the end of 2022.
Defender Graham Zusi is also unfit to participate for the hosts due to a muscle problem he sustained against FC Dallas back in June.
Nathan remains without an appearance for San Jose this year due to a knee injury, and the Brazilian is not expected to make his return to action anytime soon.
Cristian Espinoza has got himself on the scoresheet in four straight league matches, making the 28-year-old one to keep an eye on for the visiting team.
Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:
Pulskamp; Leibold, Fontas, Rosero, Davis; Kinda, Walter, Gutierrez; Russell, Thommy, Shelton
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Daniel; Trauco, Beason, Rodrigues, Akapo; Gruezo, Baldisimo; Cowell, Monteiro, Espinoza; Ebobisse
We say: Sporting Kansas City 2-1 San Jose Earthquakes
Goals have been a real feature of this fixture over the years and we expect that trend to continue here.
We can also see the home side just about doing enough to emerge triumphant come the end of the 90 minutes.
How to watch
You can watch Sporting Kansas City vs. San Jose Earthquakes and every MLS match this season live on Apple TV. Click here for more details on how to subscribe.For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
body check tags ::
Previews by email
