Sporting KC renews bitter rivalry with Real Salt Lake
With a win or a draw, Sporting will set a club record with its 13th straight regular-season home match without a loss.
One of MLS's fiercest rivalries renews Saturday evening as Sporting Kansas City hosts Real Salt Lake at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan.
Real Salt Lake, which fell to Sporting KC on the 10th penalty kick in the 2013 MLS Cup, is unbeaten in seven straight regular-season meetings between the sides, collecting four wins and three draws.
RSL (2-4-2, 8 points) owns two wins and two draws in its last four regular-season visits to Kansas City, including a pair of victories last season. Sporting KC's seven-game drought in the series is its longest active winless skid against any MLS opponent.
Sporting KC (3-1-3, 12 points) hopes to end that streak and continue another one. With a win or a draw, Sporting will set a club record with its 13th straight regular-season home match without a loss. SKC is 9-0-3 in its last 12 matches in Kansas City. In that stretch are six clean sheets and a scoring margin of 26-10.
Sporting is fresh off its first loss of the season, the back end of a two-game road trip to the top of the Western Conference. After defeating Supporters' Shield-leading Portland 1-0, Sporting lost 1-0 to FC Dallas last Saturday. Goalkeeper Tim Melia leads MLS with just three goals allowed, and Maynor Figueroa's goal in the 76th minute is the earliest goal allowed this season. The other two goals came in stoppage time.
The host team knows the match with the Claret and Cobalt will be tough.
"They're always a tough opponent," SKC defender Matt Besler said. "We've faced them a number of times over the past couple of years and they've always been battles. So we expect the same thing. For us as a group, it's all about responding to our first loss. I know that we have a group that is going to respond in the right way."
Real Salt Lake also lost its last match, 3-1 at home to Atlanta United FC. But things are definitely on the upswing. After starting 0-3-2 in its first five contests, RSL won two straight under new head coach Mike Petke before the loss to Atlanta.
Real Salt Lake's injury list includes 10 players who could be sidelined on Saturday. Defender David Horst and forward Chad Barrett are certain to miss with knee injuries, while Justen Glad (knee), Tony Beltran (back), Aaron Maund (hamstring), Jordan Allen (quad) and veteran goalkeeper Nick Rimando (hamstring) are all questionable.
Joao Plata (quad), Stephen Sunday (hamstring) and Chris Wingert (face) are listed as probable. Long-term absentee striker Diego Rubio (ACL) remains the only absentee for Sporting KC.
