St Louis City will be looking to snap their three-match losing streak when they visit the Children's Mercy Park to face Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.
With their Leagues Cup opener versus Chicago Fire on the horizon, the Wizards will be looking to pick up a morale-boosting result and make it three wins in three home games across all competitions.
Match preview
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Sporting Kansas City were sent crashing back to earth on Wednesday as they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Vancouver Whitecaps when the sides squared off at the BC Place Stadium.
After going behind courtesy of Robert Voloder's 34th-minute own goal, the visitors fought their way back into the game with William Agada restoring parity in the 69th minute, but Fafa Picault struck seven minutes later to hand the Whitecaps all three points.
Prior to that, the Wizards were on a three-game winning run, claiming two consecutive league-and-cup victories over FC Dallas before securing a 2-1 win over San Jose Earthquakes at the Paypal Park on July 14.
Sporting Kansas City now return home, where they are on a run of three back-to-back victories, scoring seven goals and keeping one clean sheet, and have won four of their last five matches since the start of June.
Peter Joseph Vermes's men will head into the weekend looking to quickly find their feet and gather momentum ahead of their 2024 Leagues Cup curtain-raiser on July 29, when they welcome Chicago Fire to the Children's Mercy Park.
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St Louis City, on the other hand, were left empty handed once again as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Seattle Sounders when the sides squared off at Lumen Field on Wednesday night.
In a one-sided affair, Tim Parker scored a 27th-minute own goal to put the Sounders in front heading into the half-time break before Jamaican defender Jonathan Bell doubled their lead with a 49th-minute header.
St Louis City have now lost three games on the bounce, conceding 10 goals and scoring twice since picking up a 2-0 victory over San Jose Earthquakes at CityPark on July 4, and have failed to win 12 of their 13 matches since mid-May.
This poor run of results has seen John Hackworth's men plunge to 13th place in the Western Conference standings, eight points off the playoffs places, and just one point and one place behind Saturday's hosts with 10 games to go.
St Louis' underwhelming campaign has been owing to their struggles on the road as they are just one of two Western Conference sides yet to taste victory away from home this season, losing six and claiming five draws in their 11 matches so far.
While the Missouri outfit will be looking to leapfrog Sporting Kansas City in the table this weekend, they have failed to win any of the last three meetings between the two sides, losing twice and claiming one draw since a 4-1 victory in October 2023.
Team News
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Jake Davis and goalkeeper John Pulskamp have been named on the USA Men's Olympic Soccer Team roster for the 2024 Olympics and will play no part in Saturday's game.
Sporting Kansas City will also be without the services of midfielder Felipe Hernandez, who has been suspended by MLS after violating the league's gambling policies.
On the injury front, the Loons remain without several players down the spine of the team as Johnny Russell (groin), Daniel Rosero (hamstring), Memo Rodriguez (hip) and Logan Ndenbe (ACL) continue their spells on the sidelines.
Meanwhile, St Louis City's duo of Rasmus Alm and Tomas Ostrak are currently recuperating from knee and ankle injuries respectively and will play no part in this weekend's game.
Brazilian forward Joao Klauss has missed each of the last five matches through a knee problem while fellow countryman Celio Pompeu has been out of action since coming off injured against FC Dallas on June 16.
Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:
Melia; Pierre, Castellanos, Voloder, Bassong; Radoja, Walter; Vargas, Pulido, Salloi; Agada
St Louis City possible starting lineup:
Burki; Totland, Parker, Nilsson, Hiebert; Loewen, Durkin; Klein, Kijima, Vassilev; Thorisson
We say: Sporting Kansas City 2-0 St Louis City
Following their narrow defeat against the Whitecaps, Sporting Kansas City will head into the weekend looking to quickly find their feet. The Wizards have been rock solid on home turf of late and we are backing them to see off St Louis City, who are yet to taste victory away from home this season.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
