When: Saturday, May 17 at 9:30 p.m.
Where: Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, California
How to Watch: MLS Season Pass

Last Result:
SKC: 2-2 Draw at St. Louis City SC
SDFC: 2-0 Win vs Colorado Rapids

Preview:

After a hard-fought draw against rivals St. Louis City SC, Sporting KC close out their three-game road trip against one of the hottest teams in the Western Conference, expansion club San Diego FC.

It was a tale of two halves when Sporting played to a 2-2 draw against STL. The first half saw Zavagnin’s men fall into a 2-0 deficit with a few chances created, but none finding the back of the net. The second half saw goals from Tim Leibold and Dejan Joveljic to give the team one point and a 2025 regular season series victory against their rival.

SKC edged out STL in possession (55%) and xG (1.49), something they have only done one other time this season, coincidentally also against St. Louis.

It will be a short turnaround for Sporting as they head west once again and pay a visit to San Diego for the first time.

San Diego find themselves second in the Western Conference behind only the Vancouver Whitecaps.

After a three-game losing streak in April, SDFC have found their footing and are currently riding a three-game winning streak that includes a 5-0 win over FC Dallas on May 3.

In these last three games, San Diego has only allowed one goal and has scored nine. Speaking of goals, San Diego are third in MLS with 25 on the season.

Led by Anders Dreyer (six goals), Chucky Lozano (four goals) and Onni Valakari (four goals), SDFC has scored multiple goals in every win this season. They have a 7W-0D-1L record when scoring two or more goals which equates to a 0W-2D-3L when scoring one or less.

That means a strong SKC defensive performance is the key to walking out with points on Saturday.

SKC have allowed 24 goals this season, good for third worst in MLS, however as of late, Sporting have only allowed three goals in the last three games. That being said, the goal-scoring department has cooled off since catching fire when Zavagnin took over.

In Zavagnin’s first three games, the squad found the back of the net nine times, compared to just four times in the last four games, which includes the Los Angeles Galaxy own-goal.

Another opportunity to measure up against a team at the top of the standings awaits to potentially end the road trip on a positive note.