Sporting Kansas City at Vancouver Whitecaps

When: Wednesday, July 17 at 9:30 p.m.
Where: BC Place, Vancouver, BC, Canada
How to Watch: MLS Season Pass

Head-to-Head:

Record
SKC: 6W-13L-5D
VAN: 10W-7L-5D

Last Result
SKC: 2-1 Win vs San Jose Earthquakes
VAN: 4-1 Win at St. Louis City

PREVIEW:

Sporting Kansas City is officially on a winning streak!

After back-to-back regular season wins for the first time in 2024, SKC now heads north to Vancouver to take on the No. 6-seeded Whitecaps who have won three of their last four, including scoring 4 goals against St. Louis twice in that stretch.

Though not mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, Sporting have a lot of work to do to make a push and attempt to salvage what has been a sub-par season.

That being said, SKC’s current win streak comes against Wooden Spoon front runners San Jose and an FC Dallas team who sit one spot above SKC in the standings.

For Kansas City, forward Willy Agada has played a big role in the current run of form. Agada notched 3 goals in back-to-back games against FC Dallas in regular season play as well as a midweek matchup in the US Open Cup.

Agada now leads Sporting with 7 goals, one away from his tally in 2022 when he arrived and took the club by storm.

On the other side of the field, SKC will be defending against Brian White who leads the Whitecaps with 12 goals. White has scored 7 goals in his last four regular season matchups including a hat trick against St. Louis on July 3.

Though Sporting (39) has scored more goals than Vancouver (38) so far, defensively, the Whitecaps have allowed 30 goals which is tied for fourth-best in the Western Conference.

These two teams last met on May 29 when Vancouver traveled to Children’s Mercy Park and walked away with a 2-1 win with a brace from 2024 MLS All-Star Ryan Gauld. Marinos Tzionis pulled one back for SKC in the 92nd minute.

For SKC this will be game 6 of a 7-game stretch spanning 22 days across all competitions. During that stretch, Sporting have won 4 games, including the US Open Cup match and all have been at home. The lone loss came at the hands of the Colorado Rapids on the road on July 4.

If battling fatigue isn’t enough:

Questionable
Memo Rodriguez (quad)
Dany Rosero (hamstring)
Johnny Russell (groin)

Out
Jake Davis (international duty)
Felipe Hernandez (administrative leave)
John Pulskamo (international duty)
Logan Ndenbe (ACL)

Peter Vermes may need to get a bit creative with his lineup, specifically in the already thin midfield with Davis joining the Olympics roster as an alternate.

At this point in the season, all games are vital for SKC. Though many understandably are already looking toward next season, finishing off with momentum and, in the best case scenario a playoff berth, could once again give fans something to be excited about.

Winning fixes (almost) everything. And a win against a playoff team would only boost morale, but even holding on to a draw would be a positive.