When: Saturday, July 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Children’s Mercy Park
How to Watch: MLS Season Pass

Record
SKC: 6W-14L-5D
STL: 4W-10L-10D

Last Result
SKC: 2-1 Loss at Vancouver Whitecaps
VAN: 2-0 Loss at Seattle Sounders

PREVIEW:

Sporting Kansas City host Western Conference rivals St. Louis City SC to close out a 7-games-in-22-days stretch and hope to keep the lead in the all-time series; (3W-1D-2L).

After the way last season ended, this matchup would have been circled on the regular season schedule and labeled: MUST SEE TV!

While pride will undoubtedly make this a fiery fight between two rivals, the way the clubs sit in the standings may lower the expectation for out-of-market viewership. St. Louis is one of two teams that sit behind SKC in the Western Conference. After a stellar inaugural season in 2023, it seems the second-year hangover is in full effect. Even with the likes of 2024 MLS All-Star goalkeeper Roman Burki posting six clean sheets (two away from equaling his 2023 total), City have struggled to string together wins the way they did a year ago.

St. Louis are in the midst of a three-game losing streak and have only won two of their last 14 games. SLC have given 10 goals in their last three games and have only found the back of the net twice. Their last win came on July 3 against Wooden Spoon front runners San Jose Earthquakes.

The last time the two clubs met was on April 20 when the sides drew 3-3 thanks to a 92nd minute tying goal from Tomas Totland. Since then, neither club has been off to the races, yet before SKC’s loss to Vancouver, they were on a two-game win streak. Two games might not be a lot, but that’s the first time this season that the club won back-to-back regular season games.

Good news for Sporting: Logan Ndenbe has been moved from “out” to “questionable”. St. Louis knows remembers Ndenbe well after the Belgian left back scored a golazo in each game of the series when they met in the playoffs. Whether he plays, only Logan and Vermes know, but according to Vermes, he is “really close.”

As far as the rest of the injury report goes:

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

Out
Jake Davis (Olympics)
John Pulskamp (Olympics)
Felipe Hernandez (administrative leave)

Additionally, according to Daniel Sperry, “Vermes called [Marinos Tzionis’] absence from recent match day rosters a ‘coach’s decision.'”

City are struggling with putting a full-strength lineup on the field as well. Chris Durkin, Indiana Vassilev, Joao Klauss and Joakim Nilsson are all unavailable to play at CMP on Saturday. Klauss last played on June 22 against Atlanta United but remains the top scorer on the team with five goals and Vassilev leads the team in assists (4).

While it isn’t the setting of an intense playoff matchup, expect fireworks in this match, because this is a true rivalry. Neither team wants to let the other earn a win, much less at home as is the case for Sporting.

It may be wishful thinking, but if SKC want to even sniff a chance of sneaking into the last spot of the playoffs, they are running out of games to do it.