Sporting Kansas City v FC Dallas: Preview

Sporting KC vs FC Dallas

When: Sunday July 7, 2024, at 7:30pm

Where: Children’s Mercy Park

How t0 Watch: Apple MLS Season Pass

Just when you thought things were maybe going to swing in the right direction, they don’t. Last weekend Sporting Kansas City beat Austin at home, and they seemed to look better. That win gave a little bit of hope that maybe it could be the start of a better run of form. That hope was dashed on Thursday night when the Colorado Rapids scored at penalty kick in the 94th minute to take a 2-1 win over Sporting. Sporting’s lone goal came from Johnny Russell shortly after halftime. That was Russell’s 60th goal with the team and his 150th professional career goal.

The team and the fanbase don’t have long to dwell on that loss because Sporting KC has to be ready to go as FC Dallas comes to town on Sunday evening. Dallas has had some struggles this season so far and find themselves sitting in 11th place in the West with a record of 6-10-5 and 23 points. Sporting Kansas City currently sit in 13th place with a record of 4-13-5 and 17 points.

FC Dallas most recently played on Wednesday night and were able to get a come from behind 2-1 win over Portland in Dallas. Forward Petar Musa and defender Nkosi Tafari were the goal scorers for Dallas in that match.

Kansas City’s Recent Form

• June 15 @ Los Angeles Galaxy- 2-4 loss
• June 19 v Real Salt Lake- 3-4 loss
• June 22 @ Columbus Crew- 0-4 loss
• June 29 v Austin FC- 2-0 win
• July 4 @ Colorado Rapids- 1-2 loss

FC Dallas’s Recent Form

• June 15 v St. Louis City- 2-0 win
• June 19 v Minnesota- 5-3 win
• June 22 @ Seattle- 2-3 loss
• June 29 v FC Cincinnati- 0-1 loss
• July 3 v Portland- 2-1 win

Injury/Availability Report

Official injury reports aren’t available until match day minus 1. The listed injuries and availabilities are from the reports given prior to both teams’ midweek matches. 

Sporting Kansas City:

• OUT – Logan Ndenbe (Torn ACL), Felipe Hernandez (administrative leave)
• QUESTIONABLE – Remi Walter (knee), Daniel Salloi (ankle), Robert Castellanos (ankle)

**Daniel Salloi subbed into the game Thursday night and played the final half.

FC Dallas:

• OUT – Patrickson Delgado (knee), Jesus Ferreira (upper leg), Liam Fraser (upper leg), Geovane Jesus (knee), Paxton Pomykal (knee), Alan Velaso (knee), Sebastian Ibeagha (yellow card accumulation)
• QUESTIONABLE – None

Stats:

Sporting Kansas City

Goals: Willy Agada (5), Erik Thommy, Johnny Russell (4), Alan Pulido, Stephen Afrifa (3), Remi Walter, Dany Rosero, Alenis Vargas, Jake Davis (2), Nemanja Radoja, Memo Rodriguez, Daniel Salloi, Robert Castellanos, Marinos Tzionis, Tim Leibold (1)

Assists: Rodriguez (5), Salloi, Russell, Pulido, Thommy (3), Davis, Agada, Khiry Shelton, Radoja (2), Andreu Fontas, Tim Leibold, Robert Voloder, Walter, Zorhan Bassong, Kayden Pierre (1)

FC Dallas

Goals: Petar Musa (10), Jesus Ferreira (4), Patrickson Delgado (3), Aseir Illarramendi, Nkosi Tafari (2), Eugene Ansah, Paul Arriola, Logan Farrington, Liam Fraser, Sam Junqua, Sebastian Lletget, Sebastian Ibeagha, Dante Sealy (1)

Assists: Lletget (5), Ferreira (4), Arriola, Delgado, Farrington, Illarramendi, Bernard Kamungo (3), Fraser, Musa (2), Marco Farfan, Ibeagha, Junqua, Tsiki Ntsabeleng, Sealy, Ema Twumasi (1)

Predictions

Sunday’s matchup will be interesting as far as the game plan goes. While both teams are below the playoff line and have a lot of making up to do, the teams will probably be looking forward to their midweek matchup. In an odd twist of scheduling, SKC and FC Dallas play each other at Children’s Mercy Park again on Wednesday. That matchup will be a quarterfinal match for the US Open Cup.

Will the teams go out and play a normal match on Sunday or will one or both of the teams switch things up and not show their complete hand before the more important match on Wednesday. I’m not sure what to expect.

What I do know is that Dallas has a lot of players out injured including one of their most dangerous players, Jesus Ferreira. However, FC Dallas acquired Petar Musa from Benfica back in February. He has been very good having put in 10 goals and two assists in 20 games played this year. The Sporting Kansas City defense will definitely have to know where he is at all times.

As far as Sporting Kansas City’s injuries go, the injury list is shrinking. It appears that Daniel Salloi is back from his ankle injury and Remi Walter and Robert Castellanos has both been participating in training. That makes it logical to assume they should be working their way back into the rotation soon. The return of “normal” players to the starting lineup should mean more goal scoring. Johnny Russell has come alive as of late, but Daniel Salloi, Alan Pulido and others are going to have to step up and join him if SKC hope to have any positive outcomes in both Major League Soccer as well as the US Open Cup.

So far this season Children’s Mercy Park has not proven to be a fortress. However, Sporting did win their last home match and will want to start this very crowded stretch of the schedule off with a couple of home victories.

Prediction: 2-1 SKC Win