Sporting KC v Austin FC: Preview and How to Watch

Sporting Kansas City vs Austin FC

When: Saturday July 15 at 8:30pm CT (8:39 kickoff)

Where: Q2 Stadium Austin, TX

How to Watch: Free stream on Apple TV

Sporting Kansas City (6-10-8) will travel to a steamy Austin, Texas for a Saturday night matchup with Austin FC (8-9-5). This will be Kansas City’s 3rd game in eight days. The week began with a draw last Saturday night in Houston. Kansas City then had another draw at home on Wednesday against Real Salt Lake.

Austin will also be playing their 3rd game in eight days. Austin beat Minnesota last Saturday in St. Paul and lost to Vancouver on Wednesday in British Columbia.

Dropping points in both of the last two games, Kansas City finds themselves in 11th place in the Western conference standings. Sporting currently have 26 points in 24 games. Austin FC currently sit in 6th place with 29 points in 22 matches.

Sporting KC and Austin played once already this season. Back in June, Sporting beat Austin 4-1 at Children’s Mercy Park. That match had two goals from Alan Pulido and one each for Robert Castellanos and Khiry Shelton. Austin’s goal came from Sebastian Driussi.

Injury Report

The Austin injury report is the last ones listed on the MLS Player Availability report as of Tuesday, July 11.

Sporting KC:

Official #SportingKC Injury/Availability Report:

QUESTIONABLE – None

OUT – Felipe Hernandez (hamstring), Tim Melia (quad), Graham Zusi (hamstring), Willy Agada (tibia), Kortne Ford (SEI-Achilles)

This explains Hernandez being absent from the bench on Wednesday. #ATXvSKC

— Chad Smith (@PlayFor90) July 14, 2023

Austin FC:

• OUT: Zan Kolmanic (right ACL)
• OUT: Leo Vaisanen (right LCL)
• OUT: Alex Ring (right groin)

Suspensions

Sporting KC: None

Suspended next yellow: Erik Thommy

Austin FC: None

Suspended next yellow: Nick Lima

Stats

Sporting KC:

GOALS: Alan Pulido (10), Daniel Salloi (5), Johnny Russell, Erik Thommy (3), Gadi Kinda (2), Dany Rosero, Willy Agada, Felipe Hernandez, Robert Castellanos, Khiry Shelton, Remi Walter (1)

ASSISTS: Erik Thommy (6), Daniel Salloi, Gadi Kinda (4), Tim Leibold, Alan Pulido, Remi Walter (3), Johnny Russell (2), Jake Davis, Roger Espinoza, Marinos Tzionis, Graham Zusi, Andreu Fontas, Robert Voloder, Nemanja Radoja(1)

Austin FC:

GOALS: Sebastian Driussi (6), Jon Gallagher, Gyasi Zardes (5), Ethan Finlay (3), Julio Cascante, Diego Fagundez, Emiliano Rigoni (2), Will Bruin, Nick Lima, Rodney Redes, Maximiliano Urruti, Owen Wolff (1)

ASSISTS: Daniel Pereia (5), Julio Cascante, Ethan Finlay, Jon Gallagher (4), Sebastian Driussi, Emiliano Rigoni, Nick Lima, Owen Wolff (3), Diego Fagundez, Adam Lundkvist (2), Sofiane Djeffal, Rodney Redes, Leo Vaisanen, Jhojan Valencia, Gyasi Zardes (1)

My two cents:

If Sporting want to have any chance at making the playoffs this season, they will have to pick up some points on the road. It is often enough to draw on the road and win at home, but with Sporting’s abysmal start to the season as well as their not so stellar home record, they will need to do more.

One thing that has to happen is being able to hold on to a lead. Sporting lead twice last weekend in Houston and ended up with a draw. That is two dropped points. SKC had a 2-0 lead at halftime over Salt Lake on Wednesday. That game also ended in a draw. Two more dropped points. This weekend in Austin they need to get a lead and keep it. Anything less than three points is going to make that playoff line look harder and harder to reach.

Sporting has dropped points from a winning position in five of their 8 matches since June 3. 11 points total. The talent/ability is there, but the focus just hasn't been through 90 minutes. #SportingKC https://t.co/WZmFq3pK91

— Daniel Sperry (@sperrydaniel94) July 13, 2023

Up Next:

Following this weekend, the MLS schedule takes a break. That doesn’t mean that Sporting does. The start of Leagues Cup begins next weekend. Sporting will face red-hot FC Cincinnati on July 23 and Chivas Guadalajara on July 31 in their group stage matches.