Sporting KC vs Vancouver Whitecaps: Preview, Stats and Injury Updates

Sporting Kansas City vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

When: Saturday June 3 at 9:30pm CT (kickoff 9:39)

Location: BC Place-Vancouver, Canada

How to Watch: Apple TV- Free access

Sporting Kansas City (4-8-4) hopes to kick off June continuing the success of May. They come off a midweek victory over FC Dallas at Children’s Mercy Park on Wednesday that wrapped up a very successful month of May. Sporting earned 13 points in the month out of a possible 18 and have used those recent successes to move up the standings. Going to Canada this weekend, Sporting finds themselves sitting in 11th place in the West and only 2 points below the playoff line (although they do have games in hand).

Peter Vermes did state in his midweek post-match press conference that there would be some squad rotation necessary for the Vancouver match. So, it is expected to see some shake up in the lineup on Saturday night.

Vermes on a third game this week: "We'll have to rotate guys around."#SportingKC #SKCvDAL

— Chad Smith (@PlayFor90) June 1, 2023

Vancouver (5-5-5) also played this past Wednesday and demolished Houston in a 6-2 victory at home. The team currently sit 6th in the West with four more points than Sporting KC. Vancouver has been a good team at home this year with only one home loss way back on the first game of the season. Since that February loss, the Whitecaps have two draws and five wins at home, accounting for seven straight home matches without a loss.

The Whitecaps had a very busy May playing six MLS regular season matches as well as two Canadian Cup matches. They will be playing in the Canadian Cup Championship match on Wednesday, June 7 so it will be interesting to see if head coach Vanni Sartini will want to rest some of his players in preparation for that championship.

Vancouver’s Recent Regular Season Form

• May 13 @ Portland — 3-1 Loss
• May 17 @ Dallas — 2-1 Loss
• May 20 vs Seattle– 2-0 Win
• May 27 @ St. Louis — 3-1 Loss
• May 31 vs Houston– 6-2 Win

Within the month of May, Vancouver also played and won two Canadian Cup games.

Previous Meetings

This will be the first meeting between Sporting KC and Vancouver this season. The teams met twice in the 2022 season with Vancouver winning both in their home and at Children’s Mercy Park with both matches ending 1-0.

Stats

Sporting Kansas City

Goals: Daniel Salloi (4), Gadi Kinda, Johnny Russell, Erik Thommy (2), Dany Rosero, Alan Pulido, Felipe Hernandez, Willy Agada (1)

Assists: Daniel Salloi (3), Gadi Kinda, Alan Pulido, Erik Thommy, Remi Walter (2), Roger Espinoza, Tim Leibold, Johnny Russell, Marinos Tzionis, Graham Zusi (1)

Vancouver Whitecaps

Goals: Brian White (6), Simon Becher (4), Julian Gressel, Pedro Vite (3), Ali Ahmed, Sebastian Berhalter, Tristan Blackmon, Javain Brown, Ryan Gauld, Alessandro Schopf (1)

Assists: Julian Gressel (5), Javain Brown, Ryan Gauld, Luis Martins (2), Ali Ahmed, Sebastian Berhalter, Simon Becher, Deiber Caicedo, Andres Cubas, Ranko Veselinovic, Pedro Vite, Brian White (1)

Injury Reports (as of Thursday night)

Sporting KC’s report is up to date, but the Vancouver injury report is from before their midweek matchup.

Sporting Kansas City: 

• OUT: Tim Melia (quad)
• OUT: Kortne Ford (Achilles surgery)
• OUT: Kayden Pierre (hamstring)
• OUT: Willy Agada (tibia stress fracture)
• OUT: Graham Zusi (hamstring)
• OUT: Johnny Russell (hamstring)

Vancouver:

• OUT: Ali Ahmed (concussion)