Preview: Seattle Sounders vs Sporting Kansas City - prediction, team news, lineups

The final match of the MLS weekend will feature the Seattle Sounders seeking to sweep their season series with Sporting Kansas City when the two teams clash at Lumen Field on Sunday.

A 1-0 defeat at Minnesota United kept the Sounders in fourth place in the Western Conference table, while Sporting lost 3-1 to Orlando City and are eight points below the playoff line.

Match preview

One of the most consistent sides in the league this summer suffered a rare slip-up in Minnesota last week, as the Rave Green saw their seven-match domestic unbeaten run end.

Despite having 71% of the possession on that occasion, Brian Schmetzer’s men could not find that decisive breakthrough, failing to score for only the second time since June.

While a playoff berth seems all but certain for them, home-field advantage in the opening round of the playoffs is anything but a guarantee, as they are just a point above Los Angeles FC for fourth, while the latter have two games in hand.

Lumen Field has been a fortress for them throughout the campaign, with the Sounders suffering the joint-fewest home defeats in the competition (one), while they are unbeaten in their last four outings in Seattle.

While it appears unlikely, if the Sounders can win their remaining eight MLS affairs, they would set a new club record for points in a 34-game season, surpassing their 2014 total by one point (64).

Seattle have won their last two league fixtures against Sporting Kansas City, including a 2-0 triumph the last time the two teams met at Lumen Field in 2024.

After a promising stretch from late-June to mid-July, Sporting KC have regressed to their early regular season form in recent weeks.

Kerry Zavagnin’s men are winless in five successive league fixtures, four of which were defeats, after going unbeaten in three straight games before that.

Zavagnin has got plenty of production out of his bench, with eight goals coming from substitutes, the fourth-most in the competition this year.

They seem to find their attacking form around the hour mark of most games, scoring nearly half of their regular season goals (18 of 37) beyond the 60th minute, the fifth-most in the league.

Sporting are one of three teams in MLS this year that have a 100% record when leading at the half, with the other two being Toronto and San Diego.

SKC have lost their last two MLS away contests by a combined margin of 6-1, conceding three or more goals on four occasions in the regular season.

Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer form:

Seattle Sounders form (all competitions):

Sporting Kansas City Major League Soccer form:

Team News

Hamstring strains kept Albert Rusnak out of the Sounders lineup last Saturday, while Joao Paulo and Paul Arriola were sidelined with knee issues.

Jordan Morris is recovering from a sore shoulder, Stuart Hawkins has a quad problem, while Stefan Frei returned from the injured list to replace Andrew Thomas between the sticks against Minnesota.

A hip issue kept Erik Thommy out of the SKC fold the last time out, Manu Garcia was sidelined due to a quad problem, while Logan Ndenbe and Joaquin Fernandez were out because of hamstring strains.

Dejan Joveljic briefly put them on level terms with Orlando City last weekend with his team-leading 14th of the campaign, while the Serbian has 35 in MLS, including the playoffs, since the start of 2024, the second-most over that span behind Lionel Messi.

Seattle Sounders possible starting lineup:

Frei; A. Roldan, Andrade, Ragen, Tolo, Baker-Whiting; De la Vega, C. Roldan, Vargas, Ferreira; Musovski

Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:

Pulskamp; Shelton, Miller, Voloder, Leibold; Radoja, Davis, Bassong, Munoz; Joveljic, Salloi

We say: Seattle Sounders 1-0 Sporting Kansas City

In recent matches, Sporting have relied a little too heavily on Joveljic to score goals, and we expect the Sounders to focus on him and hit the visitors on the counter, an area that SKC have been particularly vulnerable to of late.

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