Preview: Sporting Kansas City vs San Diego - prediction, team news, lineups

San Diego return to action in MLS when they journey to the Children's Mercy Park to take on Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

Both sides find themselves at opposite ends of the Western Conference standings, with the Wizards currently 13th in the table while the visiting side leads the way at the top of the pile.

Match preview

Sporting Kansas City were outclassed and outplayed by Vancouver Whitecaps a fortnight ago as they fell to a 3-0 defeat when the two teams squared off at the BC Place Stadium.

Emmanuel Sabbi and Jean-Claude Ngando both netted in an eight-minute spell to put Vancouver Whitecaps in a commanding first-half lead before Mathias Laborda put the icing on the cake with an 87th-minute strike.

Sporting Kansas City have now lost two of their most recent three outings, with a 1-1 stalemate against New York City FC on July 20 sandwiched between the two defeats, having gone unbeaten in the three games preceding this run (W2, D1).

Having finished bottom but one in the Western Conference standings last season, Kerry Zavagnin's men are well on course to miss the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since their absence in 2005 and 2006.

Sporting Kansas City have won just six of their 24 MLS matches so far while losing 12 and claiming six draws to collect 24 points and sit 13th in the West, six points adrift of the playoff qualifying places and only above St Louis City and LA Galaxy.

The Wizards’ poor performance this season has been in no small part down to their struggles at the back, as they hold the third-worst defensive record in the MLS, having shipped 45 goals already — only CF Montreal (46) and LA Galaxy (48) have conceded more.

As for San Diego, they finally secured their first-ever Leagues Cup victory on Tuesday when they edged out Mexican Liga MX side Mazatlan 2-0 at the Snapdragon Stadium.

In a game where Nicolas Benedetti received his marching orders, 25-year-old midfielder Onni Valakari turned in a stunning second-half display as he struck twice in an eight-minute spell to hand the hosts all three points.

Prior to that, Mikey Varas’s men kicked off their debut campaign in the continental tournament with a somewhat disappointing 3-2 defeat at the hands of Pachuca on July 30, three days before losing 2-1 against Tigres.

San Diego now turn their focus to MLS, where they have enjoyed an impressive inaugural season and are in contention to become just the third side to win the conference title in their debut season, joining Chicago Fire (1998) and St Louis City (2023).

The Southern Californian outfit have picked up 14 wins and four draws from their 25 MLS matches so far to collect 46 points and sit top of the Western Conference standings, one point above second-placed Vancouver Whitecaps.

San Diego head into the weekend on a run of four back-to-back away victories in the league, seeing off Minnesota United, Vancouver, FC Dallas and Chicago Fire while scoring 14 goals and conceding eight since the start of June.

Sporting Kansas City Major League Soccer form:

San Diego Major League Soccer form:

San Diego form (all competitions):

Team News

Sporting Kansas City remain without the services of Colombian defender Daniel Rosero, who has been out of action since May through an ankle injury.

Experienced forward Khiry Shelton missed the game against Vancouver through a calf problem and is a doubt for this weekend’s hosts while German forward Erik Thommy is recuperating from a hip injury.

Meanwhile, Anders Dreyer has been instrumental in San Diego’s title charge and the Denmark international, who boasts 11 goals and 14 assists to his name in the league, will be one to keep an eye on.

On the injury front, Varas will be unable to name several players down the spine of the team, including defender Andres Reyes, midfielder Alejandro Alvarado and forward Marcus Ingvartsen, who have been ruled out through injuries.

Ghanaian defender Willy Kumado has missed each of the last 13 games since coming off injured against LA Galaxy on May 24 and the 22-year-old is also out of contention for the visitors.

Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:

Pulskamp; Brody, Miller, Fernandez, Leibold; Bartlett, Bassong, Radoja, Suleymanov, Joveljic, Sallai

San Diego possible starting lineup:

Sisniega; Verhoeven, Duah, Pilcher, Bombino; Valakari, Tverskov, De la Torre; Angel, Lozano, Dreyer

We say: Sporting Kansas City 1-3 San Diego

San Diego finally showed their class in the Leagues Cup with a solid team display against Mazatlan in midweek and they will return to MLS action with confidence as they look to continue their title push.

With 48 goals scored so far, Varas’s men are one of the best attacking sides in the league and we fancy them to get the better of a Sporting Kansas City side who have struggled at the defensive end of the pitch.

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