In a matchup of the bottom two teams in Major League Soccer, Sporting Kansas City play host to CF Montreal at Children's Mercy Park in search of their first regular season victory on Saturday.
KC failed to recover from a first-half deficit last weekend, losing their third straight game of the competition 3-0 at the New England Revolution, while Montreal captured their first home victory of the season, 2-0 versus the New York Red Bulls.
Match preview
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Life at SKC is about as bad as it has ever been, as the only winless club in the league have only three draws to speak of after nine regular season fixtures, their worst start to a campaign since Peter Vermes took charge in 2009.
From scoring an MLS-low three goals to conceding the third-most in the Western Conference (13), this has been perhaps the most challenging campaign that this once-mighty franchise has ever experienced since rebranding from the Kansas City Wizards to its current name.
Whenever things seem to be going their way domestically, an unexpected twist or lapse in concentration appears to bring them down, as seven of their nine matches this year have been decided by a goal or fewer.
They have dropped six points from winning positions this season and are winless in three domestic encounters at Children's Mercy Park, one short of their longest run without a victory at home from 2022.
SKC have not beaten a Canadian opponent at home in the regular season since May 2021, when they blanked the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-0.
Although not much has gone their way so far this year, they have been well-balanced statistically for better or worse, with three points, three goals and three red cards in this season's competitions, which is the same number of goals they scored on Wednesday in a 3-0 triumph over Tulsa Athletic at the US Open Cup.
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A season riddled with injuries and poor performances took a turn for the better in Montreal last Saturday as Hernan Losada earned just his second victory as coach of this team.
Two things that we have rarely seen from this group in league play occurred at home against the Red Bulls last weekend, goals and a shutout, only the second match all year that they have found the back of the net while earning a clean sheet for the first time.
Those two things have yet to happen on the road for them in 2023, as Le CFM have lost all five of their league fixtures away from home by a combined score of 14-0.
Montreal looked much more unified as a group versus the Red Bulls and defended as well as we have seen all year, keeping them to the outside without many quality scoring chances, despite playing the final 25 minutes of the match with 10 men.
Children's Mercy Park has been tough on Montreal through the years, as they have not won there since June 2013, losing three of their last four visits at Kansas City, including the previous one in 2019 when they suffered their heaviest defeat in Major League Soccer (7-1).
Their current form has dropped significantly from last season, but there is not as much ground for them to make up as you might expect, and a victory this weekend could put them within two points of the playoffs should the other results fall their way.
Team News
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Sporting will be missing Andreu Fontas for this match with a red card suspension, Graham Zusi, Gadi Kinda and Willy Agada are all questionable due to muscle, knee and leg issues, respectively, while Kayden Pierre and Tim Leibold have hamstring strains and Kortne Ford is unlikely to return in 2023 after suffering a ruptured Achilles in pre-season.
Johnny Russell scored his 50th goal in MLS competitions last Saturday and is now one away from reaching that same milestone with SKC, Roger Espinoza made his 300th career start in league competitions, while Khiry Shelton needs one more start to hit 100 in Major League Soccer.
On Tuesday, Daniel Salloi hit the 50-goal plateau for Kansas City in all competitions as he, Alan Pulido and Marinos Tzionis all found the back of the net in their US Open Cup fixture, with John Pulskamp making two stops for the clean sheet.
They made a minor move before the end of the transfer deadline this week, signing forward Stephen Afrifa to a contract for the remainder of the campaign with options for 2024-26.
Le CFM will be without several vital additions on Saturday because of injuries, including Romell Quioto (leg), Mason Toye (knee), Matko Miljevic (knee), Samuel Piette (adductor), Jules-Anthony Vilsaint (right leg), Lassi Lappalainen (left leg), Jojea Kwizera (hamstring) and James Pantemis (shoulder), while Ilias Iliadis will be suspended after receiving two second-half bookings last weekend.
Mathieu Choiniere scored his first of the campaign in their previous victory, an own-goal from the Red Bulls' Andres Reyes put them in front in the 25th minute and Jonathan Sirois collected his first career clean sheet in MLS, making four stops.
Ariel Lassiter made his first start for Montreal since joining the club in a trade from Inter Miami, George Campbell played in his first regular-season affair for his new club and Rudy Camacho reached 10,000 minutes played in Major League Soccer.
Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:
Melia; C. Duke, Rosero, Castellanos, Ndenbe; Espinoza, Walter, Thommy; Russell, Pulido, Salloi
CF Montreal possible starting lineup:
Sirois; Campbell, Camacho, Waterman; Herrera, Wanyama, Choiniere, Brault-Guillard; B. Duke, Lassiter; Offor
We say: Sporting Kansas City 2-1 CF Montreal
Both teams are in similar positions at the moment, but as bad as SKC have looked at times this year, they have still managed to keep their games close without completely self-destructing, and the same cannot be said about Montreal, particularly on the road.
How to watch
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Joel Lefevre
