Happy Easter Sunday MLS fans! With it being Easter that means there’s another weekend of Soccer Sunday on your televisions. In the night cap Sporting KC hosts a Philadelphia Union side looking for their first win of the season. Kansas City take the field in their 600th MLS game (Wizards and Sporting games combined) and will need to be on their feet though because another Union team off to a slow start beat them on the road last year.
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In that game on May 14, 2014, the Philadelphia stole three points from a better SKC side with goals from Danny Cruz and Cristian Maidana. Dom Dwyer scored an emphatic equalizer, but wasn’t enough as the Union won only their second game of the 2014 season and first since their March 15 win against New England.
Fast forwarding back to 2015, Sporting KC currently are 1-1-2, while the Union are 0-2-2. As you can see in their records, both teams are off to slow start. Sporting will be without Graham Zusi who is currently nursing an injury. The Philadelphia Union are also depleted as some of their key and role players are injured. Also, the Union are missing midfielders Zach Pfeffer and Fred due to red cards. This is the last game they will be missing Pfeffer as he serves his second game of his two-game suspension, while Fred is out for his first of two games.
When the starting XI’s come out an hour before game time, it will be interesting to see if any of the Union’s injured players like Cristian Maidana, CJ Sapong, Sheanon Williams, or others are ready to go. Sapong had yet to pass concussion protocol before the last media opportunity earlier this week. It would be great if he could play on Sunday against his former team to provide depth and some fresh legs. The same can be said about Maidana and Wiliiams as they both excel in their team roles and the Union’s available replacements for the two are a level down than both of those players.
Both teams are hungry to turn around their season and a game against former conference foes provides both teams a fair chance to come away with three points. This season Sporting KC moved back to the Western Conference along with the Houston Dynamo. This will be the only match against both sides. Jim Curtin is 1-0-1 against SKC, while Peter Vermes is 4-4-4 against the Union all-time.
Viewing Details:
Date: Sunday, April 5th
Start Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Sporting Park
TV Info: Fox Sports 1, Fox Deportes
Live Stream: Fox Sports Go
Radio: Sports Radio 810 WHB, La Grande 1340 AM (Kansas City Area)
Who do you think will win? Let us know in the comment section below.
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