Sporting Kansas City vs Nashville SC
2022 MLS Regular Season | Match 7
Saturday, April 9 | 7:30 p.m. CT (7:38 kickoff)
Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, KS
English TV | 38 The Spot
Streaming | SportingKC.com, SKC App, ESPN+
English Radio | Sports Radio 810 WHB
Spanish Radio | La Grande 1340 AM
Sporting Kansas City (2-4-0, 6 points) will welcome Western Conference newcomers Nashville SC (2-2-1, 7 points) to Children's Mercy Park at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. Tickets for the Midwestern match-up are available online at SeatGeek.com and former Sporting KC defender Aurelien Collin will be in attendance to sign autographs for fans on the Mazuma Plaza.
Saturday's showdown will be locally televised on 38 The Spot with three hours of coverage beginning at 7 p.m. CT. The broadcast will also stream live on SportingKC.com and in the Sporting KC app for viewers in Kansas and Missouri (excluding St. Louis area per MLS policy), as well as ESPN+ for out-of-market subscribers. In addition, radio broadcasts will be available on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.
Sporting enters Saturday as just one of two teams in MLS with a perfect home record in 2022 with 1-0 victories over Houston and Real Salt Lake in March. It marks the first time since 2013 - when Sporting went on to win MLS Cup - for the team to record shutouts in their first two regular season home matches of a campaign.
Meanwhile, Nashville will continue an eight-game road trip to start the season while awaiting the club's highly-anticipated home opener at GEODIS Park next month. Nashville, which has the most shutouts (15) and fewest losses (6) of any team in Major League Soccer since the start of 2021, opened the year with a 1-0 win at Seattle and is coming off a 1-0 win at Columbus last weekend.
An expansion team in 2020, Nashville SC and Sporting KC have played only once previously with SKC coming from behind to win 2-1 at Children's Mercy Park during Nashville's inaugural season. Like Sporting KC, Nashville SC has reached the Conference Semifinals of the MLS Cup Playoffs in each of the past two years. In doing so, Nashville became the first expansion team in MLS history to advance in the postseason in each of their first two seasons.
Nashville's roster is headlined by U.S. Men's National Team starter Walker Zimmerman, who has claimed MLS Defender of the Year accolades in each of the past two seasons, and playmaker Hany Mukhtar, who finished runner-up in MLS MVP voting last season with 16 goals and 12 assists. Gary Smith's squad also features two former Sporting KC forwards in Teal Bunbury (2010-2013) and C.J. Sapong (2011-2014). Both players were drafted by Sporting and played the first four seasons of their professional careers in Kansas City with Sapong winning MLS Rookie of the Year honors in 2011.
Bunbury, however, will be one of three players out for the visitors on Saturday due to a knee injury along with defender Robert Castellanos (ankle) and midfielder Dax McCarty, who has played the fifth most matches in MLS history but was suspended by the MLS Disciplinary Committee. Conversely, Designated Players Gadi Kinda and Alan Pulido remain sidelined for Sporting with long-term injuries.
Hill's Pet Nutrition will serve as the title night sponsor for Saturday's match, highlighted by an adoption showcase at halftime featuring dogs from local animal welfare partners Wayside Waifs, Great Plains SPCA and Kansas City, Kansas Pet Services. Hill's will sponsor 50 percent of the adoption fees of 10 pets from each shelter, totaling up to 30 pets, during a special promotion from April 9-17 and all dog owners in attendance at Children's Mercy Park on Saturday will have the opportunity to take home a complimentary gift courtesy of Hill's Pet Nutrition.
