Sporting Kansas City vs. Houston Dynamo FC
2023 MLS Regular Season | Match 31
Saturday, September 23 | 7:30 p.m. CT (7:39 kickoff)
Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kan.
Broadcast Schedule:
Apple TV | Free on MLS Season Pass
English Radio | Sports Radio 810 WHB
Spanish Radio | La Grande 1340 AM
Tickets | 5 Things | By the Numbers | Tune In on Apple TV | Pub Partners | SKC App | MatchCenter | @SKCMatchday
Sporting Kansas City will host Houston Dynamo FC at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Children's Mercy Park in the club's annual Kick Childhood Cancer match.
Tickets for the Western Conference clash are available online at SeatGeek, including the Coca-Cola Friends & Family 4 Pack , and match sponsor Compass Minerals will give away teddy bears for the first 2,000 young fans to enter the stadium when gates open at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
The Kick Childhood Cancer theme night will welcome past Victory Project Honorees back to Children’s Mercy Park for a special matchday that will include a pre-match tailgate and halftime recognition as well as on-field experiences with the opportunity to be part of the warm-up tunnel, walk of champions and I Believe chant prior to kickoff.
Ticket holders can pre-order Sporting’s Kick Childhood Cancer pre-match tops, t-shirts and scarves at SportingStyle.com and a portion of all jersey sales on Saturday will benefit The Victory Project. Fans can also contribute to The Victory Project by purchasing Victory Lemonade or bags of Parisi Coffee at Children’s Mercy Park concessions, which will also be offering $2 off 20-ounce soft drinks and sports drinks on Saturday.
Sitting three points outside of playoff position with four matches remaining in the regular season, Sporting Kansas City will look to bounce back from a mid-week defeat. Sporting has shown an impressive ability to do just that in the past five months with a 7-0-2 record across all competitions following losses.
Houston, on the other hand, arrives in Kansas City coming off an emphatic 4-1 victory over Vancouver on Wednesday that extended the Dynamo's undefeated run to seven regular season matches. The summer surge stands as the longest active unbeaten streak in Major League Soccer and Houston has outscored opponents 15-2 in that span.
Houston is poised to return to the postseason for the first time since 2017 - sitting fourth in the Western Conference table, six points above the playoff line -- under first-year head coach Ben Olsen and assistant coach Aurelien Collin, who won the U.S. Open Cup and MLS Cup during a memorable four-year stint with Sporting KC from 2011-2014. The Houston attack is headlined by c lub captain and MLS All-Star Hector Herrera, who represented Mexico at three FIFA World Cups and ranks second in MLS with 14 assists in 2023, while the Dynamo defense is anchored by goalkeeper Steve Clark, the league leader in shutouts with 11 this season.
The Dynamo defeated Sporting Kansas City in the U.S. Open Cup in May and are now set to play in the tournament final on Wednesday in Miami, marking the fourth straight edition of the competition in which the team that eliminated Kansas City has reached the championship. The sides most recently played to a 2-2 draw in July at Shell Energy Stadium as Alan Pulido struck twice for Sporting Kansas City -- giving him six goals and an assist in seven career regular season appearances against Houston -- before the home side rescued a result with an equalizer eight minutes into second-half stoppage time.
Sporting has faced Houston 44 times in all competitions since 2011, more than any other opponent, and the all-time regular season series is deadlocked with both teams going 13-13-15 and scoring 56 goals apiece. However, Sporting KC has won four straight -- and seven of the team's last eight -- home matches against the Dynamo across all competitions.
Saturday's showdown will be available free on Apple TV in English and Spanish via MLS Season Pass. Local radio coverage will air on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM with streams in the Sporting KC app, while pub partners in the Sporting Pub Network will also show all of the action.
