Sporting Kansas City at New England Revolution
2023 MLS Regular Season | Match 9
Saturday, April 22 | 6:30 p.m. CT (6:39 kickoff)
Gillette Stadium | Foxborough, Massachusetts
Broadcast Schedule:
Apple TV | Free on MLS Season Pass
English Radio | Sports Radio 810 WHB
Spanish Radio | La Grande 1340 AM
Sporting Kansas City returns to the road for a sixth time in the first nine weeks of the season as the team travels to take on the New England Revolution at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Gillette Stadium for the club's 500th away match in all competitions.
The match-up with the Eastern Conference leaders will kick off at 6:39 p.m. CT and will stream free on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV in both English and Spanish with pre-match programming starting at 6:10 p.m. CT. The MLS Season Pass subscription features every MLS match in 2023 and fans can watch on billions of devices through the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes and game consoles as well as on the web at tv.apple.com.
Saturday's showdown will be shown at each of the club's pub partners in the Sporting Pub Network and radio coverage will also air locally in English on Sports Radio 810 WHB and in Spanish on La Grande 1340 AM with streams available in the Sporting KC app.
A pair of MLS charter clubs, the New England Revolution (5-1-2, 1st in East) will welcome Sporting Kansas City (0-5-3, 14th in West) to Gillette Stadium for the first time in nearly five years on Saturday. Sporting leads the all-time regular-season series 25-19-12, including an 11-11-6 record on the road, however SKC has not won at Gillette Stadium in over a decade dating back to a 1-0 victory on Aug. 4, 2012 and has lost in each of the club's last five away trips to New England.
Sporting Kansas City remains in search of the team's first victory of the 2023 season after succumbing to a 3-0 loss in San Jose last weekend following a first-half red card shown to center back Robert Castellanos. Winless in nine straight MLS matches dating back to Decision Day in 2022, Sporting will now aim to avoid equaling the club record of 10 consecutive regular season matches without a win. To do so, Sporting will need to snap an 11-match road winless run that began last July and will also need to break out of a 355-minute scoreless streak.
Willy Agada was last on the scoresheet for Sporting, however the 23-year-old Nigerian striker is now sidelined with a stress fracture in his tibia as SKC enter Saturday with a shorthanded squad once again. In addition to Agada's absence and Castellanos' suspension, three defenders - Kortne Ford, Tim Leibold and Kayden Pierre - remain out due to injuries while three more players are questionable to participate: Graham Zusi, Gadi Kinda and Nemanja Radoja.
The Revolution also have eight players listed on this week's availability report with forwards Bobby Wood and Gustavo Bou questionable due to injury along with six others ruled out: Dylan Borrero, Nacho Gil, Jacob Jackson, Henry Kessler, Maciel and Tommy McNamara. Borrero will serve a one-match suspension after being sent off in the Revolution's 1-1 draw at Columbus in which New England held a 1-0 lead until allowing an equalizer in the eighth minute of second half stoppage time.
New England has conceded only once through four home matches in 2023 and the defense is anchored by Serbian goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic. The 23-year-old made his MLS debut against Sporting Kansas City in 2022 and leads MLS this season with 35 saves. Offensively, club captain Carles Gil leads the Revolution with two goals and three assists in 2023. The 30-year-old Spaniard has taken MLS by storm since arriving in 2019, earning MLS Newcomer of the Year, MLS All-Star, MLS Best XI and MLS MVP honors.
Saturday's match-up will be a reunion between two National Soccer Hall of Fame members as New England Revolution head coach Bruce Arena and Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes go head to head. Among all players and coaches in league history, Arena and Vermes have the most wins in MLS matches (regular season and postseason).
Most combined MLS victories
as player and/or head coach
1 Bruce Arena 290
2 Peter Vermes 289
3 Greg Vanney 282
In conjunction with Earth Day on Saturday, both clubs will wear adidas One Planet jerseys entirely made out of recycled materials. Designed to raise awareness surrounding sustainability, the jerseys will be available to purchase by Sporting Kasas City fans at the club's Sporting Sustainability match on April 29 or online at MLSstore.com.
