Sporting Kansas City at LA Galaxy
2023 MLS Regular Season | Match 20
Wednesday, June 21 | 9:30 p.m. CT (9:39 kickoff)
Dignity Health Sports Park | Carson, California
Broadcast Schedule:
Apple TV | Free on MLS Season Pass
English Radio | Sports Radio 810 WHB
Spanish Radio | La Grande 1340 AM
By the Numbers | 5 Things | Tune In on Apple TV | Watch Party | Pub Partners | SKC App | MatchCenter | @SKCMatchday
Sporting Kansas City will travel to face the LA Galaxy at 9:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Fans are invited to a watch party at No Other Pub (1370 Grand Blvd.) in the Kansas City Power & Light District. The event will include a Sporting KC ticket giveaway as well as food and drink specials highlighted by $4 domestics, $5 wells and 50% off select appetizers.
The Western Conference match-up will be broadcast live on Apple TV in English and Spanish for MLS Season Pass subscribers and fans can take advantage of a one-month free trial. In addition, local radio coverage will air on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM with streams in the Sporting KC app and all of the action will be shown by pub partners in the Sporting Pub Network.
Sporting Kansas City's busy summer slate continues Wednesday on the West Coast, where Sporting KC has picked up points in the team's past three trips with road results at the Seattle Sounders, Los Angeles FC and Vancouver Whitecaps. The club's final mid-week away match of the regular season comes on the summer solstice as Sporting striker Alan Pulido is heating up with goals in three straight games, the longest active streak in Major League Soccer, ahead of his first career appearance against the Galaxy.
Despite a controversial last-gasp loss to reigning MLS Cup champions LAFC on the weekend, Sporting has the most wins (5), points (17) and goals (18) of any team in the Western Conference since the start of May. The strong run of form comes after Sporting KC opened the season winless in the first 10 games and has SKC on the cusp of the biggest 10-game turnaround in club history.
Top SKC 10-Game Turnarounds: Increase in points over 20-game stretch
+16 points from March 26-June 9, 2011 (4 pts) to June 12-July 30, 2011 (20 pts)
+16 points from May 1-July 10, 2010 (5 pts) to July 14-Sept. 22, 2010 (21 pts)
+14 points from Feb. 27-April 29, 2023 (3 pts) to May 7-June 21, 2023** (17 pts)
+14 points from March 19-June 4, 2011 (6 pts) to June 9-July 23, 2011 (20 pts)
+14 points from May 5-June 15, 1996 (7 pts) to June 20-Aug. 4, 1996 (21 pts)
**Minimum of +14 points pending result on Wednesday
Like Sporting KC - who went 6-2-2 to conclude 2022 and 0-7-3 to start 2023 - the LA Galaxy ended the regular season with a 5-1-4 record a year ago before enduring a similarly slow start this season with a 1-6-3 mark after 10 matches. Recently, LA has rebounded with back-to-back road results after rallying for a 3-2 win at Real Salt Lake on May 31 and 1-1 draw in St. Louis on June 11 thanks to a balanced attack that has seen 10 different players score the team's last 10 league goals since mid-April.
Both charter members of Major League Soccer, Sporting Kansas City and the LA Galaxy are the two winningest teams in the Western Conference all-time. LA has the most regular season wins in MLS history with 380 - as well as the most MLS Cup championships (5) and Supporters' Shield trophies (4) - while Sporting has recorded 355 all-time regular season victories to go along with two MLS Cup triumphs and a Supporters' Shield title.
The regular season series between the two clubs is deadlocked after 69 all-time head-to-head match-ups dating back to the inaugural clash in May 1996. Both teams have 26 wins to go along with 17 draws however Sporting is unbeaten in the last five meetings with the most recent encounter ending in a scoreless draw at Children's Mercy Park in the club's home opener this year.
LA Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney - who ranks 10th in MLS history with 117 regular season wins but is winless in 10 matches against Sporting (0-5-5) - has a roster that includes 23-year-old former FC Barcelona midfielder Riqui Puig and 21-year-old Mexico Men's National Team midfielder Efrain Alvarez, however Vanney will be missing six players on Wednesday including the team's top two scorers from last season.
Chicharito, who provided 18 goals a year ago after scoring twice against SKC in both meetings in 2022, will miss the remainder of the season due to a knee injury suffered earlier this month. The World Cup veteran is one of three players sidelined for the Galaxy along with defender Sega Coulibaly (knee) and midfielder Memo Rodriguez (thigh), while Dejan Joveljic, who contributed 11 goals in 2022, is one of three players on international duty along with Gold Cup-bound defenders Jalen Neal and Eriq Zavaleta.
Sporting Kansas City will be shorthanded with Marinos Tzionis unavailable due to international duty and a total of eight players recovering from injuries with six - Tim Melia, Kortne Ford, Logan Ndenbe, Graham Zusi, Cam Duke and Willy Agada - ruled out while two others - Andreu Fontas and Kayden Pierre - are questionable for Wednesday.
