Sporting Kansas City vs. New England Revolution
Desert Diamond Cup | Desert Diamond Cup
Kino Sports Complex | Tucson, Arizona
Wednesday, Feb. 22 | 12 p.m. CT
Live Stream: SportingKC.com, FOX Sports GO
Sporting Kansas City looks to stay unbeaten in the Desert Diamond Cup on Wednesday against the New England Revolution at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona. The match will kick off at noon CT with live streams on SportingKC.com, FOX Sports GO and the Sporting KC Uphoria app.
Wednesday marks the second time Sporting KC will face New England this preseason, having lost 2-1 on Feb. 7 when goals from Josh Smith and Kei Kamara overcame Nansel Selbol’s late strike. Since then, Manager Peter Vermes’ men have opened the Desert Diamond Cup with a 1-1 draw versus the Colorado Rapids and a 3-0 win over the New York Red Bulls, while the Revolution have suffered two-goal losses to the Houston Dynamo and Colorado.
Forwards Dom Dwyer, Cameron Porter and Daniel Salloi were on target in Saturday’s comfortable victory over New York, a result that moved Sporting KC into second place in the Desert Diamond Cup standings heading into the final day of pool play. Should they defeat New England on Wednesday, Sporting KC would stand a good chance of competing for the tournament championship this Saturday.
DESERT DIAMOND CUP STANDINGS
<strong>#</strong> |
<strong>CLUB</strong> |
<strong>W-L-T</strong> |
<strong>GD</strong> |
1 |
Houston Dynamo |
2-0-0 |
+4 |
2 |
Sporting Kansas City |
1-0-1 |
+3 |
3 |
Colorado Rapids |
1-0-1 |
+2 |
4 |
New York Red Bulls |
1-1-0 |
-1 |
5 |
New England Revolution |
0-2-0 |
-4 |
6 |
New York City FC |
0-2-0 |
-4 |
Vermes has fielded the same starting lineup in each of the last two games, deploying Graham Zusi as a right back with newcomers Latif Blessing and Gerso Fernandes flanking Dom Dwyer in attack. Spaniard Ilie Sanchez (pronounced ILL-ee-uh) has provided a steady presence as holding midfielder, slotting behind Benny Feilhaber and Roger Espinoza.
Led by sixth-year head coach Jay Heaps, New England began its 2017 preseason brightly with two wins and a draw during the first leg in Arizona. Kamara, a Sporting KC standout from 2009-2013, scored in each of the first three tune-ups and bagged the game-winner against his former club on Feb. 7.
The Revs are coming off a 3-1 setback to Colorado on Saturday in which Juan Agudelo opened the scoring after 19 minutes. The Rapids replied with three unanswered goals to move into a second-place tie with Sporting KC in the Desert Diamond Cup table.
Sporting Kansas City and New England won’t meet in the MLS regular season until Sept. 16 when the Revs visit Children’s Mercy Park. Heaps’ team has won four of the last five regular season meetings since falling to Sporting KC in the 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs.
The Desert Diamond cup will conclude Saturday with placement matches featuring first vs. second, third vs. fourth, and fifth vs. sixth. Fans visiting Tucson this weekend can use promo code "SPORTING" to get 15 percent off tickets to Sporting KC's match on Saturday. Access VisitTucson.org for information on hotels, attractions, restaurants and more.
