Preview: Sporting KC begins four-game homestand Saturday vs. New England Revolution

A pivotal stretch awaits for Sporting Kansas City (10-6-11, 41 points) as the club opens a four-game homestand against the New England Revolution (10-13-5, 35 points) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. CT. The interconference matchup will kick off at 7:30 p.m. CT with FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX Sports Midwest and FOX Sports GO broadcasting three hours of live coverage beginning at 7 p.m. CT. Local radio calls will air on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish), while the Sporting KC Uphoria app will provide live updates.

Tickets for Saturday’s contest are available at SeatGeek.com, and the first 5,000 fans through the gates will receive a Sporting KC wall decal courtesy of match sponsor US Bank.

Riding a club-record 22-game home unbeaten streak in the MLS regular season, Sporting Kansas City will welcome a New England outfit that has yet to win a road game in 2017. The Revolution have collected three draws and 11 defeats on their travels and face the task of beating a Sporting Kansas City side that hasn’t lost an MLS fixture at Children’s Mercy Park since May 2016.

Saturday’s game carries significant postseason implications for both teams. Manager Peter Vermes’ men currently occupy fourth place in the Western Conference but sit just three points behind co-leaders Vancouver Whitecaps FC and the Portland Timbers. The Revolution, meanwhile, find themselves six points below the red line in the East and will need a result to boost their fading playoff hopes.

Sporting Kansas City is coming off a 1-1 draw at Columbus Crew SC on Sunday, a back-and-forth affair that saw Cristian Lobato open his MLS scoring account. Goalkeeper Tim Melia — the MLS leader in shutouts (10) and goals against average (0.78) — continued his excellent 2017 campaign at MAPFRE Stadium, making a pair of stunning saves to help his team secure a point.

Led by sixth-year head coach Jay Heaps, New England will be just three days removed from a demoralizing 7-0 loss at Atlanta United FC on Wednesday. The blowout in Atlanta’s new Mercedes-Benz Stadium tied an all-time MLS record for largest margin of defeat and extended the Revs’ road winless drought to 16 games dating back to September 2016. To make matters worse, New England midfielder Xavier Kouassi and defender Antonio Delamea received first-half red cards and will be suspended Saturday in Kansas City.

Children’s Mercy Park is set to host its first of four matches over the next fortnight. In addition to battling New England, LA Galaxy (Sept. 24) and Vancouver (Sept. 30) in MLS competition, Sporting Kansas City will welcome the New York Red Bulls next Wednesday for the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, U.S. Soccer’s National Championship. As such, the latter half of September can be viewed as Sporting KC’s most crucial stretch of the season to date.

A fascinating subplot to emerge from Saturday’s match is the return of three former Sporting KC players who now feature in New England’s potent attack. Kei Kamara (11 goals, four assists), Teal Bunbury (six goals) and freshly minted signing Krisztian Nemeth all enjoyed successful stints at Children’s Mercy Park before finding their way to Foxborough, Massachusetts. Kamara is the Revs’ top scorer, Bunbury has bagged each of his six goals over the last 10 games, and Nemeth has tallied one assist in two substitute appearances since joining on transfer deadline day last month.

Anchored by center backs Matt Besler and Ike Opara — who boast an 11-2-8 record and 11 shutouts this season when starting together — Sporting Kansas City owns the best defensive record in MLS. Their 0.78 goals against average is on pace to be the lowest in a 34-game regular season in league history. A stern test awaits on Saturday, however, as the aforementioned New England trio will be joined by standout midfielder Lee Nguyen, whose 23 combined goals (nine) and assists (14) are third-most in MLS.

New England has won four of the last five meetings in the head-to-head series, including a 3-1 home win the last time the teams dueled on Oct. 1, 2016. An own goal plus strikes from Kamara and Juan Agudelo paced the Revs to victory. On the flipside, Sporting KC is 4-1-2 all-time against New England at Children's Mercy Park, including a 4-2 triumph when the Revs last visited on May 20, 2015. Nemeth notably scored twice for Sporting KC in a breakout performance.

Both clubs will be without players due to injuries and suspensions. Sporting KC’s Roger Espinoza will serve a one-game ban through caution accumulation, while Soni Mustivar is ruled out with a strained hamstring. Forward Daniel Salloi is listed as questionable with a hip ailment.

On the New England sideline, Kouassi and Delamea are out suspended alongside the injured Kelyn Rowe, who is nursing a knee sprain. Nguyen is questionable with a hamstring strain.