Sporting Kansas City at Columbus Crew
2024 MLS Regular Season | Match 20
Saturday, June 22 | 6:30 p.m. CT (6:40 kickoff)
Lower.com Field | Columbus, Ohio
Broadcast Schedule:
Apple TV | MLS Season Pass
English Radio | Sports Radio 810 WHB
Spanish Radio | La Grande 1340 AM
5 Things | By the Numbers | Tune In on Apple TV | Pub Partners | SKC App | MatchCenter
Sporting Kansas City will conclude a stretch of three matches in eight days this Saturday as the team returns to the road to play reigning MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew.
Kickoff for the club's first-ever match at Lower.com Field is set for 6:40 p.m. CT and the cross-conference clash will be available to watch on Apple TV for MLS Season Pass subscribers. Radio coverage will air locally on Sports Radio 810 WHB in English and La Grande 1340 AM in Spanish with live audio streams available in the Sporting KC App.
Pub Partners in the Sporting Pub Network will also show all of the action and Sporting Kansas City Season Ticket Members are invited to a watch party at J. Rieger & Co. Distillery in Kansas City, Missouri. The first 250 Season Ticket Members in attendance will receive access to The Monogram Lounge and enjoy their first drink on behalf of the club.
Both charter clubs in Major League Soccer, Sporting Kansas City and the Columbus Crew will meet on Saturday for the first time since April 23, 2022 when the teams played to a scoreless draw at Children's Mercy Park. The result kept Sporting unbeaten in five straight match-ups with Columbus (2-0-3) dating back to 2016 and extended the club's shutout streak against the Crew to 315 minutes with clean sheets in each of the last three encounters since 2018.
Columbus last beat Sporting in 2015 - the Crew's lone win in the past 12 regular season matches in the series since 2012 (1-7-4) -- and last hosted SKC almost exactly five years ago on June 23, 2019. Lower.com Field opened in 2021 and will host the MLS All-Star Game next month.
The venue also hosted MLS Cup 2023 in December as the Crew claimed a third league title to qualify for the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup. The Crew went on to reach the final of the continental club championship earlier this month -- falling 3-0 at Pachuca of Liga MX -- during a six-game road trip that concluded on Wednesday with a 2-1 loss in Miami.
Designated Player Cucho Hernandez, the MLS Cup MVP and an MLS Best XI selection last season, scored his team-leading eighth goal of the year across all competitions in the mid-week defeat to give the 25-year-old Colombian goals in back-to-back games since returning from injury. Hernandez has amassed 54 goal contributions (36 goals, 18 assists) in 60 MLS appearances since joining the Crew in 2022 and he leads MLS in shots per 90 minutes played (5.32) this season.
Second on that chart is Sporting KC striker Willy Agada (5.26), who scored two goals of his own on Wednesday in a 4-3 loss against Western Conference leaders Real Salt Lake. The 24-year-old Nigerian leads all Sporting players with seven goal contributions this season with a team-high five goals in addition to two assists.
Fellow forward Stephen Afrifa was also on the scoresheet on Wednesday, continuing his breakout summer with three goals in his last five appearances across all competitions. Sporting's first-round pick in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft, Afrifa has opened his MLS scoring account with goals in back-to-back matches in the past week.
Defensively, Sporting Kansas City has gone 16 straight regular season matches without a shutout - tying the longest single-season streak in club history -- and the team has conceded 37 goals in the past 15 MLS matches, the team's most during a 15-game stretch of the regular season all-time. During that stretch, Sporting has lost six straight road matches -- the club's longest such streak in regulation for a single-season -- and has lost nine of the past 10 regular season contests overall.
By contrast, Columbus has conceded the fewest goals in MLS however the Crew will be aiming to snap a four-game winless skid at home (0-3-1) and will try to do so without Canadian forward Jacen Russell-Rowe after he played against Argentina in the Copa America opener on Thursday.
Veteran midfielder Darlington Nagbe has made 400 appearances in his MLS regular season career - 10th most in MLS history -- and the 33-year-old leads MLS in passing accuracy (95.8%). The Crew roster, which added midfielders Dylan Chambost (transfer) and Aziel Jackson (trade) this month, also features Designated Player Diego Rossi who leads Columbus with nine goal contributions during the regular season (four goals, five assists). In addition, Homegrown Player Aidan Morris has recorded two goals and five assists this year but could be making his final appearance for the Crew amidst a reported transfer overseas.
