Five Things is a weekly series on SportingKC.com that highlights the top storylines, players to watch and matchday programming ahead of each game throughout the season.
Immersed in a battle for seeding in the Western Conference, playoff-bound Sporting Kansas City (15-8-8, 3rd place) ventures north of the border to face Vancouver Whitecaps FC (12-12-7, 8th place) on Wednesday night at BC Place. Kickoff is slated for 9 p.m. CT, with three hours of live coverage beginning at 8:30 p.m. on FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports GO. Listeners will also be able to follow the action live on ESPN 94.5 FM (English) and ESPN Deportes KC 1480 AM (Spanish).
Manager Peter Vermes’ side has already punched its ticket to the Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs, but the hunt for a top-two finish — and the Knockout Round bye that goes with it — has reached a fever pitch heading into the final fortnight of the regular season. Sporting KC still has plenty of work to do in that regard, and the task of defeating Vancouver on the road will be far from easy. After all, the Whitecaps desperately need points from this game as their postseason hopes hang on a knife edge.
Time to jump into the five things you absolutely must know ahead of Wednesday’s matchup.
1. Keeping Up with the Joneses
If you haven’t taken a long, studious look at the Western Conference standings, click here and do so. Sporting KC currently occupies third place, four points back of leaders FC Dallas, three behind LAFC, two ahead of Portland and three ahead of Seattle. Vermes’ men can still finish anywhere between first and fifth.
A top-two finish results in a Knockout Round bye to the two-legged conference semifinals, set for Nov. 4 and 11. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, meanwhile, will host single-elimination Knockout Round fixtures on Oct. 31 or Nov. 1. Crunching the numbers, Sporting KC would be guaranteed a top-four finish and a home playoff game with five points from their final three matches. Keep in mind: that magic number could still drop based on results from teams below them in the table.
One final point worth mentioning here: Sporting KC ends the season with games against the two teams directly above them, visiting FC Dallas on Sunday before welcoming LAFC to Children’s Mercy Park on Sunday, Oct. 28, in a Decision Day showdown that could have tons riding on it.
While Sporting KC is fighting for ideal playoff seeding, the Whitecaps are fighting for their lives. Vancouver sits eighth in the West, three points behind Real Salt Lake for the sixth and final playoff spot. The Canadian side does have a game in hand on both RSL and seventh-place LA Galaxy, which essentially makes Wednesday’s contest must-win for the hosts.
Guided by interim head coach Craig Dalrymple, who took over for the released Carl Robinson on Sept. 25, Vancouver will travel to face LAFC on Sunday and close out the 2018 campaign hosting Portland on Oct. 28. Both of those teams, as well as Sporting KC, reside comfortably above the Caps in the table. It’s not an easy home stretch for a team that has yet to win more than two straight games all year.
3. Roll Call
Sporting KC’s list of players selected for senior international duty in October consisted of Chile’s Felipe Gutierrez, Hungary’s Krisztian Nemeth and Scotland’s Johnny Russell. While Gutierrez is a doubt for Wednesday — Chile faces Mexico tonight in Queretaro — Nemeth and Russell have finished their national team commitments in Europe and traveled back across the Atlantic.
Vancouver, on the other hand, has a whopping six players who could feature tonight in international matches. That expansive list includes Canadian trio Alphonso Davies, Doneil Henry and Russell Teibert, Egypt midfielder Aly Ghazal, Costa Rica defender Kendall Waston and Peru forward Yordy Reyna. Those six players have combined for 129 appearances, 15 goals and 26 assists for the Whitecaps in 2018.
In other words, it’s quite possible that Sporting KC will be facing a short-handed Vancouver squad on Wednesday night. It’ll be up to the visitors to take advantage.
Kei Kamara is no stranger to Sporting KC. The uber-athletic forward starred for the club from 2009-2013 before moving on to Columbus (2015-16), New England (2016-17) and now to Vancouver, where he leads the team with 14 league goals in 2018.
Kamara is the focal point of the Whitecaps attack and one of the most physical players in MLS, leading the league in duels won. The 34-year-old has scored in six of his last nine games, including the game-winner in a 2-1 triumph at Toronto FC on Oct. 6. Indeed, part of Sporting KC’s recipe for success on Wednesday will be containing Kamara.
5. Backline Blues
One of the biggest reasons Vancouver sits on the wrong side of the playoff line? They have managed just two shutouts in 31 regular season matches this season. That’s the second-lowest total in MLS, and for comparison’s sake, guaranteed to be the lowest in club history. The Whitecaps, who led the league in shutouts in 2014 and 2015, have never finished with fewer than five clean sheets in a single season.
Hoping to cash in on Vancouver’s leaky defense, Sporting KC has scored 24 away goals in 2018, fifth-most in MLS and second-most in club history. Sporting KC is a respectable 6-6-3 away from home this season and the only Western Conference club with a positive road goal differential at plus-2.
