Sporting Kansas City vs. Columbus Crew SC | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Sporting Kansas City vs. Columbus Crew SC
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 13
Children’s Mercy Park — Kansas City
May 27 - 6 pm ET
WATCH: FS1, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

Two surging sides will square off at Children’s Mercy Park as Sporting Kansas City, which extended an unbeaten streak to three games following a 1-1 draw at Minnesota United FC, host a Columbus Crew SC squad that has won three straight and is unbeaten in six after a 1-0 win over the New England Revolution.

Sporting have won four consecutive home league games against Crew SC, who last emerged triumphant from a regular season road game in Kansas City in July 2012, per Opta.

Sporting Kansas City

Peter Vermes went with an unchanged starting XI from the side that defeated Atlanta United, 2-0, in their previous match. However, Jimmy Medranda left the match due to injury in the 36th minute, replaced by Seth Sinovic.

Khiry Shelton struck for his first Sporting goal in the eighth minute, latching onto a Johnny Russell corner kick and heading past Bobby Shuttleworth as Western Conference-leading Sporting (7-2-3) played the Loons to a 1-1 draw.

“There's always that disappointment. We had a few chances that we could have snatched the game,” Russell said. “You always feel when you play well in games and don't come away with victories that it's disappointing. For where we want to go and what we want to do this season, we really need to be winning as many games as we can. That's the most disappointing thing about today.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Felipe Gutierrez (sports hernia surgery), D - Colton Storm (ankle sprain); QUESTIONABLE: D - Jimmy Medranda (undisclosed injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Tim Melia — Graham Zusi, Ike Opara, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic — Roger Espinoza, Ilie Sanchez, Yohan Croizet — Johnny Russell, Khiry Shelton, Daniel Salloi

Notes: Shelton’s goal was just his second in his last 28 league appearances, dating back to October 2016. … Sporting are unbeaten in five home games (4W-1D), and outscored their opponents 13-4 across those five games.

Columbus Crew SC

Gregg Berhalter made five changes to the side that defeated the Chicago Fire, 3-0, the previous week with Milton Valenzuela and Lalas Abubakar returning to the back four, Wil Trapp came back in for Ricardo Clark and Luis Argudo and Niko Hansen came on for Pedro Santos and Mike Grella.

Abubakar broke the scoreless stalemate five minutes from full time, heading a Federico Higuain corner kick in off Revs goalkeeper Matt Turner to lift Columbus (7-3-3) to a 1-0 win at Gillette Stadium.

It was the fourth consecutive game Crew SC didn’t concede a goal, a shutout streak of 405 minutes.

“They’re going to be flying, they’re a tough team, a really good team and they like to play and they like to press,” Zack Steffen said. “We’ve just got to stay disciplined and connected and working for each other for 90 minutes.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Milton Valenzuela
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Pedro Santos (right thigh injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Zack Steffen — Milton Valenzuela, Lalas Abubakar, Jonathan Mensah, Harrison Afful — Artur, Wil Trapp — Luis Argudo, Federico Higuain, Niko Hansen — Gyasi Zardes

Notes: The Crew are the only team in the league who have yet to concede a goal off set pieces this year. … Columbus have won three league games in a row. The last time Columbus had four regular season wins in a row was from August 22nd to September 1st, 2012.

All-Time Series

Overall: Sporting Kansas City 25 wins, 85 goals … Columbus Crew SC 22 wins, 84 goals … 7 ties
At Kansas City: Sporting 14 wins, 44 goals .. Crew SC 9 wins, 40 goals … 2 ties
Last meeting at Kansas City: Sporting Kansas City 3, Columbus Crew SC 2 (July 3, 2016)