Sporting Kansas City caps off a three-match road trip tonight against Western Conference side Chivas USA. To preview the match, we caught up with MLSsoccer.com's Matt Doyle. Tonight's match will kick off at 9:30 p.m. CT and can be seen locally on 38 the Spot (KMCI) and across the Midwest on SKCTV. Radio coverage is also available on La Gran D 1340 AM (Spanish).
Jonathon Feyerherm: What is Chivas USA’s form heading into this match?
Matt Doyle: Exactly what you'd think it would be! They haven't won a game in months and are basically a speed bump. Last week they actually scored twice - their first two goals in 10 hours (!!!) of gametime. They still managed to lose that game by multiple goals, and followed it up with another multi-goal shutout loss at the weekend.
JF: With Erick Torres out of Friday’s match, who will be Chivas USA’s main scoring threat?
MD: An own goal by Kansas City is probably Chivas' best hope. That said, Leandro Barrera can be useful down the Chivas left, and with KC struggling so mightily to defend up that side, there could be gaps to exploit there. If Chivas gets a goal, that'll be the genesis.
JF: Along with Torres, Who else has performed well this season for Chivas USA?
MD: Nobody, really. Well, [Carlos] Bocanegra was decent before he got hurt, but this stat tells the story: Since they signed Carlos (July of 2013), they have not won a single game in which he didn't play. He was absolutely crucial to them.
Andrew Jean-Baptiste and Eriq Zavaleta are young central defenders that I like, but they're lost when playing together. Oswaldo Minda and Marvin Chavez played at the World Cup this summer, but have offered nothing this year. Nigel Reo-Coker is an EPL vet with a box-to-box motor, but... nope.
Chivas are bad. They don't have any cohesion or any answers.
JF: What have you seen from Sporting KC during their recent losing streak?
MD: They don't defend as a team like they used to - one too many injuries/absences. Igor Juliao is particularly culpable, as he simply doesn't understand how to stay connected to the rest of his backline mates. Throw in the fact that nobody's claimed Uri Rosell's spot, and you guys have used 4 'keepers in [the past 12 months], and Nagamura missed so much time... it's just disorganized.
The big thing is that their reactions when a turnover happens are slow. KC used to have the best reactions in the league, but now they don't. And when that happens, you have to stop with the high pressure and sit deep.
That, by the way, is why KC were better playing with 10 men (forced them to keep tight and hit on the break) during that winning streak than when they've played with 11 recently.
JF: How do you see Sporting KC’s midfield matching up against Chivas USA’s?
MD: On paper it should be a great match-up: Minda (d-mid) and Chavez (right mid) are World Cup vets, Reo-Coker is a box-to-box terror, and Barrera can do some things wide left. Add in US U-20 Marky Delgado, and suddenly we're jammin'.
But it doesn't work out that way with the Goats. They don't get much defensive pressure to the ball quickly, and so Feilhaber will have plenty of lanes to spread the game around and open them up.
JF: Even in away matches, Sporting KC typically controls the majority of possession and doesn’t change their style of play that much. Do you expect this to be the case for Friday’s match?
MD: I do, but I'm not sure it's the best decision. I'd sit back and invite Chivas forward, then hit on the break for the first 30 minutes or so. Get a lead, and put them in the frame of mind where they have to put numbers forward.
JF: What's your prediction for Friday’s match?
MD: I picked KC to win in our weekly Pick Em series. As much as they've struggled, I still think they should handle Chivas pretty easily.
