Sporting Kansas City vs. Seattle Sounders FC
2024 MLS Regular Season | Match 17
Saturday, June 8 | 7:30 p.m. CT (7:40 kickoff)
Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas
Broadcast Schedule:
Apple TV | MLS Season Pass
English Radio | Sports Radio 810 WHB
Spanish Radio | La Grande 1340 AM
Tickets | I-70 Advisory | Know Before You Go | 5 Things | By the Numbers | Tune In on Apple TV | Pub Partners | SKC App | MatchCenter
Sporting Kansas City will host the Seattle Sounders FC at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Children's Mercy Park. Tickets are available online via SeatGeek, including the Sporting U Pass offering $15 Supporters' Stand tickets for college students, as the club celebrates Soccer For All with the team's first home match during Pride Month.
Together with jersey-front partner Compass Minerals, Sporting Kansas City will participate in the KC Pride Community Alliance 's 2024 Pride Parade on Saturday morning as an event sponsor in support of the LGBTQ community and KC PrideFest at Theis Park. Sporting KC players will also wear the 2024 Pride Pre-Match Top -- part of a league-wide collection in conjunction with Major League Soccer's partnership with Athlete Ally -- and the jersey will be available to purchase at SportingStyle locations in men's, women's and youth sizes.
All three of Kansas City's active major league sports teams will host opponents from Seattle this weekend as the Royals begin a three-game homestand against the Mariners on Friday, Sporting welcomes the Sounders on Saturday and the Current play the Reign on Sunday. Both cities will host six matches during FIFA World Cup 2026 and both MLS clubs have a trophy case filled with four U.S. Open Cup titles, two MLS Cup championships and a Supporters' Shield.
Saturday's showdown is the first meeting between Sporting and Seattle in more than a year dating back to May 7, 2023 when SKC snapped a 10-game winless streak with a 2-1 road win over the first-place Sounders. Erik Thommy and Alan Pulido - a duo that lead SKC with four goals this season in all competitions -- scored in the victory, which sparked one of the greatest turnarounds in MLS history as Sporting posted the best record in the Western Conference for the remainder of the regular season before upsetting No. 1 seed St. Louis in the playoffs.
Now on the cusp of the halfway point of the 2024 regular season, Sporting Kansas City is again mired in a 10-game winless rut ahead of a match-up with the Sounders and will be looking to snap both a seven-game losing streak and a six-match home winless skid on Saturday.
Conversely, Seattle has just one loss in the club's last nine matches across all competitions (4-1-4). After opening the season 0-4-1 away from home, each of the Sounders' last three MLS wins have come on the road with victories in Philadelphia (April 30), Portland (May 12) and St. Louis (May 25).
The visitors are led by Peruvian striker Raul Ruidiaz, who has a team-high seven goals this year and team-record 71 regular season goals since arriving in Seattle in 2018, along with Slovakian playmaker Albert Rusnak, who has a team-high five assists this season to reach 50 goals and 50 assists over the last eight regular seasons. In addition, Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan -- teammates at the FIFA World Cup for the U.S. in 2022 -- bolster the Sounders squad with Morris memorably scoring four times in his last trip to Children's Mercy Park. Defensively, Stefan Frei ranks third in MLS history among goalkeepers for games played (390), wins (162) and shutouts (108) however Seattle will be without starting left back Nouhou on Saturday while the Cameroonian is away on international duty for FIFA World Cup qualifying.
Sporting Kansas City leads MLS with eight goals from outside the penalty area this season and club captain Johnny Russell added to that tally last Saturday with a late goal in Sporting's 3-1 loss in Minnesota. it was the 58th regular season goal for Russell - who has goals in two of his last three starts and six career goals against Seattle, tied for his most versus any MLS opponent --and the Scottish winger is now second on the club's all-time goal scoring chart behind only Sporting Legend Preki.
Now an assistant coach with the Sounders, Preki made 218 regular season appearances across nine seasons with the Kansas City Wizards (1996-2000, 2002-2005) and he remains the team's all-time leading scorer (71 goals) and assist provider (98).
Saturday's Western Conference clash will be available to watch on Apple TV for MLS Season Pass subscribers and 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. In addition, Pub partners in the Sporting Pub Network will also show all of the action including a watch partiy at No Other Pub in the Kansas City Power and Light District with food and drink specials for fans.
