Sporting Kansas City vs Columbus Crew SC
Saturday, August 22 – 6:30 p.m. CT
MAPFRE Stadium | Columbus, Ohio
English TV: KMCI-TV & SKCTV
English Radio: Sports Radio 810 WHB
Spanish Radio: La Grande 1340 AM
Broadcast Coordinates:
KU BAND (DIRTY HD)
G-17, TR 11, CH – D
DL: 11933.5 (H) | SR: 7.5 | FEC: 5/6
Game Notes | Media Guide | Game On | Social | Timeline | MatchCenter | By the Numbers | Prep Talk
Sporting Kansas City will play their first of four consecutive road games on Saturday when they take on Eastern Conference foe Columbus Crew SC at MAPFRE Stadium. Sporting KC and Columbus, both in third place in their respective conferences, meet on Saturday for the 51st time in MLS play. The match kicks off at 6:30 p.m. CT with pregame coverage beginning at 6 p.m. CT on KMCI-TV’s 38 the Spot and SKCTV across the Midwest. Additional coverage is available on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.
Sporting KC has five straight regular season wins against Columbus and is undefeated in their last four trips to MAPFRE Stadium dating back to October 2012. Sporting KC holds the advantage in the 20-year series (24-21-6) and 2015 marks the first time that the clubs will meet just once in the regular season. Sporting KC was undefeated against Crew SC in 2014 with a 2-0-0 record and earned a 2-1 result in last year's meeting at MAPFRE Stadium.
Columbus are led by the MLS All-Star tandem of Kei Kamara and Ethan Finlay. Kamara, who played for Sporting KC from 2009-2013, leads MLS with 18 goals scored through 25 matches. Finlay is tied with Sporting KC midfielder Benny Feilhaber for second most assists in MLS (13). Feilhaber will miss Saturday's match after picking up a red card in Wednesday's midweek loss to the San Jose Earthquakes.
Saturday marks Sporting KC’s fifth match in a span of 15 days following Wednesday's match against San Jose. The 5-0 defeat was the second worst home loss in club history, but only the fifth loss this year for Sporting KC, fewest among all MLS teams.
Sporting KC leads MLS in points per game with 1.74 and has at least two games in hand on all the teams that sit above them in the standings. Sporting KC also has two games in hand on Columbus, who are also coming off a midweek match.
The Crew SC earned a 2-2 draw on Wednesday against New York City FC. Kamara opened the scoring for Columbus in the match, while Cedrick Mabwati's 72nd-minute equalizer gave the visitors a point at home. Saturday marks Kamara's first match against Kansas City since his return to Major League Socce after a year playing for English second division side Middlesbrough FC.
In game updates are available at www.SportingKC.com/GameOn and via Twitter @SKCGameday.
