Match Preview

Preview: Sporting KC welcomes Whitecaps on Wednesday in Western Conference clash

Sporting Kansas City vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC
2024 MLS Regular Season | Match 15
Wednesday, May 29 | 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

Sporting Kansas City will host reigning Canadian Championship winners Vancouver Whitecaps FC at 7:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday at Children's Mercy Park.

Tickets are available online via SeatGeek, including the Sporting U Pass offering $15 Supporters' Stand ticket for college students and the Coca-Cola Friends & Family 4-Pack which features four Price Chopper South Stand tickets, four chicken tender meals and four 20-ounce Coca-Cola products for only $100. Additionally, all fans who purchase a ticket to SKCvVAN will receive a one-month free trial of MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

Fans can take advantage of $2 off Corona Extra and Modelo cans at Children's Mercy Park concession stands on Wednesday and Sporting Kansas City's 2024 Pride Pre-Match Top will also be available to purchase for the first time at SportingStyle locations.

The mid-week match will feature two teams aiming to snap regular season skids while juggling multiple competitions on short rest. Coming off back-to-back home losses to Cavalry FC and Inter Miami CF, the visitors will play their eighth of nine matches in a 29-day span. The Whitecaps are winless in six league matches (0-3-3) and have played five MLS matches in the month of May without a lead.

Winless in eight straight MLS matches (0-6-2), Sporting Kansas City is amidst a stretch of five matches in 15 days and will be out to halt a five-game regular season losing streak that stands as the longest since Children's Mercy Park opened in 2011 as well as a five-game home winless streak in the regular season that is tied for the longest in club history. All seven of Sporting's losses this season have come by a one-goal margin and SKC has dropped 17 points - most in MLS - from winning positions in 2024.

Wednesday's Western Conference clash is the first of two meetings between Sporting KC and the Vancouver Whitecaps this year with the rematch slated for July 17. Sporting owns a commanding 12-6-5 lead in the all-time regular season series since the Whitecaps joined MLS in 2011, including a 7-2-2 mark at home. SKC claimed the season series last year with a 1-1 draw north of the border in June before a 3-0 victory over Vancouver in July at Children's Mercy Park with goals from Remi Walter, Alan Pulido and Erik Thommy.

Walter (knee) has missed the club's last six matches while Thommy (hamstring) was forced to exit in the first half of Sporting's 2-1 loss in Portland on Saturday. In addition, Memo Rodriguez - who has a goal contribution in three straight matches -- will be suspended on Wednesday for caution accumulation leaving Manager Peter Vermes without three key contributors in midfield.

The Whitecaps are led by club captain Ryan Gauld, a teammate of Sporting's Scottish skipper Johnny Russell more than a decade ago at Dundee United from 2012-2013. Gauld has goals in back-to-back games and is tied for the team lead in goal contributions this season with seven alongside Brian White, who made his debut for the U.S. National Team in January. The dynamic duo were among the top performers in the Western Conference in 2023 as White (15 goals, five assists) and Gauld (11 goals, 12 assists) were two of only six players to record 20 or more goal contributions in the regular season.

Wednesday's match 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 party at No Other Pub in the Kansas City Power and Light District with food and drink specials for fans.