Sporting Kansas City has won three consecutive road games on two separate occasions this season. First they stormed out to a 7-0-0 start in MLS play, winning three away matches in the process before falling at Portland on April 21.
Now, after beating the Philadelphia Union in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals and Montreal and Columbus in MLS play, Sporting Kansas City has pulled off three straight away victories for a second time in 2012.
Incredibly enough, these three consecutive wins in regulation away from home are two of only three such streaks in club history. The only other instance? The then-Kansas City Wizards finished a four-game road trip with a perfect record from August 3-13 in 2005. That year, Kansas City won at the Des Moines Menace in the U.S. Open Cup round of 16, then at New England, Chicago and Real Salt Lake in MLS play.
Indeed, history may be up against Sporting Kansas City when they face the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium on Wednesday night. Not only are the Dynamo yet to lose in their new home in downtown Houston with a 5-0-3 record through eight games, but last year's MLS Cup runners-up are also riding a 17-game home unbeaten streak dating back to last season.
Conversely, Sporting Kansas City's longest road unbeaten streak is seven games. This feat occurred twice, both in years that ended with hardware: first when KC went 2-0-5 from Aug. 12 to Sept. 20 in 2000, and then from June 5 to July 20 in 2004 when the team went 5-0-2.
Now, there are two big asterisks here. First, Kansas City technically won five away matches in a row from May 30 to July 4, 1997, but two of those wins came in penalty kick shootouts. Those wins would count as draws in the current MLS format.
Second, if you combine the end of one MLS season with the beginning of the next, Sporting Kansas City actually won five straight away matches from October 22, 2011, to April 18 of this year. At the end of last season, Sporting Kansas City won at D.C. United and Colorado, and then triumphed in their first three road contests of 2012.
So maybe we should rephrase this...Sporting Kansas City has won four straight road games in regulation in the same season just once in club history. Wednesday in Houston, they have the chance to do it again.
