Sporting Kansas City travel to face New York on Saturday evening for the third time in less than two months. KC has already clinched a playoff spot but its still an important match with the Supporters' Shield and Eastern Conference races still alive.
A win for Sporting KC at New York would guarantee them a top two finish in the Eastern Conference and could be enough to clinch first depending on the results of Chicago at New England and DC United hosting Columbus. The margin for the Supporters' Shield is very slim with KC needing to win both of their final matches and SJ to lose their final two. A tie on points (Sporting wins both, SJ gets one draw) would favor SJ who hold the first tiebreaker (goals scored). Sporting will clinch the East this weekend if they have a better result than CHI (draw to loss or win to draw) and at least match DC's result.
Below are all the possible scenarios for Sporting this weekend.
Sporting KC will clinch the Eastern Conference regular season title and at least second place in the overall standings if
- They win at NY and CHI draws at NE
- They win at NY and CHI loses at NE
- They draw at NY and CHI loses at NE
- They draw at NY and DC draws v CLB
- They draw at NY and DC loses v CLB
Sporting KC will remain alive in the Supporters' Shield race if
- They win at NY and SJ loses to LA
Sporting KC will clinch at least second place in the Eastern Conference if
- They win at NY
- They draw at NY and DC draw at CLB
- They draw at NY and DC loses at CLB
- They lose at NY and DC loses at CLB
Sporting KC will clinch at least third place in the overall standings if
- They win a NY
- They draw at NY
