Heading into Wednesday's group stage finale against the Montreal Impact (watch live at 7 p.m. CT on SportingKC.com), Sporting Kansas City sits atop Group B with six points following wins over the New York Red Bulls and Fluminense FC U-23's.
Team |
W |
L |
T |
GF |
GA |
GD |
PTS |
Sporting Kansas City |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
6 |
New York Red Bulls |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Montreal Impact |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
-2 |
3 |
Fluminense FC U-23 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
-4 |
0 |
With a win or draw on Wednesday, Sporting Kansas City will advance to Saturday's championship match (live on WatchESPN at 7 p.m. CT) to face Group A winners Columbus. However, Sporting Kansas City could still go through with a loss based on tournament tiebreakers:
IF TWO TEAMS TIE
- Head to head result
- Net goal differential
- Most goals scored
- Least goals allowed
- Minus 1 game point for each red card/send-off
- Coin toss. The team whose home city is first alphabetically will call the coin toss
"If more than two teams are involved in a tie, tiebreaker number 2 (net goal differential) will be used first to rank the teams. If teams are still tied, tiebreaker number 3 (most goals scored) will be used to rank the teams, and so on until a tie is broken. Once a team has been ranked higher or lower, the tiebreaking procedure begins for the remaining tied teams with number 1. If more than two teams are still tied after tie breaker number 5 a coin toss will be held with the odd team being eliminated. The tiebreaking procedure begins for the remaining tied teams with number 1."
Translation? If Sporting KC loses by one and New York wins by one during their respective games on Wednesday, the winner of Group B would utimately come down to the head-to-head result between the two sides -- a tiebreaker that favors the MLS Cup champions courtesy of their 1-0 win over the Supporters' Shield holders last week.
So keep an eye on the scoreline when the New York Red Bulls and Fluminense FC U-23's meet at 2 p.m. CT on Wednesday. A New York victory by a one-goal margin could put the scenario in play for Sporting to take the Group B title should the team slip by a single goal against Montreal later that night.
