Sporting Kansas City can clinch a club-record eighth straight playoff berth Sunday when they host rivals Real Salt Lake in a pivotal Western Conference battle at Children's Mercy Park. A limited number of tickets for the match are available via SeatGeek.com with national television coverage beginning at 4 p.m. CT on FS1 and FOX Deportes. The contest will also air live on ESPN 94.5 FM, ESPN Deportes KC 1480 AM and nationally on SiriusXM FC.
A new episode of The Sporting KC Show aired Tuesday night with hosts Nate Bukaty and Carter Augustine, offering a comprehensive preview of Sunday's showdown. The duo opened the podcast by handicapping the Western Conference playoff picture — second-place Sporting KC are two points behind leaders FC Dallas and a point ahead of third-place LAFC — before welcoming soccer analyst and Real Salt Lake color commentator Brian Dunseth to the program.
Real Salt Lake currently occupy fifth place in the West, six points behind Sporting KC and four points above the playoff line. As Dunseth pointed out, RSL have endured a roller-coaster 2018 campaign, having stuttered out of the gates before finding their form recently with consecutive six-goal explosions against the Colorado Rapids and LA Galaxy, respectively.
"This is a confident team coming off wins at Houston, at Colorado and home to the Galaxy, but at the same time it's a frustrated team because they left two points on the board against Minnesota United (on Oct. 15) at home," Dunseth said of Real Salt Lake. "RSL then went into Atlanta (on Saturday) and tried to play open, but unfortunately they couldn't recreate what Manager Peter Vermes and Sporting KC did down there at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. They lost 2-0 to what I think is the best team in Major League Soccer in Atlanta United."
Despite their two-game winless stretch, RSL's postseason hopes remain high. The Utah outfit sits four points ahead of seventh-place LA Galaxy heading into its final four games of 2018, thanks in large part to a stellar home record of 10-1-4. On the flipside, RSL are only 3-10-2 on their travels this season.
"RSL have tried to use a 5-3-2 Christmas tree formation (on the road) to absorb pressure and counter-punch, and I just don't think it fits them," Dunseth said. "This is a problem that a lot of MLS teams have: they don't have the confidence to play on the road the same way they do at home. It's just a psychological barrier for some reason. But if they come out and play their true style on Sunday, I think that gives them a chance."
Listen to the full episode below.
