A spot atop the Western Conference is still in play for Sporting Kansas City as they travel to Austin FC on Wednesday in the penultimate regular-season match for both teams.
It’s the first time the sides have played in Austin, and the stakes are high — at least for the visitors.
Sporting K.C. have clinched one of the top three spots in the upcoming Western Conference playoffs and thus a home game in the first round. Kansas City (17-8-7, 58 points) begins play on Wednesday in second place, a point behind front-running Seattle and tied in points with third-place Colorado, but with a game in hand on both of those teams.
Sporting K.C. would win the West and a bye in the first round with wins in their final two regular-season matches.
Kansas City heads to Austin after a 2-1 road loss to Minnesota United on Sunday. Khiry Shelton’s goal in the eighth minute did not stand up for the visitors, who after the loss to Minnesota, said they didn’t do their job.
“I don’t think we had the intensity that they did,” Sporting K.C. coach Peter Vermes said. “The difference in the game was that (Minnesota United was) fighting for their lives and they wanted to win. I think they wanted it more than we did, unfortunately.”
Austin FC (8-20-4, 28 points) will not make the postseason. They remain in last place in the West but could climb to high as 11th in the conference with two wins and a loss by FC Dallas. Austin has nine losses over its past 12 matches.
Austin heads home after a 2-1 loss at Dallas on Saturday, when it scored first and was tied 1-1 before Hector Jimenez earned a red card, forcing Austin to play with 10 men for the final 32 minutes. FC Dallas produced the deciding goal with 10 minutes remaining.
Diego Fagundez had Austin’s tally in the 36th minute.
“I think if we finish the game with 11 players we win that game,” Fagundez said Saturday. “Things happen in soccer. We go down a player and create some chances — it’s a tough pill to swallow. All we can do is go home and try to give the fans a result there and try to finish the season strong.”
Sporting K.C. would capture the season series with Austin if it wins or draws on Wednesday after producing a win and a draw in the first two matches between the teams, both in Kansas City, Kan.
–Field Level Media
