Preview: Sporting KC Travels to Face LA Galaxy
September 2, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Sporting Kansas City News Release
Coming off back-to-back wins over the Portland Timbers and San Jose Earthquakes, Sporting Kansas City will travel to play the LA Galaxy at 7 p.m. CT on Sunday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif.
The Western Conference clash will be locally televised on 38 The Spot with three hours of coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. CT. In addition, UniMas and TUDN will nationally televise the match and provide an English-language live stream on Twitter. Sporting KC Pub Partners across the Midwest will be showing the match and radio coverage of Sunday’s showdown will also air on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.
DOWNLOAD: Soundbites from Manager Peter Vermes, captain Johnny Russell and forward Daniel Salloi are available to download on Imagen.
POST-MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE: Approximately 10 minutes after the conclusion of Sunday’s match, Sporting KC will conduct a virtual press conference with Vermes and players. To join via Zoom, click here.
A pair of MLS charter clubs, Sporting Kansas City and the LA Galaxy are historically two of the most successful teams in Major League Soccer. Both sides have reached the MLS Cup Playoffs on 19 occasions in the past 26 years – tied for the second most postseason appearances behind the New York Red Bulls – despite the Galaxy missing the playoffs in four of the past five seasons.
MOST WINS ALL-TIME
1. LA Galaxy 374
2. NY Red Bulls 351
3. Sporting KC 347
Sporting swept the Galaxy in 2021 with a pair of 2-0 wins and most recently earned a 4-2 victory over LA on Aug. 6 to level the all-time series at 26-26-15 in 67 all-time regular season encounters. SKC is 7-2-4 against LA in the last 13 regular season meetings since 2015, including a 3-1-1 record in the team’s last five visits to Dignity Health Sports Park.
The club returns to Carson, Calif., for the first time since July 4, 2021 when Johnny Russell and Khiry Shelton scored late as Tim Melia made seven saves for the shutout. With Melia sidelined by a hamstring injury, Sporting KC goalkeeper John Pulskamp – a member of the LA Galaxy Academy from 2017-2019 – has played in each of the team’s last eight matches.
Sporting Kansas City will kick off a slate of four matches in September on Sunday after going 3-1-0 in August. Sporting scored 12 goals across those four fixtures, ranking second in MLS along with the Galaxy with a 3.0 goals per game average for the month.
Defensively, Sporting Kansas City enters Sunday’s contest coming off the club’s first clean sheet since May 7 after shutting out San Jose last weekend in a 1-0 win at Children’s Mercy Park. Daniel Salloi, whose new four-year contract was announced this week, scored the decisive goal and in doing so tied the all-time club record with 13 career game-winning goals in the regular season.
Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes will participate in his 663rd MLS match as a player or coach on Sunday, moving him past Jason Kreis for the most in league history. Vermes played seven seasons in Major League Soccer from 1996-2002 and has become the longest tenured head coach with one club in MLS history as Sporting’s manager for 14 seasons since August 2009.
The LA Galaxy – five-time MLS Cup champions – are riding a four-match unbeaten run and have moved within a point of playoff position after securing a pair of road results against Eastern Conference opponents. Manager Greg Vanney’s side recorded a 2-1 win at New England last Sunday and a last-gasp 2-2 draw at Toronto on Wednesday as newcomer Riqui Puig – signed from FC Barcelona last month – opened his MLS scoring account in impressive fashion with a long-range equalizer in the 89th minute.
The Galaxy roster is headlined by club captain Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, whose 26 non-penalty goals are second most in MLS over the past two seasons. The MLS All-Star has five goals in his last five matches, including a brace against SKC, and leads all LA players with 12 goals on the season.
Second in scoring on the squad is Serbian striker Dejan Joveljic with 10 goals, all of which have come at Dignity Health Sports Park where he has a goal or assist in eight consecutive home matches. Joveljic and Puig, both 23, are part of a youthful Galaxy contingent that also includes Young Designated Player Kevin Cabral, 20-year-old Mexican international Efrain Alvarez and 21-year-old right back Julian Araujo who leads the team with seven assists.
âFollowing Sunday’s match, The Final Whistle postgame show will air on Sports Radio 810 WHB with hosts Chad Reynolds and Dave Borchardt. Listeners can tune in via the Sporting KC mobile app or online at 810WHB.com.
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