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After starting out the season 1-6-2 in its first nine games of the season, all on the road, Sporting Kansas City enters tonight's final game of the regular season against D.C. United with a chance to win the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference outright.
Sporting takes a 12-9-12 record into tonight's game at RFK Stadium in the district of Columbia, and has already clinched a spot in the MLS playoffs. A win over D.C. United (9-12-12), the seventh-place team in the Eastern Conference, will give Sporting its first Eastern Conference Championship. Kansas City's MSL franchise won two Western Conference championships as the Kansas City Wizards.
A victory in the season finale will assure Sporting of postseason home-field advantage in the Eastern Conference and will mean that Sporting will be matched up against one of the four Eastern Conference wild-card teams. The exact seedings for the playoffs and who Sporting Kansas City will play will be determined by the outcomes of the Columbus Crew and Houston Dynamo matches, also being played tonight.
Sporting Kansas City won the first match with D.C. United this season, 1-0 shutout at Livestrong Sporting Park in August. D.C. was eliminated from the playoffs after losing on Wednesday to the Portland Timbers.
This will be Sporting's first MLS playoff appearance since 2008. Sporting clinched a playoff spot by defeating the New York Red Bulls 2-0 on Wedensday in the regular-season home finale at Livestrong Sporting Park.
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