Preview: Sporting KC Faces Philadelphia Union Squad Mired In Dysfunction

Sporting Kansas City plays their third match in seven days, traveling to Philadelphia to face the Union. The Union are close to the bottom of the league resulting in the sacking of their coach Peter Nowak, but not before he essentially gutted their roster of veteran presence. Sporting is still near the top of the East after essentially playing for a result in Seattle and taking out a deserved point with a reserve laden roster. This match should play out differently as a somewhat reserve team should play in the US Open Cup next week allowing Sporting KC to play most of their starters in Philly.

Sporting KC at Full Strength

Peter Vermes played a roster full of reserves against Seattle in the midweek match, most likely resulting in a full strength squad for today's match. This may not mean we see the same eleven that featured during the early season, but expect regulars like Graham Zusi and Kei Kamara to get back on the field. The notable exceptions continue to be Matt Besler and Bobby Convey, but Jacob Peterson and Lawrence Olum have filled in admirably and in Peterson's case been the key to getting four points out of the last match.

Philadelphia in Flux

With the ouster of Peter Nowak, the Union are in an unstable situation, but it can't be worse than the dysfunction of the past year. Funny how things can go bad so quickly as Philadelphia was a playoff team last year and almost won the Eastern conference. Instead of a youth movement, Philadephia has just ditched all pretense of contention and discarded with all of their experienced players and replaced them with youngsters. While this may pay dividends in the long run, it is realized as a poor team that struggles not only with consistency but also simply getting results.

Wealth Of Striking Options

The main question this match is who gets to play up front. Jacob Peterson has been successful filling in for Kei Kamara the past two matches and I've been impressed by Soony Saad's play in recent matches. The reality is that CJ Sapong and Teal Bunbury may start, but expect both players to get their chances as the congested schedule results in a deeper rotation. It's a problem most teams would wish for

Lineup

Jimmy Nielsen

Chance Myers Aurelien Collin Lawrence Olum Seth Sinovic

Julio Cesar

Graham Zusi Roger Espinoza

Kei Kamara Jacob Peterson

Teal Bunbury

Prediction

Sporting 2 Philadephia 0

Much like Toronto, Philadelphia is a mess in transition, even on the road Sporting should dominate this match.