Sporting KC is set to host the Chicago Fire on Friday night in a matchup of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. The Fire have defeated Sporting in each of their two previous meetings this season, winning 2-1 in Chicago during the month of May and more recently winning 1-0 at Sporting's LIVESTRONG park on June 29.
During the June matchup, Marco Pappa scored the only goal of the game in the 58th minute of play to send the points Chicago's way. Sporting outshot the Fire by a 27-10 margin the evening, and also managed eight corners to Chicago's one. Sean Johnson was very solid on goal for the Fire, and his five save performance managed to keep Sporting off of the scoresheet.
The lone goal of the night came when the Fire caught Sporting pressing forward, they took advantage of that with a quick counter in which Pappa and Chris Rolfe would combine for the Guatemalan international's fifth goal of the season. Full highlights from the June contest can be found below:
The third and final meeting for the two sides is scheduled to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. CT, and can be seen on the NBC Sports Network.