Match Day 18: A Busy Week Begins

Sporting KC tomorrow night at Sporting Park starts a very busy stretch of their season. Tomorrow will be the first of three games in seven days for Sporting KC. Two of those games will be at home, starting tomorrow against the Montreal Impact. They'll welcome the Houston Dynamo to KC on Tuesday before a trip on Friday to Salt Lake.

The Impact have played the fewest games in MLS so far this season, tomorrow night is their 17th game. They'd had a couple games earlier this season moved as they made their run to the CONCACAF Champions League final. While the Impact currently sit on 21 points, and are only three points out of a playoff spot with a 6-7-3 record, they are just 1-5-2 on the road this season, with a -10 goal difference. They're a dangerous side with the likes of Dominic Oduro at forward, who has given KC fits in the past. They also have Jack McInerney up top and then Ignacio Piatti, who has had a lot of success in the CCL, but his MLS success hasn't been as successful.

Kansas City is coming into the game after a hard worked 1-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps. While the defense was strong in the result with two rookies and a converted wingback along with Matt Besler, I'd think that Chance Myers will make a return to the lineup at right back. With the heavy schedule, you have to wonder if Peter Vermes will consider some rotation of his roster, although there's very little rotation for the club to do right now with the roster the way it is right now. Paulo Nagamura could come into the lineup, maybe Connor Hallisey, but there really isn't a lot of depth to come into the game right now.

Melia

Myers - Ellis - Besler - Dia

Mustivar

Nagamura - Feilhaber

Peterson - Dwyer - Nemeth

Number to Remember - 8 - KC is going for their eighth straight home win across all competitions. One more win and KC will tie their club record for consecutive wins at home, originally set in 2004.

Key Match Up - Dom Dwyer vs Laurent Ciman - Up top tomorrow, Dwyer will be going up against the former Belgian international. Dwyer last week had a battle against Kendall Waston and it likely won't get much better this week. KC last week played the ball forward to Dwyer even though he wouldn't win it in hopes of winning the second ball.

PREDICTION - Of the three games this week, this one may be the easiest for KC to recover from if they drop points. Montreal is no longer a conference rival like next Friday against Salt Lake, and it's not for the chance to make the semifinals of the US Open Cup. That said this is probably the best chance for a win in the three games with Montreal's poor form on the road. This is a game that KC should be able to win.

SKC - 3 (Dwyer, Nemeth, Feilhaber)
MTL - 1 (McInerney)