With a national audience watching Sporting KC will be looking to return to moving up the conference standings after a poor showing midweek against Houston as the Sounders visit Sporting Park.
Biggest question is what team will be on the pitch for Sporting.
With a big cup final in Philadelphia on Wednesday and two players who happened to pick up yellow cards leading to their suspension via accumulation and wont be participating in Sunday’s match.
Offensively Benny Feilhaber has been the man pulling all the strings through the 2015 season. His creativity as the deep-lying play-maker has been the key to the success of the team and everyone aside from Jurgen Klinsmann knows it. But who wants to be part of the national team setup when you have been ignored in the fashion that he has. It has been the benefit of SKC that he has not had a return to the USMNT.
Defensively Matt Besler has played the way he did prior to the 2014 World Cup when his head wasn’t turned by both big money and becoming fully domesticated in suburban life in the metro area. His partnership with Kevin Ellis has provided an unlikely stability that was never there after July in 2014.
Both players will be sorely missed but the biggest miss is still the injury to Roger Espinoza.
Being the link between the defense and the midfield is no easy job and teams who do not have a backup to their box to box midfielder will not get too far in the grand scheme of things. The excuses regarding Espinoza being out injured can only be used so much. Soni Mustivar might be good working alongside Jordi Quintilla in training but putting that into practice in a game situation.
For Peter Vermes the question is how much resources to put into the league match and the Open Cup final.
Win the Open Cup final and 2016 becomes much different. A sizable amount of allocation money will more than help in balancing the salary cap for the 2016 season. The sheer fact that the club would have a third try at the CONCACAF Champions League would give Vermes something to try and win is an added bonus. Few teams in MLS could boast that they have won three major trophies in four MLS season.
Seattle is coming in on a massive run where they have won four of their last five matches in all competitions. When a team is on a run like this it is hard to stop them.
In the end if Sporting puts out their A squad then there is a very good chance that the home side will come away with the win.
Sadly there is more than likely the chance that a B squad will trot out onto the pitch in Kansas City, Kansas and Seattle will return to the Pacific Northwest with three points.
Prediction:4-1 Seattle, no mercy will shown to the hosts
