Sporting KC at DC United Match Preview

The last time that Sporting KC and Handball DC United met Sporting stole a win late after Soony Saad put a ball in position for Claudio Bieler to score the match winner in the 89th minute. Since then Sporting has risen to the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference.

DC United has gone straight down.

About the Teams

Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Kansas City just ended the Houston Dynamo's multi-year home unbeaten streak after Aurelien Collin's header gave them the win 1-0. They are sitting pretty at the top of the East just one point down to New York, whom they have beaten already this year. They have also beaten DC United the last five times they have played and the last time Sporting lost at RFK they were still the Wizards.

DC United

Once a preseason MLS Cup contender, United has simply not played good soccer so far in 2013. They have four points out of ten matches and have only won one match the entire season. Things are not looking good so far for Ben Olsen's crew.

Players to watch

Sporting KC- Matt Besler

Matt Besler has missed the past three matches due to injury and will be supposedly returning today against DC United. However that's not the only reason to watch Besler. His partner in crime for the centerback position Aurelien Collin is suspended for this match due to his number of yellow cards he has accumulated so far in this season. Besler will have to come back and anchor the defense well in order to preserve a Sporting victory.

DC United- Dwayne De Rosario

The past two times that Sporting Kansas City and DC United have met, United has been without star midfielder Dwayne De Rosario. De Rosario, who notched his 100th career goal last week, will be someone to watch in the midfield because if anyone can take advantage of the absence of Oriol Rosell, who is also missing the match due to yellow card suspension, De Rosario can.

How they wil win

Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Kansas City will have to take advantage of a very poor DC United defense and wrack up the score. Houston was able to go into RFK stadium and come out with a 4-0 victory, there should be no reason why Sporting shouldn't be able to do the same.

DC United

Even with Matt Besler back, Sporting could be vulnerable on defense due to losing one of their starting defensive midfielders and one of their starting centerbacks. If Dwayne De Rosario can create some mismatches in the midfield and create some opportunities, DC may be able to steal one.

Predictions

Lineups

Sporting KC: Nielsen, Myers, Besler, Opara, Sinovic, Nagamura, Joseph, Feilhaber, Zusi, Bieler, Kamara.

DC United: Hamid, Korb, White, Mcdonald, Riley, Kitchen, Porter, DeLeon, De Rosario, Pontius, Townsend

Score

Sporting KC 3-0 DC United

Sporting should not have a lot of trouble this game as long as they keep playing like they've been playing. The losses of Collin and Rosell may hurt a bit, but their offense should still be extremely potent at RFK stadium.