What We Want to Happen Today 9/16

While Sporting Kansas City took care of their business yesterday in San Jose defeating the Earthquakes 5-1, they were getting help from the rest of the league. Of the six teams currently in the playoff picture, only KC and the Seattle Sounders won last night. FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake, and Los Angeles FC all dropped points at home while the Portland Timbers fell on the road to the Houston Dynamo. KC also got help further down the table as the seventh and eighth place teams, Vancouver Whitecaps and LA Galaxy also lost yesterday. As for today’s games, only one of the two today matter for Kansas City, but here’s a look at what we want to happen.

New York at DC

What we want to happen - DC win

With KC’s win last night they are just four points behind the Red Bulls for second in the Supporters’ Shield standings and will have a game in hand after they play today. While DC can still technically catch Sporting, their max point total is 55 points, four ahead of where KC currently is, so them picking up points here on New York while closing the gap on KC would keep KC within touching distance of New York.

Orlando at Chicago

What we want to happen - doesn’t matter

Both Orlando and Chicago sit on 24 points with seven games left to play. That makes their max point total 45 points, six fewer than KC’s current point total. So there isn’t a lot of value to KC in one winning over the other. Looking ahead at both team’s remaining schedule, Orlando has two games still against Western Conference playoff teams (Dallas and Seattle) while Chicago has one (LAFC), so if you’re looking for a team trying to stay alive to potentially cause headaches for other teams, Orlando would probably be the one to root for in that regard.