Sporting KC v FC Dallas: Preview, Predictions and How to Watch

Sporting KC vs. FC Dallas

When: Saturday, April 30th, 2022 at 7:30 PM CT (Kickoff 7:38)

Where: Children’s Mercy Park

How to Watch/Stream: 38 the Spot | ESPN+ (out of market) | SportingKC.com & SKC App (in market) | Sporting One App on Roku, Apple TV and Fire TV

How to Listen: La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish)

At this point, what does one write in this section? Sporting Kansas City are basically not good in 2022 and it doesn’t seem to make any sense. Sure they are missing two Designated Players in Alan Pulido and Gadi Kinda, but there are so many other talented players still around. The season is 26 percent over and, while it’s long, the team needs to start picking up three point chunks pretty quick.

One somewhat positive from last weekend is SKC stopped the bleeding with the losing streak and managed to pick up a draw. To do it, they had to run into another team on a three game losing streak in the Columbus Crew and it was a brutal offensive performance from both sides. American Soccer Analysis had both teams below one expected goal (xG) with Sporting pulling an abysmal 0.18.

That could spell trouble as Sporting KC are welcoming FC Dallas to town who have the league’s stingiest defense (level with the Philadelphia Union and the Chicago Fire), allowing just five goals all season. They are also scoring at a higher clip, knocking in 12 goals for a positive seven goal differential to SKC’s negative eight. Add to that the fact that FC Dallas haven’t lost a game since March 5th and it all looks kind of grim.

However, maybe Dallas is the team that will motivate KC. There is a bit of rivalry there as the teams have had contentious meetings in recent seasons (oh the time wasting). Sporting Kansas City have won the last two meetings between the clubs with a 3-1 win last September and a 2-0 win in August. Prior to that, Dallas were 5-0-1 in the prior six. So let’s hope recent form between the clubs holds true.

Dallas’ Recent Form

• March 19th vs. Portland Timbers — 4-1 Win
• April 2nd @ Chicago Fire — 0-0 Draw
• April 9th vs. Colorado Rapids — 3-1 Win
• April 16th @ New York Red Bulls — 0-0 Draw
• April 23rd vs. Houston Dynamo — 2-1 Win

The team also squeezed a US Open Cup win over FC Tulsa in there, which sets them up for a game with Sporting KC in the 4th round on May 10th. And as mentioned, this unbeaten streak runs back until March 5th.

What’s New for Dallas in 2022?

Dallas has made quite a few changes since last season, and it mostly seems to be working for them so far.

OUT: Dallas famously sold striker Ricardo Pepi to FC Augsburg in the German Bundesliga for around $20 million. Then they made Jesus Ferreira a DP and he stepped into that hole pretty dang well. They also declined the contract option on midfielder DP Bryan Acosta, loaned out promising defender Justin Che to Hoffenheim (Germany) and surprisingly traded possibly the league’s best right back in Ryan Hollingshead to LAFC. They declined the option on consistent starter in defense Bressan and lost defender John Nelson in the Re-Entry Draft to FC Cincinnati, among other moves.

IN: The in column has some big swings for Dallas. They sent an MLS record amount of General Allocation Money (GAM) for Paul Arriola in a trade with D.C. United (finally breaking the old Dom Dwyer to Orlando City record). They also swung big on the other winger spot signing Alan Velasco from Independiente on a big transfer fee. They acquired defender Nanu on loan from Portuguese giants FC Porto and defender Joshue Quinonez from Barcelona SC (Ecuador). One other SKC related transaction is the drafting of Lucas Bartlett who played in the SKC Academy. Notably, Sporting could have had him on a Homegrown deal if they wanted (and he wanted to be in KC), assuming he kept up his training hours. He’s yet to appear for the first team.

IN & OUT: We had to have a special spot for Dom Dwyer. He was traded to Dallas only to have FCD buy him out to help Toronto FC’s salary situation. They received $50,000 in GAM and the 3rd overall pick for their trouble. They chose Isaiah Parker in the 2022 SuperDraft, a forward who has yet to play for the first team.

Injuries/Availability*

Sporting KC

OUT - Alan Pulido (knee surgery), Gadi Kinda (knee surgery), Nicolas Isimat-Mirin (concussion, facial fracture), Kayden Pierre (USYNT Camp), Ozzie Cisneros (USYNT Camp)

QUESTIONABLE - None (yet)

*This will be updated based on the official injury report.

Dallas

OUT - None

QUESTIONABLE - None

Stats

Sporting KC

Goals: Remi Walter (2), Daniel Salloi, Roger Espinoza, Johnny Russell (1)

Assists: Cam Duke, Felipe Hernandez, Daniel Salloi, Ben Sweat (1)

Dallas

Goals: Jesus Ferreira (5), seven with one (1)

Assists: Brandon Servania (3), Paxton Pomykal, Velasco (2), four with one (1)

Starting XI Predictions

This will get it’s own story. Look for it closer to game day.

Score Predictions

I’ve said it week after week and I’ll keep saying it. I can’t pick Sporting KC to win until they show me something. They haven’t won in over a month since March 26th when the slid by Real Salt Lake. Neither of their two wins have been at all convincing. They just got their first draw last week. They are worst in the league in wins (tied with the Vancouver Whitecaps). They simply cannot get it going offensively. Even if the defense can repeat last week’s performance, I think Dallas can squeeze a goal in because they are just a more dangerous team than Columbus (especially since they were missing Lucas Zelerayan).

Dallas is hot. Sporting are not. Let’s hope the home crowd can turn the tide or that Peter Vermes makes a change offensively. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Sure, in nine games there have been nine lineups. But they haven’t had nine different offensive lineups. Try something new (particularly at center forward) and see if the team can find a spark. 0.18 xG (I’ve seen as high as 0.30) is abysmal (Dallas were at 2.77 xG last week). Blame the wind and weather in KC last weekend if you want, but it’s a trend.

1-0 Dallas Win

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