In a rematch from Week 1, Sporting KC will look to keep their momentum going against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday night. Here are three things to watch for.
Sporting Kansas City, the winner of Group D, will look for their second win of the season over the Vancouver Whitecaps, who finished third in Group B when the pair meet in the Round of 16 of the MLS is Back Tournament on Sunday night. The two sides met in the opening week of the regular season at the end of February when Sporting eased their way to a 3-1 win in Alan Pulido’s SKC debut at BC Place.
Neither side exactly tore it up in the group stages, but Sporting found a way to win their group with two wins after opening up with a disastrous loss to Minnesota while the Whitecaps got by with two losses and a 2-0 win against Chicago.
With plenty on the line and two teams looking to find their very best form, here are three things to watch for.
3. Sporting KC revamped and rested
With an extra day of rest, Sporting KC will be fresher of the two. That will be a big bonus. Not only will they be more rested, but midfielder Felipe Hernandez put in a very promising shift to replace Roger Espinoza to close out the final 32 minutes. His energy was a crucial spark to kick SKC on and will help replace Espinoza on Sunday.
Peter Vermes may even continue to rotate through his squad with the hope of dispatching Vancouver while freshening up his team. While Matt Besler is well-rested, Graham Zusi played every single minute of the group stage. With Jaylin Lindsey still yet to see the field, Vermes may opt to give Lindsey the start.
It’s going to be difficult to take players crucial to the attack like Alan Pulido and Khiry Shelton out, but both of them have had logged a lot of minutes, too. Holding midfielder Ilie Sanchez, who SKC don’t seem to have a replacement for with Felipe Gutierrez out injured, has also played a lot of minutes. All of these players are critical to the team, but Vermes will have to manage his options carefully.