Sporting Kansas City host the San Jose Earthquakes at Children's Mercy Park in the first-ever Western Conference Wild Card game of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Both teams earned 44 points during the regular season but enter the postseason in contrasting runs of form as SKC won six of their final nine matches, capping that run with a 3-1 victory over Minnesota on Decision Day.
The Earthquakes have played four straight 1-1 draws, the last against last year's Western Conference runner-up Austin, and have won once in their last nine, that lone victory against Kansas City.
This is the fourth playoff meeting between the two sides, Landon Donovan scoring in the 117th minute of the 2003 Conference Final en route to San Jose's second MLS Cup title, Jack Jewsbury struck in the 92nd minute of the 2004 Conference Semifinal to overcome a 2-0 aggregate deficit and in 2020, Gianluca Busio and Chris Wondolowski traded goals in second-half stoppage time to set up Tim Meila's heroics in the penalty shootout.
The winner of this match advances to the Western Conference quarterfinals against top seed St. Louis City SC in a best-of-three series.
Team news
Sporting Kansas City
SKC will be thin at the back as defenders Kortne Ford (Achilles surgery), Tim Leibold (groin) and Kayden Pierre (hamstring) have all been ruled out.
Jake Davis (knee sprain), midfielder Erik Thommy (calf) and strikers Alan Pulido (foot) and Johnny Russell (groin) are all listed as questionable with the latter three expected to start should they play.
Defender Nathan and goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski will both miss out as they are suffering from a knee injuries.
Predicted lineups
Sporting Kansas City: Melia; Ndenbe, Fontàs, Rosero, Davis; Thommy, Radoja, Walter; Salloi, Pulido, Russell
San Jose Earthquakes: Daniel; Trauco, Rodrigues, Mensah, Akapo; Yueill, Tsakiris; Cowell, Hoppe, Espinoza; Ebobisse
Ones to watch
Johnny Russell (Sporting Kansas City)
The Scot is in a rich vein of form as of late, scoring four goals in his last four games, including twice against Minnesota in the match that sealed SKC's spot in the playoffs.
Russell, Pulido and Salloi have combined for 29 goals, making them one of the most dangerous trios in MLS.
Cristian Espinoza (San Jose Earthquakes)
The Argentine is an MVP candidate as he has scored 13 goals and provided 13 assists while playing all but 27 minutes this season.
Espinoza leads the Earthquakes in shots on target (31), pass percentage (77.9) and total attacking assists (93). He is joint leader with Jeremy Ebobisse in shots (63).
Previous meetings
Each team won at home by identical 3-0 scorelines with San Jose winning in April and Kansas City coming out on top in August.
Cristian Espinoza opened the scoring in the ninth minute and Ebobisse doubled the lead from the penalty spot after he was taken down in the penalty area by Robert Castellanos.
He doubled his tally and made it 3-0 on 51 minutes, one-timing ihs shot past Tim Meila.
In the reverse fixture, SKC took a third-minute lead, Daniel Salloi redirecting in the air past San Jose goalkeeper Daniel de Sousa Brito from a lob pass by Russell.
Russell doubled the lead in the 42nd minute, taking a pass from Nemanja Radoja just outside the box, splitting two defenders and beat Brito with his left foot.
Thommy capped the scoring after gaining possession just past midfield, dribbled while unmarked and scored with his right foot.
How to watch
The match will be streamed nationally on Apple TV + with Kevin Egan as the play-by-play announcer and Kyndra De St. Aubin serving as analyst.
Kickoff is set for 9:30pm Eastern time.