A Whole Different Ballgame: Chicago Fire at Sporting Kansas City Leagues Cup Preview

After a season where the team has remained frustratingly below the playoff line, they are now back to level on points with both teams in their group as they start their Leagues Cup campaign in Kansas City.

Note: Given the nature of a tournament competition, coverage for Leagues Cup matches will be slightly abbreviated compared to league matches.

Series History

All time: 28W-12D-20LLast Match: June 24, 2023: Sporting KC 0-1 Chicago Fire at Children’s Mercy Park, Kansas City, KS

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Sporting Kansas City

The good: Sporting KC have won three of their last five games. The bad: In their last 15 games, the only extra result – win or draw – that they’ve got is a 2-1 win over Seattle on June 8th. Still, Kansas City have won three of their last four at home Their recent wins – at San Jose, at home against Dallas and Austin – haven’t been against the strongest opponents, but SKC is once again looking like a team that might sneak into the postseason in MLS. In the LEagues Cup last year, they beat CD Guadalajara 1-0 in the group, which, along with a loss in penalty kicks to FC Cincinnati saw them through where they faced Toluca, the third team in the Fire and Kansas City’s group this year, losing 4-1.

Fire

The Fire had 20 good minutes against Inter Miami, but that was enough for the Fire to find an equalizer, before conceding almost immediately on the restart. As a result, the Fire have

The Storyline

It is, in a sporting sense, an opportunity for each team to turn the page on disappointing MLS regular season campaigns, where both sides have remained stubbornly below the playoff line with two-thirds of the season in the books. The Leagues Cup offers a blank page, where all teams in the group are level and where single-elimination matches await the teams that advance.

The blank page is somewhat blotted, however, by circumstances surrounding the tournament. When MLS announced a decision – partly rescinded – to pull out of the U.S. Open Cup in the offseason, citing schedule congestion, many fans connected the decision to the month-long pause in the regular season for the Leagues Cup tournament, and a number of Supporters Groups around the league have announced plans to protest or boycott the tournament.

For the Fire’s part, when asked about U.S. Open Cup participation in the preseason, when it was still unclear whether the Fire would be able to participate, Fire Head Coach Frank Kloaps said “I think that whenever we enter into a tournament, we enter in it to win it…. If it’s Leagues Cup, if it’s the US Open cup, we enter, and we play, and we play to win.”

The Fire ultimately weren’t allowed to enter the U.S. Open Cup with their first team, but Kansas City, who found themselves in a postseason spot last year, were. Now Kansas City are currently slated to play the semifinal of the Open Cup, just two wins away from a fifth title in that competition. If they win, they’d become the first MLS team to make it to five Open Cup titles, besting the Fire’s record of four, in a year where the team wasn’t allowed to compete for the trophy.

The Fire may not be able to compete for the Open Cup this year, but they can play spoiler for Sporting Kansas City in this competition: All but one of the teams that won the first match advanced in last year’s competition, thanks in no small part to the small three team groups. If the Fire get a victory over Kansas City – and they should fancy their chances, after emerging victorious the last two times these teams met – they have a good chance at doing something they can’t in the Open Cup, and deny Kansas City a path forward, while simultaneously doing the lion’s share of the work to get to the knockout rounds.

The Fire’s path out of the group – and with it, possibly the best hope  runs through Kansas City.

Sporting KC Player to Watch

Willy Agada: The 24-year-old Nigerian forward is not the best paid attacker on Sporting KC’s roster – that would be Alan Pulido – but he’s been the most successful striker on the squad this year, with nine goals and two assists in just 1,266 minutes. Agada has managed to stay healthy this season and is having a career year as a result. Agada’s success makes it all the more puzzling that the team offered Pulido a hefty DP contract in the offseason despite greatly outplaying his underlying numbers.

Fire Keys to Victory

• Test the back line: The Fire are facing a much healthier Kansas City team than the injury-racked squad they faced a year ago, but the team – already one of the oldest in MLS – has aged a year, and their center backs have never been part of the strength. Test the line, with controlled entry into the box, with shots, with crosses, and the Fire should be able to find real chances.
• Play fast: Sporting Kansas City has one of the oldest squads in MLS and many of its key performers were never the speediest even in their prime. Playing direct balls through lines, and the team can find time and space for the Fire’s skilled players in the attack.

Panel Predictions

Alex Calabrese

Prediction: Kansas City 0-0 Fire, Kansas City win on PKs

Jiggly Carollo

No contest

Tim Hotze

This is a must-win game for the Fire. No excuse for rotation on this one. Win this one, then worry about tomorrow.

Prediction: Kansas City 1-2 Fire

Matt Shabelman

Because we gotta get hot

Prediction: Kansas City 0-4 Fire

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Sunday, July 28, 2024, 8:00 PM CTLocation: Children’s Mercy Park, Kansas City Kan.Forecast: 86’F expected at kickoff, winds at 11 mph, 55% cloud cover and 13% chance of precipitationTV: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass