In the midst of a dreadful season, Sporting Kansas City’s brightest moment was a win over the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Sporting Kansas City (1-8-2, 5 points) will try to reverse their fortunes and feed off those vibes when they host the Galaxy (4-4-4, 16 points) on Wednesday in Kansas City, Kan.
The lone win this season for Sporting Kansas City came on March 14 when they posted a 2-1 victory over Los Angeles in Carson, Calif.
After Kansas City was blown out 6-0 at Portland on Saturday, coach Raphael Wicky stressed that he wants to see his club play with more energy and “more courage.”
“I’d rather make mistakes when I have the courage than when I’m a little bit scared,” Wicky said. “That’s something I just told the team as well and I think that’s something we hopefully can see on Wednesday.”
Zorhan Bassong returned from a hamstring injury and played 30 minutes against Portland.
“I knew from the beginning that Zorhan is a player who is really important for us either in the center mid or as a fullback,” Wicky said. “He brings personality. He brings energy. He brings physicality … but I need him to be healthy and healthy over the whole season.”
The Galaxy will seek a measure of revenge behind the playmaking ability of Gabriel Pec, who rallied Los Angeles to a 2-1 win at Atlanta United last Saturday. Pec recorded a brace with a goal in the 74th minute and another in the 79th.
Pec has three goals and four assists on the season.
Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said Pec was limited in practice throughout the week prior to the Atlanta match.
“We want to find Gabe on the move and ideally moving toward the goal … getting Gabe running behind the back line and getting him at speed,” Vanney said.
The Galaxy are 2-0-1 in their last three matches while Kansas City has scored just one goal in its previous four matches.
–Field Level Media
