MLS: Seattle Sounders vs.Sporting Kansas City Preview, Odds, Prediction

The CONCACAF champions, Seattle Sounders, host the struggling Sporting Kansas City this Saturday night at the Lume Field. The home team wants to beat the rival and proceed with the climb on the West standings, while on the other side, the guests look for a surprise after posting an unexpected victory last week in Nashville. SKC was dead last in the conference, but with this victory, they also began moving up. Seattle is the favorite, and for them, it is imperative to post a victory.

Preview

Seattle Sounders (-125) have three straight games without a loss, five in the previous six. After beating Charlotte, 2-1, and Vancouver Whitecaps, 4-0, they played 1-1 against LAFC during the previous weekend in the derby of the round.

After having obligations in the CONCACAF Champions League and a fantastic run, this team started pulling themselves together in the MLS, and the convenient thing is that this will be Seattle’s fourth game at home in a row.

They are very good at Lumen in recent times, scoring two or more goals in six of the last seven events, which has been their trademark over the years. Brian Schmeltzer’s unit is pretty confident in Seattle when playing with 100% and Lumen Field is one of the most hostile places in the MLS.

Sporting Kansas City (+375) won an MLS game following three straight failures, the most recent two being back-to-back losses. SKC was better than Nashville SC on the road, 1-2, which is quite the surprise after two consecutive losses at home. After that, they were confident in the US Open Cup, rolling over Union Omaha, 6-0.

Peter Vermes has lots of trouble with injured players, which is the main reason why this unit struggles to provide consistency and positive results. Let us remind you that SKC posted excellent results last year and was one of the best teams in the MLS.

Regarding the efficiency, five of their last six games ended with 2 or 3 goals, which is moderate. On the other side, only two of the past 10 events finished without both teams netting, which suggests that SKC doesn’t have a problem up front, but in the defensive line.

Latest News

The hosts won’t have Raul Ruidiaz, whose hamstring injury still isn’t healed. Yelmar Gomez and Joao Paulo are out as well.

Meanwhile, SKC has four of its starters unavailable. Alan Pulido, Ozzie CIneros, Nikola Vujonic, and Gadi Kenda are all out, with the note that Vujonic’s condition is a bit better than with the remaining three players.

Head to Head Games

The Sounders and SKC met in October 2021 for the last time, and it was at Lume Field. The guests from KC were better in this one, winning 1-2. When these two sides meet, we usually get a very efficient and interesting game. The previous seven ended all with both teams scoring and at least three goals.

Prediction

Seattle is our pick here, and we believe they have enough power to dismantle the gests without any problems. Even though SKC isn’t experiencing any pressure, and they come off a win in Nashville, the Sounders are incredibly tough at home, which is why we bet on their victory.

Pick: Sounders win -125