The home stretch of the road trip is here.
Nashville SC (2W-2L-1D, 7 pts.) is headed to Kansas City for a matchup against Sporting Kansas City (2W-4L-0D, 6 pts.) this Saturday night. It's the sixth of eight road matches to begin the 2022 season before the team returns to GEODIS Park for the inaugural match in the venue on May 1.
The Boys in Gold are coming off a 1-0 win at previously unbeaten Columbus Crew last weekend. Alex Muyl’s 28’ minute goal proved to be the winner.
Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s match:
Date: Saturday, April 9
Time: 7:30 p.m. CT
Location: Children’s Mercy Park (Kansas City, Kan.)
TV: MyTV30
Local Stream: NashvilleSC.com/stream
Out-of-market Stream: ESPN+
English Radio: iHeartRadio Online
Spanish Radio: El Jefe 96.7
Watch Party: Fat Bottom Brewing
Next Man Up – Nashville SC gave three players their first starts of 2022 in the win over Columbus: defenders Jack Maher and Taylor Washington, as well as midfielder Brian Anunga. All three stood out for their roles in the victory. Maher completed 97% of his passes, while Anunga made 11 recoveries on the night. Washington earned the primary assist on Muyl’s goal in the 28’ minute.
Their performances were the result of a lot of work on the training ground, according to Head Coach Gary Smith.
“Those guys prepare themselves daily,” Smith said. “They work hard, their mentality and their focus throughout the week is exceptionally professional. When the chance comes along, all you can ever ask is that they’re ready, focused and they take that opportunity. Those three guys did.”
Road Tests Continue – Even after winning a tough matchup against Columbus last weekend, Smith says he knows the tasks won’t get any easier as the eight-match road trip enters its final stretch.
Next up is a matchup against Sporting Kansas City in an environment Smith hailed as one of the best in the league.
“I keep looking at each weekend and hoping that one of these games I look at in this long eight-game stretch and go ‘you know what, this might not be too bad,’” Smith said. “Haven’t found one yet. So we’ll just keep digging away.”
Scouting SKC – Sporting Kansas City is a perennial Western Conference contender, having qualified for the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs in all but one of the last 10 seasons. This season, the team has gotten off to a 2W-4L-0D start. With Designated Player and striker Alan Pulido out for the season with a knee injury, the scoring has been a team effort so far with Roger Espinoza, Johnny Russell, Dániel Sallói and Rémi Walter all finding the back of the net so far in 2022.
Nashville SC has not faced Sporting KC since 2020, when Sporting took a 2-1 win against a 10-man Nashville side.
“Sporting KC is one of the most consistently good teams in MLS,” Smith said. “This team, whilst a couple of their away performances have been tough and they’ve lost by the odd goal, is very capable. They always find a way. They are missing two very good attacking players in Pulido and [Gadi] Kinda. If you look at the guys coming in, it would be extremely naïve of me or any of the players to expect anything other than an incredibly tough game.”
