The final match of week 5 in Major League Soccer features former Eastern Conference rivals facing off on national television. Sporting Kansas City, which moved from the East to the Western Conference this season due to the addition of expansion teams in New York and Orlando, hosts the Philadelphia Union on Sunday night at 7 at Sporting Park. The match will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1. Sporting is coming off a 1-0 victory at Yankee Stadium over New York City FC while the Union are looking to rebound from two consecutive losses, 2-0 at home to Dallas and last week’s ugly 1-0 loss at Chicago.

Sporting (1-1-2) will be looking to extend Philadelphia’s (0-2-2) winless streak to five games. They have been held scoreless in three of their four matches. Both teams will be without key players. Sporting will be missing midfielder Graham Zusi, who suffered a hamstring injury this week in training in addition to defender Chance Myers wh is still recovering from a ruptured Achilles. Meanwhile Hungarian forward Krisztian Nemeth may also miss the game with a right knee sprain. Philadelphia has been hit hard by injuries and indiscipline this season. Playmaker Cristian Maidana remains out with a knee injury, which highlights the lack of depth the Union have at several positions. Maidana’s replacements, Zach Pfeffer and Fred, are both suspended due to red cards. Pfeffer is serving the second of his two-game suspension, while Fred was also suspended two games and will be sitting out his first game. Also out is right back Sheanon Williams due to a hamstring injury.

Sporting will look to exploit the lack of depth and the lack of cohesion in the Union defense and score early so they can take the air out of the Union. If there is any good news for Philadelphia it is that former Sporting forward C.J. Sapong is close to returning after missing three weeks with a concussion and broken cheekbone suffered in the season opener against Colorado. Sapong was being fitted with a mask this week and may be ready to play Sunday. The Union will want to keep Sporting at bay as long as possible and hope to catch them on the counter to relieve pressure on the backline that has struggled to gel with the addition of Canadian-Portuguese center back Steven Vitoria. Vitoria and Ethan White have struggled to form a solid partnership so far. Matchups between these teams have often been testy affairs, so both teams will want to keep their emotions in check.

So far forward Dom Dwyer has struggled for Sporting but look for him to find a few holes in the Union backline and take advantage and finally score a goal. The Union have once again struggled with set piece defending. Sporting defender Ike Opara will also be a key man to watch as he has two goals so far this season off set pieces. Look for midfielder Benny Feilhaber to be dangerous for Sporting. The hosts will need to be careful not to let Union pressure get to them. Philadelphia has Venezuelan forward Fernando Aristeguieta, whose work rate could cause problems for Sporting if they are too casual in the back.