St. Louis City SC looks to keep their historic first season alive as they face Sporting Kansas City in Game 2 of their best-of-three first-round series at Children's Mercy Park.
Game 1 of this series saw unlikely heroes for SKC as Gadi Kinda, Remi Walter, Lucas Ndenbe, and Daniel Salloi all scored as Kansas City stunned St. Louis 4-1 to put their archrivals on the brink of elimination.
Tim Parker found the back of the net for St. Louis' only goal in the series opener, making him the first player to ever score his franchise's first regular-season and playoff goal.
Should the new boys win, a decisive third game would be contested next Saturday in St. Louis.
Team news
Sporting Kansas City
Kortne Ford is out after undergoing Achilles surgery and Kayden Pierre is also sidelined with a hamstring injury.
Willy Agada (illness), Jake Davis (knee sprain), Tim Leibold (groin), Alan Pulido (foot), Johnny Russell (groin) and Erik Thommy (calf) are all questionable.
St. Louis City SC
Rasmus Alm is the only player on the list for the expansion side is the Swedish winger will miss out through a sports hernia injury.
Predicted lineups
Sporting Kansas City: Melia; Ndenbe, Fontàs, Rosero, Davis; Kinda, Radoja, Walter; Sallói, Pulido, Russell
St. Louis City SC: Bürki; Hiebert, Parker, Yaro, Watts; Blom; Vassliev, Stroud; Löwen; Adeniran, Klauss
Ones to watch
Alan Pulido (Sporting Kansas City)
Although he didn't get on the scoresheet in Game 1, the combination of possible absences by Russell and Thommy as well as a St. Louis team fighting for their postseason lives means that Pulido, who scored 14 goals during the regular season, will need to be at his best if SKC is to complete the upset.
Joao Klauss (St. Louis City SC)
His return to the lineup completed the St. Louis attack and he was joint top scorer on the club with ten goals but manager Bradley Carnell decided not to start his other ten-goal scorer Nicolas Gioacchini in Game 1 and should that be the case again, Klauss will be the most dangerous weapon on the field for the Western Conference regular-season champions.
Previous meetings
St. Louis won two of three in the regular season but Kansas City turned the tables by dominating Game 1 by, as mentioned above, a 4-1 scoreline.
Ndenbe opened the scoring by beating likely MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Roman Burki from the left side but a minute later, Parker leveled as he finished from close range after the ball caromed off an SKC defender and right to him.
On 36 minutes, Burki made a kick save from a shot by Kinda only to see Walter on hand to tuck home the rebound to give Kansas City a 2-1 lead, and Kinda doubled the advantage three minutes later.
In the 61st minute, the scoring was completed after Pulido's flicked header found Salloi and the Hungarian finished with his left foot as SKC emphatically pulled off the upset.
How to watch
The match will be streamed nationally on Apple TV + with Jake Zivin as the play-by-play announcer and Taylor Twellman serving as analyst.
Kickoff is set for 5pm Eastern time.