Amidst the number of injuries Sporting Kansas City have had this season, they clinched a playoff berth last Friday. Going into week 32, the battle against injuries hasn’t showed any signs of ending. With more injuries piling up, who will play for SKC this Saturday at PPL Park against the Philadelphia Union?
SKC defender Matt Besler, who has been playing his last few games with a cast on his left arm, looked uncomfortable walking off the field in Florida on Tuesday night. Besler played for the U.S. Men’s National Team in a friendly against Honduras and ended the game nursing his hamstring, the same injury he sustained during the World Cup.
On Thursday night, he was officially ruled out of Saturday’s game early. The injury has been confirmed to affect his hamstring, but it isn’t a strain. Besler should be fit by the playoffs.
In addition to losing Besler, Sporting’s defense is still missing Aurelien Collin and Erik Palmer-Brown. Palmer-Brown is out for the season with a fractured foot, but Collin trained with the team this week, but his appearance on Saturday is still questonable.
“I twisted my ankle pretty bad,” Collin told MLSsoccer.com earlier this week. “I was expecting a fast recovery, but I took my time. It’s most important that I can be back at 100 percent.”
Collin’s status will be announced tomorrow after the team practice in Philadelphia.
Andy Gruenebaum, who fought to keep his goalkeeping spot on the starting lineup after Eric Kronberg’s injury healed, is next on the list. Gruenebaum’s own injury occurred during training Thursday. While Sporting manager Peter Vermes hasn’t released details surrounding Gruenebaum, it’s safe to assume Kronberg will be starting again Saturday night.
The defensive side of Sporting KC is hurting, but with guys like Kevin Ellis filling in and delivering game winning assists, they should be alright.
It seems the SKC players are training even harder now with the playoffs are in sight. Dom Dwyer took a spill earlier this week during practice as well. Dwyer will be in the lineup for Saturday, though, and looking to tack on some goals to beat Bradley Wright-Phillips for the Golden Boot. BWP has 25 season goals to his 21, but Dwyer isn’t giving up with the New York Red Bulls to meet after the Union match.
Union interim manager Jim Curtin said his guys “are crushed” about their defeat to Columbus Crew and is worried about Sporting because “they play the same whether they’re down three guys” or not. Curtin also said moral isn’t the highest, but his guys are staying confident. They have reason to be confident, as the Union have had positive outcomes in their past meetings with Sporting.
Sporting does have a high amount of playable talent even with constant injuries all season. I expect them to pull out a win Saturday night. The game has been voted as the MLS stream of the week and can be viewed on MLSsoccer.com or MLSlive, with kickoff scheduled at 7:30 CT.
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