A 6 Pointer

Sporting Kansas City closes out their home stand tomorrow afternoon against the Houston Dynamo. At this moment, KC is only 2 points clear of the third place Dynamo. The two teams have played the same number of games, and with 7 games still left on the season, now is the time to really start picking up the form level getting ready to head into the playoffs. Houston comes into the game without a win on the road this season, going 0-5-8 away from Robertson Stadium this season. The Dynamo though have been tough for Kansas City to beat though. Since the Dynamo started in Houston, Kansas City have only beaten the Dynamo once at home, and that was last year's dramatic come from behind 4-3 win.

Kansas City really needs to get their form going in the right direction again. They've gotten 1 point out of their last two games against two of the best teams in the West. If KC wants to have a legitimate shot at the title, they need to start picking up points against the top level teams. KC has the chance to start that tomorrow against the 3rd place Dynamo and continue that as 3 of their next 4 are against top 4 teams in the East. Against the Dynamo tomorrow afternoon though KC will face them without the man who drew two red cards in the game down in Houston. Aurelien Collin is suspended for the game due to yellow card accumulation after picking up a yellow vs LA on Monday. KC will also probably be without Kei Kamara, at least as a starter. Kamara only today got back to KC from Sierra Leone after their African Cup of Nations victory over Egypt. With his body still about half a world away maybe he's on the bench, but I don't think that he'll be starting tomorrow.

Nielsen
Myers - Cesar - Besler - Sinovic
Jeferson - Espinoza - Zusi
Bravo - Bunbury - Sapong

Number to Remember - 2 - That's the number of games KC is now winless at home, something they need to reverse if they want to do anything in the playoffs this season. It's also the number of league wins that KC has all time vs Houston, not the best record either.

Key Match Up - Matt Besler and Julio Cesar vs Brian Ching and Carlo Costly - Houston's two target strikers are going to be difficult for Besler and Cesar to deal with. Without Collin to get in either's head it's going to take some very strong defending from KC's center back pairing to shut down the two.

PREDICTION - KC knows that this is a game that need to win if they want to A) avoid a wild card play in game and B) prove that they're one of the best in the East. With the Dynamo's poor record on the road this game should be one that KC is able to take. Still the big X factor in this game is going to be the field at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. With there being a chance of storms tomorrow the field could take a huge beating and really be in bad shape during the game. Still KC should have enough to win this game tomorrow.

SKC - 2 (Bravo, Zusi)
HOU - 1 (Ching)