LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Football Club hosts Sporting Kansas City at 10:30 p.m. ET Saturday at Banc of California Stadium. It will be the teams’ first meeting. Here’s what you need to know heading into the match:
- LAFC is 10-6-6 so far this season and remains undefeated at home with a 5-0-5 record. The expansion side sits in fourth place in the Western Conference with 36 points through 22 games.
- Sporting Kansas City is in third place in the West, also with 36 points through 22 games and a 10-6-6 record. SKC is 4-4-3 on the road.
- LAFC’s most recent match was a loss to the Houston Dynamo in the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night. The match went to extra time and eight rounds of penalty kicks, in which several players on both teams exhibited signs of cramping.
- Two LAFC starters previously played for SKC: Benny Feilhaber (2013-2017) and Latif Blessing (2017).
- LAFC is in the middle of a busy couple weeks that includes five games from Aug. 5-19. The match against SKC starts a three-game home stand, with a match Wednesday night against RSL and Sunday night against Colorado.
- Saturday will be a homecoming match for Christian Ramirez, a newly-acquired forward from Minnesota United FC, who grew up in Southern California. Ramirez was traded for up to $1 million in allocation money and will help with roster depth through this busy stretch.
- No LAFC players are suspended for this match, but Walker Zimmerman faces suspension due to yellow card accumulation after one more yellow card.
- Forward Adama Diomande is still listed as questionable for the match against SKC due to hamstring irritation.