First place in the Eastern Conference is on the line tonight as the Union face Sporting Kansas City at LIVESTRONG Park (8:30PM/Fox Soccer). A lot has happened since these two teams played to a 0-0 draw at PPL Park back on June 22nd.
The Union went two months without a win, finally picking up three points thanks to a 1-0 win over Columbus on Saturday. Meanwhile, Kansas City is 7-3-6 since that June 22nd match in Chester. In that time they’ve gone from last place in the conference to second – just a point behind conference-leader Columbus (KC has played one more game than the Union).
How have they done it? Well, they’ve gone 7-2-5 at home since opening LIVESTRONG Park on June 9th. They are tied with the LA Galaxy for third in the MLS in goals scored with 43 (Seattle is first with 46, New York is second with 44). They boast one of the most balanced offensive attacks in all of MLS.
Kei Kamara and Designated Player Omar Bravo each have 8 goals. Teal Bunbury has 7, Graham Zusi has five, and C.J. Sapon has four. For comparison sake, consider that Carlos Ruiz, who left the Union on a transfer back in mid-July, is still the Union’s second leading scorer with 6 goals (Sebastien Le Toux leads the way with 7).
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Shutting down the Kansas City attack will be all the more difficult considering starting keeper Faryd Mondragon remains sidelined with a broken finger, and right back Sheanon Williams will miss the game because of a concussion.
Perhaps Peter Nowak will feature the Farfan brothers on the outside? Could newcomer Morgan Langley slide back there from his more natural midfield position? Do we see newcomer Joe Tait? I suppose another option is to move Carlos Valdes outside and start Stefani Miglioranzi in the middle alongside Danny Califf. Just pray that Miglioranzi does not end up as the right back.
The fact of the matter is, at this point it wouldn’t surprise me if
Nowak plucked someone out of the crowd and plugged him in at right back.
At this point I know enough that I have no idea what he’s going to do
with his lineup on a game to game basis. I mean, he gave 16 year old
homegrown player Zack Pfeffer his first ever start in Saturday’s
showdown with first place Columbus.
One somewhat odd late development is the news that Freddy Adu is not in K.C. with the team, and will not play tonight. There was no indication leading up to the game that Adu would be unavailable. That was before he tweeted the following:
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@FreddyAdu11
Freddy
Adu
Good luck to the union tonight against kansas city. Wish i could be
there with them. #Doop
Sep
23 via webFavoriteRetweetReply
Again, it's unclear why Adu is not with the team. I am sure Nowak will be cooperative and fully forthcoming when the beat writers ask him why Adu did not make the trip .
Whatever he ends up doing, one thing you can be certain of is that Nowak is definitely not scared. Consider - seven of the eleven starters against Columbus were 23 years old or younger. What manager does that in a must-win game, in the midst of a two month winless streak, against the conference leader? Peter Nowak, that’s who.
Lineup I'd like to see tonight: Zac MacMath, Michael Farfan, Danny Califf, Carlos Valdes, Gabe Farfan, Brian Carroll, Pfeffer, Amobi Okugo, Roger Torres, Sebastien Le Toux, Danny Mwanga
Final Score Prediction: An Eastern Conference team has yet to win a game at LIVESTRONG Park. I don’t think that changes tonight. I see Kansas City winning this one 2-1.
The Toni Stahl Memorial Player Most Likely To See Red: I have no idea, but let’s hope it’s not MacMath, who will be backed-up by the recently signed Chase Harrison. Harrison was playing for USL-Pro affiliate Harrisburg City Islanders. With Mondragon injured, and Thorne Holder out with a concussion the Union needed to sign a backup keeper for this match.