A chance at first place and a potential playoff berth are on the line. There’s not much more that needs to be said about tonight’s top of the East clash at Sporting KC, except maybe that you can catch the game LIVE on NBC Sports Network at 7:30pm CT.
Still I feel contractually obligated to point out five things you should know about tonight’s game…
- Logan at 299 – If the Fire captain steps onto the field Friday night he’ll make his 299th competitive appearance for the club, which would set the Fire captain up to make a milestone 300th appearance in the club’s 15th Anniversary match on Wednesday vs. Philadelphia.
Anniversary Night Tickets Still Available - Unbeaten on NBC Sports Network – The Fire play their fourth game of the season tonight on NBC Sports Network. The Men in Red have done rather well on Major League Soccer’s first-year national broadcast partner, going 3-0-0 previously in a wins at Toronto FC (3-0 on April 21), vs. New York (3-1 on June 17) and at Sporting KC (1-0 on June 29).
Overall this season the Fire are 6-3-1 on national television, losing all three games to Western Conference opponents, two of which came on Galavision (2-0 at Colorado on April 1 and 2-1 at Portland on May 20). The other defeat came 2-0 to the LA Galaxy on July 8. - Unbeaten in Kansas – It’s been well known over the years that the Fire hold a bit of an edge over Sporting Kansas City, going 23-10-9 in regular season play back to the days when they were the Wizards. The Fire also actually hold a slight edge over Kansas City in away matches going 8-7-7 all-time. The newest stat that didn’t become apparent to me until this week though, the Fire are unbeaten all-time since Sporting moved to the Kansas side of the city in 2008.
- The above is a good point because that’s really all the Fire need here. A win would be nice but a draw wouldn’t be catastrophic with Sporting still having to visit New York one more time this season and the Fire holding a game in hand. Hope for a win but don’t be devastated with a draw unless...
- …You’d like to see the Fire clinch the team’s first playoff berth since 2009 this weekend. How do they do that?
First, there’s no way the Fire can move into the postseason without first defeating Kansas City tonight. If they do that, then the attention moves to Saturday when Columbus hosts Philadelphia and Houston welcomes New England. If either team lose, combined with a Fire win, Frank Klopas’ side has booked its ticket. If the Fire win and Columbus draws, the same is true.
Go Fire.
