Atlanta United: Things to know about Sporting Kansas City

ATLANTA — Atlanta United took sole possession atop the MLS Eastern Conference after defeating the Chicago Fire 2-1, combined with a loss by NYCFC. Sitting at 22 points, the Five Stripes (7-1-1) used a strong second-half performance to stretch its unbeaten streak to eight straight games.

Ezequiel Barco started the scoring trend for Atlanta United in the 53rd minute of the second half, followed by Josef Martinez adding the second goal in the 57th minute, notching his league-leading seventh goal of the season.

While Chicago had several opportunities to score during the match, the Fire did not find their first and only goal of the match until several minutes after Martinez’s tap-in goal.

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Down the stretch, the Five Stripes’ defense -- a unit that at times gave up some close calls throughout the match – managed to keep Chicago from earning a second goal.

Atlanta United now turns its attention to Sporting Kansas City, which sits atop the MLS Western Conference with 20 points and averages two points per game.

Here are a few things to know about Sporting Kansas City.

Manager/Technical Director: Peter Vermes

Sporting Kansas City (6-2-2) sits four points ahead of its next closest conference opponent in Los Angeles Football Club. Out of its six wins for the season, two of them have come on the road against Chicago Fire and the LA Galaxy, two teams the Five Stripes have defeated.

In 2017, SKC finished fifth in the western conference with 49 points, behind the Houston Dynamo, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Seattle Sounders FC and Portland Timbers.

Atlanta United rallied and played Sporting Kansas City to a 1-1 draw. Latif Blessing drew a penalty against Leandro Pirez, setting up Benny Feilhaber to score for Sporting Kansas City in the 59th minute. Atlanta United used a score from Jacob Peterson in the 69th minute to bring the score to 1-1. Both teams failed to score over the next 20 minutes.

Johnny Russell, forward: Russell is tied with his teammate Felipe Gutierrez for the most goals on the team with five (5). The forward also leads the club in shots (35) and shots on goal with 14.

Felipe Gutierrez, midfielder: Gutierrez is tied with Russell with five goals for SKC. He has also recorded 19 shots and 10 shots on goal, the second-most of the club.

Roger Espinoza, midfielder: Espinoza leads the club in assists with five.

Daniel Salloi, forward: Salloi has recorded the second-most shots (26) and shots on goal (8) for the club.

Tim Melia, goalkeeper: Melia has recorded 30 saves and four shutouts on 43 shots faced.

Wednesday’s match kicks off at 7:30 p.m.

Cox Media Group