Sporting K.C. kick off 4-game road swing at Houston

Sporting Kansas City embark on a four-match road swing throughout June that begins Saturday with a visit to the rival Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium.

Sporting K.C. (3-5-5, 14 points) will not play at Children's Mercy Park until July 3.

SKC took a 2-0 home loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday night, succumbing to second-half strikes from Favio Alvarez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

"I don't think it was a 2-0 game," Sporting K.C. coach Peter Vermes said. "I think we missed too many really good chances in the game. To me, the fact that we couldn't finish those chances is what put us at 2-0. We should have been winning 2-0 at some point. That's the game sometimes."

Sporting K.C. will be playing its third game in seven days on Saturday, which will be a challenge for Vermes' injury-depleted squad.

"The fact that we had to play Sunday, Wednesday and then Saturday with the group of guys we have coming back from injury, it's just very difficult," Vermes said.

Houston (7-3-2, 23 points) has not played since a 1-0 loss at Minnesota United on Saturday. Minnesota took the lead in the 20th minute after Romain Metanire's cross deflected off a Dynamo defender outside the box and looped into the Dynamo goal at the far post.

This is the last season for Dynamo midfielder DaMarcus Beasley, who announced his retirement this month.

"This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision," he said Wednesday. "I felt that I was ready to try something new, to put my effort and time and heart and sweat into something else. And I think that after this year, I'm 100 percent ready to do that."

Houston has a 6-0-2 record at home. Striker Mauro Manotas (six goals, four assists) and winger Alberth Elis (four goals, six assists) have accounted for exactly half of the Dynamo's 20 goals this year.

Since 2011, the clubs have met 30 times in all competitions. Sporting leads during that span by a margin of 11-10-9.

--Field Level Media