Sporting Kansas City entered the penultimate week of the MLS regular season with their chances of a first round bye fading. On the back of a three-game winless run, Sporting were faced with road trip that would take them to Vancouver then to first-place FC Dallas in an effort to gain momentum and avoid the midweek Knockout Round that has proved their undoing in each of the past four seasons.
Going into halftime on Wednesday, the Whitecaps led 1-0 through a Felipe goal as they sought to improve their own playoff hopes. A late surge with three goals in the final eight minutes buoyed SKC onto an impressive 4-1 win that drew them level with LAFC, and just a point behind Dallas.