Match Day #30 Game Thread: Sporting Kansas City vs. Philadelphia Union

Game Information: Sporting Kansas City vs. Philadelphia Union

Where: Sporting Park, Kansas City, Kansas

When: 8:00 PM ET

Channel: NBCSN

Commentators: John Strong and Robbie Earle

Meet the Opposition: The Daily Wiz

Officials: Ricardo Salazar. Assistants: Corey Rockwell  and Chris Strickland. Fourth: Younes Marrakchi

SUSPENDED: No one

HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME: 1-3-3 with 8 goals

AT SPORTING PARK: 0-1-1 with 0 goals

Injury Report: PHI: Questionable: Keon Daniel. SKC: Out: Nana Attakore, Mehdi Ballouchy, Ty Harden, Tommy Muller, Marcus Tracy. Questionable: Clarence Goodson

Philadelphia Union starting XI: (4-2-3-1)  Zac MacMath, Raymon Gaddis, Jeff Parke, Amobi Okugo, Sheanon Williams; Brian Carroll, Michael Lahoud; Fabinho, Michael Farfan, Danny Cruz, Conor Casey

Philadelphia Union bench: Oka Nikolov, Leo Fernandes, Roger Torres, Sebastien Le Toux, Aaron Wheeler, Jack McInerney, Antoine Hoppenot

Sporting Kansas City starting XI: Nielsen; Myers, Collin, Opara, Sinovic; Rosell, Feilhaber, Zusi; Sapong, Dwyer, Peterson

Sporting Kansas City bench: Kronberg, Besler, Gardner, Olum, Joseph, Saad, Bieler

The Union's formation is reportedly a 4-2-3-1, with Lahoud and Carroll in the double pivot. If that's the case, goodnight, sweet playoff dreams.

The teams are meeting for the second time this season. In the first match of the season, the Union recorded an early goal before succumbing to a 3-1 defeat in the opening match of the season.

Sporting Kansas City sit in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference and are quite comfortable with their position. They are currently nine points clear of sixth place and five points clear of fourth place. With so little games left in the season, they are looking closer and closer like a lock for the top 3 in the 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs.

The Philadelphia Union continue to fight for their playoff lives, and this time, there may be a point of no return. The Union have been in a number of "must win" games over the course of the last five games, but if the Union do not pick up a win here, it gets harder and harder to see how the Union will be able to sneak in. The Union in their last five games have managed just one goal and zero wins. Suffice to say, this is a cold streak that needs to end should the Union have any hope of picking up a victory tonight and re-entering the fold as a playoff contender.

Use the thread below as a place to discuss the game and please remember to follow @brotherlygameand @tbglive on Twitter for updates.