Vancouver-Sporting KC preview

Sporting Kansas City, holding onto an uncomfortable fifth place in the Western Conference, hosts eighth-place Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday at Kansas City, Mo., with the chance to widen its lead and the risk of falling into deeper peril.

The third regular-season meeting between SKC (10-11-5, 35 points) and Vancouver (8-11-6, 30 points) is closer than it appears, as Vancouver has a game in hand.

With San Jose (7-6-10) having three games in hand on SKC and two on Vancouver, a win on the road against a team with one of the playoff positions would carry a lot of impact for the Whitecaps.

Vancouver has lost three straight games and is winless in five in a row, having collected just two points over the last month. The Whitecaps have failed to score in a club-record four straight road matches, spanning 366 minutes, since June 25. They suffered a 2-1 home defeat to San Jose August 12.

Despite the recent struggles, no team has more regular-season road wins since the start of 2015 than Vancouver's 10. Pedro Morales leads the Whitecaps with six assists and six goals -- five of which come from the penalty spot, including a successful conversion against Sporting KC on March 12.

David Ousted, a 2015 Goalkeeper of the Year finalist, has a league-best 90 saves for a Vancouver defense that has faced 15.2 shots per game, third most in MLS.

Sporting is in a stretch of five games in 15 days, including a 2-2 draw Tuesday at Central FC in Trinidad and Tobago in the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.

Regular starters including Dom Dwyer, Benny Feilhaber and Graham Zusi were rested for the trip and are likely to appear Saturday. Dwyer is coming off his fourth multi-goal game of 2016 in Saturday's 2-2 tie at FC Dallas.

At halftime, Sporting Kansas City assistant coach and former midfielder Kerry Zavagnin will be inducted into the club's Sporting Legends hall of honor.