Earthquakes 0 - 1 Sporting Kansas City
Final
  for this game

Streaking 'Quakes head to K.C. for Friday fixture

Jun 16, 2011 - 6:10 PM Kansas City, KS (Sports Network) - The San Jose Earthquakes take a six-game unbeaten run - including four wins in that span - to Kansas City to take on a Sporting side that seems to be finding its way on Friday.

Both clubs are coming off decisive wins in their most recent fixtures, with San Jose winning 4-2 at D.C. United on Saturday and Sporting topping FC Dallas 4-1 on Sunday.

Sporting (2-6-4) earned just its second win of the season after playing all but one of its first 11 games on the road. Saturday begins a stretch of 12 of 15 games at home, so K.C. is hoping to start climbing the table.

The team used a scoreless draw to open its new home - Livestrong Sporting Park - as a jumping off point four days earlier before earning the impressive win at Dallas.

"This was a tough one for us, we expended a lot of nervous energy Thursday night and to come back down here in such a short turnaround and knowing full well the game was played at six o'clock and knowing the heat was going to be factor," K.C. coach Peter Vermes said.

Now, with Sporting returning home, they hope to stretch San Jose's winless run in K.C. to six games.

But the 'Quakes (5-4-4) are a confident team, coming off back-to-back wins during the six-game unbeaten streak that has seen the team score 14 goals during the span.

"We're the Bad News Bears," San Jose goalkeeper Jon Busch told mlssoccer.com. "We just go and play. We don't really talk about the streak. We're not concerned about the streak. We're just concerned about picking up points every game and moving up the table."

Starting his second straight game because of international call-ups, San Jose striker Steven Lenhart scored his first professional hat trick in the win at D.C., with all four of his goals this season coming in the past two games.






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