KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Sporting Kansas City II plays host to Birmingham Legion FC on Friday night at Children’s Mercy Park as the visitors enter with a chance to both move into first place in the USL Championship’s Central Division and clinch a place in the USL Championship Playoffs for a third consecutive year. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.

@SportingKCII (4-14-8, 20pts) earned a 1-1 draw with FC Tulsa in its last outing last Friday night as a second-half goal by Kayden Pierre leveled for the hosts at Children’s Mercy Park after Tulsa had taken an early lead. The goal was Pierre’s first in the professional ranks, adding to the two assists and 15 key passes the 18-year-old SKC Academy product has notched in 22 appearances this season. Sporting has been led this season by Enoch Mushagalusa, who has recorded seven goals and two assists, while young midfielder Jake Davis has recorded five assists and 29 key passes to lead the club in both categories. While the playoffs are almost out of reach for this season, the club has produced some positive results against the teams vying for the postseason, and in its penultimate home game of the season will be hoping to upend Legion FC.

@BHMLegion (14-7-5, 47pts) will be looking to avoid dropped points, though, as with a win the side would claim its third consecutive trip to the postseason as it holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over OKC Energy FC – whose maximum points total is now 50 after its draw on Wednesday night with Indy Eleven – and jump past Louisville City FC into first place in the Central Division. Legion FC is coming off a 2-1 victory last Sunday evening against the Charlotte Independence that saw Neco Brett record his 15th goal of the season and Eli Crognale record his first professional goal with an outstanding long-range winner at BBVA Field. Brett is now tied for third in the Championship in goals and has reached 59 goals for his career in the Championship. Should he find the net on Friday, he would become only the eighth player to reach 60 regular-season goals in the league’s history.

FiveThirtyEight.com Match Predictor: Sporting Kansas City II 29%, Birmingham Legion FC 44%, Draw 27%

Most Recent Lineups

Sporting Kansas City II (4-3-3): John Pulskamp; Kayden Pierre, Kaveh Rad, Danny Barbir, Isaiah LeFlore; Christian Duke, Petar Cuic, Jake Davis; Enoch Mushagalusa, Ozzie Cisneros, Rojay Smith

Birmingham Legion FC (4-2-3-1): Matt VanOekel; Jonathan Dean, Alex Crognale, Phanuel Kavita, Ryan James; Anderson Asiedu, Thomas Vancaeyezeele; Prosper Kasim, Bruno Lapa, JJ Williams; Neco Brett

Discipline

Sporting Kansas City II – None

Birmingham Legion FC – None