Sporting Kansas City vs. D.C. United: TV schedule, lineups, prediction and GameThread

It's never fun to suffer through a bye week after a loss. Especially a home loss. But, D.C. United fans, we've made it. Tonight, we get to watch our boys in black take on... a team we haven't beaten - it feels like - since the Eisenhower administration. On the road. And we have major injuries. Um.... which will all make our inevitable victory over Sporting Kansas City tonight all the more glorious? Yeah, I'll go with that one. Sounds good.

Oh, and when I say "we get to watch," well, it's all relative, I suppose - "we" is those of us either with MLS subscription packages or access to a watering hole that will be showing the game. So... nope, I can't save that one. That one's just bad.

Time: 8:30 pm EDT

Venue: Sporting Park, Kansas City, Kansas

TV: MLS Live, no local TV coverage in the DMV.

Projected D.C. Lineup: It seems like we're not far off from an all-injured D.C. XI that could start over a healthy XI - guys like John Thorrington and Nick DeLeon are on the shelf for the next several weeks, Dwayne De Rosario is out for at least this week, and Lewis Neal is sidelined indefinitely. All of which makes picking tonight's starting lineup tricky. I'm going to assume that Ben Olsen sticks to his 4-2-3-1, though. Bill Hamid in goal is an easy call. A back line of James Riley, Brandon McDonald, Dejan Jakovic and Chris Korb seems likely. Look for Perry Kitchen and Marcelo Saragosa in the defensive midfield, with Marcos Sanchez, Raphael Augusto and Chris Pontius more advanced. Rafael should get the start up top, relegating Lionard Pajoy to the bench to start for the first time this season.

Prediction: 1-0 Sporks. Like the Dynamo, this is a team that has our number. As much as I would love to see us put some goals on the board tonight, I'm not sure how we get past KC's defense without the likes of DeRo and DeLeon. Here's hoping I'm wrong.

What Are You Drinking?: It's nice otuside, so I'm going to say gin. I'll shake it with ice, a sprig of rosemary and a little simple syrup and then strain it. If you paid careful attention to our offseason Filibuster episodes where we called some classic United matches, you will have heard about this before. I'm fairly certain I created this drink, and it doesn't have a name that I love yet. If United win tonight, I'll officially name it forevermore after our man of the match.

As always, this is your place for pre-game, in-game and post-game discussion.