Sporting Kansas City (15-7-6, 51 points) is back atop the Western Conference following a 5-1 road win over the San Jose Earthquakes (4-16-8, 20 points) on Saturday night at Avaya Stadium. Manager Peter Vermes' side occupy first place, where they spent 15 consecutive weeks until relinquishing the spot at the start of July, thanks to a two-goal, two-assist performance from Gerso Fernandes, along with goals from Felipe Gutierrez, Ike Opara and Krisztian Nemeth.
Sporting KC now have six wins in the club's last seven matches as the squad scored five goals in a regular season road game for only the second time, the last coming on April 29, 2000.