MLS

Sporting Kansas City 3–4 Philadelphia Union

Final score · Half-time 3–0 · Latest results

Our backtest says that, with the sharp market making Philadelphia Union the most likely outcome at 61% (fair odds 1.63), Betano offered 1.65, a gap of +0.9% above the fair price (Micro-edge). This was reconstructed on 26 September 2026, not recorded at the time. Recent form — Sporting Kansas City: WLLLD; Philadelphia Union: WWWWD.

After the whistle

Match stats

Match statsSporting Kansas CityPhiladelphia Union
Possession %4555
Expected goals (xG)1.010.65
Shots1011
Shots on target68
Corners34
Yellow cards34
Red cards00
Fouls1114
Offsides01
Goalkeeper saves53
Pass accuracy %7984

What the market said before kick-off

  • Sporting Kansas City win 16% did not happen
  • Draw 19% did not happen
  • Philadelphia Union win 65% happened
  • Backtest flag (reconstructed afterwards, not recorded at the time): 2 · Philadelphia Union @ 1.65 (Betano) Won

CLV +7.3% vs the fair close. One flag on its own says little; the rule is judged on all of them.

Pinnacle closing price with the margin removed, next to what happened. It is the market's view, not a tip: an outcome priced at 30% happens about 3 times in 10.

Referee: E. Koroleva · Venue: Children's Mercy Park, Kansas City

Next matches

Line-ups, events and match stats: API-Football.

Starting line-ups

Sporting Kansas City 4-4-2

  1. Stefan Cleveland GK
  2. Justin Reynolds DF
  3. Moises Mosquera DF
  4. Wyatt Meyer DF
  5. Emir Karić DF
  6. André Luiz MF
  7. Lasse Berg Johnsen MF
  8. Kwaku Agyabeng MF
  9. Calvin Harris MF
  10. Taylor Calheira FW
  11. Stephen Afrifa FW

Regular starters not in the XI

  • Capita — not in the starting XI (started 4 of the last 5)

Philadelphia Union 4-4-2

  1. Andre Blake GK
  2. Frankie Westfield DF
  3. Neil Pierre DF
  4. Nathan Harriel DF
  5. Kai Wagner DF
  6. Cavan Sullivan MF
  7. Danley Jean Jacques MF
  8. Jovan Lukić MF
  9. Indiana Vassilev MF
  10. Milan Iloski FW
  11. Bruno Damiani FW

Not in the XI does not mean injured: it can be rotation, a suspension or a knock. We only compare with the team's last 5 line-ups.

Pinnacle, margin removed (home / draw / away): 16 / 19 / 65% when the line-ups came out, 16 / 19 / 65% at kick-off. The price barely moved after the line-ups.

In the big leagues, line-up news is usually already in the price by the time it is official.

The most likely result is not the same as value: value is where a bookmaker pays more than the fair price, and the two can point to different outcomes.

Value check before kick-off Micro-edge

2 Philadelphia Union @ 1.65
Bookmaker Betano
Price observed
Rule would have fired (backtest) @ 1.65 (Betano) · backtest — reconstructed afterwards
Market 1X2 (match result)
Availability and exact price varied by country and over time.
Fair price 1.63
Betano 1.65
Market Gap +0.9%
Value flag result Won · 2 +0.65u

Market discrepancy: before kick-off, Philadelphia Union (2) was priced at 1.65 by a soft bookmaker, above the fair price of 1.63 — a +0.9% gap. An observation about the price, not an instruction to bet.

The gap was smaller than 1.5% — likely to vanish in rounding, latency or line movement. We logged it for transparency, but it was not a strong signal.

A single result where a bookmaker pays above the fair price — separate from the main prediction below.

Most likely result

2 Away win 59% · as recorded
1X2
Sharp, recorded20%21%59%
Other estimates
Our model23%21%56%

Sharp, recorded = Pinnacle when we logged the match (it can be days old). Our model = our own estimate, which on average predicts worse than the market.

Fair odds of the pick (as recorded) 1.70
Sharp odds recorded for this prediction (Pinnacle) 4.50 / 4.38 / 1.65
Pick result (single or double chance) Won · 2

Value lifecycle Settled

Would have been flagged (backtest) ·
2 Philadelphia Union · soft 1.65 (Betano) · fair 1.63 · edge +0.9%
Opening sharp
1.65
At close
1.54 · CLV +7.3%
Result
Won +0.65u Backtest

“Detected” is the moment the flag was first shown on the site and written to our ledger (recorded live since 26 September 2026). For earlier matches the flag was reconstructed afterwards from the prices we had stored, and the time shown is when the rule would have fired: a backtest, not a live record. When the gap closes, we say so instead of pretending the value is still there.

Match context

Sporting Kansas City averaged 1.6 goals scored and 2.2 conceded per game over their last 5 matches in our results database; Philadelphia Union averaged 3.2 and 0.4 over 5.

Since opening around 1.65, the sharp market price on Philadelphia Union has shortened to 1.54 — the market has moved towards this outcome.

These figures come from our own tracked results and odds snapshots for this fixture — not from a generic stats feed.

Market-relevant trends

Philadelphia Union has won its last 4 matches.
No value Already reflected in the fair price — no value on Philadelphia Union here.

We show the trend and whether it is already in the price. Most sites show the streak and let you assume you should bet it.

Why this price?

Sporting Kansas City
W L L L D
avg 1.6 scored · 2.2 conceded (last 5)
Philadelphia Union
W W W W D
avg 3.2 scored · 0.4 conceded (last 5)

Form: most recent match first.

Recent form and head-to-head from our settled results — context behind the fair price. The price itself comes from the sharp market, not from these alone.

Public, timestamped record

Logged before kick-off
Prediction record
Pick 2 · Away win
Odds recorded for the prediction 1.65
Pinnacle closing odds (with margin) 1.51
Prediction CLV +9.3%
Result Won
Value-bet record

Backtest: reconstructed on 26 September 2026 by applying today’s rule to the prices stored before kick-off. It was not shown in this form at the time; its seal was created at the reconstruction, which for matches already played was after the match.

Value selection 2 · Philadelphia Union
Odds when the rule would have fired (reconstructed) 1.65
Fair odds 1.63
Fair closing odds (Pinnacle, margin removed) 1.54
Value CLV +7.3%
Profit (units) +0.65
Result Won
Prediction hash — integrity fingerprint c576bc126d672538

This hash fingerprints the prediction as recorded: teams, kick-off time, our model probabilities, the Pinnacle prices recorded for it (at logging or, if there were none, the first quoted after logging and before kick-off, which can be written in after the match) and the log time. A later edit to any of them would change it (a rescheduled kick-off changes it too). It does not cover closing prices, the result or the value-bet record above; value flags recorded live have their own seal in the public record. Verify in the public record →

Every day a snapshot of the full public record is published to a public Git repository and timestamped with OpenTimestamps. Timestamped snapshots are never overwritten and the Git history shows any difference, so a later change to a past row is visible by comparing two snapshots. The corrections file lists the corrections we announced. Verify on the public log →

Since 20 June 2026 the public record is snapshotted daily (07:40 Bucharest time: 04:40 UTC in summer time, 05:40 UTC in winter) to an external log. A prediction is externally timestamped before kick-off only if it was in a snapshot taken before the match; predictions logged on match day, or whose Pinnacle price was added after logging, first appear there after kick-off. Value flags have been recorded live only since 26 September 2026; earlier value flags were reconstructed on that date.

Methodology

The fair price comes from the sharp market itself: we strip the margin from Pinnacle-style odds — the most accurate public predictor in existence — and use our calibrated Elo + form model as a cross-check and as the fallback where no sharp price exists. Value is flagged only where a softer bookmaker prices a selection above that fair price, never on long shots (implied probability under 30%), and never beyond a plausible band. Most of the time there is no value — and we say so.

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