Match Preview - Sporting Kansas City
Game Info
Kickoff: 7:40pm CT
Watch: Apple TV
Location: Q2 Stadium - Austin, TX
All-Time H2H Record
Austin FC has an all-time record of 5W-3L-1D against Sporting KC.
Despite the favorable all-time results for Austin in this matchup, Sporting did win the last meeting on June 29 of last season at Children’s Mercy Park. That game was smack in the middle of the Copa America, leaving ATX without Dani Pereira and Julio Cascante. It was also before the summer transfer window opened, so guys like Osman Bukari, Mikkel Desler and Oleksandr Svatok had yet to suit up for the Verde and Black. The depth was so thin at that point of the season for Austin FC that Hector Jimenez and Jimmy Farkarlun both made appearances. It was one of the four times last season the club did not record a single shot on target… looking back at this stuff is making my skin crawl.
As you can probably infer from the all-time record, prior to that letdown, seeing Sporting KC pop up on the schedule had been quite favorable. Austin FC won five of the six games between these two teams from November 2021 to May 2024. That stretch included one of my favorite games ever played at Q2 Stadium, a 4-3 comeback victory that featured one of the most skilled goals ever scored by a player in an Austin FC uniform and a rare documented appearance by Washington “Manchita” Corozo.
Austin FC has won all four home games against Sporting KC by an aggregate scoreline of 12-7.
Sporting KC Recent Form
During the season we’ll talk about the recent form of the upcoming opponent here, but early in the year we’ll also include summaries of the upcoming opponent’s offseason. Because we’ve gained new listeners over the offseason who may be new to MLS (and let’s face it, the hype is off the charts for the 2025 season), I want to give a brief background on Sporting KC, or as the MLS lifers know them, the Kansas City Wiz.
The team was founded in 1995 by Lamar Hunt and was a charter member of MLS during the historical first season in 1996. The next year they officially changed the team name to the Kansas City Wizards, which stuck until 2010. As the Wizards, the club won the 2000 MLS Cup, a match that featured current Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes starting at CB and former Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff sub on in the 59’ for Chicago Fire.
The Wizards also won the 2004 US Open Cup, while losing the 2004 MLS Cup against DC United. That match featured Wolff on the losing end of a final once again, this time starting up top for the Wizards next to his former Austin FC assistant Davy Arnaud, who remains with ATX in 2025 as an assistant for new head coach Nico Estévez. On the DC United side of that 2004 MLS Cup final, current Houston Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen started in the midfield for the champions. Two weeks ago, Wolff was hired as one of Olsen’s assistants in Houston. Small world, huh?
Arnaud led the Wizards in scoring during the 2004 and 2008 seasons, while Wolff did the same in 2005 and 2009. In that 2009 season, Vermes was hired as head coach and in 2010 the team rebranded as Sporting KC and moved into their current digs at Children’s Mercy Park. In their first season as “Sporting KC”, Kei Kamara led the club in goals scored. Just as a quick aside, it’s incredible that Kamara, who turned 40 last year shortly after scoring an equalizing goal at Q2 Stadium for LAFC last summer, has been doing it this long. He’s up to 147 MLS goals, second only to Chris Wondolowski’s 171 in league history. Kamara is currently without a club, with rumors percolating that he could return to LAFC for the 2025 season.
The Vermes era has largely been a success when you look at the resume. Over his 16-year tenure, the club has finished as the top team in the Western Conference standings four times, winning MLS Cup once and the US Open Cup three times. The problem for a lot of Sporting KC fans is that most of that success is in what sports fans can sometimes consider the distant past. They finished at the top of the West in 2020, the season before Austin FC began play. They had a strong 2021, but finished third, thanks in part to Austin FC defeating them at Q2 Stadium on decision day. Since then, Sporting has taken a nose dive. They finished 12th in 2022, 8th in 2023 and 13th last season, just ahead of the historically bad San Jose Earthquakes. To their credit, beating the top seed St. Louis City SC in the first round of the 2023 playoffs was a great story line, but it’s far from enough to satiate the expectations of such a loyal, longstanding fan base.
Three years of mediocrity was apparently the limit for this front office, as Sporting executed some big plans this offseason. First, they had to jettison some of their long-time core pieces that had began to noticeably decline. The fact they were able to sell 33-year-old Alan Pulido to Chivas for a reported $1.45 million was a bit of a welcome surprise for the SKC faithful. They also decided to not retain team captain and “cult-hero” Johnny Russell (this is how the Sporting website itself describes him). Russell finished his SKC career with 60 goals and 40 assists in MLS play across 196 appearances. Other familiar names no longer on this roster include GK Tim Melia, CB Andreu Fontàs and CM Rémi Walter.
Then the spending started. It’s notable that this is the first time that Sporting KC have spent significant money during a transfer window since we started our MLS journey here in Austin. SKC became the first team to use the new “cash for player trade” system implemented by MLS this offseason by acquiring striker Dejan Joveljić from the defending MLS champion LA Galaxy for a $4 million fee. Joveljić, who recorded 15 goals and six assists for the champs last season, aged out of his U-22 Initiative contract with the Galaxy, making it a much more expensive proposition to retain him. Now, the 25-year-old attacking threat with 49 goal contributions in 106 career MLS appearances is a designated player for Sporting.
But, like Austin, SKC brought in a second designated player this offseason in the form of midfielder Manu García. The transaction was a unique one as they also bought Garcia’s teammate, 25-year-old Russian winger Shapi Suleymanov, from Aris Thessaloniki of the Greek first division. The deal for both players reportedly cost around $5 million combined, with García commanding a fee and salary high enough to hit the DP threshold.
García profiles as a pure chance creator. He’s racked up 61 goal contributions across nearly 300 career professional appearances in leagues including the Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1 and the Eredivisie. He should provide Sporting with a level of midfield distribution that they haven’t seen in many seasons and the connection with not only his running mate Suleymanov but new striker Joveljić could end up being what powers SKC back to the postseason.
Suleymanov was once a highly regarded prospect coming out of Russia. As a 20-year-old still with his original club FC Krasnodar, he scored a UEFA Champion’s League goal and was valued as high as $12 million on Transfermarkt that season (if you care about such things and from our point of view you should tread lightly with Transfermarkt), slightly more than six times the site's present valuation of the player.
With all the big names going out and coming in this winter, it’s important to note that Sporting also retained some high level talent. Guys like Daniel Salloi (52 goal contributions from 2021-2023 before dipping to just seven in his 30 appearances last season), Willie Agada (team-leading 10 goals on 16.25 xG in 1,729 minutes last season) and Erik Thommy (double digit contributions in each of the last two seasons) remain as holdovers in this attack.
Centerback Dany Rosero, a player I’ve personally been impressed with whenever Sporting comes to town, will take on a bigger leadership role at the back with Fontàs gone. He and his back line mates will have to step up as a whole, because from the outside looking in, defense could be where it all falls apart for KC in 2025. With Melia gone, they’ll turn back to 23-year-old GK John Pulskamp. If you watched the highlights I linked to in the head-to-head section, Pulskamp was in net for Sporting in that one. Ya know, the guy pounding the grass in frustration time and time again? This year feels like it’s Pulskamp’s “last chance” with Kansas City.
Overall, SKC haven’t done a thing to address the back line to this point of the transfer window and I imagine that it’s the biggest concern that any sickos in Kansas City have heading into the new season. This is a team that gave up 66 goals in their 34 league matches last season, 18 more than Austin FC conceded in 2024. Now that is what I call dismal.
Looking towards Saturday’s opener, there are some road blocks to Sporting KC being fully ready to go. First, García didn’t arrive in Kansas City until last Thursday February 13. Then Suleymanov took two additional days and touched down in the states on Satruday February 15.
This team (somewhat shockingly) had a real match prior to Saturday because they qualified for CONCACAF Champions Cup. Yes, the team that finished 13th out of 14 teams in the Western Conference last season will be playing in the CCC this season due to their second place finish in the 2024 US Open Cup. They “backed into” this spot due to LAFC, the 2024 US Open Cup Champions, qualfiying through other means (runners-up in the 2024 Leagues Cup).
Sporting kicked off their two-leg first round CCC matchup against Inter Miami at home on Wednesday night, a match that was postponed from Tuesday night due to snow. Both of the new arrivals were available off the bench, but only García entered the match, subbing on in the 62’ in what ended up being a 1-0 loss with Messi pushing the winner past Pulskamp.
The conditions were brutally cold for Wednesday’s match (2 degrees farenheit at the start of the match) and Sporting will have to turn around for kickoff scheduled in Austin less than 72 hours from when they walked off the pitch at Children’s Mercy Park in defeat.
Austin FC Recent Form
When we last convened for a match preview, Josh Wolff had just been fired and we declared that the club had officially moved into the “Austin FC 2.0” era. Since then, sporting director Rodolfo Borrell hit the accelerator and executed the most exciting offseason in club history. Let’s catch up on the offseason timeline after Austin FC’s decision day victory on October 19, 2024.
October 21 - Jáder Obrian signs contract extension
October 22 - Owen Wolff signs contract extension
October 23 - Brendan Hines-Ike signs contract extension
October 24 - Diego Rubio signs contract extension
October 25 - Nico Estévez announced as new Head Coach
November 5 - Contract options declined for Alex Ring, Ethan Finlay, Jhojan Valencia, Matt Hedges and Matt Bersano
November 5 - Contract options exercised for Dani Pereira and Jimmy Farkarlun
November 8 - Dani Pereira signs contract extension
December 9 - Austin FC exercises contract buyout on Gyasi Zardes
December 12 - Tom Bogert reports Austin FC in talks with free agent forward Fafà Picault
December 16 - Three assistant coaches announced, Davy Arnaud retained on staff
December 20 - Austin FC trades 1st round pick (12th overall) and $75k in 2026 GAM to Colorado Rapids for 2025 international roster slot
December 20 - Austin FC drafts Riley Thomas (42nd overall) and Patrick Gryczewski (72nd overall)
December 29 - Tom Bogert reports Fafà Picault chooses Inter Miami over Austin FC
December 31 - Austin FC signs Ilie Sánchez
January 6 - Austin FC signs Brandon Vázquez to designated player contract for reported club record $10m fee from CF Monterrey
January 16 - Austin FC signs Nicolás Dubersarsky to U-22 Initiative contract for reported $2.9m fee from Instituto ACC
January 17 - Austin FC sells Sebastián Driussi to River Plate for reported $10m fee plus an 8.5% sell-on
January 21 - Austin FC signs Besard Šabović
January 23 - Žan Kolmanič signs contract extension
January 24 - Austin FC signs Myrto Uzuni to designated player contract for reported club record $12m fee from Granada CF
January 31 - Austin FC loans Damian Las to Louisville City FC in the USL Championship for the 2025 season
January 31 - Guilherme Biro signs contract extension
February 10 - Mikkel Desler obtains Green Card, opening international roster slot
If you clocked out for the last few months, I’m jealous of the rush of excitement you just got learning all of this at once. If you had given me this list blindly, I might have passed out.
I’ve been chirping for the better part of a year that I expected Borrell to have a roster worthy of competing in the Western Conference by the start of the 2025 season. Thinking he should did not necesarily mean that all the pieces would fall so nicely into place, but man am I relieved to see that he has accomplished the mission.
Now, that doesn’t mean that Rodo will sit on his hands the rest of the year. As we discussed in Episode 200 on Sunday, Borrell was hinting to fans at last Thursday’s kit release event that he’s already working on at least one summer acquisition. But there is little doubt in my mind that this roster, on paper, is ready to seriously compete for not only a playoff spot, but a top four position in the West and home field advantage in a first round series.
Unfortunately, the games are not played on paper, so the brand new head coach and $30 million front line will have to go out and show the world they’re the right group for the job. Coach Estévez has avoided locking in a defined starting XI this preseason in favor of mixing and matching all the pieces on his new roster to learn as much as possible before the games start to count this weekend. But there are a few players I would be shocked to see not getting the call on Saturday.
That starts of course with Brad Stuver in net. The fullback positions appear to be nailed down by Mikkel Desler and Guilherme Biro. Barring an injury in training this week, Brandon Vázquez will start at striker. After that, things become a bit more murky.
Less than a week ago, I would have said the midfield trio would surely be Dani Pereira, Owen Wolff and Ilie Sánchez. But after both Besard Šabović and Nicolás Dubersarsky each played a half against Nashville SC in the final preseason tuneup this past weekend, I don’t think it’s out of the question that we see the former get the call.
Osman Bukari was subbed off with hamstring tightness as a precaution after scoring his second goal of the match against Nashville. If he’s unable to go then we’re likely to see Jon Gallagher step in opposite Jáder Obrian with Myrto Uzuni settling into town after arriving during that Nashville scrimmage.
At centerback, it’s hard to say that the pairing of Julio Cascante and Brendan Hines-Ike won’t be getting the first crack at things in 2025 after the two started Saturday’s scrimmage. A month ago I was very confident that Oleksandr Svatok would grab a starting spot heading into the season, but I’d feel foolish to not back off of that take after what we’ve seen lineup-wise this preseason.
From an analytical standpoint, I’m looking forward to seeing what Coach Estévez has planned. While fans were able to view two of the seven preseason matches on the club’s YouTube earlier this month, coaches rarely pull out all the stops during a scrimmage, especially one that’s being put on film publicly. Estévez has mentioned he wants to play a similar possession style to his predecessor, but will turn up the heat defensively with an aggressive counter press that was highly effective in the first half hour against the defending champs two weeks ago (again, it was a scrimmage, so take everything with a massive grain of salt).
Depsite the similar offensive philosophy, I expect to see multiple tweaks from what we’ve been used to over the first four seasons, both in the way the club progresses the ball up the field and the freedom that certain players are allowed in order to tap into their raw talent in an effort to make winning plays. Discarding the militant rigidity of the former coach’s positional play in favor of encouraging players like Bukari, Biro and Wolff to tap into their creative abilities is an exciting proposition.
We’re going to learn a lot about Austin FC 2.0 over the first month of the season. Fingers crossed they make a good first impression.
Injury Report
ATX:
Jimmy Farkarlun (Out - Lower Leg)
SKC:
Khiry Shelton (Out - Hamstring)
Jansen Miller (Questionable - Back)
Sporting KC Players to Watch
Dejan Joveljić - The 25-year-old striker has given Austin FC fits over the years, scoring four goals and recording three assists in six career games against the Verde & Black. Joveljić’s career is still ascending and he’ll be licking his chops to get another shot at the ATX back line. It will be interesting to see if he starts alone up top or Coach Vermes breaks from his traditional single striker look and slots in fellow forward Willie Agada alongside him with Sporting KC on short rest.
Manu García - With SKC’s new midfield maestro touching down in the states late last week, he’s got enough time to get up to speed for the regular season opener and played about a half hour in Wednesday’s match against Inter Miami and looked sharp even though his team was unable to put one on the board. If he clicks quickly with his new teammates, García could be a big problem for the home team on Saturday
John Pulskamp - With Tim Melia no longer with the team, this is Pulskamp’s job to lose. He’s been with the Sporting KC franchise since 2020 and has recorded 28 starts with the first team. SKC has a poor record in those games, posting just nine wins and six draws to go with 13 losses. 2024 was especially bad for Pulskamp. While he only played 540 minutes, a small sample size compared to a typical starting goalkeeper, Pulskamp saved just 43.5% of shots faced on target and averaged 2.17 goals against per 90. These issues have plagued the young keeper for a few years now as Austin FC fans should remember well from this goal back in July 2022. Getting to Pulskamp early could open the floodgates.
Austin FC Keys to the Game
Eyes Forward - It’s a clean slate for the number of returning players (and one coach!) on this roster. The last time they took the pitch at Q2 Stadium they produced a comeback win out of thin air in stoppage time against Colorado Rapids. Fans were sent home with some good vibes at the close of an otherwise absymal season. For the holdovers, keeping a steady demeanor and their eyes on what’s ahead in 2025 no matter how the early parts of this match unfold will be key to keeping any nerves from the Verde newcomers at bay.
Home Cooking - The crowd at Q2 Stadium is one of the best in the league and that passion will be recognized by MLS this summer when the MLS All-Star game comes to town. But on opening night, Austin FC has rarely taken advantage of the boost their fans can give. The Verde & Black have won just one of their four home openers in club history, with the last two being particularly embarassing losses against expansion side St. Louis City SC and a shorthanded Minnesota United. I’m not suggesting that the team has to top the 5-0 drubbing of FC Cincinnati from 2022, but it’s well past time for ATX to get back to winning ways to open the regular season.
Predictions
ZG - 2-1 Austin FC
E - 3-1 Austin FC
