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 a 7W-1D-3L all-time record against Sporting Kansas City
The Verde & Black swept the season series against SKC in 2025, first narrowly escaping the team’s home opener with a 1-0 victory on the back of an awkward Osman Bukari goal off an Owen Wolff corner kick late on. Then ATX took three points on the road in September, a 2-1 win in comeback fashion after an early penalty was conceded behind an equalizer from Owen Wolff and a first career MLS goal from CJ Fodrey.
Maybe the most memorable fixture between the two clubs, at least for Austin fans, came on August 13, 2022, when Danny Hoesen’s volley off a Felipe Martins pass equalized the match at three goals apiece (and was runner up in our 2022 “Goal of the Year” bracket) before Sebastián Driussi’s goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time resulted in a 4-3 win for ATX.
Sporting Kansas City Recent Form
Sporting Kansas City was a charter member of MLS back in 1996 but were first known as the Kansas City Wiz. The team was founded by Lamar Hunt, a prominent figure in North American sports and a man integral to the survival of MLS. You may be familiar with the name, as the U.S. Open Cup is named after Mr. Hunt himself.
While Austin fans may find it difficult to attach words like “success” to the franchise considering their form since ATX began league play, this is a club with a storied history and several trophies to their name. Four years removed from their first match as a club, the Wizards (who made the switch from “Wiz” to “Wizards” in 1997) were able to do the double in 2000, winning both the MLS Cup and Supporters Shield that season. They followed that with a U.S. Open Cup title in 2004 and then fully rebranded in 2010 as Sporting Kansas City.
After the rebrand, SKC was able to win three more U.S. Open Cup trophies (2012, 2015, 2017) and an MLS Cup in 2013. It’s been almost a decade since Sporting were able to add to their trophy case. While there were a few years where SKC was a solid team, the results have not been kind to them since Austin FC arrived to the league, with finishes in the Western Conference of 3rd, 12th, 8th, 13th, and 15th.
Which brings us to the matchup this weekend, as Sporting comes into this game firmly planted in the basement of the Western Conference table, with eight points to their name on a 2W-2D-8L record and a -22 goal differential.
I was not speaking in “hyper bowl” on Episode 307 where I claimed that this may be the worst team, on paper, Austin has ever faced since joining the league. Let’s take a gander at where SKC sits in plenty of important statistical categories.
Here are the categories in which SKC ranks either second-to-last or dead last in the league:
Goals per game
xG
xGA
xGD
Shots on target per game
Corner kicks
Set piece goals
Goals against per game (29th)
Big chances created (29th)
Set piece goals conceded (29th)
Picking up what I’m putting down? This team is absolutely terrible, and when you take a look at their roster, it’s pretty clear as to why that is.
This is a team that is only using two of their allotted six special designation roster spots with just Dejan Joveljić and Manu Garcia (more on these two later) occupying the DP roles for this club. They’ve declared a 2/4/GAM build but have no U22 Initiative players and just two TAM players on the roster – neither of whom are overly impactful.
When the league released the MLS Club Roster Profiles in February, Sporting KC only had 15 players on their senior roster of the 20 allowed. That is insanity! That means that for a time (they did add at least one more senior roster player I know of, Capita Capemba, after the profile drop) SKC was paying the league three separate fines for failing to reach the minimum threshold of 18 senior roster players.
On top of the disarray with the roster Sporting KC moved on from Peter Vermes last season, who was the longest tenured coach in MLS history, overseeing the club from 2009-2025. Vermes was also the Sporting Director at the time of his departure. Needless to say, this is a franchise in full rebuild mode and desperately searching for an identity as they begin the post-Vermes era.
However, this team is coming off a midweek victory over the LA Galaxy, just their second of the season. In fact, both of SKC’s wins have come against the 2024 MLS Cup Champions. Against all other MLS competition this season, SKC is 0-2-8 with a -22 goal differential, but they’re surely feeling some good vibes after earning three points and heading into another matchup with a team that’s also in the bottom half of the Western Conference standings.
Austin FC Recent Form
If you listened to ZG and I rant after the 5-0 midweek beatdown at the hands of San Diego, then you heard that famous quote a few times. Not even Corncob TV would have aired a replay of that match because it was most likely too violent for cable television!
There is no excuse for another embarrassing loss like this, but we’re not leaning into the doom and gloom quite yet.
Everything is still on the table for Austin to finish out the first portion of this season on a high note before the World Cup break. The only thing to salve the wounds from Wednesday’s disaster class is to handle your business at home against a clearly inferior Sporting KC side. With a victory on Saturday, Austin will have secured four points from three matches in a seven-day span, with two of those contests being on the road against talented teams in Minnesota and San Diego. That’s a lot of soccer in seven days and for a team that has been beat up all season and still slowly integrating key players into the lineup, there was absolutely no need to roll out a choice XI against San Diego.
Once the lineup dropped, it should have been abundantly clear that the focus was on beating Sporting Kansas City at home. And I am 100% totally fine with that. Beat the brakes off SKC and then find yourself with a winnable matchup in St. Louis next weekend and this Austin FC team could be sitting on 20 points from 15 matches – a pace that would be slightly better than last year’s 15-game sample size to start the season.
I’M NOT WORRIED ABOUT IT!
Expect a much stronger starting XI in this contest with players like Besard Sabovic and Zan Kolmanic back where they belong – on the bench. My best guess is the duo of Myrto Uzuni and Christian Ramirez up top, Facundo Torres and Jayden Nelson on the wings, Dani Pereira and Ilie Sanchez in the midfield, and a back line going left to right of Biro, Bell, Svatok, and Desler. That would leave Joseph Rosales, Owen Wolff, Jon Gallagher, and Brandon Vazquez off the bench and ready to roll. After Rosales was unable to sub at the pre-determined time the coaching staff had for him due to the CJ Fodrey injury, I expect him to come off the bench against SKC but would of course love to see him get another start.
Austin fans are clamoring for more minutes from Wolff and Vazquez, both of which I expect to log their most minutes in this matchup since returning to the team from their respective long-term injuries. While it has left some fans frustrated that both players have yet to start or log more than 25 minutes since returning to play three games ago, I believe caution is the best way to operate with both of them until we reach the World Cup break in less than ten days time.
No matter who sees the field to start this game it is non-negotiable for me that Austin wins this matchup. A draw or loss to this version of Sporting Kansas City would be an unmitigated disaster and would turn my zen-like response to Wednesday’s embarassment into a full-on “fire everyone” type of mood come Sunday’s recap episode.
Injury Report
This is an estimate until the league releases official injury reports on Friday afternoon.
ATX:
Robert Taylor (Out - Knee)
Brendan Hines-Ike (Out - Hamstring)
SKC:
Capita Capemba (Questionable - Knee)
Jansen Miller (Out - Hamstring)
Kwaku Agyabeng (Out - Groin)
Sporting Kansas City Players to Watch
Dejan Joveljić - The 26-year-old Serbian striker has been a force in MLS since joining LA Galaxy in the summer window of 2021. Beginning as a U22 Initiative player before being transferred to Sporting KC prior to the 2025 season, Joveljić has recorded 58 goals and 18 assists in just 98 career MLS starts and is now a DP for SKC. He’s terrorized Austin FC throughout, with four goals and three assists across his eight all-time appearances against ATX, with only three of those games being starts for him. He’s got six of the team’s 11 goals through the first 12 matches of the 2026 season and is clearly the biggest threat to the Verde & Black defense in this one.
Manu Garcia - Garcia was SKC’s marquee signing coming into last year and was unable to make an impact that lifted the team above expectations. The 28-year-old Spaniard began his youth career with Sporting Gijón before being acquired by Manchester City shortly after his 16th birthday, making his professional debut for the club in 2015 against Sunderland (subbing on for Sergio Agüero) and then his Premier League debut in 2016 against Aston Villa (subbing on for Yaya Touré). He finished last season with two goals and nine assists across his 27 appearances and while he hasn’t found the back of the net to date in 2026, Garcia has three assists in 12 appearances this year. He was rotated out to start Wednesday’s win over LA Galaxy, so Garcia should be plenty fresh for Saturday’s match in Austin.
Austin FC Keys to the Game
Non-Negotiable: I do not care if there are locusts, floods, dinosaurs, or the ghost of Pele interrupting this match, Austin FC absolutely has to win this game. We know how important it is to win your home games in MLS, and that becomes even more important when you are playing the least talented team in the league. I have the utmost faith that the Verde & Black wins this game. In fact, I am busting out a full-fledged house-money guarantEE (that’s a double E guarantee for those keeping track at home!) that Austin wins this game. I’M NOT WORRIED ABOUT IT!!!
Predictions
ZG- 3-0 Austin FC
E- 4-0 Austin FC
