Sporting Kansas City returns home to kick off a stretch of four home matches in the next five games as the club hosts Minnesota United at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 7:15 p.m. CT and will be televised nationally on FS1 and FOX Deportes as well as available to stream in English and Spanish on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV. Tickets are available via SeatGeek.com.
1. AIMING FOR POINTS IN UPCOMING HOMESTAND
Sporting Kansas City will look to use the upcoming stretch of matches to make up ground in the Western Conference as the club is set to play four of their next five matches at home.
Starting with Saturday’s clash with Minnesota United at Children’s Mercy Park, Sporting will also host LAFC on March 22, St. Louis on April 5 and Portland on April 13 with only a road trip to face FC Dallas sandwiched in the middle on March 29.
While Sporting held their first lead of the season last Saturday when Erik Thommy opened the scoring in the 2-1 loss to D.C. United at Audi Field, it wasn’t enough to seal any points as the team fell to their fifth consecutive defeat to start the 2025 campaign.
Home matches at Children’s Mercy Park have always proven key for Sporting KC, as an average of 68 percent of the club’s total points over the past decade have come at home (excluding a shortened and occasionally neutral-site 2020 season where Sporting finished first in the West).
2. WINLESS IN KC NO MORE, MINNESOTA HEADS TO CMP
Sporting Kansas City is set to welcome familiar foes Minnesota United at Children’s Mercy Park this Saturday night. While Sporting is searching for the club’s first points of the season this weekend, Minnesota has gotten off to a low-scoring yet solid start in 2025, winning two and losing one - all by a 1-0 scoreline.
After Sporting swept all three matches against the Loons in 2023, Minnesota returned the favor in 2024 by going 3-0-0 against SKC with two matches at Allianz Field in St. Paul and one at Children’s Mercy Park late in the season. Sporting’s 2-0 defeat at CMP on Sept. 21, 2024 was notable in that it marked the first time Sporting had failed to beat Minnesota in an MLS regular-season home match - having previously posted a perfect 9-0-0 record dating back to 2017.
The Loons had previously handed Sporting 2-1 and 3-1 losses earlier in the 2024 campaign at Allianz Field as Minnesota qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs, only to be crushed by a Dejan Joveljic-led LA Galaxy 6-2 in the Conference Semifinals.
Sporting holds a 11-7-4 lead in the regular-season series against Minnesota, including a 9-1-0 mark at Children’s Mercy Park where Sporting has outscored the Loons 25-5.
3. THOMMY TABS FIRST OF 2025
Sporting Kansas City winger Erik Thommy got himself on the scoresheet for the first time in 2025 this past weekend, firing home from the edge of the area to give his side a temporary lead int he 2-1 loss to D.C. United at Audi Field on Saturday night.
Thommy began and finished the move, first spreading the play with a pass to Shapi Suleymanov on the right wing who dribbled at his marker before feeding Jake Davis who cut the ball back into the path of a trailing Thommy to fire first-time beyond the D.C. goalkeeper and ripple the back of the net.
After scoring eight goals in all competitions last season, Thommy’s goal in the 53rd minute was his first since firing home a brilliant equalizer in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final against LAFC on Sept. 25, 2024.
Thommy - who has donned the captain’s armband in each of Sporting’s five matches so far this season - has now tallied 17 goals and 20 assists in 98 appearances for the club across all competitions since joining as a free agent in the summer of 2022 having spent the first nine seasons of his career in his native Germany.
4. DAVIS CONTINUES CREATIVE STREAK
Sporting Kansas City right back/central midfielder continues to impact games from either position, tallying his first assist of the new MLS season this past weekend in the club’s 2-1 loss to D.C. United at Audi Field.
Davis sprung forward on the counter attack and latched onto Shapi Suleymanov’s penetrating pass before cutting the ball back through a sea of bodies to pick out an onrushing Erik Thommy who fired home the opening goal of the match in the 53rd minute.
Davis, whose assist on Saturday marked his first assist since Sept. 28, 2024 against St. Louis, tallied a career-high eight assists across all competitions in 2024 - five in the MLS regular season and three in the club’s run to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final.
The 23-year-old Sporting KC Academy product - who was named team MVP in 2024 and team defensive player of the year in 2023 - continues to go from strength to strength and has now tallied three goals and 11 assists in 79 appearances across all competitions for Sporting KC since nailing down a starting spot early in the 2023 campaign.
5. MILLER MAKES MLS DEBUT
Sporting Kansas City defender Jansen Miller made his MLS debut this past weekend, playing the final 45 minutes of the club’s 2-1 loss to D.C. United at Audi Field on Saturday night.
Miller showed well in the second half after replacing Dany Rosero at halftime, building on his strong preseason performances. Miller sustained a back injury shortly before the club’s MLS opener against Austin FC on Feb. 22 and only just made his return to the matchday roster on Saturday.
Miller was selected eighth overall in MLS SuperDraft 2025 out of Indiana University where he had an impressive stint, featuring in 50 games from 2022-2024. He was a Second-Team All-Big Ten selection last fall, concluding his collegiate career with a third straight NCAA tournament berth. During his time at Indiana, the Hoosiers were College Cup finalists in 2022, Big Ten tournament champions in 2023 and finished atop the conference regular season standings in each of the past two years.
