Sporting Kansas City returns home this weekend to take on Red Bull New York at Sporting Park on Saturday night in the team’s final match before the World Cup break. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT and will be available to stream on Apple TV, while the game will also be broadcast locally on the radio via Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM. Tickets are available via SeatGeek.
1. HEADING INTO BREAK ON POSITIVE NOTE
Sporting Kansas City is looking to head into the World Cup break on a high this weekend when the team hosts Red Bull New York at Sporting Park coming off two consecutive victories last week.
After snapping a seven-game winless run with a 3-1 victory over the LA Galaxy last Wednesday, Sporting followed that up with a 2-1 win on the road against Austin FC on Saturday to make it back-to-back regular-season wins for the first time since July 2024. Sporting is now aiming to make it three on the bounce, a feat the club has not accomplished since Sept. 13 to Oct. 2, 2022.
Following Saturday’s match, Major League Soccer will take an eight-week break for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with Sporting one of the first teams back in action when the team travels to take on archrivals St. Louis at Energizer Park on Thursday, July 16.
In the interim, Sporting’s first and second-team facilities will be utilized by Argentina and England, respectively, as base camps for this summer’s World Cup while Kansas City is set to host six matches at the tournament.
2. HOSTING RBNY IN FINAL MATCH BEFORE BREAK
Sporting Kansas City returns home this weekend to take on Red Bull New York at Sporting Park on Saturday night in the team’s final match before MLS goes on an eight-week hiatus for the FIFA World Cup.
Sporting and the Red Bulls last met two seasons ago on Sept. 7, 2024 with the sides sharing the spoils following a 1-1 draw at Red Bull Arena. Following a scoreless first half, Alan Pulido gave Sporting the lead in the 55th minute after he latched onto Jake Davis’ through ball and fired beyond the goalkeeper. With Sporting holding on late, RBNY forward Julian Hall fired home via a deflection in the 89th minute to salvage a point for the hosts.
Sporting last hosted RBNY at Sporting Park almost four years ago on July 3, 2022, falling to a frustrating 1-0 defeat. In a match largely dominated by Sporting, the Red Bulls scored early in the second half through Aaron Long before surviving the closing stages after Sean Nealis was shown a straight red card for DOGSO.
All-time, Sporting and RBNY are deadlocked 22-22-15 in the regular-season series, with Sporting holding a 15-10-6 edge at home.
3. AFRIFA BAGS GAME-WINNER vs. AUSTIN FC
Sporting Kansas City forward Stephen Afrifa enjoyed a memorable cameo on Saturday night, scoring a stunning game-winner in the team’s 2-1 comeback win over Austin FC at Q2 Stadium.
Receiving the ball in the left channel after great work from Manu Garcia, Afrifa cut inside on his right foot and curled a sumptuous strike in off the underside of the crossbar to give Sporting their first-ever win at Q2 Stadium.
Afrifa received a pair of honors this week following his performance, first being named to the MLS Team of the Matchday on Monday before winning MLS Goal of the Week on Wednesday.
The Canadian’s last goal came on Sept. 28, 2024 in a 3-1 loss at St. Louis and Saturday’s goal now takes him to seven goals and four assists in 56 appearances across all competitions. His 11 goal involvements in just 1,519 minutes puts him at 0.65 goal contributions per 90 despite making just 15 starts for the club since his debut in 2023.
4. GARCIA PROVIDES SPARK OFF THE BENCH
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Manu Garcia made a huge difference off the bench for the second straight match this past weekend, scoring the equalizing goal in spectacular fashion during the team’s 2-1 victory over Austin FC at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night.
Three days after providing a brilliant assist off the bench in the team’s 3-1 win over the LA Galaxy, Garcia once again showed his quality when he started and finished the move that led to the equalizer, firing into the corner from the edge of the area after playing a one-two with Shapi Suleymanov.
The goal was Garcia’s first of the 2026 season and first since May 24, 2025 in a 3-3 draw with New England at Sporting Park. At age 28, Garcia is now Sporting’s oldest goalscorer this season and Saturday’s goal was the team’s first by a substitute this season.
Since joining Sporting in a transfer from Aris Thessaloniki in Greece ahead of the 2025 season, Garcia has now tallied three goals and 12 assists across 40 regular-season appearances, with his 0.30 assists per game ranking second all-time in club history.
5. CHESS.COM LAUNCHES BOT WITH JOVELJIC
While the Sporting Kansas City faithful have grown accustomed to seeing star striker Dejan Joveljic find the back of the net over the past two seasons, fans can now face him off-the-field as Chess.com announced the launch of Joveljic’s very own chess bot earlier this week.
Joveljic, whose FIDE rating is a stunning 2217, has scored the fifth most goals in MLS since the start of 2024 and leads the team with six goals and two assists so far in 2026. In his maiden season in Kansas City, Joveljic recorded 18 goals – the second best goal-scoring season in club history. His 0.53 goals per game is comfortably the highest in club history among players with at least 15 goals.
Off-the-field, Joveljic has plenty of other skills and passions with chess his primary non-soccer focus. After learning the game from his father and grandfather growing up, Joveljic began seriously honing his skills during the COVID-19 lockdown and now becomes only the second soccer player to have his own Chess.com bot, joining USMNT captain Christian Pulisic.
