Sporting Kansas City returns home this weekend when the team hosts the Colorado Rapids at Sporting Park on Saturday night. 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.com.
1. BUOYED BY FIRST WIN OF NEW ERA
Sporting Kansas City earned the team’s first victory of 2026 and the first win in the new era of Raphael Wicky and David Lee this past weekend with a gutsy 2-1 victory on the road against the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park.
Goals from Dejan Joveljic against his former team and debutant Lasse Berg Johnsen led Sporting to their first three points since Aug. 30, 2025 - when they last hosted this weekend’s opponents the Colorado Rapids - as the team now looks for back-to-back regular-season wins for the first time since July 2024. Sporting will be facing off against a Rapids team this weekend that has a split record at home and on the road, winning both home matches and losing both on the road so far in 2026.
With new defender Diego Borges already in market and training with the team and new winger Capita Capemba set to arrive in the coming weeks as he completes the P1 visa process, Sporting will look to build on the confidence gained from last Saturday’s win in LA and the reinforcements on the way.
2. LOOKING TO MAKE IT FOUR IN A ROW vs. COLORADO
Sporting Kansas City is back in action this weekend with a home match against the Colorado Rapids at Sporting Park on Saturday night. Sporting is looking to make it four wins on the bounce against the Rapids, having won both meetings in 2025 and the final encounter in 2024.
Sporting last hosted the Rapids on Aug. 30, 2025, earning a wild back-and-forth 4-2 victory which, until last weekend, was Sporting’s most recent win. Dejan Joveljic gave his side the lead early before the Rapids turned the game around, taking a 2-1 lead despite the best efforts of John Pulskamp who saved a penalty kick. Sporting roared back in the second half and sealed all three points after goals from Daniel Salloi, Mason Toye and another from Joveljic late on.
Sporting swept Colorado last season, having also earned a remarkably rare 2-1 win at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on July 4, 2025. Joveljic put the visitors ahead in the opening minutes before Erik Thommy doubled the lead in the second half. Sporting survived a late Rapids onslaught after Rafael Navarro’s penalty kick to seal their first win in Commerce City since 2014.
Sporting leads the all-time regular-season series against the Rapids 32-27-19 and has lost just three of their last 14 meetings (6-3-5) since the start of 2020.
3. JOVELJIC PUTS FORMER CLUB TO THE SWORD
Sporting Kansas City captain Dejan Joveljic continued his hot start to the season this past weekend when he put his former club to the sword during Sporting’s 2-1 victory over the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday night - leading to a spot on the MLS Team of the Matchday for the second time this season.
Joveljic, who scored 41 goals and tallied 17 assists in four seasons with the Galaxy from 2021-2024, opened the scoring late in the first half with a brilliant goal - receiving a pass on the left wing from Manu Garcia before driving beyond LA defender Justin Haak and slotting an inch-perfect finish into the bottom corner to make the score 1-0.
The Serb’s torment of his former side did not end there as he earned the secondary assist on the game-winning goal in the second half as his pass sent Stephen Afrifa away down the right before Joveljic dummied the cutback allowing Lasse Berg Johnsen to sweep home on debut and seal Sporting’s first victory of the season.
Joveljic now has scored in seven straight games at Dignity Health Sports Park for both Sporting and the Galaxy, recording a total of nine goals over a span that dates back to Oct. 2024. He now has 21 goals in 36 regular season games for SKC - a rate of 0.58 goals per game average that stands as the best in club history among players with a minimum of 20 goals.
4. BERG JOHNSEN ENJOYS DREAM DEBUT
Sporting Kansas City newcomer Lasse Berg Johnsen enjoyed a dream debut during the club’s 2-1 victory over the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park last Saturday, resulting in a spot on the MLS Team of the Matchday.
Having received his P1 visa, Berg Johnsen slotted straight into the starting lineup as a holding midfielder in LA. He recorded the secondary assist on Dejan Joveljic’s opener in first-half stoppage time before stealing the show in the second half - striking from distance to double his team’s lead from 20 yards in the 74th minute. The goal would stand up as the game-winner following Marco Reus’ late consolation for the hosts.
Berg Johnsen - whose last goal came with Malmo FF on Sept. 24, 2025 in the UEFA Europa League - became the first Sporting player to score on his debut in over six years since Gadi Kinda and Alan Pulido each struck on debut on Feb. 29, 2020. He also became the eighth player in club history to score a game-winner on his first MLS start.
5. SPORTING STRENGTHENS WITH CAPITA & BORGES
Sporting Kansas City continued to strengthen the club’s roster this past week, adding a pair of players via transfer from teams in Europe. Last Friday, the team announced the acquisition of winger Capita Capemba from Radomiak Radom in Poland before announcing the signing of defender Diego Borges from Zalaegerszeg TE in Hungary on Tuesday.
Capita, 24, arrives at Sporting having developed into one of the premier attacking players in Poland over the past two seasons, tallying 12 goals and two assists in 38 appearances for Radomiak.
Capita developed in his native Angola before making the jump to Europe in 2020 and went on to represent teams in Portugal, France, Belgium and Israel before establishing himself as a rapid and goal-dangerous attacker at Radomiak from 2024-2026.
Borges, 21, joins Sporting as a U22 Initiative player after spending the past six months in the top division in Hungary, making seven appearances for ZTE after departing his native Brazil last summer.
Borges developed in the youth academies of Ferroviaria and Falcon before joining Brazilian giants Santos FC in 2023, quickly establishing himself on the club’s U-20 team. He joined Brazilian Serie B team Amazonas on loan in February 2025 before heading to ZTE last September where he made seven appearances - scoring on his debut for the club in the Hungarian Cup.
