Sporting Kansas City hits the road this weekend when the team travels to Southern California to take on the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday night in the Walmart Saturday Showdown. Kickoff is set for 8:30 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.
1. NAVIGATING CHALLENGING EARLY SCHEDULE
Sporting Kansas City continues to search for the club’s first victory of the 2026 season when the team heads out to California to face off against the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday night. Sporting has endured a challenging schedule to open the nascent season, with two of the team’s three opening opponents - San Jose and San Diego - posting perfect 3-0-0 records to date.
Sporting will have their work cut out when taking on an intriguing LA Galaxy side this weekend that will be without one of their top performers in Gabriel Pec after he was shown a red card during the team’s loss to the Colorado Rapids last Saturday. LA leads MLS with 24 shots on goal but only ranks 14th with 37 total shots - leading to an eye-popping 64.9% shots on target rate when the league average is 42%. At the other end of the field, goalkeeper Novak Micovic has been forced into a league-low three saves all season.
Eight players have now made their debuts for a new-look Sporting during the opening three weeks of the season and Lasse Berg Johnsen is now available after receiving his P1 visa, paving the way for his debut in the coming weeks.
2. HEADING BACK TO CALI
Sporting Kansas City returns to California this weekend for the third time in the space of a month when the team takes on the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday night. Sporting spent the second leg of the club’s preseason in Palm Springs, California from Feb. 3-14 before opening the 2026 season in San Jose on Feb. 21.
Sporting last traveled to take on the Galaxy in the antepenultimate week of the 2025 season, falling to a 4-1 defeat at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sept. 27, 2025. Dejan Joveljic scored on his return to LA to tie the game at 1-1 midway through the first half but the Galaxy would run away with the game behind Joseph Paintsil’s hat trick.
The two sides played out one of the most remarkable matches in MLS history during their initial meeting last season, with Sporting earning a 1-0 victory at Sporting Park on May 4, 2025. The hosts took an early lead when Daniel Salloi’s cross was diverted into his own net by Maya Yoshida and Sporting proceeded to hold on to the three points despite taking exactly zero shots in the match and being outshot by LA 11-0. It marked the first time in MLS history that a team had won a match without taking a single shot.
Sporting narrowly trails the all-time regular-season series 27-29-18, including a 8-19-9 record on the road in LA.
3. JOVELJIC SET TO FACE OFF AGAINST FORMER CLUB
Sporting Kansas City captain Dejan Joveljic is set to take on the club where he made his name in MLS when the squad heads to Los Angeles this weekend to take on the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday night.
Joveljic spent four seasons with the Galaxy from 2021-2024, scoring 41 goals and adding 17 assists. In his final season with LA in 2024, Joveljic recorded 21 goals in MLS play - including six goals in just five games during the postseason as the Galaxy won MLS Cup with the Serbian tallying the game-winner in the final against Red Bull New York.
Sporting brought Joveljic to Kansas City in February 2025 in the first-ever cash-for-player trade in MLS history, sending $4 million to the Galaxy to acquire his services. Joveljic has proven to be worth every penny for Sporting, scoring 20 goals and adding two assists in his first 35 MLS matches for the club, tying Preki for the fastest player in club history to reach 20 regular-season goals.
Joveljic scored in his only return to DHSP to date, tallying Sporting’s lone goal in the club’s 4-1 defeat on Sept. 27, 2025 and will be looking to repeat that feat with a better result this weekend in LA.
4. PULSKAMP CONTINUES FINE FORM vs. SAN DIEGO
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper John Pulskamp continued his fine early-season form this past weekend with a four-save performance in the 1-0 defeat against Supporters’ Shield leaders San Diego FC at Sporting Park.
One week after becoming the only goalkeeper this season to save a penalty kick when he denied Columbus Crew’s Wessam Abou Ali from the spot on Feb. 28, Pulskamp showed his shot-stopping quality from open play by recording stunning saves to prevent Onni Valakari from doubling San Diego’s lead just before halftime before producing three excellent stops on Anders Dreyer in the second half - with the four saves preventing a total of 1.05 expected goals.
Pulskamp is entering his second season as Sporting’s starting goalkeeper and has made 81 appearances in all competitions since signing with the first team in 2020, tallying 23 wins and 15 shutouts.
5. REUNIONS ON AND OFF THE FIELD
When Sporting Kansas City and the LA Galaxy face off against one another at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday night, a whole host of players and coaches will be facing off against their former teams.
A total of seven players and coaches in the MLS Walmart Saturday Showcase will be taking on their former organization - three from Sporting and four from the Galaxy.
Sporting KC |
Player / Coach |
LA Galaxy |
Player (2007-2009) |
Kevin Hartman |
Player (1997-2006), Coach (2020-present) |
Player (2025-present) |
Dejan Joveljic |
Player (2021-2024) |
Coach (2026-present) |
Dominic Kinnear |
Coach (2017-2020) |
Player (2018-2020) |
Tucker Lepley |
Player (2024-present) |
Player (2019-present) |
John Pulskamp |
Player (2017-2019) |
Player (2023-2024 |
Chris Rindov |
Player (2025-present) |
Player (2022-2025) |
Erik Thommy |
Player (2026-present) |
Kevin Hartman was Sporting’s goalkeeper from 2007-2009, making 100 appearances for the club in all competitions and has both played for the Galaxy (1997-2006) and has served as the club’s goalkeeper coach since 2020. Dejan Joveljic joined Sporting in 2025 following a four-year spell with the Galaxy where he won an MLS Cup in 2024.
Dominic Kinnear worked as an assistant and interim head coach with the Galaxy from 2017-2020 before joining Sporting as an assistant in 2026. Tucker Lepley was a member of the SKC Academy and earned minutes with SKC II in 2019 before joining LA following his collegiate career in 2024.
John Pulskamp spent 2017-2019 in the Galaxy Academy before joining the Sporting organization in 2019, while Chris Rindov was drafted by Sporting and spent 2023-2024 with the team before joining LA in 2025. Finally, former Sporting DP Erik Thommy joined LA this offseason after departing Sporting following a four-year run from 2022-2025.
