Preview | LAFC at Sporting KC - 2025 MLS Season - March 22

Saturday, March 22 | 5:30 p.m. PT

🏟: Children's Mercy Park - Kansas City, KS

📻: 710 AM ESPN, ESPN LA App, and KFWB 980 AM La Mera Mera

Coming off its first open week following a string of eight games in 26 days, a rested LAFC travels to Kansas City, Kansas, this Saturday for an MLS Western Conference matchup against Sporting Kansas City at Children’s Mercy Park.

Thus far in 2025, LAFC has earned six points from four MLS games and stands in eighth place in the Western Conference with a 2W-2L-0D record. Sporting KC enters the match with an overall MLS record of 0-3-1 and a home mark of 0-1-1.

The Black & Gold has yet to win on the road in 2025. Last season LAFC did not win its first away match in MLS play until May 15. After that victory (a 2-0 result in St. Louis), the club found its travel legs, dropping just two road games over the remainder of 2024 to compile the West’s best road record (8-6-3) and finish atop the conference table.

THE SERIES

LAFC leads the all-time regular-season series with Sporting KC with a record of 7-4-2, including a 4-2-0 mark at Children’s Mercy Park.

LAFC is unbeaten in its last seven MLS matches against SKC dating back to 2021.

LAST SEASON

Six months ago these two clubs met in the 2024 U.S. Open Cup Final at BMO Stadium where, in front of more than 22,000 fans, LAFC’s Olivier Giroud and SKC’s Erik Thommy broke a scoreless tie by trading second-half goals. A champion could not be decided in regulation, but in the first period of extra time, former LAFC defender Omar Campos found the net to give LAFC a 2-1 advantage. Denis Bouanga helped complete the 3-1 win by assisting on a goal from Kei Kamara, who had previously won U.S. Open Cup with SKC in 2012. The win marked LAFC’s first U.S. Open Cup title, and the fourth major trophy in club history.

A week and a half later in regular-season play, LAFC got goals from David Martínez, Cristian Olivera, and Aaron Long to secure a 3-0 victory in Kansas. Earlier in the season, the clubs played to a scoreless draw in March in LA.

Thommy’s goal against LAFC in the Open Cup Final was a brilliant one. The German midfielder quietly had a stellar season in ‘24, leading SKC in minutes played and key passes. He was named SKC’s Offensive Player of the Year based on votes from players, fans and media.

SKC IN ‘25

Led by longtime coach Peter Vermes, who was hired in 2009 (when LAFC winger Martínez was three), Sporting KC began 2025 by falling to Inter Miami over two legs in Concacaf Champions Cup (4-1 aggregate).

Former Galaxy striker Dejan Joveljić scored on a 27th-minute penalty in SKC’s 2-1 loss to San Jose on March 1. Sporting took a 1-0 lead through Thommy against D.C. United on March 8 before falling 2-1. Like LAFC, Sporting has fallen to Austin FC by a 1-0 scoreline this season.

Last weekend, however, the Kansans came to life. After falling behind 3-0 to Minnesota United, Joveljić and Dániel Sallói led SKC on an attacking spree that netted three goals in 13 minutes. The match ended in a 3-3 draw, marking the first time in the club’s 30-year history that SKC had come back from a three-goal deficit to earn a result.

CHANGES

Three of the eleven players who started for LAFC in last year’s Open Cup Final are no longer with the club (Ilie Sánchez, Mati Bogusz, and Lewis O’Brien). A third starter, Maxime Chanot, has trained but has not yet played this year due to injury. Campos, who scored the Open Cup Final’s matchwinner, and Cristian Olivera, who assisted Campos, have also moved on. So has Kamara. To fill those gaps LAFC has added midfielders Mark Delgado and Igor Jesus, defender Nkosi Tafari, midfielder-defender Yaw Yeboah, and its newest acquisition, internationally coveted DP attacker Cengiz Ünder.

SKC’s roster adjustments this year have also been profound. Longtime goalie Tim Melia, forward (and captain) Johnny Russell, striker Alan Pulido, and rock-solid midfielder Remi Walter are no longer wearing sporting blue and indigo in 2025. The most critical returning players are Thommy and do-it-all fullback Jake Davis, who was named Team MVP following the 2024 season.

Twenty-three-year-old SoCal native John Pulskamp has replaced Melia (the club’s all-time leader in wins, shutouts, and saves) in goal, with positive results.

THE BLACK & GOLD CAN WIN IF

It scores the first goal. The Black & Gold game model seeks to get on the scoreboard first, then strangle opponents defensively while seeking more scoring through lightning counters. Last year, in all competitions, LAFC went 30-3-1 when scoring first, and just 1-8-5 when conceding first. That trend has carried into 2025, which has seen LAFC go unbeaten (4-0-0) when it finds the breakthrough, and winless (0-4-0) when it falls behind 1-0.

LAFC will be without its leading scorer the last two seasons, Denis Bouanga, who has been called up to compete for Gabon's national team in World Cup qualifying.

SKC CAN WIN IF

Joveljić gets comfortable. The Serbian striker made his mark in derby matches against LAFC when he was a member of the Galaxy from 2021 to 2024, scoring six times, including his stunning 85th-minute equalizer in the 2022 Western Conference Semifinal (which LAFC won in stoppage time). Last weekend Joveljić scored the tying goal for SKC against Minnesota, his second goal in as many matches at Children’s Mercy Park, and his eighth goal in his last eight MLS starts dating back to last season.