KC Reporter

Sporting Kansas City is set to host Austin FC on Sunday at Children's Mercy Park in a match that will also serve as the club's annual Kick Childhood Cancer theme night. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT, with tickets available through SeatGeek and live coverage provided by MLS Season Pass via Apple TV and ESPN 94.5 FM.

Sporting Kansas City comes into the fixture following a 4-2 home victory over the Colorado Rapids, marking their 300th home win across all competitions and ending a six-match winless streak. Dejan Joveljic led Sporting with two goals in that match, bringing his season total to 16—tied for third most in Major League Soccer (MLS) this year and matching the third highest single-season tally in club history.

Joveljic has been a key contributor for Sporting since joining the team, reaching more than 100 professional club goals after his performance against Colorado. He has scored 37 MLS goals since the start of 2024, second only to Lionel Messi during that period. Additionally, Joveljic is now one of three players in league history to score at least 15 goals in consecutive regular seasons with different clubs.

Sporting currently holds a record of seven wins, fifteen losses, and six draws (27 points), placing them 13th in the Western Conference. At home this season, they have four wins from fourteen matches. The team has shown resilience by gaining 14 points from losing positions during the regular season—fifth most in MLS—and scoring nearly half of their league goals after the 60th minute.

Austin FC arrives sitting seventh in the conference with ten wins, nine losses, and eight draws (38 points), standing six points above the playoff line. The Texas side has lost just once in its last eight matches across all competitions and recently advanced to its first-ever Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals.

In head-to-head competition, Austin leads with six wins out of ten meetings against Sporting Kansas City; however, Sporting holds a stronger record at home with three wins out of five matches played at Children’s Mercy Park. The teams last met there on June 29, 2024, when Sporting won 2-0.

Austin’s attack has improved recently, scoring an average of over two goals per game across its last six fixtures compared to less than one per game earlier this season. Midfielder Owen Wolff and winger Osman Bukari are tied for the team lead with ten goal contributions each during the current campaign.

Both teams feature notable individual milestones approaching: Erik Thommy is close to his 100th MLS appearance (including playoffs), Andrew Brody is nearing his 100th career regular season start, Memo Rodriguez could make his fiftieth appearance for Sporting across all competitions, and Manu Garcia is one assist away from fifty career assists as a professional.

Daniel Salloi continues to be an important figure for Sporting Kansas City as well; he scored his seventh goal of the season last weekend during his milestone 250th MLS appearance for the club. With that goal he reached a total of sixty-seven career goals for Sporting—tying him with Dom Dwyer and Johnny Russell for second-most in club history.

The upcoming match will mark nearly three hundred competitive games played by Sporting at Children’s Mercy Park since it opened.