KC Reporter

Sporting Kansas City will travel to face Real Salt Lake on Saturday in their 30th match of the 2025 MLS regular season. The game is set for an 8:30 p.m. CT start at America First Field in Sandy, Utah.

Fans can watch the match through MLS Season Pass on Apple TV with commentary available in both English and Spanish. Local radio coverage will be provided by Sports Radio 810 WHB, and the Sporting Pub Network’s partners will also broadcast the game. An official watch party is scheduled at No Other Pub in the Kansas City Power & Light District.

Real Salt Lake has not played for three weeks, coming off a third consecutive loss after falling 3-1 to Minnesota. Sporting Kansas City recently lost 2-1 to Austin FC. Dejan Joveljic scored his 17th goal of the season for Sporting, which ranks third most in Major League Soccer this year and ties him for third most in a single season in club history. Since early 2024, Joveljic has tallied 38 MLS goals (including playoffs), second only to Lionel Messi’s league-leading total of 39.

Real Salt Lake’s attack is led by Diego Luna, who leads his team with eight goals and five assists this season. Designated Player Diogo Goncalves follows with three goals and three assists. RSL’s offensive lineup also includes former Sporting KC forwards Johnny Russell—who has two goals from ten games this year—and Willy Agada, who has two goals from twenty-two appearances since joining RSL via trade in April.

Russell spent seven seasons with Sporting Kansas City between 2018 and 2024, serving as captain during his last four years and scoring a total of sixty-seven goals—the second highest tally in club history—alongside fifty-two assists across two hundred thirty-two matches. Agada contributed twenty-four goals and six assists over seventy-seven games before moving to Real Salt Lake earlier this year.

Eighteen-year-old Zavier Gozo represents another attacking option for RSL with three goals from twenty-one games so far this season. Both Gozo and Sporting KC midfielder Jacob Bartlett were recently recognized among the top two hundred teenage footballers worldwide by CIES Football Observatory; Bartlett is currently the youngest player to appear in twenty-five MLS matches this season at age nineteen.

The fixture continues a long-standing rivalry between these teams that includes three postseason meetings: Sporting defeated RSL on penalties after a draw in the 2013 MLS Cup final at Children’s Mercy Park; eliminated them again during the Western Conference Semifinals in 2018; while Real Salt Lake secured a comeback win against SKC during their semifinal encounter in 2021.

Their previous meeting ended as a one-all draw on June 28 at Children’s Mercy Park when Erik Thommy scored an equalizer for Sporting KC. Thommy recently returned from injury as a substitute last weekend after missing six matches due to a hip issue.

Since that last encounter eleven weeks ago, Real Salt Lake made several roster changes during the secondary transfer window—including adding forwards Rwan Cruz (on loan from Botafogo) and Victor Olatunji (from Sparta Prague), as well as World Cup veteran DeAndre Yedlin (via trade from FC Cincinnati). However, Yedlin will miss Saturday's game due to suspension for caution accumulation; other absences include Matthew Bell (hamstring), Zac MacMath (back), Javain Brown (knee), Mason Stajduhar (hand), with Kobi Henry (concussion) and Pablo Ruiz (quad strain) listed as questionable.

Sporting Kansas City will be without Zorhan Bassong due to suspension following international duty, while defenders Andrew Brody (quad) and Ian James (head) are also unavailable according to the team’s player report.