Sporting KC Falls at San Jose in Season Opener
Published on February 22, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release
Sporting Kansas City suffered a 3-0 loss on the road at the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday to open the 2026 MLS regular season campaign.
In the team's first match under head coach Raphael Wicky, six players made their debuts for the club as Sporting Kansas City fielded a youthful lineup in which all 11 of the team's starters were 28 years of age or younger for the first time in an MLS match in 31 seasons. That group included 17-year-old center back Ian James, who became the youngest player to start an MLS regular season opener for Sporting Kansas City in club history.
Kicking off the season with the team's earliest ever MLS match, Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper John Pulskamp recorded three saves on the night including a superb stop in the 14th minute to push Ousseni Bouda's attempt over the crossbar.
In the 42nd minute, Pulskamp did well to keep out Preston Judd's snapped header however Daniel Munie pounced on the rebound to give the Earthquakes a 1-0 lead late in the first half. The hosts would then double their advantage on the cusp of halftime as Preston Judd struck in the first minute of stoppage time on assists from Jamar Ricketts and Niko Tsakiris.
Sporting Kansas City's best scoring chance of the night came in the 49th minute as Shapi Suleymanov connected with a cross from Jayden Reid and his header fell to Calvin Harris at the edge of the six-yard box. Harris fired low to the near post however San Jose goalkeeper Daniel dove down to his right to deny Harris a goal on his debut.
The Earthquakes stretched the lead to 3-0 five minutes later as Munie scored his second of the night, this time with a well-placed header off the far post, to double his career goal scoring output.
Sporting would come close to pulling a goal back in the 73rd minute as Dejan Joveljic let loose a shot from just inside the penalty area that narrowly missed the target with Daniel frozen in his spot.
Sporting will return home to host the Columbus Crew at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Feb. 28 at Sporting Park in the team's highly anticipated home opener. Tickets are available online at SeatGeek, including the Blue Hell Pack that allows fans to secure seats to attend three of the most exciting home games of the season.
QUOTES
Sporting Kansas City head coach Raphael Wicky
On the team's performance in the first 40 minutes...
I think the first 40 minutes were actually pretty interesting, pretty good. We were in the game. We suffered from the beginning a bit of set pieces. They're a strong team, they're a tall team, a physical team, but other than that, we control some moments. Going forward, I think we were lacking maybe the final pass, the final precision to become a little bit more dangerous, but we were fully in the game. Then the injury for Justin Reynolds is obviously a bad hit. We changed some things and then we concede in a corner. Those are the little details in those moments. The team is pretty young, it's pretty fragile. That's the moment where we need to say, 'okay, let's go to halftime 1-0. Let's not concede the second one.' Obviously the second one (comes) in minute 45, plus two or three. It's tough, and then you come in and you say 'let's stay calm, let's not concede the third. Let's try to score one goal.' Because if we score one goal, we're back in. But I think the momentum obviously shifts - the confidence - you could feel that them scoring 1-0, suddenly they were way more confident. They had more energy and I think that's often what happened in this game. It's very disappointing. We've got to look at the positive 40 minutes, see what we can take out of that, but then obviously see what wasn't good after.
On the players making their debuts for the club...
That's obviously something we have to talk about, they're young players. There's an opportunity for young players. Young players are often not linear in their performances, it's going to be like that. It's a process with a young player. We can make him older from today to tomorrow. The injury of Justin Reynolds - I think Justin had a very, very good preseason and it's really unfortunate that he got hurt. We really hope that it's nothing too bad, but it looks like a soft tissue, I can't tell you more about that. He had a really, really a good preseason. Kwaku (Agyabeng) came in who came from college and he had a good preseason as well. So I brought him in and I think Kwaku has done well, we know what we get from him. I think he is a bright spot for the future of this club, but obviously that it's all young (players). We've got to give them time.
On conceding from set pieces...
Set pieces is a collective defending effort, right? You have a clear task. I have to see the goal again before I can talk (about) what was wrong. It is something which we spoke about, which we trained and it's something which we also told the team often in those first games. Set pieces can be a decisive factor. We have to look at the goal to be exactly telling you what's going on. But of course, you've got to win your individual duel in set pieces, you've got to mark your zone and that's what went wrong, today that was the decisive factor, I believe.
On how the team could have attacked better...
I think we had three good chances: Deki (Joveljic), the one which the goalie saves, then Calvin Harris had a chance, and then Deki again where he misses the target. Of course, in total, that's not enough. That's what I said in the first half, we played well, we walked up the field, we combine up the field and then we miss this last conviction to really want to score, the precision in the last pass, the precision in the last movement, that's what we are lacking. When you don't create so many chances, you've got to be really clinical and that was not there.
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Manu Garcia
On what went wrong after a positive first 40 minutes...
I think, first half, until the first goal, we were doing pretty well. I think we were playing the kind of game we've been playing in preseason. It was kind of the same story that we've been through this preseason where I think we've been taking all the concepts and we've been playing great football. I think we started quite like that. Of course, it's the first game, still lots of things to improve. But after the first goal, I think we went a bit crazy. We didn't keep doing the things that we had to do and you could see that the game changed completely. I think we were not comfortable at all. We were trying to do maybe a bit too much, me included. But it's a wake-up call once again to work even harder this week. We have there 40 minutes, so I think we need to push from there, learn from the bad ones, but take the good ones and make those 40 a bit longer.
On how the team is meshing with several players making debuts...
I think we've worked really hard during preseason. I think the team really feels like a team. Of course, a lot of new guys, a lot of young guys too, it's a very young team. You could see that it's a young team and we need to learn from this because after the goal, I think we changed completely the way we've been playing. So, again, happy for the guys that made their debut and I will try to help - the guys that have been in this game for a bit longer, we'll try to help them a lot more.
On playing deeper in the midfield to start the season...
It's a position that I've played before in other leagues, it's not a new position for me. It's somewhere (I can play) that depends on the players that the team has and depending on what the team needs. Of course, when you lose 3-0, nothing looks great. I think we need to try to take the positives that there are for sure and again, learn and work as hard as possible this week. It's the first thing we said in the dressing room, this is a wake-up call because we were feeling great in preseason, but this has nothing to do with preseason, this is a real game and now is when it matters.
On Kwaku Agyabeng...
He's a kid who surprised everyone from the moment he arrived because he wants the ball, because he plays forward, because he's a kid with a lot of energy, who defends well. He's a young kid who has phenomenal potential and what I'm saying is, I hope we help him continue to grow and that he helps the club achieve its goals because he has the potential to do so.
2026 MLS Regular Season | Game 1
PayPal Park | San Jose, California
Attendance: 16,367
Weather: 50 degrees and mostly clear
Score 1 2 F
Sporting Kansas City (0-1-0, 0 points) 0 0 0
San Jose Earthquakes (1-0-0, 0 points) 2 1 3
Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Justin Reynolds (Kwaku Agyabeng 38'), Ian James, Wyatt Meyer, Jayden Reid; Jacob Bartlett, Manu Garcia, Jake Davis; Shapi Suleymanov (Jansen Miller 68'), Dejan Joveljic (C), Calvin Harris (Taylor Calheira 90+1')
Subs Not Used: Stefan Cleveland, Ethan Bartlow, Shane Donovan, Zamir Loyo Reynaga, Cielo Tschantret
San Jose Earthquakes: Daniel; Benji Kikanovic, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, DeJuan Jones (Vitor Costa 71'); Beau Leroux (Jonathan Gonzalez 83'), Ronaldo Vieira (C) (Ian Harkes 66'), Ousseni Bouda, Niko Tsakiris, Jamar Ricketts (Paul Marie 83'); Preston Judd (Jack Skahan 71')
Subs Not Used: Dave Romney, Nick Fernandez, Francesco Montali, Nonso Adimabua
Scoring Summary:
SJ - Daniel Munie 1 (unassisted) 42'
SJ - Preston Judd 1 (Jamar Ricketts 1, Niko Tsakiris 1) 45+1'
SJ - Daniel Munie 2 (Beau Leroux 1, Reid Roberts 1) 54'
Misconduct Summary:
SJ - Daniel Munie (yellow card; reckless foul) 36'
STAT SKC SJ
Shots 7 16
Shots on Goal 1 6
Expected Goals 0.5 3.9
Corner Kicks 3 15
Possession 55.1% 44.9%
Saves 3 1
Fouls 12 16
Referee: Alexis Da Silva
Assistant Referee: Chris Wattam
Assistant Referee: Jeffrey Swartzel
Fourth Official: Elijio Arreguin
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
AVAR: Robert Schaap
-- SportingKC.com --
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