Sporting KC Falls to 3-1 Defeat at Real Salt Lake
MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC Falls to 3-1 Defeat at Real Salt Lake

Published on April 4, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City (1-4-1, 4 pts.) fell to a 3-1 defeat against Real Salt Lake (4-1-1, 13 pts.) at America First Field on Saturday afternoon.

Head coach Raphael Wicky made two changes to the team's defeat against Colorado prior to the international break as Ian James replaced the injured Wyatt Meyer (ankle) and Justin Reynolds entered the lineup in place of Jacob Bartlett, pushing Jake Davis back into the midfield.

Sporting got off to a nightmare start with RSL opening the scoring with the first shot of the match. USMNT midfielder Diego Luna was picked out 20 yards from goal and he did the rest, slamming a left-footed shot into the bottom corner to give the hosts an early lead.

Looking to muster a response, Sporting went close in the 11th minute when Calvin Harris sprung away down the left wing but his powerful ball into the area flashed just over the bar. Harris continued to threaten and went even closer in the 17th minute, meandering through a myriad of RSL challenges in the midfield before taking aim from just inside the penalty area, forcing a smart save out of Rafael Cabral in the Salt Lake goal.

Moments later, Zavier Gozo almost doubled the lead for the home side but John Pulskamp stood up well to beat away his powerful drive from close range. RSL continued to pile on the pressure and rattled the woodwork in the 22nd minute when Luna's cross picked out Sergi Solans inches from goal but could only force the ball onto the crossbar.

Solans and the crossbar would get reacquainted in the 41st minute when the Spaniard lashed an effort from 12 yards off the woodwork after picking up a neat cutback. The 23-year-old made it a hat-trick of first-half misses in the 43rd minute when he was played in one-on-one with Pulskamp, but the Sporting 'keeper did well to spread himself and block the attempt.

Video Assistant Referee Ismir Pekmic attempted to spare Solans' blushes by initiating a video review for Ethan Bartlow's challenge as the forward was shooting, but center referee Tim Ford declined to change his on-field decision of no foul after viewing the challenge on the monitor.

Sporting created a golden opportunity in the opening moments of the second half when Manu Garcia sent Reynolds in behind the RSL backline but the right back dragged his effort just wide after composing himself in front of goal.

After a profligate first half, Solans made no mistake with his first chance in the second stanza as he doubled RSL's lead in the 55th minute after receiving a well-timed pass from Gozo on the counterattack.

Sporting responded brilliantly and cut the deficit in half four minutes later through Dejan Joveljic's fourth goal of the season. After some intricate build-up down the right wing involving Garcia, Davis and Reynolds, the latter picked out Joveljic on the edge of the area who buried a brilliant half-volley off the post to make the score 2-1.

Despite some enterprising moments into the final third, Sporting was unable to build on Joveljic's goal and RSL eventually reclaimed their two-goal cushion when Gozo struck a stupendous volley into the top corner from the edge of the area to seal the points for the hosts in the 82nd minute.

Sporting returns home next weekend to host the San Jose Earthquakes at Sporting Park on Saturday, April 11. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT on Apple TV, while the game will be available on the radio on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM. Tickets are available via SeatGeek.com.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City head coach Raphael Wicky

On the first goal changing the team's game plan...

That's a good question. I don't think it changed the game plan. The question is how much that early goal took the confidence away of the players? I cannot give you the answer to that, but it looked after that that a lot of players were with a lack of confidence and didn't really want the ball or were struggling a lot with the ball and being very nervous when they had the ball. Throughout the first half, we gave so many balls away; easy balls in our own half which leads to big chances. I cannot tell you if that was the early goal, but it is impossible to win a football game if we continue doing as many mistakes as we did in the first half. We got a little bit better in the second half. But overall, that's just the reality and today, by far, was not good enough to win an MLS game.

On the balance between defense and offense...

When you're then losing, you try to chase and you open up a little bit. That's the fine balance to find. The game was definitely better in the second half, where we played better. We then had to make some subs. We knew that Justin (Reynolds) and Ian (James) will be subbed out at minute 60, so we also knew that we'd probably then go in a different shape. I think the different shape was fine. But then you chase, because you're losing, and obviously that's the risk that then you open up. We knew that the opposition team has very fast, athletic players as well. So that's a fine balance to find. How long do you stick with maybe being a little bit less on the front foot and not opening up and trying to come back to 1-1 like that and how much do you open up?

On what needs to change...

If we just take the performance from today, from the first half, this was not good enough. We gave away way too many balls in our own half out of no pressure, out of no reason. We have to start with that. I think that is something we talk with the players. We're not only going to talk today about that, because we struggled with that in the past as well. We're giving away too many easy chances, bringing momentum to the other team, and I think that is something we really have to change and we'll work on that.

On Diego Borges' debut...

I think that's a positive from today. I think Diego came in well. It's not easy to come in. He didn't train a long time with us. He doesn't know the league. But I think Diego had an interesting performance and an interesting game in the second half so that is for sure something we take out as a positive of this game.

Sporting Kansas City defender Justin Reynolds

On the early goal conceded...

It was like we just weren't up until they scored. It is bad. We need to get hit in the face before we start playing and this is something that we just can't have. It destroyed our morale. You could see that from the next couple minutes, that we just were kind of scared to play, and that's something that we just can't have during the game.

On recovering from his injury...

We have a great training staff. They helped me progress back smoothly. I was happy working with them and I'm grateful to them for all that and grateful for God for giving me strength to just play. It felt nice to be back. It's disappointing that was the result and the way it went, but it's always going to be nice coming back in and finally playing again. So I'm happy to play, of course, but it's disappointing.

On the team's performance in the second half...

It felt like we just came out with more pride, to be honest. We didn't look as scared as the first half. Something switched and we decided that we wanted to win. That's nice to have, but you have got to have that from the first half. We came out in the second half better -- not good enough still -- but better for sure. You have got to start every game, though.

On what the defense do differently...

I guess just winning the ball more. We have to be more aggressive. We have got to be on them. It feels like we're not sticking it on them at all. We don't feel like they're scared of us to play. We let them do these fancy things and we're just not making it hard for them. We have to be more aggressive and win the ball, of course, like I said, but also be on them and let them know we're there.

On his first MLS assist...

It's a nice personal achievement. I'm going to be proud to get my first assist, but I'm not happy. I think the team result comes first. We made a good connection with Jake (Davis) and Manu (Garcia) and of course you trust Dejan (Joveljic) in those situations to put it away. It's nice. It's something that I'll remember, but the result and the team comes first before that.

2026 MLS Regular Season | Game 6

America First Field | Sandy, UT

Attendance: 20,290

Weather: 59 degrees and clear

Score 1 2 F

Sporting Kansas City (1-4-1, 4 points) 0 1 1

Real Salt Lake (4-1-1, 13 points) 1 2 3

Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Ian James (Zorhan Bassong 64'), Jansen Miller, Ethan Bartlow (Diego Borges 46'); Justin Reynolds (Jacob Bartlett 64'), Jake Davis, Lasse Berg Johnsen, Shapi Suleymanov; Manu Garcia, Dejan Joveljic (C), Calvin Harris (Stephen Afrifa 74')

Subs Not Used: Jack Kortkamp, Kwaku Agyabeng, Cielo Tschantret, Taylor Calheira

Real Salt Lake: Rafael Cabral (C); Philip Quinton, Justen Glad, Lukas Engel; Zavier Gozo (Jesus Barea 92+), Noel Caliskan, Stijn Spierings (Griffin Dillon 84'), Alexandros Katranis (Sam Junqua 72'); Diego Luna (Dominik Marczuk 84'), Sergi Solans (Victor Olatunji 72'), Morgan Guilavogui

Subs Not Used: Max Kerkvliet, Luca Moisa, Pablo Ruiz

Scoring Summary:

RSL - Diego Luna 1 (Noel Caliskan 2, Zavier Gozo 2) 4'

RSL - Sergi Solans 3 (Zavier Gozo 3, Morgan Guilavogi 3) 55'

SKC - Dejan Joveljic 4 (Justin Reynolds 1, Jake Davis 2) 59'

RSL - Zavier Gozo 2 (Noel Caliskan 3, Stijn Spierings 1) 82'

Misconduct Summary:

RSL - Morgan Guilavogui (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 88'

STAT SKC RSL

Shots 5 23

Shots on Goal 3 7

Expected Goals 0.49 2.98

Corner Kicks 1 7

Possession 50.1% 49.9%

Saves 4 2

Fouls 11 15

Referee: Tim Ford

Assistant Referee: Adam Garner

Assistant Referee: Stephen McGonagle

Fourth Official: Trevor Wiseman

VAR: Ismir Pekmic

AVAR: John Krill

Check out the Sporting Kansas City Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Major League Soccer Stories from April 4, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central