Preview: Sporting Kansas City vs Austin FC - prediction, team news, lineups

Austin FC can pad their Western Conference playoff lead on Sunday when they pay a visit to Children’s Mercy Park for a date with Sporting Kansas City.

Last weekend, KC ended a four-match MLS losing run by defeating the Colorado Rapids 4-2, while Austin came away with a 3-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes.

Match preview

It was another poor opening half for Sporting last weekend, but to their credit, they fought back with three unanswered goals in the final 45 minutes to snap a six-match winless run in league play.

Starting slow and finishing strong has been a big storyline of theirs in 2025, claiming 14 points from losing positions, the fifth-most domestically this year.

Nearly half of their regular-season goals scored this season (21/34) have come beyond the hour mark, with this team ranked third in that category.

Kerry Zavagnin’s men are eight points below the playoff line with only six matches remaining and on Sunday they can win consecutive home games for the first time in 2025.

Meanwhile, a victory this weekend would give them eight on the season, equalling their total from 2024, while five more points would surpass what they achieved a year ago (31).

They have points in four of their five all-time home meetings versus the Verde and Black, winning those last two affairs by a combined margin of 6-1.

Austin remain on course for a return to the playoffs, currently six points above that line in the West and two points ahead of the Rapids for an automatic place in round one.

Under Nico Estevez, they have adapted into a defence-first squad, with a goals-against-average of only 1.22, the seventh lowest in the competition.

As you might imagine, for a sound defensive unit, this team are nearly unbeatable when netting first, winning 10 times to go along with two draws in those 12 instances domestically.

On the other hand, they struggle mightily when behind, without a single regular-season victory after conceding the opener or trailing at the interval.

If they can win their remaining seven contests, the Verde and Black would set a new club record for wins in a single regular season, surpassing the mark of 16 set in 2022, the only previous time they made the playoffs.

Set pieces have been a strong component of their success in 2025, with seven of their 29 goals coming from dead-ball situations, which has played a big part in them winning three of their previous five MLS away contests.

Sporting Kansas City Major League Soccer form:

Austin FC Major League Soccer form:

Team News

A quad strain kept Manu Garcia out of the Kansas City lineup versus Colorado, and the midfielder is unlikely to be available for them this weekend.

Because of the international window Zorhan Bassong will miss this match having earned a call-up for Canada, while Ian James will represent the US Under-17 team.

Dejan Joveljic netted a brace the last time out, eclipsing 100 goals in his professional club career, Daniel Salloi also scored, giving him 11 goal contributions for the year, with Mason Toye also netting in the victory.

Against the Quakes, Austin were without Brandon Vazquez because of a knee injury, and Ilie Sanchez was sidelined as he continues to recover from a back problem.

They will have numerous players out for the international window, including Myrto Uzuni (Albania), Oleksandr Svatok (Ukraine), Daniel Pereira (Venezuela) and Julio Cascante (Costa Rica).

Osman Bukari had the opener for them last Saturday, with Uzuni scoring the winner over 20 minutes later and Bruno Wilson aiding them with an own goal late in the second half.

Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:

Pulskamp; Shelton, Miller, Voloder, Leibold; Davis, Radoja; Thommy, Munoz, Salloi; Joveljic

Austin FC possible starting lineup:

Stuver; Desler, Dordevic, Hines-Ike, Biro; Dubersarsky, Sabovic, Gallagher; Bukari, Obrian, Wolff

We say: Sporting Kansas City 2-0 Austin FC

Austin have struggled against lower-ranked sides of late, dropping points in their last three matches versus teams currently on the outside of the playoff picture.

Meanwhile, Sporting can be a mixed bag, but Joveljic has shown he can carry this team at times, and we believe he will do exactly that on Sunday.

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