Saturday night at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Sporting KC will host LAFC for matchday 26 of the 2026 MLS season. This is the same fixture as the 2024 U.S. Open Cup final, which was also the last time these two sides played in a final. LAFC went on to win the final in extra time, with goals from Omar Campos (102’) and Kei Kamara (109’). Since the 2024 U.S. Open Cup Final, Sporting KC has lost all of their encounters with LAFC since then. As a matter of fact, Sporting KC is winless in 11 straight matches against LAFC: 2 draws and 9 losses. To find the last time Sporting KC beat the Black and Gold, we have to go back to August 4th, 2021, a time when everyone was still wearing masks because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sporting KC won that match away at the Banc of California Stadium, now called BMO Stadium, in Los Angeles (1-4). Over the last three MLS seasons, Sporting KC has been one of the worst teams in the league, and this season is no different. At the moment, they sit 15th in the Western Conference with 15 points, the lowest total between both conferences. With 4 wins, 3 draws, and 16 losses in 23 matches played, they seem to be on track for their worst season in club history. To make matters worse, last month they decided to terminate Manu Garcia’s contract instead of selling him for a fee, and the club also sold Dejan Joveljić, their top goalscorer this season, to Seattle Sounders. One positive note is that in their last match against FC Dallas, they were able to score more than 1 goal, for the first time since July 22nd. They registered 26 shots with 10 shots on target which seems to be their highest tally recorded in a match so far this season. They still lost to FC Dallas (4-3), but a positive is a positive. LAFC are currently coming off a 2-0 win at home against RBNY and will look to continue their positive record against Sporting KC. Prior to their match against RBNY, LAFC was on a 6-match winless streak in MLS matches. They were able to end that streak but there were still many issues in that match. LAFC still struggles to score more than one goal, which keeps opponents alive in matches. Even when RBNY went down to nine men, LAFC continued to struggle. After the departure of David Martinez to Midtjylland, that right-wing position has become an issue. LAFC will look to integrate Leo Walta and Thayllon Roberth into this team in hopes of sorting out their midfield and right-wing issues. One big positive for the club was seeing Igor Jesus get minutes for the first time since his ACL injury last year. The two sides last met two months ago, July 25th, where LAFC beat Sporting KC (4-0) in Los Angeles with goals from Son Hueng-min, a brace from Denis Bouanga, and a goal from David Martinez. Sporting KC will look to prevent that scoreline from happening at home and hope to walk away with at least a point.