Sporting Kansas City vs. San Jose Earthquakes
2023 MLS Regular Season | Match 26
Saturday, August 26 | 7:30 p.m. CT (7:39 kickoff)
Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kan.
Broadcast Schedule:
Apple TV | Free on MLS Season Pass
English Radio | Sports Radio 810 WHB
Spanish Radio | La Grande 1340 AM
Tickets | 5 Things | By the Numbers | Tune In on Apple TV | Pub Partners | SKC App | MatchCenter | @SKCMatchday
Sporting Kansas City will resume the MLS regular season on Saturday with a highly-anticipated home match against the San Jose Earthquakes on Throwback Night at Children's Mercy Park as the club celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the historic 2013 MLS Cup championship campaign.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT and tickets are available online at SeatGeek, including the Sporting U Pass featuring $15 tickets in the Supporters' Stand for college students. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will receive commemorative 2013 MLS Cup captain's pennants courtesy of match sponsor UMB and the 2013 MLS Cup trophy will be available for pre-match photo opportunities on the Mazuma Plaza.
Numerous players from the 2013 season will return to Children's Mercy Park on Saturday including MLS Cup starters Matt Besler, Chance Myers, Paulo Nagamura, Jimmy Nielsen, Benny Feilhaber and Seth Sinovic. The players will be recognized on the field at halftime and will interact with fans throughout the match, beginning on their arrival to the stadium in the Budweiser Brew House at 5:30 p.m. CT on Saturday.
In addition, SportingStyle has released a capsule collection for Throwback Night featuring a 10th anniversary pocket tee, scarf, pin, pint glass and koozie. Ticket holders can pre-order the items at SportingStyle.com for pick-up on Saturday night at Children's Mercy Park.
Sporting Kansas City restarts the regular season with the team's first MLS match in six weeks following the conclusion of Leagues Cup 2023, in which Sporting drew Supporters' Shield frontrunners FC Cincinnati and upset Liga MX leaders Chivas Guadalajara in the group stage before falling against Toluca FC in the Round of 32.
Led by first-year head coach Luchi Gonzalez, San Jose stumbled to a pair of losses in the Leagues Cup group stage - suffering defeats against the Portland Timbres and Tigres UANL -- but bounced back in league play last weekend with a 1-0 victory in Vancouver to move into fifth place in the Western Conference.
Cristian Espinoza scored his 12th goal of the regular season, tied for second most in MLS, and now has goals in each of San Jose's last four regular season matches as the club has gone unbeaten in league play with a 2-0-2 record since the start of July. The 28-year-old Argentine playmaker also scored the game-winning goal in San Jose's 3-0 win over Sporting on April 15 at PayPal Park - complemented by a Jeremy Ebobisse brace -- and Espinoza leads the Earthquakes with seven assists in 2023.
The clubs last met in Kansas City nearly one year ago on Aug. 27, 2022 when Daniel Salloi struck early to propel Sporting to a 1-0 victory at Children's Mercy Park. The win improved SKC's record at home against San Jose to 15-1-3 across all competitions since August 2004 with two of the three draws punctuated by shootout wins in the 2017 U.S. Open Cup semifinals and 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Sporting rank second in MLS with 28 goals scored since the start of May and the team's next goal will be the1,500th goal scored across all competitions in club history. Forward Alan Pulido has a team-high 11 goals in all competitions this season - boosted by an MLS-best nine league goals since the start of June - while Johnny Russell ranks third in club history with 57 goals, three ahead of Salloi in fourth all-time.
Saturday's showdown will be free to watch on Apple TV in English and Spanish via MLS Season Pass with local radio coverage airing on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM. All of the action will also be shown by pub partners in the Sporting Pub Network , including No Other Pub in the Kansas City Power & Light District with matchday specials highlighted by $4 domestics, $5 wells and 50% off select appetizers.
