Sporting Kansas City vs. LA Galaxy
2024 MLS Regular Season | Match 5
Saturday, March 23 | 7:30 p.m. CT (7:40 kickoff)
Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas
Broadcast Schedule:
Apple TV | MLS Season Pass
English Radio | ESPN 94.5 FM & 1510 AM
Spanish Radio | La Grande 1340 AM
Tickets | Know Before You Go | 5 Things | By the Numbers | Tune In on Apple TV | Pub Partners | SKC App | MatchCenter
Sporting Kansas City will host the LA Galaxy at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Children's Mercy Park in a compelling clash of Western Conference clubs that are off to unbeaten starts four weeks into the 2024 season.
Tickets are available online at SeatGeek, including the Sporting U Pass offering $15 Supporters' Stand ticket for college students on Spring Break. Ticket holders can take advantage of $2 off 25-ounce Michelob Ultra and Bud Light cans at stadium concessions and fans can also pre-order the club's limited-edition Sporting KC baseball jersey at SportingStyle.com for matchday pick-up on Saturday.
With identical 1-0-3 records after the first month of the regular season campaign, Sporting Kansas City and the LA Galaxy enter Saturday's showdown -- the only MLS fixture of the matchday to feature two unbeaten teams going head-to-head -- tied for fourth place in the Western Conference. Sporting is unbeaten through four regular season games for a fourth time in club history (2000, 2012, 2017, 2024) while the Galaxy are unbeaten after four matches for the first time since 2013.
LA is coming off a pair of dramatic draws in back-to-back weeks, first rallying from 2-0 down with 30 minutes remaining to earn a 2-2 road result at Nashville SC on March 10 then scoring a 95th-minute equalizer last weekend in a 3-3 stalemate with St. Louis.
The top scoring team in the West with nine goals, LA is led by MLS Golden Boot frontrunner Dejan Joveljic -- who is looking to become the second player in MLS history to score in his team's first five matches -- with a supporting cast that includes MLS All-Star Riqui Puig, MLS assist leader Mark Delgado and two newcomers in Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec who rank among the top 10 players in MLS based on estimated transfer value according to CIES Football Observatory.
After opening the season with three straight draws against teams from last year's Conference Semifinals, Sporting Kansas City secured the club's first win last weekend with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory versus the San Jose Earthquakes. SKC trailed for the first time all year, but only for seven minutes, until Dany Rosero headed home a corner kick to pull Sporting level and set the stage for Alan Pulido to volley in the game-winning goal.
Pulido recorded a brace in the most recent match-up with LA -- a 2-2 draw in southern California last June -- as Sporting extended the club's unbeaten run against the Galaxy to six straight matches (3-0-3). The regular season series between the two MLS charter clubs is deadlocked after 70 all-time match-ups (26-26-18) dating back to the inaugural clash in May 1996, however SKC is 7-1-7 in the team's last 15 regular season home matches against LA since 2008.
After playing LAFC and San Jose in the previous two weeks, Sporting will take on the remaining MLS club from California -- with San Diego set to join the league as an expansion side in 2025 -- amidst a stretch in which SKC plays five of six fixtures at home. Conversely, LA is embarking on the team's first of five road matches in their next seven games.
Former teammates on the U.S. Men's National Team, Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes (196 regular season wins, 3rd overall) and LA Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney (123 regular season wins, 10th overall) each rank among the most successful coaches in MLS history. Notably, Vermes is unbeaten in 11 previous regular season managerial match-ups (5-0-6) with Vanney.
One of 13 MLS matches on Saturday, SKCvLA will stream live on Apple TV for MLS Season Pass subscribers in addition to local radio coverage on ESPN KC 94.5 FM and 1510 AM as well as La Grande 1340 AM. Pub partners in the Sporting Pub Network will also show all of the action on Saturday, including a watch party at No Other Pub in the Kansas City Power and Light District with food and drink specials starting at 5:30 p.m.
