You’ve heard of Sleepless in Seattle, but have you ever heard of Defenseless in Portland? If you watched the Black & Gold’s first match of 2026, you know exactly what I am talking about. The Crew jumped out to a hot start thanks to a Wessam Abou-Ali goal in the 6th minute. Portland then scored twice to take the lead before Diego Rossi equalized right before half time. The game then slowed down before a Portland winner came with just minutes remaining as almost the entire Crew side watched on in horror as Ariel Lassiter slotted home the winner.

The Crew’s attention now shifts to matchday 2 as the team travels to Kansas City to take on one of the most perplexing teams in MLS. After long time coach Peter Vermes was let go last season, the club has been slow to act in almost every way since. New Head Coach Raphael Wicky was one of the last hires of the offseason, despite Kansas City having a head start on their coaching search against other clubs. Additionally, the club has been slow to add players to the roster. SKC have only 22 players available for selection at the time of writing and 4 of them are goalkeepers. Thus, SKC are a betting man’s favorite to win their first ever Wooden Spoon in 2026. 

Sporting Kansas City at a Glance:

2026 Record: 0-1-0, 0 points

2025 Leading Scorer: Dejan Joveljic (18)

2025 Assist Leader: Manu Garcia (6)

Player to Watch: Dejan Joveljic 

Joveljic was acquired by SKC last offseason from the LA Galaxy. Since that point, Joveljic has been just about the only proven MLS threat for Kansas City. The 26 year old forward has a been a consistent threat to score goals since arriving in the league in 2021. Joveljic is an elite finisher who thrives off of movement and service in the box. When Joveljic gets a half chance, he normally converts. After watching the Crew’s struggles defending in the box in last week, Joveljic will be licking his chops getting ready for this match. The Crew’s back line needs to keep close tabs on Joveljic at all times on Saturday. 

How Sporting Kansas City plays: 

Raphael Wicky rolled out a 4-2-3-1 formation for his first game as SKC head coach last weekend, which is the same formation he preferred when he was in charge of the Chicago Fire. I feel it’s a safe bet that formation will be employed today as well. Last week, SKC shifted their back 4 into a back 3 in possession to get additional numbers up the field. SKC typically tried to keep the ball but weren’t hesitant to play direct balls when necessary, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same again on Saturday. 

Out of possession, SKC defended in a mid to low block last week. As the game went on, they defended deeper and deeper as they got pinned in by San Jose’s attacking play. I expect that SKC might start the game by pressing to get their home crowd involved, before again dropping deeper to defend as the game goes on. 

How the Crew can win:

1. Counterpress: Rydstrom has been relatively vocal about his desire to improve the Crew’s counterpressing in 2026. The counterpress was average at best last weekend for the Black & Gold. Look for the Crew to swarm numbers around the ball and win it back quickly as much as possible on Saturday.
2. Box Defending: The Crew’s box defending was atrocious last weekend. Simply put, the Crew struggle to mark, clear the ball and block shots in the box. Rydstrom was not happy with their performance in this phase last weekend, looked for an improvement in this area on Saturday. 
3. Attack with Speed: The Columbus attack got off to a good start last weekend with a goal from Abou-Ali and Rossi respectively. Both goals came from relatively quick attacks against an unorganized back line. Look for the Crew to try and create and capitalize on similar moments again on Saturday.