The San Jose Earthquakes will look to extend their franchise-best start to the season when they visit Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night, April 12, 2026, at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan. San Jose, with a 5-1-0 record and 15 points, enters the match as strong favorites against a struggling Sporting KC side.
This impressive start marks the first time since the team’s inaugural North American Soccer League season in 1974 that the Earthquakes have won five of their first six matches. Their success is attributed to strong performances on both offense and defense, with goalkeeper Daniel securing five shutouts and the team outscoring opponents 10-1.
Last weekend, San Jose dominated San Diego FC with a 3-0 victory at home. Earthquakes coach Bruce Arena expressed surprise at the team’s early success, acknowledging the distance still to go in the season.
“Well, if you broke training camp and you told me we’d be 5-1 after the first six games … I would not agree with that, so I’m very pleased,” Arena said. He further added, “However, we have a long way to go. There’s a lot of room for improvement, and hopefully, we can get through this first half of the season in decent form, so we’re positioned in the second half to be a team that can qualify for the playoffs.”
Twenty-year-old Niko Tsakiris notably scored two goals against San Diego, joining former Earthquakes star Landon Donovan as the only players in club history to achieve this feat before turning 21. Donovan accomplished it three times.
Sporting Kansas City (1-4-1, 4 points) has endured a difficult start to their season, being outscored 14-6. Their dismal run began with a 3-0 home loss to the Earthquakes on February 21, a match where Daniel Munie scored twice for San Jose.
Last weekend, Sporting KC suffered a 3-1 defeat to host Real Salt Lake, being outshot 23-5. Diego Luna’s early fourth-minute goal for Salt Lake set the tone for the match, impacting Sporting KC’s morale.
“It was like we just weren’t up until they scored,” Sporting KC defender Justin Reynolds stated, regarding the early goal. “It is bad. We need to get hit in the face before we start playing, and this is something that we just can’t have. It destroyed our morale. You could see that from the next couple minutes, that we just were kind of scared to play.”
Dejan Joveljic has been a key offensive player for Sporting KC, scoring four of the team’s six goals this season. He has accumulated 22 goals in 38 matches since joining the team from the Los Angeles Galaxy before the 2025 season.
For Sporting Kansas City, defender Zorhan Bassong is listed on the Player Availability Report with a nagging hamstring issue. Goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland and defender Wyatt Meyer are questionable due to ankle issues, while goalkeeper Ryan Schewe is questionable with a hand injury. Jayden Reid, however, has returned to full training. San Jose Earthquakes have Forward Timo Werner, defender Vitor Costa, and defender Dejuan Jones listed as questionable due to lower body injuries.
Kickoff for the match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT (7:40 actual kick).