By Kurt Austin – Sporting Kansas City
Sporting Kansas City suffered a 3-0 loss on the road at the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday to open the 2026 MLS regular season campaign.
In the team’s first match under head coach Raphael Wicky, six players made their debuts for the club as Sporting Kansas City fielded a youthful lineup in which all 11 of the team’s starters were 28 years of age or younger for the first time in an MLS match in 31 seasons. That group included 17-year-old center back Ian James, who became the youngest player to start an MLS regular season opener for Sporting Kansas City in club history.
Kicking off the season with the team’s earliest ever MLS match, Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper John Pulskamp recorded three saves on the night including a superb stop in the 14th minute to push Ousseni Bouda’s attempt over the crossbar.
In the 42nd minute, Pulskamp did well to keep out Preston Judd’s snapped header however Daniel Munie pounced on the rebound to give the Earthquakes a 1-0 lead late in the first half. The hosts would then double their advantage on the cusp of halftime as Preston Judd struck in the first minute of stoppage time on assists from Jamar Ricketts and Niko Tsakiris.
Sporting Kansas City’s best scoring chance of the night came in the 49th minute as Shapi Suleymanov connected with a cross from Jayden Reid and his header fell to Calvin Harris at the edge of the six-yard box. Harris fired low to the near post however San Jose goalkeeper Daniel dove down to his right to deny Harris a goal on his debut.
The Earthquakes stretched the lead to 3-0 five minutes later as Munie scored his second of the night, this time with a well-placed header off the far post, to double his career goal scoring output.
Sporting would come close to pulling a goal back in the 73rd minute as Dejan Joveljic let loose a shot from just inside the penalty area that narrowly missed the target with Daniel frozen in his spot.
Sporting will return home to host the Columbus Crew at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Feb. 28 at Sporting Park in the team’s highly anticipated home opener. Tickets are available online at SeatGeek, including the Blue Hell Pack that allows fans to secure seats to attend three of the most exciting home games of the season.
2026 MLS Regular Season | Game 1
PayPal Park | San Jose, California
Attendance: 16,367
Weather: 50 degrees and mostly clear
Sporting Kansas City 0-3 San Jose Earthquakes
| Score | 1 | 2 | F |
| Sporting Kansas City (0-1-0, 0 points) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| San Jose Earthquakes (1-0-0, 3 points) | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Justin Reynolds (Kwaku Agyabeng 38′), Ian James, Wyatt Meyer, Jayden Reid; Jacob Bartlett, Manu Garcia, Jake Davis; Shapi Suleymanov (Jansen Miller 68′), Dejan Joveljic (C), Calvin Harris (Taylor Calheira 90+1′)
Subs Not Used: Stefan Cleveland, Ethan Bartlow, Shane Donovan, Zamir Loyo Reynaga, Cielo Tschantret
San Jose Earthquakes: Daniel; Benji Kikanovic, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, DeJuan Jones (Vitor Costa 71′); Beau Leroux (Jonathan Gonzalez 83′), Ronaldo Vieira (C) (Ian Harkes 66′), Ousseni Bouda, Niko Tsakiris, Jamar Ricketts (Paul Marie 83′); Preston Judd (Jack Skahan 71′)
Subs Not Used: Dave Romney, Nick Fernandez, Francesco Montali, Nonso Adimabua
Scoring Summary:
SJ – Daniel Munie 1 (unassisted) 42′
SJ – Preston Judd 1 (Jamar Ricketts 1, Niko Tsakiris 1) 45+1′
SJ – Daniel Munie 2 (Beau Leroux 1, Reid Roberts 1) 54′
Misconduct Summary:
SJ – Daniel Munie (yellow card; reckless foul) 36′
Match Statistics
| STAT | SKC | SJ |
| Shots | 7 | 18 |
| Shots on Goal | 1 | 6 |
| Expected Goals | 0.5 | 3.9 |
| Corner Kicks | 3 | 15 |
| Possession | 55.1% | 44.9% |
| Saves | 3 | 1 |
| Fouls | 12 | 16 |
Referee: Alexis Da Silva
Assistant Referee: Chris Wattam
Assistant Referee: Jeffrey Swartzel
Fourth Official: Elijio Arreguin
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
AVAR: Robert Schaap
