Sporting Kansas City hits the road this weekend to take on Orlando City at Inter & Co Stadium on Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and will be available to stream on MLS Season Pass. The game will also be broadcast locally on the radio via Sports Radio 810 WHB.
1. GRUELING SCHEDULE CONTINUES
Sporting Kansas City continued the club’s grueling recent schedule this past weekend, taking on Western Conference leaders San Diego FC at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night and falling to a 2-0 defeat. There will be no respite this weekend, as the team heads to Florida to take on high-flying Orlando City at Inter & Co Stadium on Saturday night who are coming off five consecutive wins in all competitions.
Sporting is in the midst of a run that sees the team play nine straight games against teams currently above the playoff line. The four-game stretch the team is currently in is proving particularly daunting, facing Vancouver (2nd in West), San Diego (1st in West), Orlando (4th in East) and Seattle (4th in West) from July 26 through Aug. 24.
Despite falling to San Diego this past weekend, there was a lot to like in the performance as Sporting won the expected goals battle 2.69 to 0.97 - the team’s highest margin of the season by a significant margin.
Sporting’s playoff hopes are slowly fading as the team sits eight points out of the ninth and final postseason spot. Since taking the helm at the end of March, interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin has picked up 23 points (6-8-5 record).
2. FIRST VISIT TO ORLANDO IN SIX YEARS
Sporting Kansas City is set to travel east to take on Orlando City at Inter & Co Stadium on Saturday night, marking Sporting’s first visit to take on the Lions in almost exactly six years.
The last time Sporting visited Orlando was on Aug. 14, 2019 on a humid and muggy Wednesday night at Inter & Co Stadium. An experimental Sporting lineup fell behind early on following Tesho Akindele’s opener and that is how the score would remain as the hosts held on for a 1-0 win.
Sporting has hosted Orlando at Children’s Mercy Park three times since that match, most recently at a similar stage in the season last year on Aug. 24, 2024. Coming out of the Leagues Cup break, Sporting took a first-half lead following a brilliant goal from Jake Davis before Daniel Salloi added a second just after halftime. Despite being reduced to 10 men following William Agada’s 70th-minute red card, Remi Walter added a late third to seal all three points.
The all-time series between Sporting and Orlando is deadlocked at 3-3-2, though Sporting is winless in their previous three matches on the road in the Sunshine State, going 0-2-1 and only picking up a result in a Latif Blessing-inspired 2-2 draw on May 13, 2017.
3. DAVIS BACK IN THE LINEUP
Sporting Kansas City Academy product Jake Davis returned to the starting lineup during this past Saturday’s 2-0 loss to San Diego FC at Children’s Mercy Park, partnering Zorhan Bassong in the heart of the team’s midfield as the team started in a 4-4-2 formation for the first time under interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin.
Davis, who was named the team’s MVP in 2024 after tallying three goals and eight assists in 34 games across all competitions, has battled injuries throughout the 2025 campaign while also splitting time between right back and central midfield.
On Saturday, the 23-year-old started his first game since the 2-1 win over Charlotte FC on June 25 and started his first game in the midfield since the 4-2 loss to FC Dallas on June 14.
The team enjoyed one of their best performances of 2025 to date with the newly tweaked formation, outshooting Western Conference leaders San Diego 22 to 6 and winning the expected goals battle by a significant margin of 2.69 to 0.97.
4. MONTES MAKES SPORTING DEBUT
Sporting Kansas City defender Alan Montes made his debut for the club this past weekend, playing the final four minutes of the team’s 2-0 loss to San Diego FC at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night.
Sporting announced on Aug .1 that the club had acquired the 24-year-old center back on loan from LIGA MX side Club Necaxa for the remainder of the 2025 season.
Montes’ loan comes with an option for Sporting to exercise a permanent transfer at the end of 2025. He currently occupies an international spot on the club’s roster.
Montes has scored 10 goals in 119 club appearances, including four goals in 57 LIGA MX matches across stints with Necaxa and Monterrey. The 6-foot-4 defender will make his first professional move outside of Mexico, joining Sporting KC after making 59 competitive appearances for Necaxa and helping the team to a fifth-place finish in the 2025 Clausura spring season.
5. IKE OPARA TAKES OVER AS SKC II INTERIM HEAD COACH
Sporting Kansas City II announced on Tuesday that head coach Istvan Urbanyi is no longer with the club.
Ike Opara has been appointed as Sporting KC II’s interim head coach, effective immediately. Opara will continue to work alongside SKC II goalkeeper coach Darrin MacLeod as the team embarks on the remainder of the 2025 MLS NEXT Pro season.
Urbanyi was named SKC II’s head coach in January, leading the team for the first 20 matches of the 2025 campaign. He previously served as a Sporting KC Academy coach from 2014-2016 and a Talent Identification Director for the club from 2018-2020.
