Recap: Sporting KC falls to late 2-1 loss versus Austin FC

Sporting Kansas City (6-21-4, 22 pts.) fell to a late 2-1 loss versus Austin FC (8-13-10, 34 pts.) at Sporting Park on Saturday night. Sporting took the lead through Stephen Afrifa early in the second half but a brace from Austin Designated Player Myrto Uzuni – including an 86^th-minute winner – sunk Sporting on the night.

Head coach Raphael Wicky made a pair of changes to the lineup following last weekend’s loss to Real Salt Lake, restoring Jake Davis at right back and Capita Capemba on the left wing after the duo returned from injury earlier this month.

Sporting started on the front foot and nearly took the lead in the ninth minute when Afrifa picked off former Sporting man Ilie Sanchez’s header before the ball eventually fell to Taylor Calheira with the goal at his mercy, but his strike was cleared off the line by Guilherme Biro.

With the momentum swinging back and forth throughout the first half, Sporting went close three times in quick succession as the clock ticked into first-half stoppage time. First Afrifa forced an excellent save out of Damian Las in the 43^rd minute before again calling the Austin ‘keeper into action two minutes later after being played through on goal by Calheira. Moments later, Andre Luiz showed his burst of speed to drive down the right wing but fired wide of the target on his weaker right foot.

Sporting found the breakthrough in the 56^th minute and it was the dangerman Afrifa with the goal. Andre won a duel on the right side of the Austin penalty area, prodding the ball into the path of Afrifa who slammed home his fourth goal of the campaign with a low strike into the bottom corner. Andre was credited with the assist, his third of the season taking him to 10 total goal contributions on the season, all coming in his last eight games.

Austin almost produced a quick response in the 62^nd minute when Joseph Rosales twice went close, seeing a header clawed off the line by Stefan Cleveland before Jansen Miller headed his follow-up attempt off the line.

It didn’t keep Austin off the board for long, with the visitors equalizing in the 64^th minute through star forward Uzuni who followed in when his initial header was brilliantly saved by Cleveland to fire home off the underside of the crossbar and make the score 1-1.

Afrifa almost restored Sporting’s lead in the 75^th minute after latching onto a neat setup from substitute Owen Wolff, but the Canadian dragged his shot inches wide of the post. Afrifa was involved once again in the 78^th minute when he met Calvin Harris’ low cross but could not divert his effort on target from close range.

Wolff then latched onto Davis’ searching pass out of the back, controlled the ball on his chest but pulled his shot wide on the bounce while under pressure from a pair of Austin defenders.

With the match seemingly heading for a draw, Austin got the go-ahead goal in the 86^th minute as Uzuni fired home his second of the night after Sporting failed to clear a cross into the box, giving his side the 2-1 victory with his ninth goal of the season.

Sporting has a pair of matches next week, traveling to take on Minnesota United at Allianz Field on Wednesday night before returning home to host FC Dallas in the team’s final home match of the 2026 season at Sporting Park on Saturday night. Kickoff for Wednesday’s match in St. Paul is set for 7:30 p.m. CT and will be available to stream on Apple TV, while the game will be air on the radio on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

2026 MLS Regular Season | Game 31
Sporting Park | Kansas City, KS
Attendance: 13,928
Weather: 67 degrees and cloudy

Sporting Kansas City: Stefan Cleveland; Jake Davis, Jansen Miller, Wyatt Meyer, Emir Karic; Andre Luiz (Owen Wolff 74’), Zorhan Bassong (C) (Jacob Bartlett 73’), Kwaku Agyabeng (Shapi Suleymanov 90’), Capita Capemba (Calvin Harris 46’); Stephen Afrifa, Taylor Calheira (Ruben Ramos Jr. 68’)

Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Ethan Bartlow, Ian James, Jayden Reid

Austin FC: Damian Las; Joseph Rosales, Mikkel Desler (Przemyslaw Placheta 71’), Ilie Sanchez, Guilherme Biro, Jon Gallagher; Jorge Alastuey, Edvin Torres (Besard Sabovic 33’); Facundo Torres, Brandon Vazquez (Christian Ramirez 76’), Myrto Uzuni

Subs Not Used: Brad Stuver, Mateja Djordjevic, Brendan Hines-Ike, Oleksandr Svatok, Micah Burton

Scoring Summary:
SKC – Stephen Afrifa 4 (Andre Luiz 3) 56’
ATX – Myrto Uzuni 8 (Unassisted) 64’
ATX – Myrto Uzuni 9 (Unassisted) 86’

Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Kwaku Agyabeng (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 21’
ATX – Mikkel Desler (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 37’
SKC – Jake Davis (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 37’
SKC – Stephen Afrifa (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 46’
ATX – Ilie Sanchez (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 51’
SKC – Zorhan Bassong (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 52’
SKC – Owen Wolff (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 95+

Referee: Ricardo Fierro
Assistant Referee: Lyes Arfa
Assistant Referee: Ian McKay
Fourth Official: Joe Dickerson
VAR: Alexandra Billeter
AVAR: Craig Lowry