Sporting Kansas City hit a new low in 3-0 humiliation to Colorado Springs Switchbacks

A USL Championship side outplayed, outfought, and exposed everything wrong with Sporting Kansas City right now

Sporting Kansas City’s 3-0 loss to the Colorado Springs Switchbacks in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 is the exact reason MLS doesn’t want its teams playing in the competition. MLS doesn’t want fans to see just how bad some of its clubs are and doesn’t want the American soccer fans to think a second tier team—in American terms, a minor league team—is better than the top-tier club.

Yet, on Tuesday night that is just what happened. Sporting Kansas City was embarrassed by a USL Championship club that failed to win any of its last four games in all competitions. Had you watched the game with no knowledge of MLS and the USL Championship, you would have thought Colorado Springs were the top-flight team.

Sporting Kansas City continued to make the same mistakes, especially in central defense, where the two center-backs couldn’t make a tackle to stop the Switchbacks’ quick attacks. Nor could they get the correct positioning to receive a simple three-yard pass from a left-back.

Of course, the player who eviscerated Sporting Kansas City was Sadam Masereka. For those who aren’t aware, Masereka was drafted by Sporting Kansas City in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft but wasn’t offered a contract. He now plays for the Colorado Springs Switchbacks, and on Tuesday night, scored, assisted a goal, and was the highest rated player on the pitch according to Fotmob in the demolition of Sporting Kansas City.

The loss means that Sporting Kansas City are the only MLS team to ever lose to the Colorado Springs Switchbacks. That’s a great first–not! The three goals conceded now means Sporting Kansas City allowed 13 goals in the last four games. Meanwhile, Sporting Kansas City scored just three times across the last three fixtures.

If David Lee and the Sporting Kansas City ownership are okay with this losing, that’s fine, but fans aren’t. You can call this a rebuild all you want, but right now there is nothing that shows improvement, development, or the laying of foundations for the future.

The future is now, because players like Joveljic won’t stick around and waste the prime years of their careers. Lasse Berg Johnsen came from Sweden’s most successful club, Malmo. He was sold on a project. The project has already collapsed, and I think it happened the moment Daniel Salloi was sold to Toronto FC.

If the front office thinks the only consequence of a bad season in U.S. soccer is missing the MLS Cup Playoffs, then they are foolishly wrong. You are losing the fans with a third straight losing season. With so many casual fans following MLS anyway, a 3-0 loss to the Colorado Springs Switchbacks makes the club, its players, and coaches look incompetent.

How many people will read the news about the 3-0 loss in the Open Cup and simply see this as Sporting Kansas City losing to a minor league club? A lot. These casual fans won’t know the intricacies of knockout cup soccer. Knockout cup soccer is fantastic. Why? Because you get giant killings. But when the gap between clubs is so vast, then there needs to be some explaining, and there need to be responsibilities taken from people on and off the pitch.

Losing more fan interest is going to take this team a lot longer to gain it back. The good news is with so many soccer fans coming and going with their interest, this result will be forgotten about by a large swath of supporters by the time the World Cup break happens at the end of May.

Now, I’ve defended head coach Raphael Wicky from the start. I think he’s a good coach. But what the fuck are you doing playing Jake Davis as a second striker when you’ve got Calvin Harris and Taylor Calheira on the bench?

Despite scoring against San Jose, Jacob Bartlett resumed his role of being a midfielder who can’t defend or take up meaningful positions. Then there was Jansen Miller proving he isn’t an MLS-level center-back once more. He let Masereka dribble past him before passing to Juan Tejada to slot home. This left Diego Borges on an island to defend, which he meekly did. The problem with Miller was he showed he isn’t a USL Championship center-back either.

You know who could probably play center-back in MLS? The pair of central defenders for the Colorado Springs Switchbacks. The pressure Colorado Springs continually put on Sporting Kansas City was constant. Whether it was a long-ball over the top or dribbling at defenders, Sporting Kansas City couldn’t stop the Switchbacks. Remember, the Switchbacks are ninth in the USL Championship Western Conference. However, Sporting Kansas City made them look like the best team in the USL Championship–which they aren’t.

So many fans were high on Borges after Sporting Kansas City signed him in March. He’s Brazilian. He’s big. He’s a young defender. He’s played in Europe.

There’s a reason Zalaegerszeg sold him to Sporting Kansas City. They knew they could get a good return on their initial purchase. He played sparingly—seven games for Zalaegerszeg before they sold him.

Why play him such a low number of games? It gives the team the chance to show him off without overexposing him and allowing teams to get a better scouting report.

Borges was out of position for Jayden Reid’s pass, allowing Masereka to run right past him and shoot into the Sporting Kansas City net. Then Miller’s tame header fell to Khori Bennett to score. The center-backs continue to be the biggest problem for this team. I won’t even get into Shapi’s stupid sending off.

This isn’t a rebuild. This is the sequel to a film we watched last season called “Sporting Kansas City find new lows every week.” Everyone from players to ownership should be embarrassed. Not about losing to a USL Championship team, but about how the loss happened. It was abysmal. It was gutless. It was heartless.

David Lee, this is bad. Really, really bad. It’s so bad, it hurts my feelings. Hitting rock bottom would insinuate that there is no further to fall. However, that assessment would be wrong. There is still much further this team could fall.

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