Sporting KC 1-3 San Jose Earthquakes: SKC lose again but attacking progress offers hope
Defensive mistakes undo improved performance
Let’s start with some positivity. Sporting Kansas City played well against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night. Sporting looked strong going forward. The team tallied 10 shots, with four on target, and tallied 48% possession. Impressively, the team collected nine shots inside the penalty area.
You will know if you’re a regular Drew FC reader, I’ve been very critical of midfielder Jacob Bartlett. Yet, the academy graduate had a strong game, and scored his first-ever MLS goal. Bartlett’s run through the midfield beyond the San Jose defense for Dejan Joveljic’s through ball was outstanding. Bartlett had his best game this season by a country mile.
Yet, at the end of the 90 minutes, Sporting Kansas City suffered their third consecutive defeat. Across those three defeats, Sporting KC conceded 10 goals and scored just three times.
Sporting Kansas City got onto the scoresheet first, thanks to Bartlett’s excellent goal. The problem was the attack didn’t build on the lead, despite having chances. The attack was impressive overall against San Jose, but it still didn’t do enough to take advantage of the positions the players took up.
What was even more of an issue was once again the defense; and the area at most fault was the center-backs.
Now for the negatives. Ian James had a terrible night at the office. It was great to see new signing Diego Borges start for the first time. However, having a 17-year-old that needs far more seasoning in the starting XI once more wasn’t ideal.
Ethan Bartlow had a mare the previous week. Yet, having the experience of Bartlow in the back line next to the extremely raw Borges may have been a better idea. Of course, this is all hindsight. If it was predictable, Raphael Wicky may have left James out of the team completely.
San Jose’s opening goal came out of nothing. A cutback from Niko Tsakiris found Jack Skahan to slot the ball past John Pulskamp. James had lost track of the man he was marking.
Skahan ghosted in behind James–did Justin Reynolds tell him he was there? It was a simple goal. The most aggravating thing watching the highlights back is that James can clearly see Skahan has moved in front of him and is unmarked. Defending 101, stay between your man and the goal.
Despite going a goal down, Sporting Kansas City continued to play. They didn’t back down or collapse. The attack kept going. Then, another San Jose goal came from nothing.
The Quakes countered after winning the ball in their penalty area. Looking at the highlights, pausing the video and seeing the team’s positioning, you can again see plenty of issues.
Borges was one-on-one with Preston Judd, who laid the ball off before spinning around the Brazilian and outrunning him and receiving the ball again. With Borges unable to track back, James left Skahan free, and ran across to Judd.
Judd simply had to roll the ball to Skahan to shoot past Pulskamp. Could James have taken up a position to delay Judd’s pass? Could Borges have run harder to get back into position? Regardless, San Jose led 2-1 after 49 minutes. Once again, Sporting Kansas City had allowed preventable goals. This is the best team in the league at shooting themselves in the foot.
Sporting Kansas City were still in the game, however. Then, David Romney killed any chance of a comeback. A ball was played into the box. An unmarked midfield runner got their toe to the ball, James attempted to clear it, the ball fell to Romney, and Reynolds couldn’t get in front of the San Jose player to block it quickly enough. 3-1.
Sporting Kansas City still attacked. They still tried to turn up the pressure. Yet, the game was already gone. Three San Jose Earthquake goals and all three came from relatively nothing. The same problems continue to occur.
San Jose’s three goals came from an xG of 1.71. The Quakes overachieved their xG thanks to poor defending and good finishing. Despite Sporting’s improved offensive performance, the team still managed an xG of just 0.78. Once again, a goal came courtesy of Joveljic, although rather than score, he assisted Bartlett. Joveljic has scored or assisted five of Sporting Kansas City’s seven goals this season.
The center of defense continues to be the biggest issue. It was the biggest issue in 2025, and it is once again. James and Jansen Miller were often in defense in 2025. They are the common denominator. Sporting KC’s defense is still bad, and both of those inexperienced players have tallied a lot of minutes over the last two campaigns.
Cast your mind back to the 2-1 win over the LA Galaxy and neither James nor Miller were in the starting XI. The 2-2 draw against the Columbus Crew didn’t feature either of those two players in central defense–although James played right-back.
For all of the improved attacking play against the Earthquakes, Sporting KC still came up short for all of the same reasons as the previous two weeks thanks to a weak spine.
Sporting KC have conceded 17 goals, the most in the Western Conference. The team concedes an average of 2.43 goals per match. Sporting KC are on pace to concede more goals in 2026 than they did in 2027. Last season, the team conceded 70 goals. If things continue the way they are going, then Sporting KC will allow 83 goals in 2026. Only Orlando City and Montreal have allowed more goals this season.
The Western Conference is extremely competitive. It is far more competitive than the Eastern Conference. The gap between last-place Sporting Kansas City and ninth-placed Minnesota United is currently seven points. With the way in which Sporting Kansas City are playing, that gap may as well be 70 points.
Jacob Bartlett, I know I’ve been tough on you this season. Well done and congratulations on your first goal.
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