Sporting KC can make the MLS playoffs with a win on Saturday & some help. Here’s how

It’s now or never for Sporting KC.

On Saturday night, Sporting KC will host Minnesota United in their final game of the 2023 regular season. That game begins at 8 p.m. from Children’s Mercy Park.

Both teams must win for any shot of making the postseason. Even with a win, Sporting will need some help.

Here’s the full rundown:

• Sporting KC must win: Sporting cannot make the postseason without defeating Minnesota.
• IF Sporting wins, they still need help: One of the Portland Timbers (vs. Houston Dynamo), San Jose Earthquakes (vs. Austin FC), or FC Dallas (at LA Galaxy) must either lose or draw.

The latter of the scenarios doesn’t matter without the former. So winning is all that’s on Sporting KC’s mind going into Saturday.

“If all three teams win, it is what it is,” said forward Daniel Salloi. “Our game is the most difficult one. We have to win that. We have to focus on that. It’s gonna be a fun game to watch and be a part of. After the game, tell me if we made it or not, and then that’s it.”

The final slate of matches is dubbed by MLS as “Decision Day.” For some, it’s deciding playoff positioning. For others, it’s the fate of their whole season.

It’s been a while since Sporting needed a victory on Decision Day just to make the postseason. You’d have to go all the way back to 2016, when Sporting needed a win over the San Jose Earthquakes on the final day to get over the line.

Sure, the club has had first place in the Western Conference riding on Decision Day a few times, like in 2018 and 2020, when Sporting came out on top against LAFC and Real Salt Lake, respectively.

Or 2021, when RSL’s goal at the death and a controversial missed call sent Sporting all the way to third place, allowing RSL to sneak into the playoffs and eventually eliminate Sporting.

Salloi was a member of both of those teams and has endured his share of playoff losses, too. He said he’s preached to the guys who haven’t been in these situations that they must be ready for everything until the very last second.

“Every time we’ve lost (in) those games, the offseason just hurts,” Salloi said. “Like every day you will think about it. You’re like, ‘Could I have ran a little bit more for that extra five minutes?’

“That’s what you try to pass on to the next guys who haven’t played in these games, that maybe that one extra sprint can go a long way.”

Midfielder Erik Thommy hasn’t played in an MLS postseason match yet, but he did recall a similar situation during his time with Stuttgart in Germany. To avoid being relegated (bumped down to the second division), his team needed to win and another team had to lose. All matches were simultaneous, similar to MLS Decision Day.

Stuttgart scored a goal in stoppage time to avoid relegation. The atmosphere the whole day was just different, Thommy said. And he expects it to be similar on Saturday.

“It will be a different feeling,” Thommy said. “You’ll feel the tension. You’ll feel the importance of the game.”

If Sporting were playing an opponent already eliminated from contention, it might simplify the job. But Minnesota needs a win as well, facing the very same situation. It will create what should be a wild match.

“It’s gonna be about how concentrated you are in the 90-minutes-plus of the game,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said. “That’s where the key is gonna be.”

Sporting has had to fight just to get into this position at all.

The club failed to win each of its first 10 matches, which put them in similar do-or-die situations throughout the back half of the MLS season. Vermes characterized that stretch as being similar to what Sporting will face on Saturday.

“It’s the opportunity that they created,” Vermes said. “You put yourself in this position. Now, make sure you don’t miss it.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2023 at 2:15 PM.