How Sporting KC is embracing its youthful roster after club’s offseason makeover
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Sporting KC overhauled roster/staff, prioritizing youth development.
- Young squad recovered well and earned a 2-2 draw vs Columbus.
- New ownership and Wicky prioritize player development as core club strategy.
Sporting Kansas City’s makeover is three matches old, with the club taking a 0-1-2 record into its fourth game of Major League Soccer’s 2026 season.
Nearly everything is new for Sporting KC. There’s a new principal owner, ready to invest. There’s an entirely new front office, exchanging the 16-year reign of Peter Vermes for veteran MLS coach Raphaël Wicky of Switzerland.
Sporting KC’s home stadium is even renamed, now going by Sporting Park, a change necessitated by completion of decade-long partnership with Children’s Mercy Hospital that included naming rights. The venue this season also features a newly constructed plaza outside its main entrance.
Even after a season-opening loss to San Jose on Feb. 21 — and two years of missing the MLS playoffs — some 18,522 fans buzzed about Sporting Park on a recent weekend, eager to see KC’s soccer squad take on the Columbus Crew.
Sporting KC’s first three matches have illustrated the peaks and valleys of a fielding a young team: Some players will simply need more experience in order to improve.
Sporting held strong in the first 40 minutes of its season opener, played on the road against the San Jose Earthquakes. Then, mishaps in the box and possession put KC in a 2-0 hole right before halftime. Sporting eventually lost 3-0.
The visiting team’s composure melted after it allowed that first goal to the Earthquakes. And there could be a few more rough moments ahead.
After all, Sporting KC’s fields the third-youngest starting 11 in MLS this year, tying with New York Red Bulls for the youngest squad in the league overall, according to Transfermarkt.
Here come the young guys ...
Sporting KC has gone from having one of the oldest rosters in MLS — eight players over age 30 in 2024 — to one of its least experienced.
Just two Sporting KC players are over the age of 27. Seventeen-year-old Ian James is a starting defender.
Youth was an intentional part of Sporting KC’s ongoing roster makeover. General manager David Lee emphasizes a balance of sustaining a strong youth pipeline, developing the current senior roster and being active in the transfer market.
Of those directives, developing players is the clear priority.
“It was part of the reason why Rafa was head coach, because he’s shown that he’s able to develop talent, whether they’re young or in the best years of their career,” Lee said. “That’s going to be something that we have to focus on, not just now.
“I will give the same answer in 12 months, 24 months, 36 months, because we have to keep doing that. And that’s how you build a sustainable, successful winner in MLS, year over year, is to make sure development is at the core of what you do.”
After that season-opening shutout in California, Sporting KC recovered well against Columbus. Playing on home turf at Sporting Park, Wicky’s charges collected a point in the MLS standing with a 2-2 draw.
The first goal came when goalkeeper John Pulskamp relinquished the ball to opposing striker Wessam Abou Ali in the box. Sporting responded well after that, getting a brace from star striker Dejan Joveljić.
The match featured a wild finish, too: Pulskamp secured the draw with a penalty-kick save.
So what’s the takeaway? A win would have been better, for sure, but earning a tie represented quick adjustment to mental hurdles and execution of the coach’s game plan. It was an outcome that no doubt boosted the confidence of a club still finding its footing in this new era.
“Players make mistakes,” Wicky said after the Columbus match. “The only thing you can control after a mistake is, what is your reaction? ... And the team’s reaction was really, really positive.”
Wicky’s possession-based approach presents some risks (as Pulskamp showed in allowing the aforementioned goal). But players see those potential pitfalls as risks worth taking as they continue learning more about the game.
“This is the style of footy we’re playing,” Pulskamp said that night. “Still a poor decision. I shouldn’t be making that pass.
“But if you look at the 35 minutes before that, we’re playing some of the best soccer, I think, that’s been played in this stadium in a long time.”
Remaining holdovers
The 11 players brought back from last season’s Sporting KC roster seem to welcome this year’s changes. They appear to be eager to train and play in the same setting, but with a different environment.
Wicky and his new coaching staff bring fresh perspective and new training processes.
“I don’t know if it’s magic or something,” midfielder Zorhan Bassong said. “I feel like no matter who is here, everybody gets along.”
The Canadian international is in his third year with the Sporting KC organization and this season was named a team captain.
“I never (played on) a team where everybody got ... along the way that we get along here in KC, “ Bassong said.
But this year’s team has found new ways to bond. Card games, video games and conversation icebreakers during the preseason were essential to building relationships with newly arrived faces.
“The way that (Wicky and Lee) schedule (training days),” midfielder Jake Davis said, “what they brought in and how they do things, it has enabled players to get to know each other in a much more natural way.”
Davis, a Sporting KC Academy graduate, has been with the club since 2017. He has played an array of positions since joining the senior team in 2021.
Players bonding off the pitch can sound like news-conference PR word-salad. But this group’s desire to play well for the teammates alongside them is evident.
“If the guy in front of me is losing the ball or something, I don’t mind making the effort for that person because he’s my brother, and I think that’s important,” Bassong said.
The team’s buy-in is clear through three games. And Sporting KC is showing a clear plan for each match.
Even in its most recent outing, a 1-0 home loss to a tough San Diego side on March 7, Sporting KC wasn’t dominated. Bassong, Davis and company held the 2025 MLS semifinalists to a single goal, interrupting their run of seven straight strikes through two games.
The first win of Wicky’s tenure has yet to arrive in Kansas City, but all involved believe it will come soon.
“This group has been amazing with the commitment and the energy they have, and the willingness to get better,” Wicky said. “I think if you see that from a group, then I believe that a group and players individually will get better.”
