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Minnesota United Defeat Sporting KC 3-0 in Preseason

After losing 6-0 last preseason to Minnesota, Sporting KC gave up half as many goals in their 2026 loss in the Coachella Valley Invitational.

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Credit: Thad Bell

Sporting Kansas City started their first leg of preseason with a 1-2-0 record. Phase two sees the team head to Indio, CA and their first test was Minnesota United, who defeated the team 6-0 last preseason.

Sporting KC rolled out a very different lineup that the ones released earlier in the preseason. They came out in a 4-4-2 with Daniel Salloi lined up next to Dejan Joveljic up top. Salloi did sit underneath Dejan at times, in a bit of a 4-4-1-1. Calvin Harris found himself at wide left midfielder with Shapi Suleymanov on the right. That left one less midfielder and Jake Davis headed to the bench in favor of Jacob Bartlett and Manu Garcia. In defense, Wyatt Meyer started over Jansen Miller and Zorhan Bassong made his first preseason appearance lining up at left back.

The cameraman and the teams were both still in preseason form. The camera often missed the action. Minnesota just got a new coach but seemed to be playing a similar style they played last year looking to sit deep defensively and hit on the counter. Sporting KC completely controlled possession, but it’s hard to know if MNUFC were simply letting them have the ball. David Lee and Rapha Wicky have both said they want SKC to control possession.

The first notable action of the day was a 24th minute yellow card to Barlett. That was the game’s first card, despite two hard challenges against Harris that were deemed to be just common fouls earlier. That earned the ire of Salloi and the other Sporting KC players for the inconsistent calls.

Sporting KC’s best chances, up to that point, came in back-t0-back sequences. Salloi ripped a shot from the edge of the box that went over the bar. Immediately after, an advanced Manu Garcia stole the ball and found Joveljic. Dejan then laid it off to Manu who sent a curling shot towards the goal that Drake Callendar dove to keep out of the net. Before another SKC player could arrive, Drake had gobbled up the rebound. Something that would be sorely missed moments later.

The positive vibes were quickly vanquished as Minnesota immediately responded with a 35th minute goal. A ball was lofted into the box and Markanich headed the ball, and John Pulskamp spilled the rebound right to Markanich who put home the rebound. 1-0 Minnesota.

Minnesota United with the first goal. Markanich gathers his own rebound. 1-0 #MNUFC #SportingKC #SKCvMIN

— Chad Smith (@chadcsmith.bsky.social) 2026-02-07T22:15:57.755Z

Right after the goal, Bassong subbed off in what was described as a pre-planned sub. He was replaced by new signing Jayden Reid.

In stoppage time of the first half, it looked like Salloi was going to get in on goal until he was pulled down from behind by his jersey. The refs stayed in preseason form, just giving a common foul. The ensuing free kick was taken as an inswinger by Shapi’s left foot. The well-paced ball found Joveljic’s head, who flicked the ball just wide of the post as the last action before halftime.

New right back Justin Reynolds had a very good half, but he was also the guy who Markanich climbed over to win the header and rebound for the lone goal. Part of that was there were no CBs in the right area of the box for the cross, as both central defenders had been pulled out of position. It was good to see a natural RB on the field for Sporting KC.

The second half started with the same eleven players on the field for Sporting KC.

The first action of the second half saw Reid commit a foul and setup a dangerous free kick. Pulskamp came up strong and snatched the ball out of the air and before Michael Boxall could get his head to it. The game struggled to find a rhythm after that as Minnesota continually fouled Sporting’s players. A particularly rough foul from the goalscorer Markanich had Reynolds quite upset but the Loons stayed out of the book.

Despite the lack of cohesion, Minnesota did what they do and hit on a semi-quick counter for their second goal. Reynolds lost track of Markanich again and he was in waaay behind the defense. A simple square ball and Yeboah made it 2-0 MNUFC.

Failed offside trap by SKC and Minnesota easily make it 2-0. #SportingKC #SKCvMIN

— Chad Smith (@chadcsmith.bsky.social) 2026-02-07T22:54:31.952Z

In the 61st minute, SKC made a quadruple sub bringing on Jake Davis, Stephen Afrifa, Kwaku Agyabeng and Jansen Miller. They replaced Reynolds, James, Bartlett and Harris. Shortly after, Stefan Cleveland replaced Pulskamp. Agyabeng was in the midfield and Davis played right back.

It wouldn’t take long before Minnesota would find a third goal. The single camera angle made it tough to tell if Minnesota was offside, but Cleveland made a big save and everyone seemed to stop thinking Minnesota was offside before Anthony Markanich easily added his second goal of the game.

A 3rd from Minnesota. Everyone thinks Minnesota is offside on SKC, but it's impossible to tell with these angles. Perhaps Meyers keeps them on? Or the refs blew it? Markanich with a brace. 3-0 #MNUFC #SportingKC #SKCvMIN

— Chad Smith (@chadcsmith.bsky.social) 2026-02-07T23:04:50.356Z

Shortly after the goal, Meyer (update: he kept everyone onside on the 3rd goal), was replaced by trialist Ethan Bartlow. Bartlow was one of five subs.

The subs were mostly non-rostered players from the Academy and SKC II. The only first team player was Cielo Tschantret, who is likely to get most of his minutes with SKC II this year.

Shane Donovan made the quickest impact winning a ball in the left side of the attack. He found Carter Derkson, who inexplicably passed when he was wide open in the box and Sporting KC didn’t even get a shot off on what certainly would have been their best chance of the game. Ultimately the game petered out, and Minnesota took a 3-0 win. Which is better than last year’s 6-0 loss at least.

Full Game Replay

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Since 2014, Chad Smith has been deeply involved in covering Kansas City soccer. He's written about Sporting KC, the KC Current and SKC II for numerous platforms, including The Blue Testament, which was the precursor to the KC Soccer Journal. While his initial connection to Sporting KC was established in Phoenix covering preseason, he now resides in the Kansas City area, offering thorough analysis and a strong commitment to local soccer.

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Bleacher Creature

Derkson was brought to the table and simply refused to eat. That one was a missed opportunity.

There were a couple of bright spots I thought. Reynolds looked serviceable at RB and seemed to work with Shapi well. Shapi had consistent service from set pieces. Manu looked decent at the 6 although I don’t think that’s his best position.

There is going to be plenty to critique. Mostly I don’t envy Wicky’s path forward.

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Joe Pacheco

This season will be worse than last, I’m my opinion. Hopefully I’m wrong but I see absolutely nothing telling me otherwise!!!

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Bleacher Creature

This could just be my overly positive spin on this, but here goes.

I think given the lack of movement thus far, the record this year could be worse than last year. I don’t get playoff vibes from this group. And if we are looking at an abbreviated season and the addition of more players halfway through, it is hard to argue that we will be better than last year. You’re probably right there.
BUT
My positive spin, is that the club will be able to add the pieces necessary to make next year successful. If Lee and Wicky get to bring on the future half way through the season and get enough minutes to coalesce, that may be exciting. That is where I am going to put my hope.

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jdkus11

“It’s just a preseason game, it doesn’t mean anything.”
”Last year we lost 6-0, so that’s an improvement!”
”We’re still rebuilding, we’re going to get better.”

These are the positive affirmations I’ve been telling myself when I look in the mirror.

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Bleacher Creature

This is my total pie in the sky dream this year. I’d love to see a 2012 San Jose level “Goonies Never Die” season. We don’t have to win like they did, but I would love to witness that kind of tenacity. We literally have nothing left to loose. So play that way. Maybe we don’t make the playoffs this year, but I’d love to be the club that ruins everyone else’s playoff chances. More Paulo Nagamura Band-Aids and yellow cards.

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Howlie2

While watching the game, I was muttering to myself the following: 1) SKC still can’t defend in transition. 2) These CBs need leadership. 3) Why is SKC playing a 4 back when they refuse to get LB and RB that are good at defending? 4) Salloi as a facilitator? Dude is best when he has people around him that are creative…he makes great runs and gets into very good positions but he doesn’t make it happen for the rest of the team.

The team didn’t play the ball quickly, simply couldn’t put together a counter attack and took shots from outside the box when Jovi was running into a good spot. I wasn’t screaming at the computer for them to make a pass but I was pointed agitatedly. 🙂

I had to get the negative out of the way first. Truthfully, this team didn’t look terrible. They have a ton of rough edges…maybe completely square, but not as bad as I thought. I think this defense is a veteran, leader CB away from being decent to pretty good. 3 back though…not 2. No FBs on this roster can play both ways without getting beat bad. The CBs are not experienced enough to see when a FB is going to get beat and get into position to cover. 3 CBs though…I could see that working with a very good middle CB (like free agent Zimmerman would have been if this team wasn’t sleeping on free agency).

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Chad Smith

I listened to a good episode of Soccerwise with Bobby Warshaw that was basically making the case most teams should be in a back three. And you don’t even need all CBs to do it if you have tweeners in there next a really solid CB. Obviously, SKC don’t clearly have that yet. But put Bartlett in between James and Miller and I think it’s serviceable. Double pivot in front of that and you have a good defensive base.

I feel like Wicky is going to try things, so who knows.

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Howlie2

Yeah, maybe Bartlett is the guy, but that would be putting a ton of responsibility on 3 very young players. I really think this team needs a Tim Ream or similar. Calm, good on the ball and able to lead a backline effectively. Maybe no wingbacks either. SKC needs more people to generate offense because the only creative one in the bunch is Manu…and he isn’t the guy that can put a whole team’s offense on his shoulders.

My .02 cents. I’ll watch this weekend and hopefully I’ll be proven completely wrong and be jaw droppingly impressed. Dare to dream.

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David in the Chat

A back 3 with a double pivot is… not going to score a ton of goals. Who is progressing the ball?

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