Your Sporting KC guide to the MLS Playoffs, starting with Wild Card game vs. San Jose

Sporting Kansas City has been playing must-win matches for nearly a month now, and Wednesday night’s Wild Card contest against the San Jose Earthquakes will be no different.

After starting the season 0-7-3 — 0 wins, 7 losses, 3 draws — Sporting clawed their way back into the playoff picture, leapfrogging Minnesota United on Saturday with a 3-1 win on Decision Day.

No MLS team had ever been winless through its first nine matches (let alone 10) and still made the postseason ... until Sporting clinched their postseason berth. And while they deservedly celebrated their accomplishment, captain Johnny Russell’s comments after the match ring true.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Russell said.

The reality is what Sporting produced over the 24 games that followed their worst start in club history is probably closer to the level of the team all along. In fact, Sporting might argue they should never have been in the position they were in on Saturday — needing a win and some help to make it to the postseason.

Nevertheless, in getting to that point, Sporting was battle-tested over the course of a long season.

Sporting needed to win three of their final four matches to give themselves a chance at the postseason, and they did. They needed to win most of their matches after the Leagues Cup to have a shot, and they went 6-3-0 down the stretch.

Sporting earned road results in places they’ve had minimal success (including an exceedingly rare win at Real Salt Lake) and even battled hard while down a man for more than an hour against a tough Houston side.

Coincidentally, Houston is the No. 4 seed and Real Salt Lake the No. 5 on Sporting’s side of the MLS playoff bracket. The No. 1 seed is St. Louis City FC.

“They got rewarded by getting this opportunity, which they created themselves because they did the work,” Sporting manager Peter Vermes said.

Now, that opportunity in front of them is a playoff game against San Jose, set for an 8:30 p.m. kickoff on Wednesday at Children’s Mercy Park. The players are amped for the opportunity.

“I want it to be tomorrow already,” said Alan Pulido, one of the season’s best stories in his own right after making his return from injury. “I want to play now.”

This year’s road, however, will be plenty challenging.

In recent years, Sporting KC teams have entered the postseason as one of the top seeds. They’ve had home-field advantage and a reasonable path to hosting or playing in the MLS Cup Final.

If Sporting can get past San Jose on Wednesday, that won’t be the case. They will be underdogs, the lower seed, and they will have to do most of their damage on the road in tough environments. A win over San Jose would set up a best-of-three series with Sporting’s I-70 rivals, St. Louis City, SC.

St. Louis City earned the 2-1 series advantage in the 2023 MLS regular season.

Vermes said he’s had “zero thoughts” about what would happen if Sporting beat San Jose.

“The only focus that the guys have, that the staff has, is our next opponent,” Vermes said.

Regarding that next opponent, Sporting split two regular-season matchups against San Jose, with each team earning a 3-0 win at home. But the teams are on different trajectories entering the postseason.

Throughout the previous 33 matchdays, the Earthquakes held a higher position in the standings than Sporting KC, something that will change on Saturday. Sporting is the No. 8 seed in the playoff bracket, San Jose the No. 9.

Since July 1, the Earthquakes have won three games, drawn eight and lost five in all competitions. One of those was a 3-0 drubbing at Children’s Mercy Park in August.

Notably, the Earthquakes have also been involved in plenty of close games. Only seven matches the Earthquakes played in all competitions in 2023 have been decided by more than a goal.

“They play with a high level of competitiveness,” Vermes said. “They can play with the ball and are also really good on the counter.”

Historically, the postseason matchups between the two have also been tight.

In their last two knockout matches against San Jose (2017 U.S. Open Cup Semifinals and 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs), Sporting KC won the matches in a penalty shootout. In 2003, the Earthquakes won in overtime, and in 2004, Sporting got past the Earthquakes on aggregate by a single goal.

“It’s a very tough opponent for us, and I think our guys know it,” Vermes said. “But we can do a little bit, too, and that has to be brought from our side of the game.”