Homegrown San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Niko Tsakiris is expecting an "exciting" season as they look to make a strong start to MLS in 2026 against Sporting Kansas City.

The Earthquakes narrowly missed out on the playoffs in 2025, finishing 10th in the Western Conference, level on points with ninth-place Real Salt Lake, and only missing out on a tie-breaker.

They recorded 11 wins, including a Decision Day 1-0 win over Austin FC to put them in with a chance, though it was a marked improvement on 2024, when they finished rock bottom.

San Jose are aiming to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2023, and Tsakiris is hoping they can kick off the new season on a high to give their chances a boost.

"We were close last year, and this year, we have a lot of familiar faces, so it's just learning from last year and taking it into this new season," Tsakiris said.

"It's a young team, obviously, but we enjoy that, and we accept that. It's an exciting moment for the team. We had a pretty exciting preseason."

Sporting KC, meanwhile, endured a dismal season last time out, finishing bottom of the West on 28 points, losing a league-high 20 games.

It has been all change at Sporting Park in the offseason, however, as they have a new head coach in Raphael Wicky, as well as adding Timo Werner and Calvin Harris to their roster.

Wicky has not had a full preseason with the team, having had to wait for his visa to come through, but he is aiming big with his new side.

"Sporting KC has always been a team that competed to win trophies, and I feel that the club has all the ingredients to get back to where it belongs – great ownership, amazing facilities, a talented academy and a beautiful stadium with fantastic fans," he said.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

San Jose Earthquakes – Timo Werner

Three Earthquake players had more than 10 goal contributions in the 2025 regular season (Cristian Arango – 21, Josef Martinez – 16, Cristian Espinoza – 15), but all three of them are now with different clubs. 

So, the goalscoring onus is now likely to fall to new signing Timo Werner. However, he failed to make an impact in his second stint at RB Leipzig before moving to MLS, managing just 18 goals and six assists in 62 appearances in all competitions.

Sporting Kansas City – Dejan Joveljic

Dejan Joveljic has scored seven goals in 11 career appearances against San Jose, two more than he has scored against any other MLS opponent.

He has scored at least once against the 'Quakes in each of the last four regular seasons.

MATCH PREDICTION: SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES WIN

Sporting Kansas City have lost only three of their last 21 matches against San Jose in all competitions, dating back to September 2016 (W12 D6).

Sporting's 5-3 win at San Jose in April 2025 in the last match between the sides was the highest scoring of the 77 all-time meetings across all competitions.

However, the 'Quakes are tipped to take advantage of their home advantage. And they were strong in front of goal in 2025, scoring in each of their final 22 matches in all competitions last season. They last failed to find the net in a match against the New England Revolution in May.

Sporting KC are looking to start the season strongly for more than one reason; they have missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2009 and 2010 seasons – they have never missed out in three consecutive campaigns.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

San Jose Earthquakes – 50.7%

Draw – 25%

Sporting Kansas City – 24.3%