Peter Vermes conceded that Sporting Kansas City are in a transitional period, but that he is still eyeing a place in the playoffs ahead of facing the San Jose Earthquakes. 

Vermes watched on as his side were beaten in their season-opener by Austin FC, with Osman Bukari’s 76th-minute strike sealing the win for the hosts.

Kansas finished 13th in the Western Conference last year, failing to qualify for the MLS playoffs, while also ending the campaign with four straight defeats.

Though their losing run continued last time out, Vermes is eyeing trophies this season with his players, suggesting that despite needing a rebuild, his team can still compete.

"If I say that we're in a rebuild, we are in a rebuild. Why would I lie about that?" Vermes said. "But that doesn’t mean that you don’t still have a desire to win or make the playoffs.

"It's not that you lose your competitiveness. It actually, at times, makes you more competitive.

"We want to try and make the playoffs. We want to go as deep as we can. We want to try to win the MLS Cup. And that’s not going to change."

Bruce Arena, meanwhile, enjoyed a dream debut in charge of the San Jose Earthquakes, leading them to a 4-0 victory over Real Salt Lake.

Arena, who has won 19 major honours with three different teams during his managerial career in the MLS, replaced interim head coach Ian Russell in the offseason.

But despite a strong start to the campaign for the Western Conference's bottom club last year, the 73-year-old was quick to temper expectations.

"I think we need a couple of months to actually see what this team's about and where we need to go," Arena said.

"And our first win of the season was great to get three points and have a good showing, but we certainly have a way to go.

"I don't have anything set in stone at this point, and hopefully, as we continue to move forward as a team, we'll create a pretty consistent mentality and a style of play right now."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Kansas City – Dejan Joveljic

Though Joveljic did not enjoy the dream debut for his new team in Kansas' first league game of the season, he will be confident of getting off the mark against one of his favoured opponents in the American top-flight. 

He has scored six goals in nine matches against the Earthquakes as a member of the LA Galaxy, his most against any team during his MLS career.

San Jose – Cristian Espinoza

Espinoza assisted two of San Jose's four goals in the win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday, his 11th career regular-season match with multiple assists.

Only Carles Gil (14) has more multi-assist games than Espinoza since he joined MLS in 2019.

MATCH PREDICTION: KANSAS CITY WIN

Kansas City have won 17 of their last 22 home matches against San Jose in all competitions (D4 L1), including going unbeaten in 11 straight (W7 D4) dating back to 2016. San Jose's only win at Kansas City in the last 20 years was a 5-0 victory in August 2015.

However, Kansas have now lost eight consecutive matches outright in all competitions for the first time in club history. Sporting did have a 10-match losing streak spanning the 1998 and 1999 seasons, but that included two breakaway shoot-out defeats.

But San Jose come into the game with confidence. They recorded their largest ever season-opening win last Saturday, a 4-0 victory over Real Salt Lake. It was the Earthquakes' first win by a four-goal margin in regular-season play since a 4-0 win over Austin in October 2021.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Kansas City – 50.1%

Draw – 25.2%

San Jose – 24.7%