Raphael Wicky believes Sporting Kansas City are in a much better place after the World Cup break, and he is confident the club's newest additions will turn their fortunes around.

Sporting KC have endured a difficult start to their MLS campaign, sitting bottom of the Western Conference having taken 11 points from their opening 14 games of the season. 

However, they have aimed to tackle their poor start by adding new faces to their squad and have welcomed three new signings ahead of the resumption of the campaign. 

Moises Mosquera, Emir Karic and Or Blorian have all put pen to paper on deals with the MLS side, and Wicky believes their arrivals will improve the quality in the squad. 

But the Sporting KC boss conceded that supporters will have to wait to see their new additions ahead of a trip to Energizer Park to face St. Louis City SC this week.

"I'm happy with the few weeks that we have called a mini pre-season," Wicky said. "The main goal was to get in even better shape and to work hard, which is what we have done.

"I'm happy we have been able to add some new pieces, but the reality is that some of those pieces have not been able to train with the team and are not ready to play.

“They will need a few weeks because they are either coming back from holiday or they have not played in a while.

"But I know these players will make us better. I'm 100% convinced of that."

St. Louis, however, are bang in form. They sit just five points above Sporting KC in the standings, but entered the World Cup break on the back of a five-game unbeaten run in all competitions.

They signed off with a 3-0 win over Austin FC, a result that moved them to within four points of the final play-in spot in the West, and Yoann Damet's side are full of confidence. 

And despite the pause in play for the World Cup, St. Louis' players have aimed to maintain that momentum ahead of their return to action on home soil. 

"We want to put that into our identity," Simon Becher said. "We want to be one of the hardest-working teams.

"We want to really push the teams that come here, use this intensity to make it difficult for them, make them say they don’t want to be suffering with us."

Lukas MacNaughton echoed his team-mates statement, adding: "I can say for a fact that there's no team training as hard as we are right now.  

"There's no team out-training us, and that gives us confidence heading into the first game. We know we'll be fitter than other teams."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

St. Louis – Daniel Edelman

Edelman scored his first goals of the season in St. Louis' last match before the break, that 3-0 win over Austin, and he will be keen to have a similar impact here.

His three assists this term see him joint-top of that chart for the club, alongside Simon Becher, while the 12 chances that he has created rank the fifth-highest among his team-mates.

Sporting KC – Dejan Joveljic

Joveljic has scored four goals against St. Louis, with three of them being scored since joining Sporting KC in 2025.

He is one of five players (also Alan Pulido and Daniel Salloi for SKC, Joao Klauss and Celio Pompeu for St. Louis) to score three goals in this rivalry (including playoffs).

MATCH PREDICTION: ST. LOUIS CITY SC WIN

St. Louis have only lost one of their five all-time home matches against Sporting KC (W3 D1), though that defeat came in the lone postseason meeting between the sides, a 4-1 Sporting win in the first round of the 2023 playoffs.

They were also unbeaten in their final five matches before the break (W3 D2), the club's longest unbeaten run over all competitions since April 2024. St. Louis have never gone six or more consecutive matches without defeat in all competitions.

Sporting KC's last away match before the break was a 2-1 win at Austin, just the second time they have avoided defeat in their last 13 regular-season road matches (W2 L11). They have not won consecutive away league matches since a three-match run between July and August 2021.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

St. Louis City SC – 58.8%

Draw – 21.5%

Sporting Kansas City – 19.7%