Sporting Kansas City head coach Raphael Wicky has expressed his delight over his side's recent form heading into the World Cup break.

After bouncing back from a 6-0 defeat to the Portland Timbers with a 3-1 win over the LA Galaxy, SKC made it back-to-back wins as they defeated Austin FC 2-1 last time out.

After finding themselves 1-0 down at half-time, Manu Garcia levelled the score for Kansas City before Stephen Afrifa netted the winner late on.

SKC remain bottom of the Western Conference but are now eight points off the play-off spots with a game in hand on many of the teams above them.

They host the New York Red Bulls in their final game before the World Cup break, and Wicky could not be more pleased with his side.

Wicky said: "A week ago, obviously we were in a bad place and then the team and the boys showed up twice like that with two really, really brave and good performances, as a team.

"That really makes me really happy."

Afrifa, the matchwinner against Austin, added: "We're nearing the end before this little break we have and the whole story in the building has just been, let's close it out on a high and let's see what we can do to try to turn it around.

"The last two games have gone very well."

The Red Bulls, meanwhile, are sixth in the East after stringing together a three-game unbeaten run (W2 D1).

They were, however, held to a 1-1 draw against rivals New York City FC last time out, though head coach Michael Bradley insisted his team are heading in the right direction.

"We step on the field to play our football, to try to put the game on our terms, to be the team that can control the ball, to be the team that can play with the ball in the attacking part of the field, we try to be a team that is going to press as high as possible," Bradley said.

"That can win balls back quickly, that is hard to play against, and I thought what you saw [against NYCFC] was growth and maturity of the team, and so we have to continue to go in that direction."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Sporting Kansas City – Manu Garcia

All three SKC goal contributions last Saturday, goals from Garcia and Afrifa and an assist from Shapi Suleymanov, were by players substituted into the game.

It had been over a year since every one of at least three goal contributions by SKC in a game were recorded by substitutes (April 26, 2025, versus FC Cincinnati).

New York Red Bulls – Jorge Ruvalcaba

Ruvalcaba, currently 24 years old, scored his fifth goal of the season last time out.

NYRB have 36 goal contributions (18 goals, 18 assists) from players 24 years or younger this season; the Colorado Rapids are the only other team with at least 30 (31).

MATCH PREDICTION – NEW YORK RED BULLS WIN

The Red Bulls are unbeaten over their last three matches (W2 D1), scoring first in each game.

NYRB are yet to lose a game in which they have scored first this season (W5 D3) but are yet to win a game in which they conceded first (D1 L5).

Kansas City secured their first home win of the season over the Galaxy and followed up with another victory in Austin on Saturday. It is Sporting’s first set of back-to-back wins in the regular season since July 2024, last winning three in a row in September and October 2022.

Kansas City have hosted the Red Bulls just three times since September 2017, earning a draw in April 2019 and losing in July 2022, with their last win when hosting New York being their U.S. Open Cup victory over the Red Bulls in 2017.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Sporting Kansas City – 32.1%

Draw – 25.4%

New York Red Bulls – 42.5%