Sporting KC 0-6 Portland Timbers: Player ratings and tactical analysis after another humiliation

From the heights of a strong performance against the Seattle Sounders to a crushing defeat that left the club humiliated, welcome to Sporting Kansas City in 2026. It doesn’t look much different from 2024 or 2025, but hey, it’s marketing as a rebuilding season, again. Saturday’s 6-0 loss to the Portland Timbers once again made Sporting Kansas City’s squad look like amateurs against professionals.

Even with the Timbers struggling in their own ways, Sporting Kansas City couldn’t mount any kind of offense or defense to stop them.

With Sporting suffering an eighth loss of the season and now going eight games without a victory, let’s look at FotMob’s ratings and analyze this God-awful performance.

Goalkeeper

Stefan Cleveland – 3.9

From hero to villain.

Cleveland was man of the match against the Seattle Sounders. On Saturday against the Timbers, he was the lowest-rated player on the pitch. Having been named the team’s No. 1 in midweek, Cleveland went out and conceded six times. John Pulskamp was likely smiling on the bench.

Cleveland made just two saves but still prevented 2.39 goals. Portland’s attack was struggling ahead of the fixture, yet Sporting Kansas City’s defense let the Timbers do whatever they wanted.

Defense

Right-back

Jake Davis – 4.3

Like Cleveland, Davis took a major step backward from the previous week and turned in a very poor performance. An own goal colored his evening, and it will be what Davis is remembered for in this match.

Center-back

Ethan Bartlow – 4.8

Bartlow may have received a low rating, but his heatmap shows a center-back who was overrun because Sporting Kansas City did not have a proper No. 6 in midfield. Bartlow recorded the most defensive contributions with 11 and completed 88% of his passes.

Center-back

Wyatt Meyer – 3.3

I’ve said since preseason that Meyer struggles with his positioning. His performance against the Timbers did nothing to change my mind. Meyer once again committed an error that led to a goal. His heatmap shows he was dragged to the left side repeatedly. According to FotMob, he made just two defensive contributions.

Left-back

Jayden Reid – 5.0

Reid was a constant in defense against the Sounders. Against the Timbers, however, his heatmap showed he spent more time in the attacking half than he did a week earlier. That left space for Portland to exploit. He made three passes into the final third and registered six defensive contributions.

Midfield

Center midfielder

Lasse Berg Johnsen – 6.0

Johnsen played just 60 minutes, his fewest in a match for Sporting Kansas City. Whether the substitution was injury-related or tactical, we won’t know until later this week. He had limited influence on the game and appeared to operate on the right side of a three-man midfield. His heatmap shows he was stationed more on the right and had little involvement in the center of the park, where he belongs.

Center midfielder

Manu Garcia – 6.1

Garcia played only 45 minutes and had 13 touches. Whether it was tactical or injury-related, Raphael Wicky removed him at halftime with the team trailing 4-0. Garcia played more centrally than Johnsen and had no impact on the game. The Spaniard is at his best in an attacking role rather than as a holding midfielder. Sporting Kansas City are wasting one of their designated players.

Center midfielder

Jacob Bartlett – 6.8

Let’s be clear: Bartlett has improved this season. But let’s be even clearer: the bar was low. The 20-year-old earned Sporting Kansas City’s highest FotMob rating, which says as much about the rest of the team as it does about Bartlett. He had 75 touches, and his heatmap shows he was all over the pitch. That’s not necessarily a good thing. I expect him to play as a No. 6, not a No. 8. The athleticism is there to become a good MLS player, and I admit he has improved.

Attack

Right wing

Capita – 6.0

I’m still waiting to see the best of Capita. He had just 24 touches, with most of them in the defensive half. He attempted six passes and completed four. Capita took two shots, one of which was on target. Perhaps Wicky can get the best out of Capita—and the rest of the team—by moving away from this stubborn 4-3-3 and getting him closer to the No. 9. Or perhaps by using him wide in a 4-4-2. We saw Peter Vermes stick with the 4-3-3 to death, and it feels like Wicky is doing the same.

Striker

Dejan Joveljic – 6.4

Talk about wasting a designated player. Joveljic had just 25 touches and spent most of the match standing around the halfway line. He was rarely in dangerous attacking areas. Once again, he took only one shot. It hit the target, but the ridiculous part is that his teammates managed to get him the ball in the final third for just one attempt.

Left wing

Shapi – 6.0

I don’t understand Wicky’s desire to keep starting Shapi. He has had a few good performances this season, but overall the final ball and finishing have been lacking. Shapi was likely included for his work rate and defensive contributions, and he spent much of the match in Sporting Kansas City’s own half. Wicky hooked him at halftime after he managed just 21 touches and had little influence on the game.

Substitutes

Ian James – 6.1

James came on at halftime with Sporting Kansas City already trailing 4-0. He made five defensive contributions and was active throughout the defensive half.

Calvin Harris – 5.8

Harris replaced Shapi at halftime. He put in a decent 45-minute shift, but like Shapi, saw little of the ball and finished with just 20 touches. His heatmap, however, shows him occupying advanced attacking positions.

Zorhan Bassong – 6.7

Bassong got a 30-minute runout in just his second appearance of the season after a long-term hamstring injury. So, naturally, he may re-injure it at any moment. He turned in a strong cameo in central midfield, recording 34 touches, completing 93% of his passes, and creating two chances. Bassong appears to be the player Sporting Kansas City didn’t realize they desperately needed.

Taylor Calheira – 5.9

Is Taylor Calheira MLS level? The jury is still out. He played a season-high 18 minutes, had two touches, and never looked like scoring. His one long-range effort was blocked, and he completed seven of eight passes. Calheira’s signing didn’t fill me with excitement in February, and it still doesn’t.

Stephen Afrifa – 6.5

Dear Raphael Wicky, please give Afrifa more minutes. At this point, it feels like a bit of a joke. Afrifa still can’t get an MLS start. In 14 minutes, he completed every pass and showed his trademark speed. Wicky has fast wide players, yet we continue to see them underused. In preseason, Wicky leaned into that pace and got results. Since then, he has abandoned what worked, persisted with a hole-filled 4-3-3, and kept selecting the same players for the same outcomes. Do something more creative.

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