Daniel Obinyan
With merely five games left in the regular season, Real Monarchs head into the campaign’s concluding stretch in pursuit of glorious purpose, with a first playoff qualification in over half a decade now firmly in its crosshairs.
History tends to weigh heavy; this one has cast a cruel shadow.
Real Monarchs arrive at the weekend on the cusp of glorious consummation; it tickles the fantasy.
The young Claret-and-Cobalts have never successfully qualified for a playoff position in all of its years during the MLS NEXT Pro era. As it stands, 10 more points (with the possibility of still changing), from a possible 15 available in the team’s final five fixtures, will be enough to guarantee head coach Mark Lowry’s side postseason contention for the first time in the team’s contemporary era.
So close you can taste it. Some accomplishments serve to set the stage for greater glory; others as a mere footnote. This one, surely, would qualify as the former — a reckoning and achievement, and the promise of everything not just hoped, but toiled for.
The importance of history, in the context of sports, is undeniable — that much should go without saying — providing a crucial foundation for learning and upon which further triumphs can be built. But history can sometimes also present a burden too taxing to overcome, this one particularly so.
In addition to having never appeared in the postseason section throughout its NEXT Pro history, even less glittering, admittedly, is that the Monarchs have also failed to qualify for the playoffs in every single season since its famed USL Championship title of 2019.
Last season, Lowry’s side took the fight for qualification all the way to the final day of the regular season, needing nothing less than a victory in regulation time against Ventura County on ‘Decision Day’ to seal passage, before a 1-1 draw at the end of 90 minutes saw the team miss out again — this time at the final hurdle — for a fifth straight time.
This season, the head coach’s class of 2025 have dealt encouragingly with most of what has been thrown their way, drawing admirers from near and far. Whatever kinds of successes may have come before them, Lowry’s history chasers are in pursuit of their own legacy. It makes for the kind of history-setting scenario the team currently finds itself thrust into, but with that comes its own type of burden and responsibility.
After years of hoping and failing, of calamity and collapse, and flattering only to slump dismally short, to be the team that finally strikes a line through this identity of struggle and make a claim again for something greater, after so long in the wilderness, is quite the incentive, but it can weigh heavy. It’s a pressure Lowry claims his team are strongly equipped this season to finally see over the finish line.
“There’s quite a few new players, but those that were here last season and are still here — [like] Griffin Dillon, Tommy Silva, Zack Farnsworth, Luca Moisa, Owen Anderson — some of them were very young last season (when the team crashed out on ‘Decision Day’),” the Monarchs boss confidently explained.
“But relatively speaking, [for many of them] — Luca, Owen, Hezarkhani, Omar Marquez — last season was their first step into MLS NEXT Pro, so they were kind of still getting their feet wet with the step up in the level from academy football to this. This time around, it’s their second season, and they’re familiar with this level now; they’re more comfortable.
“They’re a year older, a year stronger. Our younger players [from last year] are a little bit older, a little bit wiser, and we’ve had some new boys come in too — Ruben Mesalles, Joe Calderon, Max Jennings, Liam O'Gara, Jesus Barea, Marcos Zambrano — who’ve added a little bit more grit to the group than last season, and that’s the main difference.
“Those are the things that win you games: grit, determination, togetherness, effort. And this group has a little more of those characteristics than last season’s group, which is why [I think] this group will get across the line and make the playoffs, because there’s just that little bit more steel, grit, and determination to them.”
Lowry’s side resume that fight to get over the line on Saturday with a trip to Children's Mercy Victory Field to take on bottom-placed Sporting Kansas City II, in what will be the first meeting between the two sides this season.
The good news for the Monarchs' head coach will be that his side return to action with a bit of wind in their sails, which most recently included a confident 3-0 home thrashing of 13th-placed Tacoma Defiance, where goals from Bryan Sandoval, Jesus Barea, and Aiden Hezarkhani led the team to a ninth league win of the campaign.
Against head coach Ike Opara’s Sporting Kansas, the Claret-and-Cobalt come up against a side in a desperate run of form with five and nine defeats in their last six and 11 matches, respectively, and a 58 goals conceded in 23 league games, the second most in the entire division across the country.
With the team currently sitting in fourth place, Lowry’s men head into the weekend with their destiny in their own hands, and confident in the knowledge that any sort of victory — whatever the margin and however it comes — will put the team one step closer to a first playoff qualification in six years.
Remaining Playoff run-in fixtures
The conclusion of last week’s double header means the young Claret-and-Cobalt now stare down the barrel of merely five matches before the conclusion of the regular season, with three more away games (including v Sporting), and two home games closely on the horizon.
Saturday, September 6th: Away Sporting Kansas City II (14th West)
Sunday, September 14th: vs Ventura County FC (6th West)
Friday, September 19th: Away LAFC2 (10th West)
Saturday, September 27th: Away vs North Texas SC (9th West)
Sunday, October 5th: vs Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 (5th West)
Game and Run-in
Only two of the Claret-and-Cobalt’s final five opponents currently sit above the MLS NEXT Pro playoff line (with only the top eight placed teams at the end of the regular season guaranteed qualification), while none currently occupy a spot in the table above Lowry’s side.
The Monarchs' current record of 23 games played also means the team continues to hold an extra game advantage over two of the teams ahead of them (St. Louis City 2 and Colorado Rapids 2), with third-placed The Town FC having played a game less (22).
Lowry’s men have enjoyed a recent positive run of form with four wins, two draws (earning the extra point in both), and only two defeats from their last seven matches. Their opponents on Saturday couldn’t have presented a starker antithesis. Nine defeats in their past 11 matches paint an accurate picture of a Kansas side who have suffered 17 total defeats in 23 NEXT Pro games this season, the most of any team across both conferences. Their two wins also represent the lowest in that category throughout the country.
Militating slightly against the visitors’ favour, however, will be the absences of key men Hezarkhani, Moisa, Villa, and Marcos Zambrano, all away on international duty. Although the return of defender Gio Calderon should provide a timely boost. The recent resurgence of winger Sandoval, as well as the recently returned Matthew Bell, both of whom conjured goal contributions last time out, should also ensure Lowry doesn’t suffer at all from a lack of lethal options.
A moderate return of 41 goals from 23 games means the Monarchs continue to find themselves amongst the top goalscorers in the Western Conference. At the bare minimum, Lowry’s team will know it must continue to demonstrate such goalscoring proficiency if the dream of postseason contention is to develop into anything beyond mere fantasy.
Watch the Real Monarchs take on Town FC to continue its historic playoff push. Kickoff is slated for 11:00 p.m. MT with broadcast available via MLSNEXTPro.com.
