Sporting KC Falls, 2-0, to San Diego
MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC Falls, 2-0, to San Diego

Published on August 9, 2025 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City (6-13-6, 24 points) suffered a 2-0 loss to Western Conference leaders San Diego FC (15-7-4, 49 points) on Saturday night at hot and humid Children's Mercy Park.

Chucky Lozano vaulted the visitors ahead with an impressive long-range strike in the 23rd minute before Anders Dreyer doubled his side's advantage in the 70th minute as San Diego became the first expansion team in MLS history to secure five straight road wins in their debut season.

Sporting will look to rebound next Saturday, Aug. 16, by visiting Orlando City SC (11-6-8, 41 points) at Inter&Co Stadium. The cross-conference clash will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT with live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.

Interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin deployed a 4-4-2 formation for the first time this year as forwards Dejan Joveljic and Santiago Munoz started up top. Captain Daniel Salloi and fellow winger Shapi Suleymanov were used as wide midfielders, while Zorhan Bassong and Jake Davis manned the center of the pitch. Goalkeeper John Pulskamp was shielded by a back four of Khiry Shelton, Jansen Miller, Logan Ndenbe and Robert Voloder, who landed his first appearance since May 24 after recovering from a clavicle injury.

The first quarter-hour of the contest unfolded without any flashbulb moments, but Lozano atoned for the pedestrian start by winning a tackle 30 yards from goal, receiving a pass from Dreyer and unleashing a sublime strike that dipped over Pulskamp and under the crossbar for his eighth goal of the campaign.

Sporting responded well to falling behind, conjuring a flurry of chances before halftime. Suleymanov ran onto a clever Miller through ball in the 27th minute and cut the ball back to Joveljic, whose first-time effort was blocked through traffic. Salloi settled onto the rebound at the top of the box and fired his shot high. Two minutes later, Kansas City went agonizingly close as Munoz did brilliantly to create separation from his defender only to see his right-footed attempt skip inches wide of the far post.

Not long later, Salloi had a shot saved from a tight angle and Joveljic was denied at close range by San Diego goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos. Ndenbe was first to the ensuing loose ball, but his blast from near the penalty spot was blocked off the goal line by all-action San Diego defender Manu Duah.

San Diego seldom threatened throughout the night but demonstrated efficiency in front of goal, nearly doubling the lead on the stroke of intermission with Dreyer prompting Pulskamp to make a smart fingertip save at the near post.

Homegrown midfielder Jacob Bartlett replaced the injured Ndenbe in the 50th minute and quickly impacted proceedings, clipping a ball through to Munoz who found Salloi with space on the left side of the box, but the culminating shot dragged wide. Salloi was thwarted again three minutes later, leading a quick counter and unearthing a shot that was crucially blocked.

First-place San Diego was opportunistic in surging ahead 2-0 with 20 minutes remaining. An extended pass sequence culminated with Dreyer racing onto the end of a dinked ball into the area, and the Danish MVP candidate made no mistake with a low finish into the left corner for his 12th goal and 29th total goal contribution of the year.

Davis was active throughout the night and had a pair of shots blocked in the 72nd minute as Sporting pushed forward in search of due reward for their attacking endeavors. Midfield playmaker Manu Garcia entered as a second-half substitute and orchestrated a pair of good looks in the final 10 minutes, but Miller's header on the edge of the six-yard area was saved and substitute Stephen Afrifa cannoned his shot high of the target. Bartlett then set up Salloi for a good look from 15 yards that was smothered by Dos Santos.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin

Thoughts on the match...

I wouldn't want anything else other than the result. I think the game can be cruel sometimes and, as I tell the players, it's very difficult to control the result. You can control the performance and your attitude and your thoughts and how you go about your business. I thought from that perspective, the result didn't match the performance. I think we deserved more in the game. San Diego is a good team. They've had a really good year. They have a really distinct style on how they like to play. I thought we turned them over in good areas of the field.

On San Diego's Designated Players making the difference...

I think you put your investment in the attacking players because the good ones can turn the game in a moment's notice. In an otherwise equal game at that point, a turnover on our end led to a really good goal by (Hirving) Lozano. John (Pulskamp) has come up so big for us this year and in that moment he wasn't able to come up big. But it's not his fault. It's not any single person's fault. It's just sometimes that's the way the game goes. And (Anders) Dreyer's goal in the second half put us in a really difficult position. But, like this team has always done, we didn't give up. We created a lot more chances. Even after 2-0, you get one in the 85th minute and maybe you get the second one. We've seen it done before within the group. But tonight wasn't our night in terms of finishing. We had a lot of chances, probably more than I can remember over the course of these last few months. We created so many chances but tonight was not our night on the goal

On the physicality...

Outstanding. There's not one thing I would ask more from my team tonight. We competed, we fought, we played, we took advantage of situations, we created opportunities in the box and we stood up for ourselves and our teammates. That's a really good sign for the group moving forward, despite the fact that we didn't get the result tonight. I know the business that we're in. But the performance was outstanding and, like I said, I can't ask any more of the players.

On Alan Montes' debut...

It was good to get him on the field. He's just joined us. So to integrate him at this part of the season and to get him a few minutes was I think really good for him and really good for us to at least see an introduction of what's possible with him. Being down 2-0 in the game and now playing with a 3-4-3 with (Stephen) Afrifa on the right and (Daniel) Salloi on the left was a very attack-oriented way to approach the game. But at that point you have nothing to lose. We've changed a lot of different things this year, sometimes in the course of the game. Tonight we started in a 4-4-2 and we're going to continue to try to find different ways to be on the front foot in games and to see the advantages that the opponent can give us. But ultimately we want to create an identity for us that we don't always adapt to the opponent. That's going to take a little bit of time. But I'm really confident in the club, the organization, and what we're doing moving forward

On his status as the team's interim head coach...

That's not my decision. That's somebody else's question. In terms of what I need to do, I think about the next day and the upcoming next game because my job and my responsibility is to get the best out of the players that we have in the locker room right now and to make sure they're playing together and they put in good performances. Tonight, as I said, I'm really happy with the performance.

On falling behind in matches...

At halftime tonight, we walked into the locker room and other than a great goal from Lozano, which was a turnover, the game plan and what we wanted to do going into the game was working perfectly. So we didn't come in wanting more other than goals. On the defensive side, we made the game very compact. That was a strategy that we wanted to do. We limited them to very few opportunities on goal. That was also a strategy. And on the attacking side, we created a few really good opportunities. So I don't get too caught up in the halftime score. As much as we talk about the first half, it's a 90-minute game. A lot of times we've come back from that. We've tried different things. We've explored. The guys have been creative. They've been resilient and I think that's something that we can build on.

On the team's formation...

I think you take an awful (big) risk with a team that likes to put a lot of numbers through the midfield that doesn't have a true No. 9 and likes to play with a false 9 and overload the middle of the field. I think we did a great job in two aspects tonight. I think the two center forwards, starting off, did a really good job of not exposing themselves and waiting for the opportunity to press. But you can't do that without the engine of (Zorhan) Bassong and (Jake) Davis in the midfield. They covered an incredible amount of ground. We wanted to keep the game compact. Credit to Daniel and Shapi (Suleymanov) to now stay through the central part of the field. And we turned them over and in the first half we turned them over in pretty good areas and got into their half of the field. We weren't necessarily clean in the final moments. That could have been a little bit better. But in terms of that strategy an that defensive structure, I think we handled it really well. When we went to their place the first time, we played something a little bit different. And we're going to continue to look at ways that we can use the best out of our players. That'll sometimes be a structural change. But the defensive numbers are really what we're talking about in terms of the structure of a 4-4-2 because with the ball I wouldn't classify that as a 4-4-2.

On Jacob Bartlett...

Bartlett coming in as a double pivot, it's not something he's overly used to and the characteristics that he has is really as a single pivot. But when he went in there, his work rate, his ability to cover ground, his ability to connect passes and win second balls that popped out, I think he did a really good job.

Sporting Kansas City's midfielder Jake Davis

On the team's performance...

San Diego is a really good team. They're very good at playing out. They are confident. Today, instead of us just sitting back and letting them try to do their thing, we challenged them. I think that was the important thing. I think we almost struck fear into them in the first half by pressing them and not just letting them play the ball around us. I think that's what made the difference for us in the game. That allowed us to have the ball more against a team like that. When you have the ball more, you're going to have a lot of chances. We are a good team when we have the ball. What was it? Twenty-two shots to what? Six. So that goes to show, today they were more clinical but I think overall I don't want to sing the same story again. We had a good performance. It's hard to say, because we say this a lot, but truly we did the right things today. We put ourselves in position to win the game. They took their chances.

On getting into rhythm with Zorhan Bassong...

I think that's the first time Zo and I have played together. What was it for 50 minutes until Logan got hurt? That was the first time we played together the whole season like that. Yeah, it was nice. I think we did a good job. We complement each other a lot. He is very much a destroyer and I think I'm the same way. I think we both add a lot of energy to the game and quality and so I'm happy to have played the game with him today. Even when he went back to left back, he helped us out a lot. He's a very important player. I think we are making the right steps. We're not going to be heroes every time, but I think today shows people that we have intensity and we can compete. I think we just have to take our chances and I think we'll be a very competitive team. One step at a time.

On getting back into the starting lineup...

It's been a while. I haven't played 90 minutes in a while and I felt great. At the end, and with extra time, I was just cramping a little bit. That's it. I think that just comes without playing 90 minutes after a while. So I'm happy for my opportunity. I think Zorhan and I did a good job and all I'm looking forward to is the next game and being ready for my opportunity.

Sporting Kansas City is owned by Sporting Club, an entity comprised of local business and community leaders. Sporting prides itself on a commitment and vision to provide high-performance experiences. Sporting Club purchased the team from the Hunt Sports Group in 2006, and under its direction has launched Swope Soccer Village, Children's Mercy Park, Compass Minerals Sporting Fields, Compass Minerals National Performance Center and Central Bank Sporting Complex while investing in the Sporting KC Academy and Sporting Kansas City II for developing local youth into homegrown talent. A charter member of Major League Soccer, Sporting are two-time MLS Cup champions (2000, 2013) and four-time winners of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2004, 2012, 2015, 2017).

-- SportingKC.com --

2025 MLS Regular Season | Match 25 Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas

Attendance: 16,579

Weather: 90 degrees and sunny

Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Khiry Shelton (Alan Montes 86'), Jansen Miller, Robert Voloder, Logan Ndenbe (Jacob Bartlett 50'); Shapi Suleymanov (Manu Garcia 64'), Jake Davis, Zorhan Bassong (Stephen Afrifa 86'), Daniel Salloi (C); Dejan Joveljic, Santiago Munoz (Mason Toye 64')

Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Andrew Brody, Nemanja Radoja, Memo Rodriguez

San Diego FC: CJ Dos Santos; Aiden Harangi, Christopher McVey (Ian Pilcher 64'), Manu Duah, Luca Bombino; Jeppe Tverskov (C), Anibal Godoy (Emmanuel Boateng 64'), David Vazquez (Luca de la Torre 46'); Anders Dreyer (Tomas Angel 90+2'), Onni Valakari, Chucky Lozano (Alex Mighten 64')

Subs Not Used: Duran Ferree, Franco Negri, Pedro Soma, Corey Baird

Scoring Summary:

SD -- Chucky Lozano 8 (Anders Dreyer 17) 23'

SD -- Anders Dreyer 12 (unassisted) 70'

Misconduct Summary:

SKC -- Manu Garcia (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 65' STATSKCSD Shots226 Shots on Goal75 Saves35 Fouls1011 Offsides51 Corner Kicks91

Referee: Pierre-Luc Lauziere Assistant Referee: Jeffrey Greeson Assistant Referee: Justin Howard Fourth Official: Guido Gonzales Jr. VAR: Shawn Tehini AVAR: Robert Schaap

Check out the Sporting Kansas City Statistics

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Major League Soccer Stories from August 9, 2025


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