Sporting KC Rallies for 1-1 Draw against Seattle
MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC Rallies for 1-1 Draw against Seattle

Published on May 2, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City rallied for a 1-1 draw against the Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday at Sporting Park in a Western Conference clash that saw both teams' leading scorers find the back of the net.

The visitors struck first through Paul Rothrock with a goal in the game's first two minutes as the Seattle native tucked a left-footed strike inside the far post for his fourth goal of the year. The Sounders nearly doubled their lead 10 minutes later as Jesus Ferreira's kissed the crossbar.

Instead, it was Sporting Kansas City that produced the game-tying goal in the 18th minute as Sporting captain Dejan Joveljic raced onto a misplayed pass from Sounders captain Cristian Roldan and buried his first-time shot from the edge of the penalty area through the legs of goalkeeper Andrew Thomas to level the score at 1-1. The goal not only snapped Sporting's 350-minute scoreless streak across all competition, but also brought Seattle's 420-minute regular season road shutout streak to an end.

The Serbian striker, who has three goals in his last four games against Seattle, now has a team-best five goals this year and he becomes the only player in Major League Soccer with five or more regular season goals in each of the past five seasons (2022-2026).

Each side would carve out one prime scoring opportunity apiece in the remainder of the first half as Roldan bounced a header over the bar on a corner kick in the 29th minute and Shapi Suleymanov forced a diving save from Thomas in the 34th minute with a well-struck effort from 22 yards out.

Sporting KC goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland made his club debut -- and first MLS appearance since July 2023 -- on Saturday and it came against a Seattle side for which he made 24 appearances in four seasons from 2020-23. The 31-year-old was called into action twice in the opening minutes of the second half, first to deny Jordan Morris from point-blank range in the 47th minute and then to keep out an attempt from Rothrock five minutes later after Ethan Bartlow had cleared a header from Kalani Kossa-Rienzi - his former college teammate -- off the goalline.

Sporting Kansas City then nearly pulled in front in the 65th minute on a counter attack that culminated with Capita Capemba racing behind the Seattle backline to reach a pinpoint pass from Joveljic only to see his shot superbly saved by Thomas. On the opposite end, Cleveland did well to keep out Kossa-Rienzi's shot in the 70th minute and quickly reacted to smother the rebound before Danny Musovski could pounce.

Suleymanov would try his luck from beyond 30 yards out in the 73rd minute, sending Thomas low to his left to keep the scoreline deadlocked. The Sounders too would continue to apply pressure -- racking up 27 total shots, second most in a regular season match in the club's history -- however Cleveland would not be beaten, diving at full extension to push away Ferreira's curling effort from the edge of the area in the 81st minute.

The game's last big chance would fall to second-half substitute Taylor Calheira, who entered the match in the 84th minute and nearly made an immediate impact if not for Thomas getting a right hand to Calheira's left-footed shot from eight yards out.

Saturday's result extends the Sounders unbeaten run to seven straight MLS matches, while the point was Sporting's first in seven games across all competitions. SKC, who are winless in eight straight at home dating back to 2025, will return to the road next Saturday with a trip to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Portland Timbers at 9:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, May 9 at Providence Park.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City head coach Raphael Wicky

Thoughts on the match...

I think it was a great team effort. I just told them, great team effort and great work from everyone. I think this is something to build. You concede after two minutes. After what we've been through and where we are right now, it's not easy. And the team reacted. The team didn't crumble. The team reacted and stayed in the game and then came back. I think I saw some good football, some good actions, some playing up from the back, some accelerations. Now can we have that more? Can we build confidence to have the ball then more and then to finish these actions more? But a great defensive effort from everyone. We knew we needed that and I think that was a really good reaction from the team. I'm proud of the effort and proud of the reaction after that early goal, not to crumble and concede more. It's something to build from, definitely.

On the team's defensive tactics...

The downside from defending deep is that possibly the opponent has then a lot of crosses and has then a lot of shots. If you defend way higher up, the opponent may have more space in behind, which Seattle, when they have space, are very, very good. So we wanted to not give them so much space for their game. But of course, it could be good to defend 10 yards higher. I will have to watch the game again. Depending on where the shots are from, if it's an 18-yard shot or from a difficult angle, then that's what you have to take when you defend a bit deeper, right? You have to choose what you want. I will have to watch the game again and see where all these shots come from, but again I saw some positives. I saw also that we had more chances than usual that we created. We had some good actions with the ball, so that is very positive to build.

On the team's possession...

That was the goal today. Whenever possible, we try to play. Now we have also seen that when a team is not in great confidence, we gave up, again, some easy balls but I think they kept trying it because when we then found the spots, we actually had some really good spells where we then attack better. So that's something I want. It always depends on what your opposition does as well, right? If an opposition comes man-to-man marking, it's a little bit more difficult to play out of the back all the time. Then you may have to look a little bit more direct. But I believe that when we try and when we're confident and when we have some good movements that we can play. We just have to build on that and choose the right moments when maybe we play a long ball, which is totally part of football. We don't have to think that we all have to play just like - I don't want to name a team here - but like certain teams who are in the Champions League that are very high up the field, but they also play long. I think it's just when you choose to do what that is important.

On Stefan Cleveland's debut...

He did well. I think Stefan brought what I wanted him to bring which is what he brings every day in training. His experience, his calmness, his decision making was good. I think he had a few good saves. That's what I wanted from him.

On the team's confidence...

When you not only defend well, but when you also have good spells with the ball and when you see, hey, actually, we have good spells with the ball, we go from one side to the other, we accelerate, we go in the final third, we create a chance or two. That, of course, gives you confidence, right? Because when you only defend well, but you never have the ball, that is tough. So I think defending well, being organized, knowing that you're not alone, there are teammates there, there is coverage there and then also having good spells with the ball gives you confidence. I think there were some good moments with that and we can build with that.

On the play of Wyatt Meyer...

Wyatt did well. I think Wyatt has been very good for us in preseason and then also the first games. It's always good first of all, in my opinion, to have a left-footer center-back there who has done a different opening of the game. I'm happy with what Wyatt brings and hopefully he can stay healthy.

Sporting Kansas City forward Dejan Joveljic

Thoughts on the match...

What a way to come back. Seattle is one of the best teams on the west side in the last five years maybe. I'm very happy and very proud of the boys because we bounced back and we took one well-deserved point even though we could maybe take all three points. If we continue to play well at home and if you win the games at home, we could be in the playoffs. So that's very, very important. We look forward for the next games.

On his goal...

I just started early running and hoping that he's going to assist me and I was right. So I'm very happy. Unlucky for him, but I'm so happy because of it.

On conceding early...

It was frustrating of course, but the body language of the all players was different and we bounced back. It wasn't easy, but we showed that we can play against the best teams and hopefully we are going to show good performances in the next couple of games.

On what changed today...

Nothing special. We are trying to apply the same ideas. We just need to be more brave and to be proud with the ball and take the ball and take the chances because no one will gift us anything. We need to work for everything and that's how it needs to be done.

On staying motivated...

It's not hard. Most of the players, they are dreaming to be in this club and to play for this. So we cannot let anyone take our positions. We need to stay motivated and hungry every day.

On trying to keep the ball more...

Yes, that's right. And I mean we should. We didn't play against Chicago in the first half with the ball. It's so hard to defend. Maybe you can defend like that one game, but in the long run it's not going to help us. So we need to play with the ball more. If you play with the ball more, we have more chances. More chances, more goals. It's simple. We just need to be more brave and to take the chances.

2026 MLS Regular Season | Game 10

Sporting Park | Kansas City, KS

Attendance: 16,378

Weather: 61 degrees and sunny

Score 1 2 F

Sporting Kansas City (1-7-2, 5 pts.) 1 0 1

Seattle Sounders (6-1-2, 20 pts.) 1 0 1

Sporting Kansas City: Stefan Cleveland; Jake Davis, Ethan Bartlow, Wyatt Meyer, Jayden Reid; Lasse Berg Johnsen, Jacob Bartlett, Manu Garcia (Taylor Calheira 84'); Capita Capemba (Calvin Harris 74'), Dejan Joveljic (C), Shapi Suleymanov

Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Ryan Schewe, Zorhan Bassong, Ian James, Jansen Miller, Cielo Tschantret, Stephen Afrifa

Seattle Sounders: Andrew Thomas; Kalani Kossa-Rienzi (Peter Kingston 86'), Alex Roldan, Jackson Ragen, Nouhou Tolo; Snyder Brunell, Cristian Roldan (C), Jordan Morris (Albert Rusnak 67'), Jesus Ferreira (Hassani Dotson 86'), Paul Rothrock (Paul Arriola 67'); Danny Musovski (Osaze De Rosario 76')

Subs Not Used: Stefan Frei, Cody Baker, Sebastian Gomez, Antino Lopez

Scoring Summary:

SEA - Paul Rothrock 4 (unassisted) 2'

SKC - Dejan Joveljic 5 (unassisted) 18'

Misconduct Summary:

SEA - Jackson Ragen (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 31'

SEA - Hassani Dotson (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 90'

STAT SKC SEA

Shots 11 27

Shots on Goal 7 9

Expected Goals 1.2 3

Corner Kicks 4 9

Possession 38.6% 61.4%

Saves 7 6

Fouls 10 7

Referee: Sergii Demianchuk

Assistant Referee: Meghan Mullen

Assistant Referee: Jeffrey Greeson

Fourth Official: Alejo Calume

VAR: Lukasz Szpala

AVAR: TJ Zablocki

Check out the Sporting Kansas City Statistics

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Major League Soccer Stories from May 2, 2026


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