On a crisp March evening, Sporting Kansas City clashed with LAFC for matchday 5. The home team came out in the secondary Diamonds Our Forever kit, while LAFC opted for their all white kits.

Tonight's squad 👇#SKCvLAFC | #SportingKC

— Sporting Kansas City (@sportingkc.com) 2025-03-22T23:43:27.688Z

Peter Vermes opted for two changes from last week’s starting lineup, swapping Memo Rodriguez for Zoran Bassong and replacing Joaquin Fernandez with rookie Jansen Miller. Sporting played in their traditional 4-3-3 but opted to use Rodriguez and Nemanja Radoja as a double pivot with Manu Garcia acting as the tip of the midfield triangle.

The Starting XI for #SKCvLAFC #LAFC | @BMO_US

— (@lafcmirror.bsky.social) 2025-03-22T23:41:27.000Z

The first moment of danger came in the 2nd minute when a ball in the midfield was headed backwards directly to an offside David Martinez.  Martinez drove into the box but was walled off by Miller and the ball rolled out for a goal kick. Memo Rodriguez earned a foul in the fifth minute after being bowled over by Timothy Tillman. He took the set piece and delivered an in-swinging ball to the back of the box that LA played out for a corner kick. Sporting’s first corner of the game was again played out for another corner that cleared everyone and was taken down by Erik Thommy who couldn’t play it back across the middle.

In the 7th minute, Sporting earned their third corner of the game and again played it long to the back of the box. Unfortunately, the attempt to head the ball back into the mixer was unsuccessful and LA was able to avoid danger. About a minute later, Jake Davis found himself in space in Sporting’s defensive half. He saw a streaking Erik Thommy on the left flank and fired a gorgeous diagonal switch for the German winger to run onto. Thommy put a nice ball across the middle, but an LA defender was able to chest the ball down to the keeper to end the attack.

The first yellow of the game came in the 11th minute when Logan Ndenbe chopped down Cengiz Under in the midfield. In the 16th minute Sporting earned a set piece in a dangerous position when Jake Davis was taken down. The ensuring free kick landed right into Hugo Lloris’ hands. LAFC marched down the left wing and fired a low cross across into the six-yard box. It found the foot of Nathan Ordaz, but John Pulskamp made a massive save and deflected the ball over the crossbar to keep the game level at 0-0. It was shrot lived as Daniel Martinez rocketed a ball into the back of the net in the 18th minute. A turnover in the midfield allowed LA to collect the ball and drive forward into zone 14 before sliding a through ball to Martinez.

David Martinez with a screamer. Davis gets turned badly and Pulskamp takes a half step the wrong way. #SportingKC #SKCvLAFC

— Chad Smith (@chadcsmith.bsky.social) 2025-03-23T01:01:22.050Z

In the 24th minute Memo Rodriguez earned a yellow card for persistent infringement when he fouled Under. The Turkish winger made a meal of it, but Rodriguez’s multiple fouls earned him a booking. The game got chippy in the 26th minute when Nathan Ordaz kicked out at Logan Ndenbe in frustration after the fullback walled him off from a ball that rolled out for a goal kick. Sporting’s defense had another moment of terror in the 28th minute when a cross went all the way through and found Under wide open on the right side of the box. His curled shot bounced off the crossbar but had Pulskamp wrong footed. The match remained 1-0.

LAFC nearly struck again in the 32nd minute. Daniel Martinez went streaking down the left flank and rocketed a cross into the box that was ultimately sent high over the bar. Sporting attempted to answer when Dejan Joveljic was found racing down his left. He played the ball centrally to Manu who made a gorgeous one touch pass to Memo, but the midfielder’s shot was blocked. Shapi earned a foul a few yards outside the box. Both the Russian winger and Erik Thommy stood over the ball. Thommy was a decoy and ran over the ball before Shapi struck it. The ball bounced off the wall and eventually went out for a throw. Shapi appealed for a handball and VAR delayed the ensuring throw in to review. The VAR checked but found no infringement and play resumed.

Sporting continued to probe the defense as the game entered the 40th minute, with extended possession in the LAFC half. Despite some excellent runs from Joveljic, the home team was unable to muster anything dangerous. The fourth official indicated there would be one minute of stoppage time. With seconds left, Miller fired a ball into the box that found the head of Joveljic. The new DP headed the ball down to a streaking Manu Garcia who fired a shot on target that was deflected over the bar by Hugo Lloris.

Best chance of the half from #SportingKC who trail #LAFC by one at halftime. #SKCvLAFC

— KC Soccer Journal (@kcsoccerjournal.bsky.social) 2025-03-23T01:28:46.155Z

Half Time

Frankly all I think is worth noting is that MLSSoccer.com gave the possession battle to SKC with 73% but FotMob said LAFC had 60%.  These numbers were insanely different and I found that funny.

Second half

Sporting picked up the second half where they left off in the first, with extended possession in LAFC’s half. In the 49th minute, Erik Thommy worked his way into the box and cut back a ball for Joveljic. The striker played it back to Ndenbe whose shot was blocked. Sporting earned a corner moments later with some hard work from Shapi but the ensuing corner went nowhere. Sporting earned another corner in the 52nd minute when Manu Garcia fed a ball to Shapi. The winger took a gorgeous turn and Shossed it (shot/crossed). The ball deflected off a LA defender and went out for a corner. The home team kept up the pressure an earned their eight corner of the night but Lloris claimed Memo’s inswinger to relive the pressure.

LAFC doubled their lead in the 54th minute. Jansen Miller chopped down Nathan Ordaz on the left side giving LA a free kick in a very dangerous area. LA fired a ball into the box which found the head of Ryan Hollingshead whose point blank shot was saved by Pulskamp but Aaron Long was quickest to the rebound and fired the ball home for the visitors.

LA finally found themselves in the book in the 60th minute when Manu Garcia was dragged down in the midfield by Sergi Palencia. SKC’s attack showed moments of positivity in the buildup but were unable to ever convert anything dangerous in the box. Nemanja Radoja earned a yellow card in the 65th minute for a foul in the midfield. As the match entered the final third, Sporting made their first substitutions. Daniel Salloi and William Agada entered the match in the 66th minute for Erik Thommy and Dejan Joveljic, respectively. Erik Thommy passed the captain’s armband to Salloi as Sporting looked to change the tide of the match.

In the 70th minute, Sporting earned a penalty kick. Jake Davis intercepted a long switch and played it forward to Shapi. The winger cut into the box diagonally and Martinez’s attempt to poke the ball away instead led to Shapi’s ankle being clipped. VAR flagged the play and sent the official to the monitor to potentially ruin Sporting’s chance at a comeback. The referee decided that Martinez won the ball cleanly and called off the spot kick, leaving the game at 2-0. Sporting Kansas City then substituted Shapi for Mason Toye in their second substitution window.

LA made their first substitution in the 75th minute when David Martinez and Cengiz Under made way for Adrian Wibowo and Yaw Yeboah.

Candidly, there’s not a whole lot to talk about for the next ten minutes or so. At one point Agada got on the end of a cross from Davis but headed it wide. LAFC was just trying to kill off the game and SKC looked mostly toothless. They earned a corner in the 85th minute that couldn’t find a head. The ball bounced out to Davis who took a big swing but wasn’t able to do anything with it. Sporting maintained a substantial amount of possession but was unable to make anything dangerous out of it.

Sporting made their final subs of the night in the 86th minute when Jake Davis was substituted for Khiry Shelton and Logan Ndenbe made way for Tim Leibold. LA made two of their own, bringing on Nkosi Tafari for Mark Delgado and Odin Holm for Nathan Ordaz.  As the match slowly ground to the end, the fourth official indicated there would be six minutes of added time. Sporting continued to dominate possession but weren’t able to put any shots past Hugo Lloris. With one minute remaining, LA made their final change bringing Artem Smoliakov in for Ryan Hollingshead. In the last minute of stoppage time, Rodriguez rocketed a ball on frame but Lloris was able to knock the ball down and keep the clean sheet. William Agada went down at the top of the box holding his knee but no foul was called and LA successfully killed off the game.

Final stats

Possession: SKC – 67.5% – LAFC 32.5%

Shots (on target): SKC 11 (2)- LAFC 8 (4)

xG: SKC 0.7 – LAFC 1.8

Corners: SKC – 11 – LAFC – 1

Crosses: SKC 14 – LAFC 4

Fouls: SKC 14 – LAFC 12