Sporting KC
SKC earns draw in first match at San Diego
Scoreless draw, good result on the road at San Diego
Sporting Kansas City earned a point on the road in San Diego Saturday night. It was not easy, but Sporting KC held one of the top scoring teams in the league off the scoresheet. San Diego FC dominated possession and outshot Sporting KC 10-2 but could not break through the increasingly tough defense.
Interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin did not have Dejan Jovelic available, he stayed home awaiting the birth of his first child. With Nemanja Radoja out and most of the team managing tired legs from three games in the last week and traveling over 5000 miles, juggling the lineup was essential. Santiago Munoz made his first start for SKC.
Here’s how we line up 👇#SDvSKC | @BlueKC pic.twitter.com/zG5Ni8W1Ai
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) May 18, 2025
San Diego FC’s lineup showing a strong group of starters.
The kids this evening. pic.twitter.com/i5cCHQ1Nzv
— San Diego FC (@sandiegofc) May 18, 2025
“We knew we were going to have to absorb pressure,” Zavagnin stated. “Every team does that comes here. San Diego is second in the league in possession. They’re very high in their in their goal scored and they create a lot of chances. So a credit to them for how they attacked the game. But there have been games this year where teams have opened themselves up and paid the price and we were determined tonight. It would have been nice to get a little bit more in the transitional moments and even create a few more opportunities ourselves. But for three games in eight days and the resiliency of the guys not just to come back on Wednesday, but also tonight to finish the 90 minutes giving away very little. There was a lot of action around our goal. But we defended extremely well. It’s becoming more of who we are and more consistent in how we protect our goal. And we’re still a work in progress. It’s one aspect. We’re very good defensively. We’ve shown moments where we can attack. But when you go on the road for three games during the week, you have to be able to defend extremely well.
The two teams sparred throughout the first half with a few half-chances, but it heated up a bit in the second half. SKC made three subs in the 60th minute, with San Diego following up with one as well. It did not take long before the SKC defense was scrambling. Pulskamp made a save on Alex Mighten’s initial effort and Jacob Bartlett was pressed into saving the following shot off the line from  Luca De La Torre.
Shapi Suleymanov came close to being the hero for Kansas City a couple of minutes later. The Russian winger cut inside and bounced a shot off the underside of the crossbar.
Best chance of the game for KC. Shapi off the crossbar! #SportingKC #SDvSKC pic.twitter.com/u70dUrWb7I
— KC Soccer Journal (@KCSoccerJournal) May 18, 2025
San Diego continued to control play, but SKC’s defense was up to the task for the rest of the way.
Zavagnin’s squad has played better defensively the last few games, limiting opportunities, and the only goals given up were spectacular or flukey in nature and that momentum carried into the road game at San Diego.
“I think organizationally, we wanted to be more compact. On Wednesday night in St. Louis, we got a little bit stretched at times,” Zavagnin explained. “We looked at that performance and tried to improve upon that defensively. And we did tonight with our compaction through the middle of the field and our ability to neutralize their short passing game through the middle. They have some very good players. They made a few runs in behind us, which we dealt with in reading the ball over the top. All in all, a complete performance in terms of attitude, intention and determination. And when I say complete performance, I of course mean on the defensive side of the ball. On the attacking side, we’re still working to be the best version of us.”
After two draws out of three straight road games, SKC returns home to rest before hosting New England next weekend.
Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Khiry Shelton (Andrew Brody 60’), Jansen Miller, Robert Voloder, Tim Leibold (Logan Ndenbe 60’); Jacob Bartlett, Manu Garcia (Memo Rodriguez 86’), Zorhan Bassong; Shapi Suleymanov, Santiago Munoz (Mason Toye 84’), Erik Thommy (C) (Daniel Salloi 60’)
Subs Not Used:Â Ryan Schewe, Dany Rosero, Jake Davis, Stephen Afrifa
San Diego FC: C.J. Dos Santos; Oscar Verhoeven (Willy Kumado 72’), Christopher McVey, Paddy McNair, Luca Bombino; Anibal Godoy (Onni Valakari 60’), Jeppe Tverskov (C), Luca De La Torre (Milan Iloski 72’); Alex Mighten (Emmanuel Boateng 81’), Anders Dreyer, Chucky Lozano (Tomas Angel 81’)
Subs Not Used:Â Pablo Sisniega, Franco Negri, Ian Pilcher, Alejandro Alvarado
Scoring Summary:
None
Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Jansen Miller (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 9’
SD – Anibal Godoy (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 21’
SD – Luca Bombino (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 37’
SKC – Zorhan Bassong (Yellow Card; Persistent Infringement) 46’
SKC – Manu Garcia (Yellow Card; Persistent Infringement) 68′
| STAT | SKC | SD |
| Shots | 2 | 10 |
| Shots on Goal | 1 | 4 |
| Saves | 3 | 1 |
| Fouls | 20 | 13 |
| Offsides | 1 | 4 |
| Corner Kicks | 1 | 8 |
Referee:Â Victor Rivas
Assistant Referee:Â Andrew Bigelow
Assistant Referee:Â Jeffrey Swartzel
Fourth Official:Â Joe Dickerson
VAR:Â Geoff Gamble
AVAR:Â Mike Kampmeinert
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I only watched the first half. SKC looked decent. I have a few questions that perhaps others are pondering…or I’m simply missing something.
1) Thommy is way better on the RW than any other position he has been in this year. Why isn’t he getting consistent time there? Shapi is decent but not great. I think they should alternate 60/30 each week.
2) What the heck is up with not playing Davis? Bassong just isn’t good enough…Davis covers just as much ground but has better passing, positioning and tenacity. Manu, Bartlett and Davis is the best midfield combo on this roster. Anything else seems to be lacking.
3) Is it just me or does it seem like Voloder, Pulskamp and Miller are gelling? It is sort of like a Dr Shoals commercial! I like it.
4) Is anyone surprised that this roster struggles to create chances? I really like Manu, but he isn’t the sort of 10 to put the team on his shoulders. Without a playmaking RW or LW, this roster was always going to struggle to create.
In 2025, SKC XG = 13.8 goals which is tied for 13th in the west. Only 1 west team has worse XG. That XG is better than only two teams in the east. Not great.
I agree Thommy is best played at rw. I also think his dominance occurs after Shapi runs the opposing fb into the ground before the sub. I like the younger guy with upside as the starter but I see your point. It’s too bad he isn’t very good on the left because no one is.
Bassong is better at pure defending than Davis. I’ve also noticed Davis has a serious issue with dumb yellow cards. He can’t stay clean. I think it was last game he subbed in, could be wrong. Had a yellow within 7 min grabbing a player behind midfield with 6 defenders between the ball and goal. Bassong usually gets a yellow to, for infringement. He gets it for too many small fouls which is just defending.
I think Davis like Thommy is a good player. We’re in transition right now and everyone who was entrenched must re earn their spot with a new boss who seems keen to keep his job.
Yeah, Pulskamp is on one. He’s legitimizing himself every game. Really excited we have a keeper. Agree on the cb pairing. Miller is becoming a favorite.
I hate the Xg stat. It is like using betting odds as a talking point. What was our Xg when we beat galaxy? Had to be 0. So how tf do we win 1 to 0? It really just laments how much of an attack you have or not. Doesn’t determine how the ball bounces.
Manu could be that guy, he’s young. We do need a lw though, a legit lw.
It wasn’t a “fun” game to watch but it was a good game. I’m not sure Manu is the guy we wanted (presumably to feed Joveljić), but boy is he good in tight spaces. I wish he played higher up the field as I’d rather see him dancing with that ball at the top of the box. Maybe that’s Santiago Muñoz. I thought he looked good in the extended run out. It’ll take more time for everyone to figure out where his runs should be and how he likes the ball, but there’s real promise. The skill is there. I dunno why folks complain about Shapi. I mean it’d be nice if he was always able to effortlessly glide by every left back he comes against, but dude moves well, gets fouled a ton earning kicks in dangerous places, and does the dirty work dropping when he’s supposed to. Bartlett and Miller get smarter every week. Each are making a case that they’re not just ‘while we rebuild’ players. Pulskamp is always improving so much. Early in the season he just couldn’t command his box, not he’s starting to figure it out. If he figures that out and combines it with his already wonderful shot-stopping ability, we’ll have a real keeper there. Anyway it’d be nice to win one, but as noted, an away tie, on short rest, against a hot team is a good result.