SKC earns draw in first match 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: 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: 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′

Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referee: Andrew Bigelow
Assistant Referee: Jeffrey Swartzel
Fourth Official: Joe Dickerson
VAR: Geoff Gamble
AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert