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Match Thread and Preview: Sporting KC @ LAFC

It’s MLS After Dark! Can SKC defeat LAFC for the first time in 4 years?

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Credit: Thad Bell

Sporting Kansas City hit the road again this Sunday, June 8th, to face LAFC in a rescheduled match. The game was moved three weeks ago due to LAFC’s one-off play-in match for the FIFA Club World Cup, which took place midweek, ending after extra time to beat Club América to advance. For Sporting KC, the focus shifts to building momentum after their come-from-behind win in Houston. Can Sporting KC capitalize on tired legs to defeat LAFC for the first time in 4 years?

Comebacks-on-Comebacks

The last time these two teams met was in late March, LAFC won in a 2-0 matchup, just a week before Sporting KC’s coaching change.  LAFC hasn’t looked like their usual, top-of-the-table selves this season, sitting sixth in the West with a 6-5-4 record. Their last two MLS matches have ended in comeback draws against the LA Galaxy and CF Montreal, both sitting at the bottom of their respective conferences. Sporting KC is also riding a two-game comeback streak, coming back to draw against Houston, a multi-goal rally to take the lead, and eventually split points at home against the New England Revolution.

Trouble in Defense:

Sporting KC has been hit by the injury bug, which has hit the weakest part of this team, the defense. In four of their last five matches, Sporting KC has conceded a goal in the first 15 minutes. However, it seems that Kerry Zavagnin is trying to keep some consistency in the defense with the center-back duo of Robert Voloder and Jansen Miller. But as one player returns from injury (Joaquín Fernández), another goes down, as Sporting KC announced Voloder had a successful surgery on his clavicle, which will keep him out for about 2 months.

Ideally, Joaquín Fernández gets the start during this match, but being in and out of the injury report, he may be on restricted minutes. There are two options if Zavagnin chooses to be conservative about injuries: play the 17-year-old Ian James (highly unlikely) or Jacob Bartlett, a position that he’s played in with SKCII.

 

Joveljić’s Heating Up

Call it what you want: the new father bump or Dejan Joveljić just being Dejan Joveljić, but no one can deny how clutch he has been lately. With a goal against St Louis, a goal against New England, and now coming off a brace against Houston, he has 9 total goals. 

He is currently on track to have one of the best MLS seasons in his career, outside of last year, his highest scoring record tapped in at 15 goals. Historically, Joveljić has thrived when his team has been doing well and making playoffs but struggled when they weren’t, but that tide seems to be turning as Manu Garcia grows into the league and the two are finally finding each other’s groove.

This week officially marks the halfway point of the 2025 MLS season, is it too soon to say Joveljić is chasing Dom Dwyer’s scoring record? Probably. But the way he’s been scoring recently, it might not be too far-fetched.

Favorite SKC memory: Witnessing Erik Thommy's goal in LA during the 2024 U.S. Open Cup. There was hope, there was joy, and I may have cried. Favorite KC Current memory: Getting to enjoy opening day of CPKC stadium with my dad, who bought us season tickets to FCKC in their Swope Park days

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