Sporting KC played a spirited MLS match against Portland — until the 2nd half

Sporting Kansas City and the Portland Timbers played a wild first half in Sunday afternoon’s Major League Soccer match at Children’s Mercy Park.

It was 2-2 at the break, ensuring there was everything left to play for — for both teams — after intermission.

But thanks to Sporting KC’s disastrous opening five minutes out of halftime, that scoreline quickly became a 4-2 Portland victory.

Interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin was happy with how his team came back twice but was disappointed with the flat early-second-half effort.

“Portland pressed us a little bit higher; they went for it,” Zavagnin said. “And sometimes it’s those moments in games — and they’re not very long, they are three or four minutes — that can turn the game on its head.

“And I think that first 5 to 10 minutes really did us in and made us chase for the remainder of the game.”

Zavagnin noted that all four of Portland’s goals resulted from set-play routines, either throw-ins or corner kicks. He said his players need a better “mentality” or “attitude” in those moments.

“To be able to be successful in those moments, you have to band together as a group and you have to protect the goal,” Zavagnin said. “That takes dirty work, and we have to learn how to do that.”

Sporting (1-6-1 MLS) certainly looked up to the task through 45 minutes and injury time. Portland’s David Ayala finished off a short corner routine to open the scoring, but KC newcomer Shapi Suleymanov equalized on a free kick — his first goal in a Sporting kit — a few minutes later.

The Russian slipped the kick through everyone’s legs and into the side netting.

“I’m happy for my first goal,” Suleymanov said. “But I cannot be happy because of the loss. I prefer I don’t score, but we win.”

Ten minutes later, a fluke play saw Ayala’s manageable shot from outside the box deflect off his own teammate, Kevin Kelsy, and wrong-foot Sporting KC goalkeeper John Pulskamp.

But again, Sporting KC had a response. Suleymanov was stomped on in the penalty area by Timbers midfielder Antony, and after a video review, a penalty was awarded to Kansas City.

Antony was already playing on a yellow card and arguably could’ve been sent off for a second yellow with that challenge. Referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere explained the situation later via the pool-report process.

“When at the monitor, the Referee saw a clear step on the foot that was made in a careless manner by Portland #11 on SKC #93,” Lauziere said via the report process. For a challenge to be deemed worthy of a yellow card, the action would’ve had to be considered reckless. In the officials’ opinion, this wasn’t.

Sporting KC’s Dejan Joveljic converted the penalty kick to make it 2-2. His chipped Panenka effort accounted for his fifth goal of the season, tying him for second in the league.

Sporting’s Joaquin Fernandez was lucky to not get sent off in the dying seconds of the opening half. His challenge earned him a yellow card, but in some instances that foul would’ve drawn a red.

Early in the second half, Sporting KC’s Jansen Miller gave the ball away in a crucial part of the field. From there, it took just two passes for Kelsy to score his second goal of the day.

Minutes later, Pulskamp made a save on a corner-kick header, but no one reacted — no one, that is, but Timbers players.

Miller was on it first, deflecting the ball past Pulskamp and into the home team’s net.

Joveljic had another opportunity for a penalty kick in second half stoppage time, but he couldn’t convert.

Earlier this season, Sporting KC’s inability to create scoring opportunities was a problem. That’s less of an issue now, as the team’s expected-goals total was the highest it’s been all season.

In fact, with two penalty kicks and three one-on-one opportunities against the Timbers’ keeper, Sporting probably should’ve scored more than two goals Sunday.

But until the defense is shored up, stats like expected goals won’t mean a whole lot.

“I think I said either in the first press conference or the second, defense wins championships,” Zavagnin said. “You need to be defensively organized. Through the run of play, (we were) OK. Set pieces? Not OK. And that, at the end of the day, killed us.”

Sporting KC next heads to the West Coast to face the San Jose Earthquakes. Saturday’s kickoff is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Central Time.

This story was originally published April 13, 2025 at 3:52 PM.