How a wicked bicycle-kick goal derailed Sporting KC’s sturdy defensive effort

For the second time in three games, a bicycle-kick goal was the difference in a losing result for Sporting Kansas City.

Santiago Moreno’s 10th-minute stunner was the lone strike in a 1-0 win for the Portland Timbers at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon on Saturday night.

“I think organizationally, defensively, we were very difficult to play against today, against a powerful attack,” interim Sporting KC head coach Kerry Zavagnin said. “They (Portland) get out in transition. We had talked about that before the game.

“And so I have a lot — and the team has a lot — to be proud of, despite the fact that we didn’t get the result.”

Unlike last Sunday’s one-off historic performance, when Sporting KC (3-8-1) beat the L.A. Galaxy 1-0 without taking a shot, Kansas City had its chances throughout this Major League Soccer match.

Sporting KC took 11 shots and put three on target. None made its way past Portland goalkeeper Maxime Crepeu.

Most of Sporting’s best chances came after the goal in the first half. In the second half, Sporting had the ball plenty in and around the Portland area, but nothing came to fruition.

“I think Portland, with the 1-0 lead, even conceded a little bit more space further up the field and really compacted that area around the goal,” Zavagnin said.

The Timbers’ goal came early after David DaCosta did some fancy footwork in the box to get off a cross. Sporting covered it well, as Moreno’s first touch popped the ball up with his back to goal.

But the winger stunned everyone with an overhead kick that Sporting KC goalkeeper John Pulskamp just couldn’t reach.

“There’s always something you can look at,” Pulskamp said of the bicycle kick. “It’s just one of those things (where) you kind of just have to tip your hat.”

In his first full season, Pulskamp has started to come into his own. The last two goals to beat him were bicycle kicks. He said they are difficult to stop because he lacks vision on the ball for much of that crucial moment.

“That ball is behind the player the entire time,” he said of Moreno’s overhead kick. “You’re not seeing that ball until it’s past his head or at the last second.

“It’s much different than a flicked header or a straight volley, where you’re seeing the ball off the cross ... off his foot. You’re not seeing the ball, and then out of nowhere, it appears.”

Pulskamp did make a couple of key saves on seemingly surefire goals. Moreno had a chance at a second goal, but somehow, Pulskamp got across the face of the goal in time to make a stunning kick-save.

One detail that Pulskamp said he noticed: which part of his foot Moreno was using to shoot.

“The second I saw him lining it up to hit it, i saw that he was kind of in-stepping it,” Pulskamp said. “Which, I was able to read that was going low left. And luckily I was able to spread my left foot out there and make a good save on it.”

Pulskamp also made a save — one-on-one against Jonathan Rodriguez — that preserved the 1-0 scoreline in the game’s dying minutes.

Up next: On Wednesday, Sporting heads east along I-70 to wrap up its season series with staunch rival St. Louis City SC. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.

This story was originally published May 10, 2025 at 11:34 PM.