Why Sporting KC’s comeback effort vs. St. Louis City came with an added bonus

Sporting Kansas City found itself down two goals after the first hour-plus of play on the road against St. Louis City SC. It was a familiar place for Sporting in the regular season at Energizer Park in St. Louis.

That is, until second-half goals from Tim Leibold and Dejan Joveljic gave Sporting KC a point on the road — with an added bonus. Sporting clinched the regular-season series against rival St. Louis for the first time.

“We never game up,” interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin said. “Although things at different points in the game weren’t going our way, we never gave up.”

For a while, things were trending the other way.

St. Louis’ Celio Pompeu scored a stunning strike from outside the box in the 15th minute. Sporting KC gave away a corner it didn’t need to and dealt with the initial service. But Jansen Miller’s clearance inadvertently went straight to Pompeu at the top corner of the box, and his curling shot was unstoppable.

Cedric Teuchert doubled St. Louis’ lead just before halftime, right after Sporting’s best attacking push of the game.

A harmless shot from distance hit the back of Teuchert’s heel while his back was turned to the play. The ball looped over Pulskamp, who had dived to try to deal with the initial shot.

Sporting trailed 2-0 at the break.

The halftime message, according to Zavagnin was that all Sporting could deal with was the moments that lay ahead.

“We have to put the half behind us and show that we have the character at least to compete and push forward,” Zavagnin said. “And they did.”

With 20 minutes left, Leibold gave Sporting Kansas City a lifeline. His give-and-go with Daniel Salloi resulted in the substitute scoring his second goal for Sporting KC (4-8-1), sneaking a shot under the arm of St. Louis’ Roman Burki.

Leibold had come on because Nemanja Radoja, who was brought on at halftime for Jake Davis, picked up an injury to his quad. Zorhan Bassong, who started the game at left back, moved into the midfield, and Leibold took his place.

“Leibold came in, positioned himself extremely well and was part of that courageous group that just kept penetrating forward,” Zavagnin said. “And for him to score a goal right in front of the goal as a left back says a lot about his commitment to get forward and try to get the result.”

Tensions flared at times during the rivalry match. Sporting’s Shapi Suleymanov and St. Louis’ Pompeu spent a good five minutes away from the ball talking to each other, eventually getting in each other’s faces. The referee, at one point, stepped in to calm things down.

The last laugh went to Sporting KC.

Pompeu fouled Suleymanov and gave Sporting a free kick. Suleymanov’s whipped-in service to the back post was met by Joveljic to level the match in the 77th minute.

Suleymanov shushed the St. Louis supporters and later cupped his hands to his ears while gathering the ball for a throw-in.

“He doesn’t really care what people think or say from the fan perspective, and I think that actually energizes him,” Zavagnin said.

Joveljic himself has become a villain for St. Louis — maybe not with his antics, but certainly with his goals.

Joveljic, who was brought to Kansas City to be the striker SKC could call upon in big moments, has delivered three goals in just two matches against St. Louis. Adding to that tally are two more against St. Louis with the Galaxy in previous seasons.

That makes five goals total.

“Can we play them every week?” Joveljic said. “That would be maybe good for me and then good for the team.”

Also of note: Sporting goalkeeper John Pulskamp made multiple key saves in the second half to keep St. Louis from finding a third goal. That included stopping a shot from Simon Becher right after Sporting tied the score.

“I’m at a stage now where I have enough experience that you’re not thinking about anything else other than your body just kind of kicking into autopilot,” Pulskamp said. “In those moments, I’m feeling calm.”

Jansen Miller’s hometown return

Jansen Miller made his first MLS appearance in St. Louis on Wednesday. Raised in Ballwin, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, Sporting’s 2025 first-round draft pick enjoyed playing at Energizer Park for the first time.

“It was like a fever dream,” Miller said. “I was out there looking around. I was sitting in these stands a year ago, and I’m gonna play. But I got settled in.”

Miller has already played a bit of a heel in this rivalry. His shushing of the St. Louis road crowd in Sporting’s 2-0 home win in April was followed by comments that he prefers living in KC to St. Louis.

He heard some criticism and comments from St. Louis fans during the game. But he believes what he says and noted that part of his feelings about the rivalry stems from his hometown team passing on him with the No. 7 pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft.

“They had the seventh pick. I was picked No. 8, and they (fans) say I’m not loyal?” Miller said. “First off, I was in college when they started their team. They had the pick. They could have done it if they wanted to. So I don’t feel bad.”

Up next: Sporting KC finishes its brutal road stretch in San Diego for a first-ever matchup with expansion team San Diego FC. That match kicks off at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.

This story was originally published May 14, 2025 at 10:19 PM.