Two goals in 2nd-half stoppage time? How Sporting KC got it done vs. Charlotte

Deep into second-half stoppage time, down 1-0 to visiting Charlotte FC, things looked bleak for Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday night at Children’s Mercy Park.

But two thrilling goals in three wild minutes made 2-1 winners of the home team.

Mason Toye tied it in the 93rd minute after a brilliant pass over the top from Manu Garcia. Then, Santiago Muñoz’s pass to Dejan Joveljic set up a tap-in winner for the star striker in the 97th minute.

Interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin he made a few tactical adjustments with his team down 1-0 at halftime. He said he asked his players to not give up and persevere through the adversity.

“And it looked like for a little while that it was going to be one of those summer days,” Zavagnin said. “I’m not surprised that they came back at the end, because this is a special group that just doesn’t give up.”

It’s the fifth time that Sporting KC has come from behind to earn points, earning two wins and three draws in doing so, for a total of nine points.

But Wednesday’s comeback was just the fourth time that Sporting KC has scored twice in second-half stoppage time, and third they’ve scored the tying and winning goals in second-half stoppage time.

With the victory, Sporting KC collected three unlikely points and pumped some new life into the club’s teetering playoff hopes. Kansas City is now 5-10-4 with 19 points, just four points out of the final playoff spot in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference.

Charlotte opened the scoring in the 34th minute. Former Premier League star Wilfried Zaha played a perfect pass wide to left-back Souleyman Doubmia. Doumbia threaded a low-driven cross behind the Sporting back line to Idan Toklomati, who flicked a shot past KC goalkeeper John Pulskamp.

Then, Sporting KC made an adjustment because Zavagnin said the team’s start wasn’t good enough.

“We saw something towards the end of the first half in dropping Bartlett into the back line (and) coming out with three,” Zavagnin said. “We felt like we were getting a little bit more in a vertical game after a slow start, to be honest with you. It was really tentative, passive, and we just didn’t come out of the gates in a strong way.”

The tweak worked and Sporting KC played well for the final 10 minutes of the first half and first-half stoppage time. Kansas City even had two gilt-edged chances … that is, if someone would’ve passed the ball to Joveljic.

Erik Thommy went on a weaving dribble through the middle, passing up two opportunities to slip Joveljic in for a shot near the penalty spot. Instead, Thommy took a left-footed attempt of his own from outside the box. It went wide.

Just before halftime, Garcia dispossessed a Charlotte defender high up the field to create a three-on-two situation. But Shapi Suleymanov opted to cut inside and try to rip a shot past reigning goalkeeper of the year Kristijan Kahlina.

Suleymanov’s clanged off the post. A better opportunity, again, had fallen by the wayside. Suleymanov had Joveljic on the outside for a 1v1 opportunity.

Sporting started the second half strong but there never seemed to be a runner on the end of KC’s crosses. When there was a chance, it was blocked or sailed wide.

One of Sporting’s best opportunities, until second-half stoppage time, developed when a brilliant passing move on a counter-attack sprung winger Daniel Salloi one-on-one against Kahlina.

Salloi held the ball too long, though, and tried to round the keeper. He couldn’t find a shot, and by then, none of the passing options were open, either.

After that, there wasn’t a whole lot of action by Sporting. Pulskamp had to come up big, stopping Kerwin Vargas one-one-one in the 87th minute.

During the eight-plus minutes of stoppage time at game’s end, Garcia played hero with passes over the top to Toye and Santiago Muñoz. Those feeds set up both goals.

Toye had the angle and space to finish the shot himself; Muñoz’s angle was too tight, so he squared a pass across the goal to Joveljic, who tapped the winner into an empty net.

“Whenever Manu gets on the ball, I just know I need to run forward,” Toye said. “That’s one of the strongest parts of my game. And I did that, ran forward, had a great ball, defender missed it and I just tried to take my time and slot it in.”

Joveljic, who didn’t get his chances in the first half, knew he had to remain patient, even into the 96th minute.

“I was waiting for that ball and I was lucky enough to be there,” Joveljic said. “I was more hungry than the other guys, and I scored.”

Right after that goal, Joveljic went down holding his hamstring. He had to be carried off and was replaced by Ian James.

“I saw one guy holding a sniper from the stands,” Joveljic joked. “So I think that guy shot it in both hamstrings. I felt cramped. Hopefully it’s nothing serious and I’ll be ready to train tomorrow.”

Joveljic, who is tied for third in goals scored in MLS this season with 11, was not included on the league’s All-Star roster. Instead, the coach of the All-Star team, Nico Estevez of Austin FC, selected one of his own players, Brandon Vasquez, who has just five goals this season.

Up next: Sporting KC plays host to Real Salt Lake on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday’s match kicked off a stretch in which Sporting plays four of five matches at Children’s Mercy Park.

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

This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 9:40 PM.