Sporting KC rediscovers 2nd-half magic, but not enough for a home win vs. NYCFC

For the 11th time in 12 home matches, Sporting Kansas City trailed at halftime.

Behind 1-0 against visiting New York City FC on Saturday night at Children’s Mercy Park, Sporting KC did what’s become a habit this season: come from behind and make a game of it.

Kansas City rallied to avoid a loss for the fifth time, instead earning a 1-1 draw thanks to Daniel Salloi’s birthday goal.

The tie makes a minor dent in the gap that has opened between Sporting KC and the final playoff spot in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. Just five points out of a playoff spot now, Sporting has a record of 6-11-6 with 11 MLS matches to go.

All three points and a win in a match like this would have been significant for Sporting.

“(We’re at) almost the last 10 games of the season,” Salloi said. “You’re counting points, and we pretty much have to win half our games going into this last stretch.

“When you do the math, these points will matter. Hopefully, this one point will matter at the end, but I just hope we’re not going to sit here and we’re going to miss out on the playoffs by two points.”

Andres Perea scored in the 22nd minute to give New York its lead. He finished his chance after beating Sporting’s Andrew Brody to the ball in midfield.

Sporting’s defense and back line were well out of position as the play started via a giveaway entering the final third on a poor pass from KC’s Nemanja Radoja. Making his first start since injuring his hamstring in April, the midfielder tried to pick out a pass to Dejan Joveljic, who was offside.

Two quick passes later, NYCFC was off to the races.

“I think Brody got caught a little bit higher in the game, and our back line with Fernandez and Miller was a little bit stretched and we gave away an easy ball,” Sporting KC interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin said. “When you do that against a team like this (and give away) transitions in Major League Soccer, and especially against New York City, they’re going to punish you. We found out the hard way tonight that we have to be better with the ball.”

Sporting KC was at least able to conjured enough second-half magic to earn the draw. It arrived in the form of a birthday wish come true for Salloi, who turned 29 on Saturday.

Sporting KC made a tactical shift, moving into a 4-4-2 formation while swapping the sides for both Salloi and Shapi Suleymanov. Santiago Muñoz joined Joveljic as a striker up top and was the one who seemingly willed the equalizer into existence.

In the 74th minute, Muñoz forced his way through the NYCFC defense with the ball, leading to a chipped chance that deflected high in the air and landed near Salloi.

From there, Salloi volleyed a shot into the back of the net. Sporting KC fans serenaded him with a rendition of “Happy Birthday” once the match resumed.

“I had a lot of signs (for me) today,” Salloi said. “I saw it, and that’s special. This is home for me and these fans have always looked at me as one of their own. It’s special. This club is everything for me.

Sporting KC could’ve had some momentum after that goal but was outshot 4-0 in the 15 minutes plus stoppage that remained. Zavagnin made a minor tweak as the team looked to pick off NYCFC on the counter, but it didn’t pay materialize.

“But we weren’t allowed, or we didn’t get, those opportunities,” Zavagnin said. “And certainly we were poor on second balls.

“Giving the guys the option to go for it, obviously our intention was well noted with the amount of attacking players that we put on the field.”

Up next: Sporting KC heads north of the border to face the Vancouver Whitecaps (12-5-5) next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 9:30 p.m. Central Time.

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

This story was originally published July 19, 2025 at 9:57 PM.