Seattle Sounders record hat trick, send Sporting KC packing with lopsided defeat
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- Seattle Sounders defeated Sporting KC 5-2 with a dominant offensive display.
- Danny Musovski led Seattle with a hat trick, including a goal from the penalty spot.
- Sporting KC dropped to 6-16-6 and prepares to host Colorado Rapids on Saturday.
Sporting Kansas City may not be officially eliminated from playoff contention, but the end felt near after Sunday night’s loss in Seattle.
The Sounders handed Sporting KC a 5-2 drubbing that featured a hat trick from Danny Musovski. The striker scored goals in first-half stoppage time as well as the 50th and 75th minutes.
With Muovski leading the way, the heavily rotated Sounders lineup sent Sporting to its fourth straight defeat.
“I think we were just too easy defending tonight,” Interim Sporting KC manager Kerry Zavagnin said. “We gave up too many chances that were just clear-cut chances for them.”
Zavagnin said Sporting KC took some risks in how it played, doing so in hopes of covering for some of the team’s flaws.
“We try to outscore and stay on the front foot even when we’re away,” Zaagnin said. “Sometimes when you go for it, you’re penalized. And certainly tonight we were on the losing end of that.”
Sporting KC is now 6-15-6 this season, good for 13th place. With seven games remaining, Sporting’s point total of 24 is 11 off the Major League Soccer playoff line.
With a Leagues Cup semifinal on the horizon for the Sounders, the home team sent out a lineup featuring multiple young, homegrown players sprinkled with a couple of veterans.
Kalani Kossa-Rienzi opened the scoring for the Sounders just 11 minutes in. Mason Toye equalized for KC in the 36th minute thanks to an excellent pass from Tim Leibold.
“Timmy (Leibold) played the cross in and I just had to put it away,” Toye said. “So, as a striker, anytime you get a tap-in, you’re going to take it all day.”
But just before halftime, the Sounders took the lead again, for good, thanks to Musovski’s first goal. He then scored off a corner kick right out of halftime to make it 3-1.
An own-goal off a deflected Daniel Salloi shot soon made it 3-2. Seattle’s Snyder Brunell, the son of former NFL and Washington Huskies quarterback Mark Brunell, scored in the 61st minute to make it 4-2.
After a mass substitution, Jacob Bartlett’s ill-advised tackle in the box resulted in a penalty kick, which Musovski converted to complete his hat trick.
“I think there were moments in the game that we were good,” Zavagnin said. “But at the end of the night, the performance was flawed in so many ways.”
Up next: Sporting KC plays host to the Colorado Rapids at 7:30 p.m. Saturday 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 August 24, 2025 at 10:21 PM.