Surrendering a goal in 1st 90 seconds makes for long home match for Sporting KC
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- Sporting KC conceded in the 2nd minute, falling 2-0 to Vancouver at home.
- Kansas City matched Vancouver in possession but produced just one shot on goal.
- KC Current secured NWSL Shield with 2-0 win over Seattle Reign at CPKC Stadium.
Sporting Kansas City’s slide continued Saturday night, with a 2-0 loss to a banged-up Vancouver Whitecaps team.
An early goal put Sporting KC behind the eight ball — less than 90 seconds into the match, to be exact. And Sporting never recovered.
Having lost three straight, SKC now has suffered seven defeats in its last eight matches. The club is 7-18-6 this season.
The loss also officially eliminates Sporting KC from the MLS postseason.
The slow start for Sporting wasn’t anything new. The club has conceded first in 21 of 31 games so far. But this time, it was a lack of energy and focus from the start, for which interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin took accountability.
“It’s my responsibility,” Zavagnin said. “We didn’t start well. We didn’t touch the ball before they scored. It shook us a little bit, but not enough, and we didn’t have enough punch even through the first half.”
Edier Ocampo got in behind Sporting’s back line with neither Logan Ndenbe nor Alan Montes managing to pick him up. Ocampo’s shot was low and hard to the far post to beat SKC goalkeeper John Pulskamp.
Kenji Cabrera scored Vancouver’s second just before halftime. Cabrera picked up the ball on the top of the box and dribbled through Sporting KC’s back line before unleashing a shot low and hard at Pulskamp. The Sporting KC goalkeeper tried to make a kick save, but the ball deflected into the net.
Sporting KC only had one shot that hit the target in Saturday’s loss.
“There were opportunities in the first half where (Khiry) Shelton was coming up the field and Shapi (Suleymanov) was coming in that we could have exploited a little bit more,” Zavagnin said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t. We got the ball out there, but we weren’t able to penetrate. At the end of the day, just not enough combination or penetration in the areas that we were hoping for.”
Young defender Ian James made his third career start. Just 17 years old, James is likely to participate in the upcoming U-17 World Cup as he is regularly called into the U.S. Youth National Team.
James has earned more time as of late, and Zavagnin said more will come over the final stretch of the season.
“He trains extremely well and has great maturity for his age,” Zavagnin said. “He will get more opportunities down the stretch here. I think that’s what’s missing in his game in order to progress further.”
More playing time — and particularly more first-team reps — will allow him to process the game at the speed it's played in MLS.
“He can handle himself (physically) quite well in the league now, and we’re going to see more of that,” Zavagnin said.
Up next: Sporting KC will travel to Los Angeles to face the Galaxy, who are in last place in the Western Conference. That game next Saturday is set for a 9:30 p.m. Central start.
Notable weekend in KC soccer
Despite Sporting KC’s loss, it was a lively weekend for soccer in Kansas City. Thousands took in televised Premier League games at a special fan fest in the Power & Light District this weekend, offering a glimpse of what’s to come during FIFA World Cup 2026 matches here next summer.
And the KC Current also played Saturday evening, beating the visiting Seattle Reign 2-0 at CPKC Stadium to lock down the NWSL Shield for 2025.
Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.
This story was originally published September 20, 2025 at 9:37 PM.