Dejan Joveljic Scores in Sporting's 2-1 Loss to San Jose
March 2, 2025 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release
Sporting Kansas City (0-2-0, 0 points) fell to a frustrating 2-1 loss against the San Jose Earthquakes (2-0-0, 6 points) on Saturday in the club's MLS home opener at Children's Mercy Park.
Freshly minted Designated Player Dejan Joveljic opened his Sporting KC scoring account with a 27th-minute penalty kick, but San Jose took an early 2-0 lead through newcomers Chicho Arango and Josef Martinez before hanging on down a man in the second half after Hernan Lopez was ejected from the game.
The result gave Sporting just its second home-opening loss in MLS play since Children's Mercy Park opened in 2011, while the Earthquakes snapped an 11-game winless drought at the stadium dating back to 2016.
Led by newly appointed head coach Bruce Arena, San Jose drew first blood inside three minutes. Martinez received a through ball and was tackled cleanly on the edge of the penalty area, but the ball fell fortuitously to Arango who slotted low past Sporting goalkeeper John Pulskamp for his fifth career goal against Kansas City.
The hosts responded positively, however, and peppered the San Jose box during a breathless first half. Spanish midfielder Manu Garcia embarked on a slaloming run inside the area before firing wide on nine minutes before Zorhan Bassong forced a save from Earthquakes goalkeeper Daniel and winger Shapi Suleymanov dragged a shot marginally amiss.
Against the run of play, the visitors doubled their lead off a corner kick in the 19th minute. Cristian Espinoza's in-swinging corner kick was delivered into a crowded goalmouth area, where Martinez prodded home the 117th goal of his heralded regular season career, moving into a tie for sixth on the league's all-time scoring chart.
Sporting deservedly cut the deficit in half near the half-hour juncture. Shortly after Suleymanov's leaping header drifted off target from a Tim Leibold cross, Garcia uncorked an 18-yard shot that cannoned off the arm of San Jose midfielder Ian Harkes inside the box. Referee Sergii Boiki pointed to the spot and Joveljic promptly dispatched his penalty into the right corner for his 50th career goal contribution in the MLS regular season (35 goals, 15 assists). Joveljic now has goals in six straight MLS home matches dating back to his time with the LA Galaxy last fall, and his seven career goals against San Jose are his most versus any MLS opponent.
Buoyed by Joveljic's strike, Sporting almost found an equalizer on 31 minutes when Jake Davis' cross was steered goalward by Leibold, whose first-time attempt was smothered by Daniel. The Earthquakes then had a good look of their own at the opposite end, Pulskamp diving at full extension to cast aside an impressive scissor kick effort from Martinez.
The final play of the first half saw Sporting denied by the crossbar, with center back Joaquin Fernandez's glancing header smacking the woodwork off a searching Suleymanov free kick.
In the 52nd minute, San Jose was reduced to 10 men as Lopez received his second yellow card for a dreadful tackle from behind on captain Erik Thommy. Sporting dominated territory and possession from there, with left back Logan Ndenbe coming off the bench and dragging a shot agonizingly wide in the 61st minute.
San Jose defended deep during the final half hour and successfully preserved their 2-1 advantage to the final whistle, condemning Kansas City to a fourth consecutive loss to open the 2025 campaign.
Sporting will look to rebound next Saturday, March 8, in an inter-conference visit to D.C. United (0-0-2, 2 points) at Audi Field. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT with live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.
QUOTES
Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match...
In the first half, they scored two and then we get back in it with the penalty. I also thought that maybe we were going to get one more right before the half at the very end. And then we go up the man and they bunkered in pretty well. We just didn't find enough. At this point as a team, we just didn't find enough. And it didn't help us having to make the changes that we had to. We're taking guys out because of yellow cards. I didn't want to put them under, but I thought there was a good rhythm within the group but we couldn't take the risk.
On the goals conceded...
The set piece, we actually spent time on that. They scored a goal this past week in the same way -- the same area, the same situation. The only difference is a guy flicked it on. This one bounced around. That one's a little more difficult. The other one, we have two guys collide. We have to be in a little bit better position than the others. We got split in the midfield too easily, especially when their guy had a chance to turn. But it still puts us down. We're catching up. We had momentum. We got back in there. We just couldn't get the second one.
If the schedule congestion had an impact...
I don't know if I would say that. It's never easy breaking down a team that is in a low block. It just never is. When we had to make our changes, I think we lost a little bit of rhythm of the group. I wouldn't say that we didn't have another gear. I just think that it was hard to break them down and we're just early on in the season. It's a little difficult.
On the play of Shapi Suleymanov, Dejan Joveljic and Manu Garcia...
It's a good build as we keep going because they really haven't been with us. It's another good step for them. We would like to have gotten more out of the game tonight.
Sporting Kansas City forward Dejan Joveljic
Thoughts on the match...
Always when we play at home, I think that the objective is to take three points. Unfortunately, today we didn't make it because we conceded two fast goals like from nowhere. It was hard to come back from 2-0 even though I think that we could. That's it. It's hard. The first two games, we could (have won) and we lost. So hopefully we are going to take the points as soon as possible.
On the difficulty of breaking down the defense...
For me, it looked like that it would (have been) better if they stayed with 11 players. Somehow they closed the space and we didn't know what to do: either to cross or to play in behind. They just did a good job.
On if the team is still getting chemistry together...
Of course. We all are. Let's say that the team is new and we need to make the connections. It will take some time, but I think that we should take that as soon as possible. Nobody wants to wait that long. We need to start taking the points as soon as possible. It needs time, but it has to be fast.
On his connection with Manu Garcia and Erik Thommy...
Every day it's better and better. We need to produce more and to create more chances and to put the balls behind it.
If fatigue was a factor in the result...
No. I'm not going to say that we were tired or something like that. We should take three points and that's like minimum, even though maybe (we could have gotten) one point at least. But let's go next game. (There are) 32 more games. So it's going to be a long, long, long race.
On scoring the penalty...
I'm happy. Hopefully we are going to have more this season and we are going to score a lot of goals from penalties. That's it. I'm happy.
On the response after going down 2-0...
Everything is new. The project is new. New chemistry, new players. We have a lot of young players; like four or five players are under 25 in this team. So that's very nice. It needs time. I don't know when, but hopefully soon.
-- SportingKC.com --
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