Sporting KC Falls 2-1 at FC Cincinnati

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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC Falls 2-1 at FC Cincinnati

April 26, 2025 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City (2-7-1, 7 points) suffered a 2-1 loss at MLS Supporters' Shield leaders FC Cincinnati (7-2-1, 22 points) on Saturday at TQL Stadium. Designated Player Kevin Denkey scored both goals -- including a bicycle kick for the game-winner -- for FC Cincinnati, who have now won five straight, while Sporting KC midfielder Zorhan Bassong scored late for the first goal of his professional career.

After a five-goal performance last week on the road in San Jose, Sporting Kansas City was held scoreless in a first half on Saturday in which the visitors outshot FC Cincinnati by a 6-4 margin. FC Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano was called into action for the first time in the 13th minute, dropping low to his right to turn away a shot from Dejan Joveljic.

Sporting Kansas City threatened again five minutes later on a set piece as Jansen Miller was first to Daniel Salloi's service however his header from the edge of the six-yard box was off target. SKC came close once more from a header just two minutes later when Joveljic connected with a cross from Manu Garcia only to see the effort bounce narrowly wide of the far post.

After holding FC Cincinnati without a shot for more than 30 minutes, Sporting KC fell behind in the 43rd minute when Denkey opened the scoring with an opportunistic volley. John Pulskamp had turned away an initial attempt from Lukas Engel but the rebound fell directly to Denkey for a first-time finish.

Sporting Kansas City nearly equalized six minutes into the second half when Joveljic slipped a pass behind the Cincinnati backline for Salloi, whose shot was superbly saved by Celentano.

Pulskamp produced a strong stop of his own in the 77th minute to turn away a deflected shot from Evander, however FC Cincinnati doubled their lead on the ensuing corner. Denkey, a 24-year-old Togo international, scored his second of the day in remarkable fashion with a bicycle kick from eight yards out on an assist from Luca Orellano.

Denkey came close to completing a hat trick if not for a sprawling save from Pulskamp in the 87th minute. The Sporting KC goalkeeper logged a season-high fave saves on Saturday, moving past Chris Snitko for seventh place on the club's all-time regular season saves chart.

Sporting Kansas City would salvage a late consolation goal in the 89th minute as a trio of second-half substitutes combined to spoil the shutout. Erik Thommy collected a well-won header from Andrew Brody in midfield and played the ball forward for Bassong, who rifled a shot into the roof of the net. Sporting KC now has three goals from substitutes this season, most of any team in MLS, and Thommy has come off the bench in back-to-back weeks to log three total goal contributions (one goal, two assists).

After back-to-back road trips, Sporting will return home to host reigning MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy at 6 p.m. CT on Sunday, May 4 for Star Wars Night at Children's Mercy Park. Tickets for the match are available online at SeatGeek and are also included in the Original '96 Pack, which comes with a Kansas City Wiz drink tumbler. The Sunday Night Soccer showdown will be available to watch with an Apple TV+ or MLS Season Pass subscription.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Interim Head Coach Kerry Zavagnin

On Sporting's performance in the 2-1 loss...

I just got done finishing a conversation with (the team). I believe that was our best game of the year. You can never control the result. Although we think we can, it's tough to control the result. It took a goal of the year to beat us today. We came in and we knew it was going to be a very difficult place to come. They're a good team, a really good team. The environment is intimidating if you walk in with any sort of fear. And they're exceptional in transitions. They have an MVP type player who's on pace for that kind of year in Evander. I told the guys it was our best performance organizationally from the defensive perspective. It was one moment, the goal that they scored. It was one moment. But we're getting better and better in how we're looking at defending the game, so I'm really proud of the guys top to bottom. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good when you want to be a championship-caliber team. It doesn't feel good, but the progress that they've made is noticeable.

On his reaction to Cincinnati's game-winning overhead kick goal...

You have got to be kidding me. I thought we defended the wide area well. Of course you can always deter the cross, but it was a cross from so deep, and we had numbers in the box. I think Jansen (Miller), who I thought had a great game, kind of pulled his head back. In another moment it could have been a dangerous play, but I don't blame the referee for taking a goal like that back. It's what people have come to see in the game. They want to see entertainment, and I don't like the result, but that was entertaining.

Sporting Kansas City midfielder Zorhan Bassong

On scoring the first goal of his professional career...

It's always a great feeling to score a goal, especially now because it's my first one. I'm really proud of this and have been working a lot for that. I was trying to stay patient, and of course I would dedicate that goal to the team and to the staff. No matter what, I feel like they always have my back-and all my teammates, too. They're helping to push me past my limits in every training session every week. So of course I feel really proud. It's a frustrating result at the same time, because we felt like we could have got more. Coach (Zavagnin) was really happy about the game, too. We didn't get the result, but it was one of the best-probably the best-game of our of our season. There are a lot of good things that we can actually build on. But in the end, I think we can still take a lot of positive things about that game and we just go on to the next. We're going to stay sharp and we're going to stay ready.

On limiting the danger of Cincinnati midfielder Evander...

Everybody was really engaged from the very beginning of the game. Everybody was committed, everybody was ready to fight for that game. Everybody wanted that win. We're on a good streak right now. We were on two wins in our last three, so everybody wants to keep building up on that. We're a real family. We're real brothers. We want to fight for each other. So I think that makes a big difference in the team, even with that result right now. Everybody's still really positive. Everybody's still really involved. That (second Cincinnati) goal is probably going to be the goal of the year. I don't even know how we can defend that. But that was a crazy goal. We were down 2-0, but we were still able to react. We scored one. We could have maybe scored a second one. We have still got to work and push through to the next game.

On Sporting creating more scoring chances in recent games...

We have nothing to lose in some ways, you know. We were going to do something eventually. If we want to get a win, we have got to be more offensive. You can really see that we're trying to be a team that attacks more. Last week, we conceded three goals, but we're still able to score five. So that's why we're able to get the win. We can see that we're way more involved offensively. We're trying to create from the right side, from the left side. Even our defender are (higher) on the field, so that creates a lot of numbers, and it helps us be more dangerous offensively. I think you can see it in the highlights. You're going to see that we're creating a lot of different opportunities to score. So I think this makes a big, big difference into the way we're playing.

Sporting Kansas City is owned by Sporting Club, an entity comprised of local business and community leaders. Sporting prides itself on a commitment and vision to provide high-performance experiences. Sporting Club purchased the team from the Hunt Sports Group in 2006, and under its direction has launched Swope Soccer Village, Children's Mercy Park, Compass Minerals Sporting Fields, Compass Minerals National Performance Center and Central Bank Sporting Complex while investing in the Sporting KC Academy and Sporting Kansas City II for developing local youth into homegrown talent. A charter member of Major League Soccer, Sporting are two-time MLS Cup champions (2000, 2013) and four-time winners of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2004, 2012, 2015, 2017).

2025 MLS Regular Season | Match 10

TQL Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio

Attendance: 25,513

Weather: 56 degrees and cloudy

Download: Full match highlights

Download: Bassong scores for SKC

Download: Kerry Zavagnin post-match

Download: Zorhan Bassong post-match

Score 1 2 F

Sporting Kansas City (2-7-1, 7 points) 0 1 1

FC Cincinnati (7-2-1, 22 points) 1 1 2

Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Khiry Shelton (Andrew Brody 86'), Jansen Miller, Robert Voloder, Logan Ndenbe; Jacob Bartlett, Manu Garcia, Nemanja Radoja (Zorhan Bassong 66'); Shapi Suleymanov (Stephen Afrifa 86'), Dejan Joveljic, Daniel Salloi (C) (Erik Thommy 73')

Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Ian James, Tim Leibold, Memo Rodriguez, Mason Toye

FC Cincinnati: Roman Celentano; DeAndre Yedlin, Miles Robinson, Matt Miazga (C) (Sergio Santos 63'), Nick Hagglund, Lukas Engel (Brad Smith 86'); Pavel Bucha, Brian Anunga (Obinna Nwobodo 63'), Evander; Luca Orellano (Alvas Powell 85'), Kevin Denkey (Corey Baird 90+1')

Subs Not Used: Gilberto Flores, Evan Louro, Stefan Chirila, Gerardo Valenzuela

Scoring Summary:

CIN - Kevin Denkey 5 (unassisted) 43'

CIN - Kevin Denkey 6 (Luca Orellano 2) 78'

SKC - Zorhan Bassong 1 (Erik Thommy 2, Andrew Brody 1) 89'

Misconduct Summary:

CIN - Brian Anunga (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 17'

SKC - Dejan Joveljic (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 65'

CIN - Kevin Denkey (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 79'

STAT SKC CIN

Shots 11 14

Shots on Goal 4 7

Saves 5 3

Fouls 5 8

Offsides 2 5

Corner Kicks 5 4

Referee: Allen Chapman

Assistant Referee: Logan Brown

Assistant Referee: Giani Facchini

Fourth Official: Thomas Snyder

VAR: Fotis Bazakos

AVAR: Craig Lowry

Check out the Sporting Kansas City Statistics

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