Sporting falls to frustrating 4-2 loss against FC Dallas

By Sam Kovzan – SportingKC.com

Sporting Kansas City (4-10-4, 16 points) fell to a frustrating 4-2 loss against FC Dallas (5-6-6, 21 points) on Saturday night at Children’s Mercy Park.

Shapi Suleymanov fired the hosts ahead in spectacular fashion with a long-range strike inside eight minutes before Dallas striker Petar Musa conjured a quick equalizer. In a contentious, hotly contested second half laden with questionable officiating decisions—including a mystifying second yellow card issued to Sporting defender Khiry Shelton—Dallas bagged three consecutive goals to secure victory against a 10-man Kansas City side that scored in second-half stoppage time through lively substitute Santiago Munoz.

Sporting’s three-game homestand will continue on June 25 and 28 with fixtures against Charlotte FC and Real Salt Lake, respectively. Tickets for both matches are available via SeatGeek with live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.

Suleymanov drew first blood with Sporting’s earliest goal of the season, receiving a back pass from striker Dejan Joveljic—who entered the night on a four-game scoring run—and curling brilliantly into the far left corner from 22 yards for his second tally of the campaign. Joveljic now has a goal contribution in five consecutive matches, the longest active streak in MLS, and Sporting’s last seven goals have all come from 2025 newcomers dating back to May 24.

Dallas responded in the 11th minute, finding space down the right channel as Shaq Moore’s low cross was driven home on the doorstep by Musa, who has scored in four of his last five appearances against Sporting.

In the 19th minute, Suleymanov could have gone from scorer to provider when his in-swinging corner kick was met by Joveljic at the far post, but his header from a tough angle lacked the direction and power to beat Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes. The first half also saw Suleymanov flattened to the turf under a challenge from defender Sebastien Ibeagha inside the penalty area, but referee Sergii Demianchuk wasn’t convinced of a foul and VAR did not intervene on the play.

On the opposite end, the visitors went close to surging ahead prior to halftime as Anderson Julio ran onto a long ball and rounded Sporting goalkeeper John Pulskamp, but his goalward strike was blocked heroically by sliding center back Jansen Miller.

Chaos plagued the entire second half, ushered in near the hour mark when Dallas talisman Lucho Acosta took a spill inside the box and Demianchuk pointed to the penalty spot. Replays showed little to no contact between Acosta and Miller, who had been penalized for the foul. Acosta promptly buried the ensuing spot kick to give Dallas the 2-1 lead.

Another tragic decision came in the 62nd minute when Shelton was ejected for his second yellow card offense, the victim of Pedrinho’s embellishment as the Dallas midfielder flailed to the ground despite Shelton not touching him on an attempted tackle near the sideline.

Down a man and down a goal, Sporting suffered further bleeding in the 69th minute when Musa’s low shot was saved by the outstretched Pulskamp, only for substitute Bernard Kamungo to clean up the rebound and make the score 3-1.

Eager to get back into the game, Sporting brandished a pair of chances with a quarter-hour remaining. Substitutes combined in the 76th minute with Memo Rodriguez’s backheel pass finding Daniel Salloi for a shot that dragged wide and Joveljic forcing a save from Paes following Stephen Afrifa’s clever set-up pass.

Acosta put the contest to bed on 82 minutes, racing onto Nolan Norris’ long ball and cutting past a defender before dribbling past Pulskamp and slotting into an empty net for his fifth goal of the campaign. Dallas then had a late chance go begging as Kamungo cut centrally from the right side and hammered the woodwork.

Munoz tallied his second substitute goal in three games with 91 minutes on the clock. Settling a killer through ball from Manu Garcia, Munoz slithered into the box and sent a clever side-footed finish into the right corner to cut Kansas City’s deficit to 4-2.

2025 MLS Regular Season | Match 18
Children’s Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas
Attendance: 17,144
Weather: 84 degrees and sunny

Sporting Kansas City 2-4 FC Dallas

Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Khiry Shelton, Jansen Miller, Joaquin Fernandez, Logan Ndenbe (Santiago Munoz 78′); Jacob Bartlett, Jake Davis (Memo Rodriguez 60′), Manu Garcia; Shapi Suleymanov (Stephen Afrifa 78′), Dejan Joveljic (Mason Toye 90+1′), Erik Thommy (C) (Daniel Salloi 60′)

Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Andrew Brody, Ian James, Tim Leibold

FC Dallas: Maarten Paes; Sebastien Ibeagha, Alvaro Augusto, Marco Farfan, Patrickson Delgado; Pedrinho (Bernard Kamungo 66′), Sebastian Lletget (Nolan Norris 66′), Anderson Julio (Anthony Ramirez 90′); Lucho Acosta (C) (Joshua Torquato 90′), Petar Musa (Logan Farrington 83′)

Subs Not Used: Michael Collodi, Diego Garcia, Katlego Ntsabeleng, Leo Chu

Scoring Summary:
SKC — Shapi Suleymanov 2 (Dejan Joveljic 2) 8′
DAL — Petar Musa 5 (Shaq Moore 2) 11′
DAL — Lucho Acosta 4 (penalty kick) 59′
DAL — Bernard Kamungo 1 (unassisted) 69′
DAL — Lucho Acosta 5 (Nolan Norris 1) 82′
SKC — Santiago Munoz 2 (Manu Garcia 6) 90+1′

Misconduct Summary:
SKC — Khiry Shelton (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 45+3′
DAL — Petar Musa (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 45+5′
DAL — Anderson Julio (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 45+7′
DAL — Pedrinho (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 49′
SKC — Khiry Shelton (red card/2nd yellow card; unsporting behavior) 62′)
DAL — Lucho Acosta (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 64′
SKC — Joaquin Fernandez (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 90+8′
SKC — Daniel Salloi (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 90+11′
SKC — Memo Rodriguez (yellow card; dissent) 90+11′
SKC — Logan Ndenbe (yellow card; dissent) postgame

Match Statistics

Referee: Sergii Demianchuk
Assistant Referee: Kyle Atkins
Assistant Referee: Corey Parker
Fourth Official: Thomas Snyder
VAR: Daniel Radford
AVAR: Brian Dunn