By Kurt Austin – Sporting Kansas City
Sporting Kansas City (6-14-6, 24 points) suffered a 3-1 loss on the road at Orlando City SC (13-6-8, 47 points) on Saturday following a weather delay that postponed kickoff at Inter&Co Stadium until 10:43 p.m. ET, three hours and three minutes later than originally scheduled.
Orlando City wasted little time in making their mark on the match once it began with a goal just 70 seconds into the first half from newcomer Tyrese Spicer. The Trinidad and Tobago international, who played in the Concacaf Gold Cup this summer, opened the scoring just over a minute into his first start for the club after arriving in a trade with Toronto FC earlier this month.
Sporting Kansas City responded well with a series of scoring chances, first from Dejan Joveljic in the seventh minute with a shot from more than 25 yards out that sailed narrowly wide of the target. In the 20th minute, Jake Davis delivered a superb through ball for Mason Toye to run onto behind the Orlando backline only for Toye’s first-time effort to carry just beyond the far post.
Making his first start for the team, Toye remained active and forced a save from Pedro Gallese in the 23rd minute before setting up the game-tying goal just two minutes later to earn his first assist in an SKC uniform. Toye beat Gallese to a pass from Joveljic inside the box and took a touch around the World Cup veteran before sending a shot toward goal that was tapped home by Joveljic near the goalline.
Joveljic now has a team-high 14 goals this year, placing the Serbian striker seventh in the MLS Golden Boot race and giving him the most goals by a KC player in their first season with the club since Preki scored 18 times in the team’s inaugural campaign back in 1996.
Each side would carve out one notable chance to take the lead before halftime as Shapi Suleymanov’s left-footed attempt from just inside the edge of the penalty area curled wide in the 39th minute and Luis Muriel laced a shot over the crossbar in stoppage time.
The second half would see the home side secure all three points with a pair of goals seven minutes apart. Sporting initially survived multiple close calls – including misses from Martin Ojeda and Alex Freeman in the first 10 minutes, as well as a save from John Pulskamp to deny Marco Pasalic in the 64th minute — before nearly taking the lead themselves if not for a pair of stops from Gallese on Suleymanov in the 65th minute and Daniel Salloi in the 69th minute.
However second-half substitute Ramiro Enrique would put Orlando ahead with the game-winning goal in the 76th minute — five minutes after coming off the bench — as Ojeda earned his 14th assist of the season to extend his goal contribution streak to 12 straight MLS matches, tying Sebastian Giovinco for the second longest streak in MLS history.
Orlando City sealed the victory with a third goal in the 83rd minute, again from a substitute, as 21-year-old Nicolas Rodriguez scored his first MLS goal just six minutes after entering the match. Orlando, the highest scoring team in MLS, now has four straight league wins and sits in a share of third place in the Eastern Conference.
Sporting, on the other hand, has suffered three straight defeats and is winless in five dating back to a 3-2 loss against Seattle last month. SKC and the Sounders will meet again next Sunday, Aug. 24 with kickoff at 8:25 p.m. CT at Lumen Field in the MLS Matchday 30 finale. Fans can watch SEAvSKC live with an MLS Season Pass or Apple TV+ subscription and the Western Conference match-up will also be nationally televised on FS1 and FOX Deportes.
2025 MLS Regular Season | Match 26
Inter&Co Stadium | Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 20,026
Weather: 78 degrees and partly cloudy
Sporting Kansas City 1-3 Orlando City SC
| Score | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sporting Kansas City (6-14-6, 24 points) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Orlando City SC (13-6-8, 47 points) | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Khiry Shelton, Jansen Miller (Alan Montes 81′), Robert Voloder, Tim Leibold (Nemanja Radoja 68′); Shapi Suleymanov (Stephen Afrifa 81′), Jake Davis, Zorhan Bassong (C), Santi Munoz (Jacob Bartlett 68′); Dejan Joveljic, Mason Toye (Daniel Salloi 58′)
Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Andrew Brody, Memo Rodriguez
Orlando City SC: Pedro Gallese; Dagur Thorhallsson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Robin Jansson (C), David Brekalo; Marco Pasalic (Ivan Angulo 71′), Eduard Atuesta (Joran Gerbet 86′), Kyle Smith (Alex Freeman 46′), Tyrese Spicer (Nicolas Rodriguez 77′); Luis Muriel (Ramiro Enrique 71′), Martin Ojeda
Subs Not Used: Javier Otero, Adrian Marin, Colin Guske, Zakaria Taifi
Scoring Summary:
ORL – Tyrese Spicer 3 (unassisted) 2′
SKC – Dejan Joveljic 14 (Mason Toye 1) 25′
ORL – Ramiro Enrique 8 (Martin Ojeda 14, Ivan Angulo 7) 76′
ORL – Nicolas Rodriguez 1 (unassisted) 83′
Misconduct Summary:
None
Match Statistics
| STAT | SKC | ORL |
|---|---|---|
| Fouls | 9 | 8 |
| Offsides | 2 | 2 |
| Corner Kicks | 4 | 6 |
Referee: Ricardo Montero Araya
Assistant Referee: Matthew Nelson
Assistant Referee: Walt Heatherly
Fourth Official: Matt Thompson
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez
AVAR: John Krill
