By Kurt Austin – SportingKC.com
Sporting Kansas City suffered a 2-1 road loss at Real Salt Lake on Saturday in a Western Conference match-up at America First Field.
John Pulskamp recorded five saves in the fixture, beginning in the 13th minute with his first stop of the night on a shot from Victor Olatunji at the top of the penalty area. The 24-year-old goalkeeper was called into action again in the 36th minute with a diving save to turn away an attempt from Braian Ojeda.
The hosts struck for the breakthrough goal with five minutes remaining in the first half and it came from MLS All-Star Diego Luna. The 22-year-old scored his team-leading ninth goal of the year after returning from international duty with the U.S. Men’s National Team.
Pulskamp produced his best save of the night less than two minutes into the second half to keep out a point-blank header from 18-year-old Zavier Gozo.
The Real Salt Lake academy product would then set up Real Salt Lake’s second goal of the night — earning the first two assists of his MLS career in the match — in the 62nd minute with a pinpoint pass for Alexandros Katranis, who was unmarked at the back post and made no mistake in finding the back of the net.
Trailing 2-0, Sporting Kansas City inserted both Mason Toye and Erik Thommy prior to the restart of play and Thommy forced a superb save from Real Salt Lake captain Rafael Cabral minutes later with a right-footed strike from distance.
Sporting Kansas City would cut the deficit in half in the 71st minute on a well-worked buildup as Toye flicked a ball onto Daniel Salloi, who settled the pass off his chest and drove into the penalty area. Salloi’s cross toward Dejan Joveljic was ultimately redirected into the net by RSL defender Brayan Vera for the fourth own goal of the season in Sporting’s favor.
The visitors would continue to apply pressure in search of a late equalizer, coming close to leveling the score on three occasions. Cabral did well to deny Joveljic with a double save in the 74th minute, punching away the initial attempt before smothering the follow-up shot as well.
One minute later, Thommy’s free kick from more than 30 yards out dipped just past the post. Two additional second-half substitutes nearly completed the comeback in the 80th minute as Manu Garcia’s cross was headed down by Joveljic and onto the foot of Alan Montes, however the Mexican center back’s shot carried over the crossbar from eight yards out.
Saturday’s result saw Sporting suffer a fourth straight road loss as the team conceded multiple goals in a seventh straight regular season game for the first time since 1999.
Sporting Kansas City will return home to host Thomas Muller and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Sept. 20 at Children’s Mercy Park. Tickets for the match are available on SeatGeek, including a Hispanic Heritage Night ticket pack featuring discounted tickets, a limited-edition t-shirt and the choice of a Corona or Coca-Cola product.
2025 MLS Regular Season | Match 30
America First Field | Sandy, Utah
Attendance: 20,172
Weather: 69 degrees and mostly sunny
Sporting Kansas City 1-2 Real Salt Lake
| Score | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sporting Kansas City (7-17-6, 27 points) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Real Salt Lake (10-14-4, 34 points) | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Khiry Shelton, Jansen Miller, Joaquin Fernandez (Alan Montes 63′), Logan Ndenbe; Jacob Bartlett, Jake Davis (Manu Garcia 78′), Nemanja Radoja (Mason Toye 63′); Shapi Suleymanov (Erik Thommy 63′), Dejan Joveljic, Daniel Salloi (C) (Santi Munoz 85′)
Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Tim Leibold, Robert Voloder, Memo Rodriguez
Real Salt Lake: Rafael Cabral (C); Noel Caliskan, Justen Glad, Brayan Vera, Alexandros Katranis (Sam Junqua 72′); Zavier Gozo (Tyler Wolff 72′), Emeka Eneli, Braian Ojeda, Diego Luna (Diogo Goncalves 79′); Rwan Cruz (William Agada 72′), Victor Olatunji
Subs Not Used: Ariath Piol, Philip Quinton, Mason Stajduhar, Johnny Russell
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Diego Luna 9 (Victor Olatunji 1, Zavier Gozo 1) 40′
RSL – Alexandros Katranis 1 (Zavier Gozo 2) 62′
SKC – Own Goal (Brayan Vera) 71′
Misconduct Summary:
RSL – Rwan Cruz (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 59′
SKC – Dejan Joveljic (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 90+4′
Match Statistics
| STAT | SKC | RSL |
|---|---|---|
| Fouls | 7 | 17 |
| Offsides | 3 | 0 |
| Corner Kicks | 3 | 4 |
Referee: Drew Fischer
Assistant Referee: Corey Rockwell
Assistant Referee: Kathryn Nesbitt
Fourth Official: Brad Jensen
VAR: Ramy Touchan
AVAR: Fabio Tovar
