Dejan Joveljic scored against his former club for his 18th goal of the season as 10-man Sporting Kansas City (7-19-6, 27 points) fell 4-1 to the LA Galaxy (5-17-9, 24 points) on Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Joveljic, who won the 2024 MLS Cup with the Galaxy, converted on a clinical finish in the 28th minute, but LA secured three points behind Joseph Paintsil’s hat trick and a second-half goal from Diego Fagundez. To worsen matters for Sporting, forward Shapi Suleymanov received a late red card for serious foul play in a game that saw both teams amass 19 shot attempts.
Interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin made four changes to Sporting’s lineup from a 2-0 loss to Vancouver Whitecaps FC last weekend as the team shifted to a 4-4-2 formation. Stephen Afrifa earned his first start of the season, entering for Suleymanov, and Memo Rodriguez landed his first start since July 12 by replacing Jake Davis in the midfield. Daniel Salloi, who missed last week’s match due to injury, returned to the XI in the absence of injured captain Erik Thommy, while Mason Toye started up top in place of Santi Munoz.
An open and eventful contest saw the Galaxy threaten twice inside three minutes with 17-year-old Sporting defender Ian James doing well to block a shot from Paintsil and goalkeeper John Pulskamp palming an in-swinging Gabriel Pec corner kick over the bar. However, the hosts were rewarded for their quick start in the fourth minute when Paintsil punctuated an orchestrated set piece play by receiving a pass from Mauricio Cuevas and curling low into the far right corner to give his side a 1-0 advantage.
Sporting lacked no attacking ambition and orchestrated their first chance in the 14th minute, Joveljic forcing a save from Galaxy goalkeeper Novak Micovic after a well-worked move through the central channel. Eight minutes later, Joveljic and Rodriguez interchanged neatly before Toye uncorked a low drive that Micovic smothered.
Pulskamp did brilliantly to deny Galaxy forward Gabriel Pec at a tight angle in the 20th minute, but he was helpless in preventing LA’s second goal five minutes thereafter. Harbor Miller exploited a pocket of space on the left side of the box and pinged a driven ball across the face of goal that fell kindly to Paintsil, who dispatched a simple finish into the gaping net for his second goal of the game.
The visitors grabbed a goal back off the boot of Joveljic, who now occupies fourth place in the MLS Golden Boot race. Rodriguez played a clever ball into the penalty area for Toye, who laid the ball back to Joveljic on the edge of the box. The Serbian striker made no mistake from there, beating Micovic at the near post with a precise right-footed effort to make the score 2-1. Joveljic’s 18 goals this year are tied with Preki (1996) for the second most in a single regular season in club history, while his 39 MLS goals since the start of 2024 (including playoffs) are third most in the league. Joveljic, a member of the Galaxy in 2024, now has goals in his last six matches at Dignity Health Sports Park, scoring eight total goals in those six games including the game-winning goal in MLS Cup on Dec. 7, 2024.
Sporting went agonizingly close to leveling terms on the half-hour mark. Joveljic weaved his way through traffic and spread the ball right to Afrifa, whose right-footed belter beat Micovic but shook the crossbar.
Paintstil secured his hat trick in the 43rd minute, bundling home at point blank range off a Cuevas cross, then almost added a fourth in first-half stoppage time by smacking a right-footed strike off the right post.
Zavagnin’s side began the second half brightly. In the 48th minutes, Logan Ndenbe overlapped down the left side and curled an inch-perfect cross to the far post for Afrifa, whose volleyed attempt was cast aside by Micovic. Seconds later, Salloi’s 22-yard curler was destined for the far corner, but Micovic did superbly to produce a fingertip save.
The Galaxy capped their scoring at the hour juncture with Fagundez tapping home off a Pec pullback, putting the visitors in a 4-1 hole. At the opposite end, Toye was unfortunate not to etch his name onto the scoresheet in the 65th minute with a shot that fizzed inches wide.
Pulskamp was busy throughout the night and delivered a trio of impressive saves in the dying embers, twice denying substitute Ruben Ramos Jr. his first career MLS goal in addition to stymying Miki Yamane on the breakaway. Suleymanov, who entered as a 70th-minute substitute, then received his marching orders for an aggressive foul as Sporting were reduced to 10 men.
Deep into second-half stoppage time, Joveljic almost tallied his second goal of the night. The 26-year-old settled a pinpoint cross from Toye and unleashed a shot that was blocked on the edge of the six-yard area.
Sporting will return to action next Saturday, Oct. 4, by visiting regional rival Minnesota United FC in the club’s penultimate match of the regular season. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT with live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.
2025 MLS Regular Season | Match 32
Dignity Health Sports Park | Carson, California
Attendance: 17,903
Weather: 69 degrees and partly cloudy
Score | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
Sporting Kansas City (7-19-6, 27 points) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
LA Galaxy (5-17-9, 24 points) | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Khiry Shelton (Jake Davis 46'), Ian James, Alan Montes (Robert Voloder 70'), Logan Ndenbe; Stephen Afrifa (Santi Munoz 61'), Memo Rodriguez (Jacob Bartlett 61'), Zorhan Bassong, Daniel Salloi (C) (Shapi Suleymanov 70'); Mason Toye, Dejan Joveljic
Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Jansen Miller, Nemanja Radoja
LA Galaxy: Novak Micovic; Mauricio Cuevas (Miki Yamane 77'), Chris Rindov (Emiro Garces 65'), Maya Yoshida (C), John Nelson; Elijah Wynder (Ruben Ramos Jr. 74'), Edwin Cerrillo; Harbor Miller (Julian Aude 65'), Diego Fagundez, Joseph Paintsil (Miguel Berry 65'); Gabriel Pec
Subs Not Used: JT Marcinkowski, Zanka, Eriq Zavaleta, Tucker Lepley
Scoring Summary:
LA -- Joseph Paintsil 7 (Mauricio Cuevas 4, Diego Fagundez 3) 4'
LA -- Joseph Paintsil 8 (unassisted) 25'
SKC -- Dejan Joveljic 18 (Mason Toye 2, Memo Rodriguez 1') 28'
LA -- Joseph Paintsil 9 (Mauricio Cuevas 5, Gabriel Pec 7) 43'
LA -- Diego Fagundez 5 (Gabriel Pec 8, Joseph Paintsil 4) 60'
Misconduct Summary:
SKC -- Shapi Suleymanov (red card; serious foul play) 83'
LA -- Miki Yamane (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 87'
LA -- Emiro Garces (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 90+1'
STAT | SKC | LA |
|---|---|---|
Shots | 19 | 19 |
Shots on Goal | 6 | 9 |
Saves | 5 | 5 |
Fouls | 8 | 10 |
Offsides | 0 | 0 |
Corner Kicks | 9 | 7 |
Referee: Fotis Bazakos
Assistant Referee: Felisha Mariscal
Assistant Referee: Jeffrey Greeson
Fourth Official: Bhavik Dutt
VAR: Alyssa Pennington
AVAR: TJ Zablocki
