Recap: Sporting KC comes back to earn 1-1 draw against rivals St. Louis

Sporting Kansas City (4-13-3, 15 pts.) came from behind to pick up a 1-1 draw with rivals St. Louis (8-6-6, 30 pts.) at Sporting Park on Wednesday night. After falling behind against the run of play on the stroke of halftime, Sporting responded well and found an equalizer through Calvin Harris in the second half.

Head coach Raphael Wicky made four changes following Saturday’s loss in Colorado, restoring Lasse Berg Johnsen to the lineup following suspension alongside Wyatt Meyer, Jansen Miller and Taylor Calheira with suspended duo Kwaku Agyabeng and Moises Mosquera dropping out as well as Shapi Suleymanov and Or Blorian who was a late scratch due to a back injury.

Sporting started strong and threatened early through Dejan Joveljic and Berg Johnsen before Jake Davis saw a pair of strikes from stance fly narrowly wide within the opening 30 minutes of the match.

St. Louis had their first attempt of the game in the 31^st minute when Sang Bin Jeong cut onto his left foot inside the area but Stefan Cleveland comfortably gathered the shot. The visitors almost took the lead completely against the run of play in the 40^th minute when Daniel Edelman’s clipped effort to the far post looped onto the crossbar and out.

St. Louis took the lead on the stroke of halftime when Eduard Lowen’s free kick from the edge of the area took an enormous deflection before nestling into the back of the net, giving the visitors a fortuitous 1-0 halftime lead.

Sporting started the second half on the front foot and found a richly-deserved equalizer in the 55^th minute when Calheira sprung Harris in behind and the Englishman fired a precise finish in off the post to make the score 1-1. The goal was initially disallowed for offside, but VAR intervened and the goal stood for Harris’ third goal of his maiden season with the club.

Moments later, Sporting survived a scare at the other end when Sang Bin raced free one-on-one but put his shot off the crossbar. Sporting then spurned a golden opportunity to take the lead at the other end when Joveljic blazed over from close range after Zorhan Bassong had knocked down Davis’ cross.

Sporting pushed hard for the winner during the remainder of the match with Joveljic, Davis, Emir Karic and substitute Stephen Afrifa all taking aim, but ultimately the spoils were shared and St. Louis continues to have never won a match at Sporting Park.

Sporting hits the road this weekend to face off against Atlanta United on Sunday Night Soccer at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT and will be available to stream on Apple TV, while the game will be air on the radio on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

2026 MLS Regular Season | Game 20
Sporting Park | Kansas City, KS
Attendance: 15,355
Weather: 80 degrees and partly cloudy

Sporting Kansas City: Stefan Cleveland; Jake Davis, Jansen Miller, Wyatt Meyer, Emir Karic (Jayden Reid 89'); Capita Capemba, Lasse Berg Johnsen, Zorhan Bassong (Jacob Bartlett 74’), Calvin Harris (Stephen Afrifa 74’); Dejan Joveljic (C), Taylor Calheira (Shapi Suleymanov 64’)

Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Diego Borges, Ian James, Justin Reynolds

St. Louis: Roman Burki (C); Lukas McNaughton, Dante Polvara, Timo Baumgartl; Conrad Wallem (Jaziel Orozco 84’), Chris Durkin, Daniel Edelman, Tomas Totland; Sang Bin Jeong (Palmer Ault 84’), Simon Becher (Alexandru Matan 62’), Eduard Lowen (Carlo Holse 62’)

Subs Not Used: Ben Lundt, Rafael Santos, Mbacke Fall, Tomas Ostrak, Miguel Perez

Scoring Summary:
STL – Eduard Lowen 3 (Unassisted) 47+
SKC – Calvin Harris 3 (Taylor Calheira 2, Dejan Joveljic 3) 55’

Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Zorhan Bassong (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 15’
STL – Chris Durkin (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 21’
SKC – Jansen Miller (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 45’
STL – Conrad Wallem (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 61’

Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referee: Justin Howard
Assistant Referee: Adam Wienckowski
Fourth Official: Marcos DeOliveira
VAR: Lukasz Szpala
AVAR: Fabio Tovar