Recap: Sporting suffers road loss at high-flying Vancouver Whitecaps

Sporting Kansas City (6-12-6, 24 pts.) fell to a 3-0 defeat against second-place Vancouver Whitecaps (13-5-6, 45 pts.) at BC Place on Saturday night. Sporting fell into a 2-0 halftime deficit and despite pushing hard to get back into the game in the second half, Vancouver found a third late on to seal the points.

Head coach Kerry Zavagnin made two changes from the 1-1 draw with NYCFC last weekend, as Tim Leibold replaced Logan Ndenbe at left back and Zorhan Bassong entered the midfield with Manu Garcia sidelined with a quad injury.

The hosts started brightly, forcing John Pulskamp and Jansen Miller into a number of timely interventions before creating the game’s first opportunity in the eighth minute when J.C. Ngando received a pass from Jayden Nelson on the edge of the area but dragged his shot wide.

Sporting fashioned their first real chance in the 11^th minute when Dejan Joveljic smartly dummied Andrew Brody’s entry pass, allowing Daniel Salloi to stride onto the ball but the Hungarian pulled his shot off target.

Vancouver continued to push forward and almost took the lead in the 15^th minute when a pair of MLS All-Stars combined as Brian White got on the end of Tristan Blackmon’s header back across goal but blazed his volley over the bar.

Following a lull in front of goal, the Whitecaps found the breakthrough in the 35^th minute through Emmanuel Sabbi. A cross was deflected into the path of J.C. Ngando on the edge of the area, allowing him to flick the ball to Jayden Nelson who in-turn slid the ball across goal for Sabbi to tap home his fifth goal of the season.

The Whitecaps doubled the advantage in the 43^rd minute when Ngando slotted home through traffic after Sebastian Berhalter’s header had been blocked by Joaquin Fernandez, giving the hosts a commanding 2-0 lead at halftime.

Vancouver began the second half as they ended the first, forcing Pulskamp into his first save of the night as he sprung to his left to deny Nelson’s strike from the edge of the area in the 49^th minute.

Sporting looked to respond and Salloi threatened in the 55^th minute, linking up with Joveljic in the final third before striking a bouncing shot into the arms of Yohei Takaoka from 25 yards.

A triple change in the 60^th minute saw Sporting bring on Jake Davis, Santiago Munoz and Logan Ndenbe and the trio brought an instant boost to the team.

First, Munoz’s cross evaded a host of bodies but drifted just wide before Ndenbe saw his low shot saved onto the crossbar by Takaoka and the follow-up from Munoz deflected over the bar. Moments later, Ndenbe’s cross found Joveljic at the near post but his opportunistic attempt went just wide of the post.

The Whitecaps weathered the Sporting storm and took control of the closing proceedings, almost adding to their lead as Nelson fired over from 15 yards in the 86^th minute. However, the respite was short-lived as Mathias Laborda headed home following a set piece to seal the points for the hosts.

Sporting has a bye next weekend before returning to action with a home fixture against MLS newcomers San Diego FC at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday, Aug. 9. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV, while the game will be available on the radio on Sports Radio 810 WHB. Tickets are available via SeatGeek.com.

2025 MLS Regular Season | Match 24
BC Place | Vancouver, Canada
Attendance: 20,719
Weather: 69 degrees and sunny

Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Andrew Brody, Jansen Miller, Joaquin Fernandez, Tim Leibold (Logan Ndenbe 60’); Jacob Bartlett, Nemanja Radoja (Jake Davis 60’), Zorhan Bassong (Memo Rodriguez 85’); Shapi Suleymanov (Mason Toye 85’), Dejan Joveljic, Daniel Salloi (C) (Santiago Munoz 60’)

Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Ian James, Robert Voloder, Stephen Afrifa

Vancouver Whitecaps: Yohei Takaoka; Edier Ocampo (Tate Johnson 74’), Tristan Blackmon (Belal Halbouni 88’), Bjorn Utvik, Mathias Laborda; Andres Cubas (Ralph Priso 46’), Sebastian Berhalter, J.C. Ngando (Jeevan Badwal 81’); Emmanuel Sabbi (Daniel Rios 74’), Brian White (C), Jayden Nelson

Subs Not Used: Isaac Boehmer, Adrian Zendejas, Guiseppe Bovalina, Nelson Pierre

Scoring Summary:
VAN – Emmanuel Sabbi 5 (Jayden Nelson 5, J.C. Ngando 6) 35’
VAN – J.C. Ngando 2 (Unassisted) 43’
VAN – Mathias Laborda 3 (Sebastian Berhalter 5, Jeevan Badwal 2) 87’

Misconduct Summary:
VAN – Emmanuel Sabbi (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 3’
SKC – Dejan Joveljic (Yellow Card; Dissent) 27’
SKC – Tim Leibold (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 52’

Referee: Lukasz Szpala
Assistant Referee: Mike Nickerson
Assistant Referee: Kevin Lock
Fourth Official: Niko Jecanski
VAR: Kevin Stott
AVAR: Jonathan Johnson