Austin FC capitalizes on set piece opportunity to hand SKC another damaging loss in playoff chase
Sporting Kansas City’s slim playoff hopes took another blow Sunday night as Austin FC escaped Children’s Mercy Park with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory, leaving fans to contemplate yet another missed opportunity.
The result leaves Sporting (7-16-6, 27 points) mathematically alive but practically buried, sitting 14 points below the playoff line with just seven matches remaining.
Dejan Joveljic continued his remarkable individual campaign with his 17th goal of the season, a composed penalty conversion that moved him into sole possession of third place in the MLS Golden Boot race. The Serbian striker’s output has been one of the few bright spots for Kansas City, with his 17 goals representing the third-highest single-season total in club history.
The penalty came courtesy of a VAR intervention after referee Sergii Boiko initially missed Nicolas Dubersarsky’s clear foul on Shapi Suleymanov in the penalty area — demonstrating the team’s ability to create dangerous situations and its reliance on external factors to capitalize.
With Zorhan Bassong and Ian James out for international duty, interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin made tactical adjustments, bringing on academy graduate Jacob Bartlett and on-loan center back Alan Montes. The start was Montes’s first with the club and may give Zavagnin new options in his defensive structure.
The coach praised his newest defender after the game. “With the amount of ball possession that we had,” said Zavagnin, “you can see his quality and his ability to set the game up and generate advantages with the ball. I think the game played out in a way that was perfect for his skill set. We saw a lot of good things from him. Obviously, he’s a commanding presence in the air.”
The opening 45 minutes showcased the kind of end-to-end soccer that has characterized many of Sporting’s matches this season. Austin’s equalizer from Owen Wolff highlighted recurring defensive vulnerabilities, as Guilherme Biro’s long ball exposed the space behind Sporting’s backline.
John Pulskamp’s performance between the posts provided another reminder of his emergence as a reliable presence, finishing the evening tied for second in MLS with 99 saves this season. His reflex stop in the 43rd minute to deny Osman Bukari exemplified the shot-stopping ability that has kept numerous matches competitive.
In the second half, Sporting kept pressing for the winner while Austin remained dangerous on the counter, creating the late drama that ultimately favored the visitors. Erik Thommy’s return from a two-month injury absence provided a brief spark, his 76th-minute introduction coinciding with Sporting’s most sustained period of pressure.
The decisive moment arrived in the 82nd minute off a corner kick — the kind of set piece situation that has repeatedly haunted Sporting this season. CJ Fodrey’s glancing header to put Austin in the lead for good was the first of his MLS career, following his strike off the post just minutes earlier.
The final minutes provided glimpses of possibility, with Joveljic orchestrating attacking moves with Salloi and Thommy, including a one-on-one chance in stoppage time that Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver was lucky to get a leg on.
As Sporting prepares for Saturday’s visit to longtime rival Real Salt Lake, another team desperate for the final playoff spot, the mathematics of the postseason chase have become increasingly unforgiving, needing a nearly-perfect run of form in the remaining five matches.
Watching all this with an eye toward the future of the roster and coaching staff is the team’s ownership group, which is rumored to be in final discussions with a new Chief Soccer Officer with a hire as early as this week.
