San Diego FC played its 13th game in the 2025 MLS regular season this Saturday, May 17.

SDFC hosted Sporting Kansas City at Snapdragon Stadium in what was the second home game of the week.

San Diego defeated the Colorado Rapids 2-0 at the Mission Valley Fortress this past Wednesday, May 14. SDFC was on a huge three-game winning streak heading into this match and were second place on the Western Conference table.

Tonight’s attendance for #SDFC vs. Sporting Kansas City: 25,233 spectators.@EVT_News pic.twitter.com/eFzDIHr91g

— Francisco Velasco (@FranciscoEfV) May 18, 2025

Head coach Mikey Varas only made one change to the lineup that defeated Colorado: Oscar Verhoeven replaced Willy Kumado. Varas has switched up the fullback positions all season long, and this was Verhoeven’s first start.

There was not much excitement in the opening 45 minutes of a match that seemed like a deadlock at the Snap. San Diego’s backline was very effective in neutralizing the visitors’ attack, especially Paddy McNair and Christopher McVey, who combined for four clearances.

The clearest scoring opportunity for either team came towards the end of the half, when a header by Jeppe Tverskov was saved by Kansas City goalkeeper John Pulskamp. The second half started out quite slow, and both teams were struggling to generate offensive plays.

However, that changed throughout the half as both teams were close to breaking open the scoreline. One of the clearest opportunities came in the 65th minute when a shot by KC’s Shapi Sulemanov hit the woodwork.

Mikey Varas made his first change in the 60th minute when Onni Valakari replaced Anibal Godoy. This was quite an aggressive move given Godoy’s defensive coverage for SDFC.

In the 72nd minute, Varas made two more adjustments as Willy Kumado and Milan Illoski came on for Luca de la Torre and Oscar Verhoeven. This was another aggressive move as “Chucky”, Andres Dreyer, Alex Mighten, Iloski, and Onni Valakari all pushed forward now. This left Jeppe Tverskov pretty isolated in the midfield, but he also pushed up as Kansas City was clearly defending the scoreless result.

Chucky and Anders 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 link up for the goal…

…only a matter of time pic.twitter.com/sSHO4S0zBu

— San Diego FC (@sandiegofc) May 18, 2025

In the 81st minute, Varas made his final two substitutions: Tomas Angel and Emmanuel Boateng replaced Hirving Lozano and Alex Mighten. It was not the best game for Lozano, who only had one shot in the match and was really shut down on that left flank.

The game’s final minutes consisted of SDFC pushing everyone forward for that elusive winning goal. While the visitors were clearly satisfied with trying to maintain the point in this road match.

That goal never came despite Kansas City’s tremendous defensive effort. Robert Voloder was the standout in the visitors’ backline, with seven clearances, a blocked shot, and an interception in the match.

While San Diego’s undefeated streak is now four games, this was a very underwhelming result at home, especially given how much Kansas City has struggled this season and how SDFC has played recently.

San Diego’s schedule has been very busy recently, and three games remain in the month. This includes two home games, with the next match being against the LA Galaxy at Snapdragon Stadium on May 24.

Francisco Velasco

Francisco, 28, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego FC, San Diego Wave. I have covered Liga MX, MLS, Mexico National Team, USWNT, Copa América and European clubs like Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund.