August 27, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Sporting Kansas City News Release
Daniel Salloi’s early strike was enough to give Sporting Kansas City (8-15-5, 29 points) a deserved 1-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes (6-12-9, 27 points) on Saturday night at Children’s Mercy Park.
By slotting home in the 10th minute, Salloi moved into a tie atop Sporting’s all-time charts with his 13th game-winning goal in the regular season. The much-needed result-which saw goalkeeper John Pulskamp make four saves en route to his first shutout of the 2022 MLS campaign-also lifted Sporting to within seven points of playoff position in the Western Conference and pushed Kansas City’s record against San Jose to 8-1-5 in the last 14 meetings across all competitions.
Winners in three of their last four matches, Sporting will carry palpable momentum into next weekend when they travel to face longtime rivals LA Galaxy (10-11-4, 34 points) on Sunday, Sept. 4. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. CT with live coverage on 38 The Spot, the Sporting KC app and SportingKC.com.
Taking the field for their 1,000th competitive match in club history, Sporting deployed the same lineup for the fourth straight game-a rare instance that last happened in May 2017. Manager Peter Vermes also hit a major milestone by participating in his 662nd MLS match as a player or a coach, tying Jason Kreis for most in the league’s 27-year existence.
The Earthquakes wasted a golden opportunity to draw first blood inside five minutes, dashing free on a quickfire counterattack only for Jeremy Ebobisse to drag his right-footed shot wide on the breakaway. Sporting then threatened on the opposite end a few minutes later when veteran midfielder Roger Espinoza uncorked a long-range blast that fizzed over the crossbar by a matter of inches.
Espinoza’s near miss was a warning sign for San Jose, which fell behind 1-0 when Salloi landed the game’s first punch. The 26-year-old winger started his own scoring move by spraying a ball down the left channel for Erik Thommy, who evaded his marker, accelerated into the final third and slipped a clever through ball to Espinoza. His low cross was cut out by the sliding Paul Marie, but Salloi was well positioned to coolly poke home the rebound for his sixth league goal of the season and his 47th career Sporting goal in all competitions, passing Josh Wolff for fifth most in Kansas City history.
An end-to-end spectacle continued to unfold in satisfying manner and Sporting had Pulskamp…
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