Five consecutive road wins for San Diego FC, shutting out Sporting Kansas City 2-0

San Diego FC set a new MLS record with five consecutive road victories by an expansion side in their debut season, securing a 2-0 victory over the hosts Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

After an early Leagues Cup 2025 exit in Phase One and a six-match homestand, San Diego FC hit the road for the first time since July 12 and returned to MLS play for their Midwest Saturday night showdown against Sporting Kansas City at Children's Mercy Park.

This was the reverse fixture between the two sides, with the first match on May 17 at Snapdragon Stadium finishing in a scoreless draw. 

Last time out in the MLS, San Diego FC grinded out a 1-0 home result over Nashville SC back on July 25, with Chucky Lozano’s sole second-half goal giving the Chrome & Azul the three points.

Sporting Kansas City were looking to improve from their last match, where they fell 3-0 last Saturday on the road at BC Place to the Vancouver Whitecaps, marking a third consecutive match without a victory.

San Diego FC needed a positive result, as any slip-up by the first-place side could’ve seen the top spot of the Western Conference up for grabs, as San Diego held a slim one-point advantage. 

San Diego’s All-Star forward duo combined in the 23-minute to open up the scoring at Children's Mercy Park, with Anders Dreyer laying off a pass to set up Chucky Lozano’s outside-the-box strike. 

After Sporting defender Jansen Miller was dispossessed in a San Diego FC attacking position by a Lozano slide tackle, the loose ball met by Anders Dreyer was pulled back for Lozano as he caught Sporting goalkeeper John Pulskamp off his line, looping his shot into the net. 

Lozano pushed his 2025 MLS goal tally to eight on the season, with Dreyer claiming assist number 17 to his MLS assist leading total.

Dreyer seized control as the league's top goal contributor after coming into the matchday level with reigning MLS MVP Lionel Messi on 27 goals+assists. 

Following the opening strike, San Diego FC were tested for the remainder of the first half, with Sporting's best chance of the half coming with San Diego FC goalkeeper CJ dos Santos out of position in the 34-minute. 

Defender Manu Duah came to San Diego FC’s rescue with an off-the-line clearance to keep out defender Logan Ndenbe's attempt on goal. The match remained 1-0 going into the locker rooms. 

A challenging but disciplined first half by Chrome & Azul’s defensive line as they faced eight total shots and three shots on target. Sporting couldn’t break through onto the match scoresheet despite creating 1.12 expected goals in the first period. 

MVP leading candidate Anders Dreyer tacked on a San Diego FC doubling goal on the night and sealed the match in the 70-minute.

The chance came off a deflected pass from midfielder Onni Valakari, as the ball bounced into the penalty area with Anders Dreyer darting to the loose ball to get the first-time left-footed rolling finish into the right bottom corner for the 2-0 advantage with 20 minutes left to play. 

Dreyer's goal and assist performance against Sporting Kansas City pushed his debut MLS season totals to an impressive 12 goals and 17 assists, as well as passing Carlos Vela for the most goal contributions by a player on an expansion team.

“I didn't know that I passed the Carlos Vela," San Diego FC forward Anders Dreyer said. "It’s nice to help the team to win with goals and an assist, and that's why I'm here." 

“I said in the beginning of the season, for me, most important that we win games, and I don't care who scores,” Dreyer said. “But yeah, it was nice to get three points here and now we can have a good week of preparation until the next one.” 

CJ dos Santos earned his eighth MLS clean sheet of the season, denying Sporting forward Dániel Sallóian’s 88-minute one-on-one opportunity to get onto the scoreboard and gain life heading into injury time, making his fifth save on the night. 

The final whistle at Children's Mercy Park blew with San Diego FC securing the 2-0 victory, extending their red-hot form away from home to a record five straight road wins for an expansion side in their debut season. 

San Diego FC head coach Mikey Varas spoke at the post-match press conference on the away-from-home mentality and defensive performance in their 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City. 

“I think it's a credit to the guys, this road performance mentality, that we can go and win everywhere. I think we started pretty strong, pretty decent first half, but then we got to suffer for a long time in this game. Kansas played a really good game, and they put us under pressure, but we had guys who made plays.”

“I think defensively, just the goal-line saves, just guys stepping up and making plays, being firemen at the right moment. I also think at the end of the game, just having all 11 players low and finding a way to close out a game where we had lost the momentum, and then I think early on, just some good passages of possession where we were able to break them in wide areas and cause them some issues.”

Through 26 matches played, San Diego FC sits at the top of the Western Conference with 49 points accumulated from a fifteen-win, seven-loss and four-draw record in the MLS. 

San Diego FC’s record-making season doesn’t look to stop rewriting history, with the club two wins away from tying St. Louis City SC’s 2023 17-regular-season win record and eight points away from tying LAFC's 2018 57-regular-season points record with eight matches remaining in their inaugural season. 

Next Sunday sees a Nor-Cal vs So-Cal clash as San Diego FC travels upstate to PayPal Park for their MLS showdown against the San Jose Earthquakes, set for a 4 p.m. kickoff on August 17.

A first-time meeting between the two clubs, with San Diego FC looking to extend their perfect record against California sides, coming into the match 3-0 against LAFC and LA Galaxy.