Tonight’s midweek matchup against Sporting Kansas City was heralded by rain and potential storms, but luckily the worst of the weather held off to allow our boys to take to the pitch. With official playoff elimination hanging in the balance, tonight was a must-win in the truest sense. Only a full three points on the evening would definitively save them from the edge, and they were going up against a Kansas City with nothing left to lose.
In the end, the Loons wanted it more.
The first 10 minutes saw the visitors start out on the front foot, with early runs from Capita Capemba and Taylor Calheira narrowly being shut down by Jefferson Diaz and Drake Callender. But soon after, the Black and Blue started to control large stretches of the game, with the majority of play taking place in the attacking third as Kansas City’s defense worked overtime to keep up.
Owen Gene was an early standout up and down the pitch. On one end, he frequently triangulated with Yeboah and Valerius to progress the ball in the pockets, and on the other, he was quick to get back and shut down big-name signing André Luiz when it counted. In the 24th minute, Valerius, Jackson, and Owen came together in some of the strongest attacking combination we’ve seen in months, weaving expertly through Sporting’s defenders to create a brilliant scoring opportunity. Jackson’s ball was overshot, but the chemistry was something to behold.
Jackson proceeded to show off his speed and on-the-ball creativity all over the field, creating a number of opportunities, corners, and close calls in the final third. The forward motion was contagious. In the 18th minute, Anthony Markanich dominated a one-on-one against Kwaku Agyabeng to log back-to-back shots, both saved in the nick of time by Stefan Cleveland. Gene’s 29th-minute pass to Yeboah resulted in a Markanich header that just went wide, and shortly after, his combination play saw Jackson in a very close one-on-one with Cleveland.
Once again, the match got physical, as has been a theme across the league with teams feeling the pressure as the season comes to a head. The crowd was incensed when Jansen Miller’s shove knocked Yeboah into the side rail with nothing but a warning given by the referee. Kansas City started taking back more and more possession, spending increased time in the Loons’ defensive third as the flow of the game pushed and pulled.
Unfortunately for our Black and Blue, SKC’s Taylor Calheira was the first on the scoreboard. In the 31st minute, Nectarios Triantis came up just short of his attempted block of Jake Davis’ pass, instead nudging the ball along to a wide open Calheira who sent his shot right past a diving Callender.
Just after the halftime whistle, Yeboah earned a yellow card for exchanging words with the refs in midfield, clearly still incensed with the ref’s no-call on his earlier collision. The boys went into the locker room down a goal, up a card, and frustrated. (Fortunately, we had a Loon Call Contest at halftime to cheer everybody up.)
The boys came out of the locker room swinging, and in the 47th minute Triantis’ perfectly-placed cross set González up for a header to even the score. But after review, it was decided that Triantis committed a foul on defender Emir Karić by grazing him in the face with a hand ahead of the cross, rendering the goal null and bringing the home team back to square one.
Both squads opted for a shake-up with half an hour remaining in the match. For Kansas City, Ian James, Owen Wolff, and Calvin Harris into the mix. Tomás Chancalay and Joaquín Pereyra came on for Jackson and Bongokuhle Hlongwane minutes later, after González picked up a yellow card for simulation. Shortly after, Markanich earned a yellow card as well when an attempted bike kick came into contact with James.
Between the disallowed goal and subsequent pair of yellows, frustrations mounted throughout the stadium — a little bit of stormy weather wouldn’t have felt so out of place.
Luiz outpaced Diaz in the 64th minute to make a run into the box, but his powerful shot bounced off the crossbar. A minute later, Luiz was at it again, bringing the ball back up top for some combo play with his fellow strikers, but a brilliant Callender save prevented Agyabeng from doubling the lead. These near-misses kept Kansas City from holding momentum and gave the Loons the opening they needed to turn the tides.
And turn the tides they did. Pereyra’s 72nd-minute corner was flawless, following a perfect curve into the box for Markanich to head it into the bottom right for his ninth goal of the season — matching his MLS total from the 2025 season as well.
The Loons were back on the board, and they were ready to capitalize on the energy. Just three minutes later, González got his goal and kept it, putting the Loons up by one. Triantis picked up a loose ball and made a run into the box. Under pressure by a trio of SKC defenders, Nectarios sent a pass left to González, who came out on top of his one-on-one duel with James to find the back of the net. The lead came just in time, as Real Salt Lake was up by one in Austin. With RSL’s victory, a draw would have been fatal for the Loons’ postseason prospects.
A Kansas City corner with 10 minutes left on the clock ended in a beautiful Callender save, and the Loons made a run for it, nearly logging a third goal when Markanich popped it over a handful of defenders to Yeboah at the far post. Unfortunately, Yeboah wasn’t able to settle the ball quickly enough, and it ricocheted off the post and gave Cleveland enough time to snatch it out of the air.
A late pair of Pereyra corners created chances but no results, and the momentum returned to Kansas City’s side of the pitch as they made a handful of last pushes to catch up and play spoiler for Minnesota.
The Loons wouldn’t stand for that — they brought it back to their attacking third for one last hurrah, pushing forward and sticking with the ball at all costs. Their determination on the repress paid off when Chancalay’s clever slide stole the ball out from under Karić for a pass to the center of the box, where Yeboah capitalized perfectly on a gap between a pair of defenders, evading Cleveland and finding the bottom left corner to put this game to bed.
The beautiful goal punctuating the Loons’ hard-fought comeback also cemented Yeboah as the club’s leading all-time goal-scorer across all competitions with a tally of 40, as well as extended his single-season club record to 18. With a solid three points, the Loons avoided elimination from playoff contention, and Allianz Field got to hear Wonderwall once again. That’s a pretty dynamite way to keep yourselves in the game.
