SKC explode for five goals in beating host Earthquakes

Daniel Salloi scored a brace Saturday night and Sporting Kansas City notched its first road win since July 2024 with a 5-3 decision over the San Jose Earthquakes.

Logan Ndenbe, Manu Garcia and Eric Thommy also scored for Sporting KC (2-6-1, 7 points), which improved to 2-1-0 under interim coach Kerry Zavagnin and set a season high for most goals in a match. They were outshot 22-8 but scored on every shot they put on frame.

That included Salloi's second marker in the 73rd minute, which saw him run into the box from the left side as Thommy slipped a pretty pass into the middle. Salloi ran onto it and flicked it just inside the right post and past Earl Edwards Jr.

Thommy, who substituted into the match in the 68th minute, added a goal in the 85th minute to clinch the team's first road victory since it edged San Jose 2-1 last July 13. Sporting KC also avenged a 2-1 home defeat against the Earthquakes last month.

Cristian Arango scored twice for San Jose (3-5-1, 10 points) and Josef Martinez also tallied, but the Earthquakes fell to 1-5-1 in their last seven matches. They have allowed an average of three goals per match in that span and were particularly leaky in a six-minute stretch of the first half, as Sporting KC took control.

Ndenbe initiated the scoring in the 18th minute, wiring a left-footed shot from an acute angle off Edwards' left hand and the right post for his first MLS goal. Two minutes later, Salloi made it 2-0 when he ran under a long ball from goalie John Pulskamp and flicked a shot inside the left post.

Garcia clinically converted in the box via Shapi Suleymanov in the 24th minute for a three-goal cushion before San Jose responded. Martinez scored in the 30th minute from a slick pass from Antonio Josenildo Rodrigues de Oliveira, and Arango made it 3-2 at halftime with a header in the 42nd minute.

Arango also scored from the spot in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time.

--Field Level Media