Sporting Kansas City continued the club's preseason campaign with a scoreless draw against New York City FC on Wednesdady at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., in the club's first match at the 2025 Coachella Valley Invitational.
Goalkeepers John Pulskamp and Ryan Schewe combined to keep the clean sheet in net as Sporting Kansas City held NYCFC without a shot on goal for the first 73 minutes of the match.
The opening 30 minutes were highlighted by the preseason debut of Designated Player Dejan Joveljic, who joined SKC from the LA Galaxy last weekend in the first cash-for-player trade in MLS history.
Daniel Salloi drove down the right flank in the 10th minute and linked up with Joveljic, whose shot from a tight angle was saved by NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese. The Serbian striker would threaten again in the 26th minute if not for a timely intervention by NYCFC defender Birk Risa.
Mason Toye would replace Joveljic in the 31st minute and nearly had an immediate impact off the bench. Erik Thommy sprung Toye on the counter in the 37th minute and the SKC newcomer carried the ball forward before unleashing a shot just wide of the near post.
Toye, the lone holdover as Sporting KC inserted 10 new players into the match at the hour-mark, would come close again in the 65th minute however his first-time effort rolled narrowly off target.
Sporting Kansas City had a chance to break the deadlock late as Alenis Vargas won a penalty when he was brought down by the NYCFC goalkeeper Tomas Romero, however Toye's ensuing attempt was fired wide.
Sporting will continue the club's participation in the Coachella Valley Invitational with an exhibition match against Minnesota United FC at 1:30 p.m. CT on Sunday. The preseason match-up will be available for fans to watch via a live stream on SportingKC.com/live in addition to an over-the-air broadcast on KCTV 5.2 in the Kansas City region.
Sporting Kansas City vs. New York City FC
Feb. 5, 2025 – Empire Polo Club (Indio, Calif.)
Sporting Kansas City 0, New York City FC 0
Sporting Kansas City Lineup
John Pulskamp (Ryan Schewe 61'); Jake Davis (Jan Jurcec 61'), Jansen Miller (Khiry Shelton 61'), Robert Voloder (Ian James 61'), Tim Leibold (Leo Christiano 61'); Nemanja Radoja (Jacob Bartlett 61'), Memo Rodriguez (Johann Ortiz 61'), Zorhan Bassong (Cielo Tschantret 61'); Daniel Salloi (Alenis Vargas 61'), Dejan Joveljic (Mason Toye 31'), Erik Thommy (Stephen Afrifa 61')
