Eduard Löwen's Late Penalty Lifts St. Louis CITY Past Sporting KC 3-2 in Wild Rivalry Clash

Sporting Kansas City had clawed all the way back from 2-0 down, and then the ball hit Ethan Bartlow's arm. Bartlow had been on the field for six minutes, sent on in the 75th minute after Or Blorian went down injured. In the 81st minute, Simon Becher's shot struck him in the box, a VAR review handed St. Louis a penalty, and Eduard Löwen buried the spot kick in the 85th minute.

That penalty gave St. Louis CITY SC a 3-2 win over Sporting Kansas City on Thursday night at Energizer Park, in front of 22,423 fans. Jeong Sang-Bin and Marcel Hartel put the hosts 2-0 up inside 36 minutes, Capita and Dejan Joveljic dragged Sporting level, and Löwen had the final word. MLS was back from the World Cup break, and this rivalry did not ease anyone back in gently.

Two Quick Punches

St. Louis came out pressing and shooting. Becher, Jeong and Daniel Edelman all had early efforts, and between the 21st and 23rd minutes Hartel had three looks of his own, including a low shot Stefan Cleveland saved and a miss from the right side of the six-yard box off a Löwen delivery.

In the 28th minute Jeong struck first, volleying in from point-blank range. Sporting coach Raphael Wicky was not happy with how the opener came about, arguing afterward that "when a striker bombs into a goalkeeper, the goalkeepers are protected. It wasn't so tonight."

Calvin Harris nearly answered with a header in the 33rd minute, but St. Louis struck again on the break. Becher dragged one wide on a 35th-minute counter, and a minute later he flipped roles and laid it on for Hartel, who finished from the middle of the box. It was 2-0, and it looked like a rout was coming.

Capita's Rocket and the Comeback

Then Capita happened. In the 42nd minute, after a Joveljic shot was blocked, the winger let fly from outside the box and found the top left corner. MLSsoccer.com called it a stunning strike, and that is underselling it a bit. Five minutes of first-half stoppage time passed without further damage, and Sporting went in down only 2-1.

Wicky made two halftime changes, sending on Jake Davis for Ian James and Emir Karic for Jayden Reid. He called it a tactical choice to tuck his fullbacks in and push Capita and Harris wider, and it worked. Sporting pressed through the 50s, with Harris and Joveljic having headers blocked and Davis and Capita shooting off target after corners. St. Louis kept threatening too, with Löwen just over the bar in the 65th minute and Lukas MacNaughton forcing a save from Cleveland in the 70th.

The visitors then lost Blorian and Zorhan Bassong to injuries within a minute of each other, and somehow it did not matter. In the 76th minute Manu García found Joveljic in the middle of the box, and the striker slotted a left-footed finish into the bottom left corner. Level at 2-2.

The Handball

Five minutes later, Edelman crossed for Becher, and his shot was blocked in the box. The officials ruled it a handball on Bartlow after a VAR review, and referee Allen Chapman explained the call to a pool reporter: "The ball hit the arm of Sporting Kansas City #23 Ethan Bartlow when the arm was in an unnatural position." Wicky saw it differently, saying his player insisted the ball touched his chest. Löwen sent his penalty into the bottom right corner.

Sporting still had chances. Davis just missed in the 89th minute, and two minutes into eight minutes of stoppage time Joveljic's shot from the middle of the box was saved by Ben Lundt. St. Louis held on.

The Difference Makers

Eduard Löwen fired five shots, scored the winner from the spot and kept probing all night. "We're already focused on LA, and we want to get as close as possible, as soon as possible, to the playoff spot and not be chasing that spot at the end of the season," he said.

Simon Becher did a bit of everything: five shots, the assist on Hartel's goal and the shot that produced the penalty. "The derbies are always physical. There's always a little bit of an extra edge, a lot of intensity," he said.

Marcel Hartel took four shots, put two on target and scored once. He liked what the late push said about the group. "We didn't fall apart and say, 'Let's try to keep the tie.' We went for the win, and I'm very happy that we got the third goal," he said.

For Sporting, Dejan Joveljic took a team-high five shots and scored the equalizer, while Capita produced the goal of the night. Manu García set up Joveljic and was still fuming afterward. "I think we didn't deserve to lose," he said.

The Turning Point

The 81st-minute handball, obviously. Sporting had erased a two-goal deficit with two players forced off injured and all the momentum on their side. One deflection and one VAR review later, the point was gone. "It hurts right now, because you fight so hard in a difficult place against a team who plays good football and you come back and then I feel like we weren't treated correctly," Wicky said.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: St. Louis 20, Sporting 12.
• Shots on target: St. Louis 5, Sporting 3.
• Possession: St. Louis held 53.3 percent.
• Saves: Cleveland made two, Lundt one.
• Fouls: St. Louis committed 15 to Sporting's 11, and three players were booked.

What It Means

St. Louis improved to 5-4-6 with 19 points. According to MLSsoccer.com, it was their fourth win during a five-match unbeaten run, and it left them a point below the playoff line in the Western Conference. The league also noted that the result evened the all-time series at four wins apiece with three draws since St. Louis entered MLS in 2023, and that the fixture has now produced 43 goals in 11 meetings. "It's a good way to restart because it gives us a boost of confidence by getting the result," head coach Yoann Damet said. Next up is a trip to the LA Galaxy.

Sporting dropped to 3-2-10 with 11 points. Wicky liked the fight but not the result, and his side gets a quick chance to respond against Minnesota United on Wednesday, July 22.

The Closing Take

Some rivalries are chess matches. This one is a five-goal, two-injury, one-VAR-review episode of reality TV, complete with a coach and a midfielder questioning the officiating afterward. Nobody in Kansas City will be watching the replay, and nobody in St. Louis will stop.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and additional match details as reported by MLSsoccer.com and Sporting Kansas City.