Dejan Joveljic recorded a brace to lead Sporting Kansas City to a 3-1 victory over the host Houston Dynamo on Saturday night.
It was the second two-goal match of the season for Joveljic, who has nine goals in his first season with Sporting Kansas City after being acquired from the Los Angeles Galaxy in the offseason.
Santiago Munoz added a goal and John Pulskamp made eight saves for Sporting KC (4-8-4, 16 points), who halted a four-match winless stretch (0-1-3).
Sebastian Kowalczyk scored for the Dynamo (5-7-5, 20 points), who saw their four-match MLS unbeaten streak (3-0-1) come to an end.
Jonathan Bond had three saves for the Dynamo.
Houston had a 22-12 edge in shots, placing nine on target to Sporting KC’s six.
Sporting Kansas City trailed early before knotting the match in the third minute of first-half stoppage time.
A ball kicked into the box ended up near Joveljic and he kicked a left-footed roller into the left corner of the net.
Joveljic was at it again when Sporting KC had a corner kick in the 52nd minute.
Zorhan Bassong took the corner kick and sent the ball into the box. Jansen Miller leaped and headed the ball, which caromed off the crossbar. Joveljic was in position for the rebound and sent a right-footed follow into the net for a 2-1 lead.
In the 64th minute, Houston’s Jack McGlynn let fly with a left-footed blast that Pulskamp stopped.
Munoz put the match away when he got a pass from Daniel Salloi and sent a shot into the net in the 88th minute.
Houston struck in the 13th minute as Ondrej Lingr put on a dribbling clinic. He appeared to be hemmed in at the left corner and somehow maneuvered his way out of trouble and sent a short pass to Kowalczyk.
Kowalczyk was stationed at the edge of the box on the left side and turned and drilled a bullet shot into the upper right corner to give the Dynamo a 1-0 edge.
Joveljic had a good opportunity in the second minute of the second half, but his right-footer was stopped by Bond. Joveljic and Bond are former teammates with the Galaxy.
–Field Level Media
