A penalty decided it, but Kansas City earned the better chances
San Diego0 – 1Sporting Kansas City 
Sporting Kansas City beat San Diego 1-0 on the back of a 76th-minute penalty, despite having much less of the ball and creating the better chances.
André Luiz scored the only goal of the night from the penalty spot in the 76th minute, and that is the first thing to know about this match. Sporting Kansas City beat San Diego 1-0 at Snapdragon Stadium, and one kick made the difference. Having less of the ball is not usually how a side wins, yet Kansas City had 34% possession against the 47.3% they average away from home this season. San Diego had 66%, well above the 57.3% they average at home.
Possession only shows who had the ball, so the chances tell more of the story. Both sides had 15 shots, but expected goals, a rough measure of how likely each effort was to go in, put Kansas City on 1.83. That is well above their usual 0.97 and the league average of 1.44 per side. San Diego reached 0.81, against 1.97 in their usual home games, and they had only eight shots from inside the box to Kansas City's twelve.
Ball possession
The two goalkeepers were kept busy, and that shows in the saves. Sisniega made five for San Diego and was rated 7.7, the highest mark of the match. Cleveland made four at the other end, and Kansas City put six of their shots on target against four from the home side. André Luiz had seven shots himself, three of them on target, and he was the one who finished the chance that counted.
Form and the table put the result in context. San Diego sit 13th with 38 points from 33 matches, and Kansas City are 15th with 23 from the same number of games. Kansas City have lost four of their six most recent matches, and they came to San Diego with that record behind them. San Diego usually score 1.6 at home and scored none here, while the league averages 3.2 goals a match and this game had one.
There were no red cards, and the discipline was close: San Diego received three yellow cards, Kansas City two, and both sides made several changes in the second half. San Diego's came in a cluster between the 58th and 69th minutes, and the scoreline did not move. Kansas City brought on a substitute as early as the 12th minute, and they saw out the game with the goal they needed.
The recent form makes the picture clear enough. San Diego's last six matches bring one win, two defeats and three draws, while Kansas City's bring four defeats and two draws, with no wins among them.
P. Sisniega5 saves
S. Cleveland4 saves
Jansen Miller6 duels won
O. Wolff2 chances created