Sporting KC, Galaxy fail to break through in scoreless draw

Despite hammering the Galaxy defense with 30 shots, including 11 on LA goalkeeper Jonathan Bond, host Sporting KC failed to find the back of the net, extending their goalless drought to start the 2023 season in a 0-0 draw Saturday night.

The hosts failed to capitalize on their six-game home winning streak to end the 2022 season.

The Galaxy (0-1-1, one point) looked like they were going to have a quality shot at the win in extra time after a Kansas City turnover deep in its own half gave the visitors a three-on-two advantage, but some desperate defending led to a corner that amounted to nothing.

Sporting KC (0-1-2, two points) had a chance in the final minute of second-half extra time, but they earned a corner that was easily cleared at the whistle.

Despite neither team finding the back of the net in the 90-plus minutes, there was plenty of back-and-forth action, especially in the second half.

The Galaxy got into the action early following intermission, turning around what felt like a one-way street. However, they could not solve KC keeper John Pulskamp, who only faced two shots on goal in the entire 90 minutes and saved both.

Sporting KC heavily relied on crosses throughout the game, putting 26 of them into the Galaxy's box. Despite players getting into good positions, a number of those shots in the game came off less-than-convincing headers. In truth, Bond was only tested on a handful of KC's shots, saving all 11 of those on target, whether easy grabs or hard shots that needed to be tipped wide or over the net.

The first half was about as one-sided a half can be without one team out-and-out dominating possession and no goals being scored. KC outshot the Galaxy 17-1 in the first half and led 8-1 in shots on goal while both teams were almost equal in terms of possession.

--Field Level Media