LAFC has rough loss at home

LAFC greeted the midway point of its season Wednesday by suffering a historic defeat at home.

Three goals by Sporting Kansas City in the opening 45 minutes and one more in the second half yielded the club’s worst loss at Banc of California Stadium, 4-1.

Missing injured center backs Eddie Segura and Jesus Murillo, who had anchored the LAFC backline for 7,836 of a possible 8,370 minutes since Oct. 10, 2020, the Black & Gold defenders failed to slow the best offensive

SPORTING K.C. 4, LAFC 1

Up next: team in the Western Conference.

Visiting L.A. after its first defeat in six matches, SKC (104-3, 33 points) took control 20 minutes into the match after goalkeeper Tomas Romero made a poor challenge near the top of the box and steamrolled forward Khiry Shelton. The ball spilled neatly into space, leaving Mexican forward Alan Pulido alone to pass the ball into the net for his seventh goal of the year.

Eight minutes later, as the backline scrambled to find its shape, SKC forward Dániel Sallói drove defender Marco Farfan towards the endline before cutting the ball back to his teammate Luis Martins, who tucked away his first score of the season.

Sallói added his 10th goal of the year in the 36th minute when he volleyed a linedrive pass by Graham Zusi inside the near post.

The visitors pushed for more after the half, adding another goal in the 58th minute after Zusi curled a pass into the box that caromed off the head of Sporting midfielder Gadi Kinda.

LAFC at San Jose, Sunday, 4 p.m. Ch. 13