Sporting Kansas City joins the pantheon of impossible MLS victories

Kansas City got its head-scratching win thanks to a 13th-minute own goal from Galaxy captain Maya Yoshida.

It was the latest in a serious of impossible humiliations for the defending champion Galaxy (0-8-3). The team is winless in its first 11 MLS matches in 2025 and looks utterly incapable of snapping that streak. Losing 10 in a row on merit? Terrible. Losing the 11th after not conceding a single shot, let alone a goal, from the opponent? Cursed.

Kansas City's 1-0 win made MLS history books: It's the first time in league history a team has won without having a shot. But it's far from the only hysterical result to happen in a league that's pretty hysterical to begin with. Here, in no particular order, are a few of the unrepeatable oddities that Kansas City joins in the MLS pantheon:

2016: Seattle Sounders vs Toronto FC

Seattle and Toronto lined up for the MLS Cup Final — that's right, the biggest game of the season — in 2016 with no idea how far off-piste they were about to travel.

The teams played out a 90-minute 0-0 draw, then an interminable scoreless 30 minutes of extra time before deciding the Cup on penalties. Toronto played hard and placed several threatening shots on Seattle's goal, but Seattle made it through the match without registering a shot on target. It went on to win the penalty shootout and clinch its first MLS Cup anyway. Toronto, rightfully, was furious.

2024: Houston Dynamo vs Los Angeles Galaxy

On Decision Day in 2024, the Galaxy was in a heated battle with local rival LAFC for the top spot in the Western Conference. The Galaxy needed to win or draw against Houston to clinch first; LAFC needed a Galaxy loss and a big win of its own against San Jose to snatch it away.

LAFC did its part and won, but the Galaxy struggled to reciprocate. It went down 1-0 to Houston in the first half and struggled to break through. It finally managed to in the sixth minute of injury time, when Brazilian winger Gabriel Pec sunk a penalty to level the game at 1-1. First place, it seemed, was the Galaxy's. 

Or was it?

Still reeling from its celebrations, the Galaxy allowed Houston one more attack down the flank. Fullback Griffin Dorsey launched a perfect cross into the box, and defender Daniel Steres — a former Galaxy player—headed the ball into the net. 2-1 Houston. The Galaxy clinched and lost first place in the Western Conference over two minutes of injury time.

MLS will return for Matchday 12 on Saturday (May 10). Will it feature another brain-breaking match like these? One can only hope.