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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The season still is young for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ City SC, but these results are starting to get pretty old.

City SC lost its third game in a row Saturday night, falling 2-0 to cross-state-plus rival Sporting Kansas City, a team that was winless in its past 11 games over two seasons. If that wasn’t bad enough, it was the third straight game in which City SC failed to score. It’s been 346 minutes since City SC last scored, and the most recent goal was on a free kick by Eduard Lowen. The last goal scored in the run of play was 366 minutes ago. Almost a month has passed since then.

Most damning of all, the team has been shut out in five of its first seven games and has scored just for times. Preseason optimism is taking a beating.

“Yeah, it’s tough,� said center back Josh Yaro. “We can talk about things and hide behind curtains and say things and the reality is this is a really tough time. It’s tough in many ways, but I think this team is pretty resilient, and we do have enough quality. We do have the right people to turn this around.

“It’s just a matter of us believing in it, us taking to the vision of the club and the coaches and just keep grinding, because at the end of the day, we got to outwork our opponents. We got to keep believing. Because once that belief goes away, then we have nothing. And I think this team is still pretty confident in what we can do, and that’s what we’re going to continue doing.

“We’re going to continue working. We’re going to take it game by game, and we’re going to turn around. You’ve seen it in MLS. You win one, two games all and all of a sudden it’s a different season you’re looking at. And so we’re hoping for that break. We’re working for that break, and I’m confident that that break is going to come soon.�

The team, already hit hard with injuries, took another hit Saturday when center back Joakim Nilsson limped off the field after going down in his own penalty area in the first half. Nilsson shared in the optimism this team had at the start of the season: This was the first time in his three seasons with the club he didn’t come into training camp coming off knee surgery. Then he hurt his knee in the final game of the preseason when he was on the receiving end of a hard tackle, which kept him out of the first three games of the season.

The severity of the injury was not known immediately after the game, but there’s a chance City SC could be down five starters when it plays host to Columbus next Sunday, if Roman Burki, Lowen, Chris Durkin and Jannes Horn, who all missed Saturday’s game, don’t return.

“My heart sunk a little bit when I saw him down,� Yaro said, “and I was hoping it was nothing serious. And I still hope it’s nothing serious; he looks fine, he’s walking. So hopefully it was just out of precaution I would say, but we’ll find out.�

As far as City SC’s offense goes — which based on goals isn’t very far — it’s making progress, with the breakdowns happening closer and closer to the goal. It has gone from struggling to keep possession or posing much of an offensive threat against Philadelphia to getting the ball upfield against Austin but not getting many chances out of that to getting chances and missing shots. Coach Olof Mellberg went with most of the players who showed well at the end of the Austin game, notably Klauss and Celio Pompeu. The results were good, with the exception of actually scoring.

“Today’s game was different than last week’s game,� Mellberg said. “It’s probably the game we’ve created the most. In a couple of games this season, we haven’t created enough, especially away from home, against Philadelphia, San Diego. Today we created a lot. So that’s obviously something we look at first, how do we create more chances than the opponents, and then obviously scoring from there and prevent them from scoring.

“Scoring goals is one of the most difficult moments in soccer. That’s something we’re working hard at improving and hopefully it will come. … Obviously, really disappointed not to win this game.�

“As players, we have to look in the mirror,� Yaro said, “and go, maybe tonight was a night that we could have done a lot better.�

City SC almost scored in the 16th minute, when a pass from Klauss — back in the starting lineup for the first time in a month — sprung Conrad Wallem, who came in alone on goalkeeper John Pulskamp and angled his shot past Pulskamp but a bit too far and it caught the far post and bounced out rather than in. An inch or two to the right and City SC has the lead. Instead of it being a harbinger of offense to come, it only was the precursor to frustration. Wallem might have led the team in that, with three promising shots, none of which obviously went in and a collection of dangerous runs. He also made a cross in the 68th minute that appeared to be right at the feet of Akil Watts directly in front of the goal, but hit his leg and bounced away.

Still, City SC was on target for another 0-0 tie until Sporting Kansas City, playing its first game under interim coach Kerry Zavagnin after mutually parting ways with Peter Vermes after 16 seasons on Monday, scored in the 72nd minute after Dejan Joveljic made a late run in the box that sprung him for a shot that was out of the reach of goalkeeper Ben Lundt and which was inside the post. Joveljic scored again in the 88th minute, putting in the rebound of a shot that Lundt had tipped off the cross bar. Up until then, Lundt hadn’t had much to do.

“The feeling was good until they scored,� Mellberg said. “We had a lot of chances and they didn’t so we have to have a good look at why we didn’t score on all those chances. We defended well up until then, and the last 15, 20 minutes was not good. They got energy from the goal, and we dropped a little bit.�

There was an altercation after the final whistle that started when Jansen Miller, SKC’s ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ (Parkway West High) product, went over to the City SC supporters’ section and made a shush gesture, and was joined by teammate Jake Davis. City SC players descended on the two, though it was resolved quickly.

“These games, it’s always going to be played based on high emotions,� Yaro said. “I think one of their players was going to our fans and for me that’s really disrespectful. You win the game, it’s over, it’s done and dusted. Move on. There’s no need. You’re playing at home. Go say thank you to your fans and walk away. There’s no need for that and I think some of our players ... if I were that close, I would have reacted the same way they did. Don’t disrespect our fans like that.�