Sporting Kansas City rolled past FC Cincinnati, 4-0, on Saturday afternoon via four different goal-scorers in a preseason match at the Grande Sports World complex in Casa Grande, Arizona. SKC scored twice on either side of halftime, handing FC Cincy their first preseason setback of 2020.
The scoring began in the 11th minute via Daniel Salloi, and then Roger Espinoza found net in the 44th minute to make it 2-0. The lead then expanded to three in the 65th minute via Wilson Harris, a Sporting Kansas City II forward, before Johnny Russell capped the offensive outburst in the 82nd minute.
Each side trotted out what resembled full-strength starting XIs to begin the match, then turned to reserves as the game wore on. In terms of marquee strikers signed this offseason, Yuya Kubo of FC Cincy started, while Alan Pulido of SKC didn’t feature.
This was the second 4-0 win for SKC this preseason, as they also defeated a team of Phoenix Rising FC trialists by that scoreline last weekend. As for FC Cincy, they blanked the same USL Championship side, 3-0, last Wednesday.
Both clubs finished near the bottom of the MLS table in 2019, with FC Cincy last place in the Eastern Conference and SKC second-from-last in the Western Conference.
Goals:
- 11’ – SKC – Daniel Salloi
- 44’ – SKC – Roger Espinoza
- 65’ – SKC – Wilson Harris
- 82’ – SKC – Johnny Russell
Lineups
Sporting Kansas City first half: Richard Sanchez; Jaylin Lindsey, Roberto Puncec, Matt Besler, Luis Martins; Ilie Sanchez, Roger Espinoza, Gadi Kinda; Khiry Shelton, Erik Hurtado, Daniel Salloi
Sporting Kansas City second half: John Pulskamp; Cameron Duke, Graham Smith, Botond Barath, Amadou Dia; Camden Riley, Gianluca Busio, Tyler Freeman; Johnny Russell, Wilson Harris, Gerso Fernandes
FC Cincinnati first half: Przemyslaw Tyton; Mathieu Deplagne, Maikel van der Werff, Nick Hagglund, Greg Garza; Haris Medunjanin, Allan Cruz, Fatai Alashe; Joris Ahlinvi, Yuya Kubo, Brandon Vazquez
FC Cincinnati second half: Spencer Richey; Zico Bailey, Saad Abdul-Salaam, Kendall Waston, Andrew Gutman; Tommy McCabe, Frankie Amaya, Caleb Stanko; Joseph-Claude Gyau, Rashawn Dally, Jimmy McLaughlin