Scoring Summary:
MTL – Mike Fucito (Andrew Wenger) 37
SKC – Soony Saad (Michael Thomas) 70
Disciplinary Summary:
SKC – Cyprian Hedrick (Professional foul) 42
MTL – Calum Mallace (Reckless tackle) 56
Sporting Kansas City – Jon Kempin: Michael Harrington (Kevin Ellis 64), Cyprian Hedrick, Sacir Hot (Lawrence Olum 45), Korede Aiyegbusi (Shawn Singh 74); Michael Thomas, Konrad Warzycha, Paulo Nagamura (Mozzi Gyorio 62); Jacob Peterson, Soony Saad, Dom Dwyer (Kyle Miller 80)
Montreal Impact– Greg Sutton (Evan Bush 45); Callum Mallace, Hassoun Camara (Jeb Brovsky 78), Shavar Thomas, Karl Ouimette; Sinisa Ubiparipovic (Gerson Mayen 60), Collen Warner, Bryan Arguez, Andrew Wenger (Andrew Schoenfeld 80); Mike Fucito (Steven Miller 54), Luis Acosta (Justin Braun 71)
Sporting Kansas City drew 1-1 with expansion side Montreal Impact Sunday in the club’s second match of the Disney Pro Soccer Classic at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando.
Impact forward Mike Fucito opened the scoring in the first half, but Soony Saad was able to produce an equalizer for Sporting Kansas to earn a draw with 20 minutes to play. Each side fielded much different lineups from their opening matches of the tournament due to only having one day of rest between contests.
Saad nearly put Sporting KC in front in the 27th minute, as the forward ran in behind the Montreal backline before being pulled down in the area by Hassoun Camara. Saad stepped up to take the ensuing penalty kick, but struck his effort against the post despite sending Impact goalkeeper Greg Sutton the wrong way.
In the 36th minute, Impact midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic—a guest trialist with Sporting KC for part of the 2011 preseason—curled a right-footed free kick over the Sporting Kansas City wall but just wide of target. A minute later, however, Montreal went in front courtesy of new acquisition Mike Fucito. Andrew Wenger, the first overall pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft, latched onto a long ball before sliding a pass across the penalty area for Fucito, who finished easily past Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jon Kempin.
Two minutes later, the Impact nearly added another when forward Luis Acosta intercepted a clearance before hitting a shot from distance that nearly dipped under the crossbar.
After halftime, Sporting Kansas City began to take hold of the match, creating a series of chances through rookie forward Dom Dwyer. In the 53rd minute, Dwyer had a free kick strike the post that was followed by midfielder Konrad Warzycha, who had his attempt saved by substitute goalkeeper Evan Bush. The loose ball was eventually played back into the box by Jacob Peterson, who picked out Dwyer with a cross, but the forward’s header skimmed just wide of the far post.
Nine minutes later, Wenger had a chance to complement his earlier assist with a goal of his own, but his breakaway attempt was saved smartly by Kempin at the near post. Then, on 70 minutes, Saad made amends for his earlier penalty miss, skillfully turning past Camara after receiving a pass from midfielder Michael Thomas before sliding the ball through the legs of Bush to earn a draw for Sporting Kansas City.
Sporting Kansas City will now face Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Wednesday at 5 p.m. CT in their third and final match of Pool 1 play at the Disney Pro Soccer Classic. Two wins already for Vancouver means that Sporting can not advance to Saturday’s championship, but a win over the Whitecaps could see them advance to the consolation match against the second-placed side from Pool 2.
Fans can follow the team at the tournament as every group stage match will be streamed live on MLSSoccer.com and ESPN3.com broadcasting the consolation and championship matches.
