Visiting Sporting Kansas City secured all three points in MLS Reserve League play this morning at XanGo Field via a 1-0 victory over their counterparts from Real Salt Lake. The squads played a similar match to their regular season affair the night before, full of hard tackles, dangerous set piece opportunities and a lone goal making the difference, but this time it was the visitors claiming the full points courtesy of midfielder Davy Arnaud’s late penalty kick conversion.
With its second straight win, Sporting KC's reserve squad moved to 3-2-2 and 11 points on the season and remain in the hunt for the Central/Mountain Division crown, while Real Salt Lake Reserves’ second defeat in a row kept the side on six points from eight contests (2-6-0).
The teams played a scoreless first half, with most of the opportunities coming from free kicks, including a 20th minute strike by Real Salt Lake midfielder Arturo Alvarez which missed just right and a shot by Sporting KC Designated Player Jeferson that forced RSL goalkeeper Tim Melia to make a save.
RSL’s best chance of the day came on an attempt from forward Jean Alexandre in the 73rd minute. Alexandre, who was forced to play three positions on the day – center back, forward and right back – through substitutions and a late injury to Tony Beltran, saw his break away on goal thwarted by an alert Eric Kronberg in the Sporting KC goal. Beltran suffered a left adductor strain around the 80th minute, forcing RSL to play the remainder of the match a man down.
Sporting Kansas City increased its pressure on Real Salt Lake’s goal during the second half, but did not manage to hit the back of the net until late in regulation, the scoring opportunity being set up when Melia tripped up Sporting KC forward Soony Saad after the rookie had beaten the RSL backline and broke in alone on goal. The resulting penalty was converted by Arnaud in the 88th minute, his confident strike into the upper left corner beating Melia for the game’s only goal.
Sporting will resume Reserve League play on Thursday, October 6th at FC Dallas.
2011 MLS RESERVE LEAGUE – CENTRAL/MOUNTAIN DIVISION
REAL SALT LAKE 0 : 1 SPORTING KANSAS CITY
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011
XANGO FIELD – LEHI, UTAH
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake (2-5-0, 6pts.) 0 0 0
Sporting Kansas City (3-2-2, 11 pts.) 0 1 1
Scoring Summary:
SKC – Davy Arnaud (penalty kick) 88
Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Peterson Joseph (caution; Reckless Tackle) 7’
Real Salt Lake Reserves
– Tim Melia; Blake Wagner, Rauwshan McKenzie, Jean Alexandre, Chris Wingert (Tony Beltran 45); Yordany Alvarez (Luis Gil 72), Arturo Alvarez, #Nico Muniz, Collen Warner; Cody Arnoux (Chris Agorsor 65), Paulo Jr. (Donny Toia 45)
Substitutes Not Used:
Kyle Reynish
Sporting Kansas City Reserves
– Eric Kronberg; Kevin Ellis, Lawrence Olum, Shavar Thomas, Korede Aiyebusi (Scott Lorenz 84); Davy Arnaud, Jeferson ( #Gary Boughton 65), Peterson Joseph; Milos Stojcev ( #John Sosa 76), C.J. Sapong ( #Davis Paul 46), Soony Saad
Substitutes Not Used:
Jon Kempin
= Denotes guest player
Referee: Tyler Ploeger
Weather: Sunny, 70 degrees
