Sporting Kansas City and the Colorado Rapids battled to a 0-0 tie Saturday in preseason action from Arizona. Sporting held the defending MLS Cup champions scoreless and were the aggressors for most of the contest, which consisted of two 45-minute sessions and an additional 30-minute session.
Kansas City manager Peter Vermes said the following after the contest:
"We played three segments today with three different mixtures of players. Every team competed well, and we moved some guys around into different positions. At this stage, we want to make sure we compete well and that we get a certain amount of time for each guy. We were also finalizing our evaluation of the different guys we have in camp on trial. We were able to do all three. It’s slowly growing and getting to where we need to be for the regular season."
"Defensively I thought we were better today. We didn’t really give up too much to Colorado. We were stronger in the midfield, and our attacking options are starting to get better timing. It was good in different ways."
First 60 minutes: Jimmy Nielsen (Eric Kronberg 46), Michael Harrington, Daneil Cyrus, Julio Cesar Santos Correa, Roger Espinoza, Michal Mravec, Milos Stojcev, Davy Arnaud, Kei Kamara, Teal Bunbury, Omar Bravo
Next 30 minutes: Eric Kronberg, Luke Sassano, Shavar Thomas, Matt Besler, Scott Lorenz, Gor Kirakosyan (Konrad Warzycha 80), Craig Rocastle, Stephane Auvray, Birahim Diop, Chance Myers, Adda Djeziri
Final 30 minutes: Jon Kempin, Kevin Ellis, Mike Jones, Calum Butcher, Omar Colley, Korede Aiyegbusi, Sheldon Bateau, Jack Jewsbury, Graham Zusi, C.J. Sapong, Travis Bowen
