Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake played to a 2-2 draw on Tuesday night at the Reach11 Sports Complex in Phoenix, AZ. Kansas City fell behind 2-0 on goals from Real Salt Lake's Alvaro Saborio and Fabian Espinodola, but battled back to extend their pre-season unbeaten streak to five matches.
For the second straight game, striker Kei Kamara converted a penalty kick for Kansas City, after defender Roger Espinoza was taken down in the box by Real Salt Lake defender Jamison Olave. Sporting Kansas City Designated Player Omar Bravo then tied the game at 2-2 with his first goal in a competitive match since joining KC from Chivas Guadalajara.
Kansas City will play their final pre-season match tomorrow at 12 p.m. CT (noon) in a rematch with Real Salt Lake, who have already played two high-level matches in the CONCACAF Champions League this pre-season.
Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes said both games should help his team take another step forward as it prepares itself for an opening-night road trip to the West Coast on March 19th against Chivas USA.
“[RSL] have a leg up on us,” Vermes said. “Their level and speed of play is probably going to be a little bit quicker. It’s going to be a really good opponent and quality match to play going into our first game against Chivas.”
KC Lineup: Jimmy Nielsen; Roger Espinoza, Matt Besler, Julio Cesar (Shavar Thomas 75), Luke Sassano (Kevin Ellis 46); Stephane Auvray, Davy Arnaud, Milos Stojcev; Omar Bravo, Birahim Diop (C.J. Sapong 65), Kei Kamara.
RSL Lineup: Nick Rimando; Robbie Russell, Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert; Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson, Andy Williams (Nelson Gonalez 75), Javier Morales; Alvaro Saborio (Arturo Alvarez 60), Arturo Alvarez (Fabian Espindola 30)
Goal Summary:
RSL: Alvaro Saborio 25
RSL: Fabian Espindola (Kyle Beckerman) 48
KC: Kei Kamara (penalty kick)
KC: Omar Bravo
Bunbury making progress toward return
[inlinenode:329618]Teal Bunbury, who dislocated his right elbow on Feb. 15 against the Dynamo, is slowly working his way back into training.
The 21-year-old is still rehabbing and building strength in his elbow but Vermes said the young striker, who had a banner summer with the Generation adidas team in Spain and the US national team, should begin assimilating back into the squad this week.
Bunbury expressed hope that he would be able to return by First Kick, but, with plenty of options to fill in for the forward, it's likely Sporting will exercise caution.
“Teal is progressing very well,” Vermes said. “He’s been playing with the ball and working out with the ball quite a bit. Hopefully this week we will start to see if he can enter into some training that isn’t so much contact.”
Ubiparipovic on trial at KC
[inlinenode:305501]In the wake of Jack Jewsbury’s trade to Portland, Sporting are taking a look at former Red Bulls midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic.
Ubiparipovic was available in the inaugural Re-Entry Draft and his MLS experience interested Kansas City, but Vermes said the team learned he was going to pursue options overseas and ruled against selecting him.
“He was leaving the league, so there was no sense in even trying to pick him up,” Vermes said. “Things didn’t work out, and we found out that he was interested in possibly moving to a different team. He called us up and we brought him in. He’s just training with us at the moment. We’re just assessing if he fits in to what we are looking for, but we’ll make that decision at the end of camp.”
Vermes said it was very likely that Kansas City would make additional moves leading up to the close of the transfer window on April 15 as they attempt to agree to terms with various players. The club is currently compliant with league roster guidelines.
