Sporting Fall in Final Disney Matchup

Sporting KC ended the Disney Pro Soccer Classic in disappointing fashion tonight. With a win guaranteeing them a spot in the consolation game Sporting KC on paper looked like they'd be able to take care of business against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Kansas City put out a starting lineup that featured 7-8 players that are likely to feature in the starting 11 in 10 days when KC takes the field against DC United. Meanwhile Vancouver put out a lineup that would likely be considered a reserve lineup except for one or two players.

Instead though KC had a fairly uninspiring performance, and struggled to really break down Vancouver's defense. Vancouver ended up grabbing the lead early in the second half, as Sebastien Le Toux knocked home a cross into the box, past Jon Kempin. Shortly after, Russell Teibert collected a ball near the top of KC's box and fired a shot that made it past Kempin and doubled the lead at 2-0. Finally, in the 67th minute, Vancouver made it 3-0 as Carlyle Mitchell knocked home a cross to make it 3-0. KC had some attempts to score, but couldn't find the net and didn't force Brad Knighton to make a really great save.

Yes it's only the preseason, and you don't want to take the results too seriously, but the performances down in Orlando have left plenty to be desired when it comes to the way the team has played. With the start of the season only being 10 days away you would hope that the team's performance was better than has been seen in the 3 game tournament.

On the other hand, the players knew it was preseason, and while many of the players that were on the field for Vancouver were fighting for their roster spots, while the guys that KC put out all are more likely set in where their position is currently and are more looking towards the start of the season.

The team has one more game in Orlando, tomorrow morning against the US U17 team before returning to KC and really begin to prepare for DC United and the season opener.