CASA GRANDE, Ariz. – FC Cincinnati fell to Sporting Kansas City, 4-0, this afternoon at Grande Sports World.
Sporting Kansas City opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Jaylin Lindsey lofted a ball into the box for Daniel Salloi, whose right-footed shot from inside the box beat goalkeeper Przemysław Tytoń. Roger Espinoza doubled SKC’s lead just prior to halftime by forcing a turnover in FCC’s defensive third and curling a shot beyond Tytoń.
Following halftime, the two sides made wholesale changes. Sporting Kansas City’s Wilson Harris added a third goal in the 65th minute, while Johnny Russell tallied the fourth and final goal of the match in the 82nd minute.
The Orange and Blue will conclude their Arizona-based first leg of MLS preseason when they return to Kino North Stadium to play El Paso Locomotive FC at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 5.
FC Cincinnati will return to the field for their second MLS season on Sunday, March 1, when the team opens the season on the road against the New York Red Bulls. After a road game at Atlanta United FC on Saturday, March 7, FCC will open their 2020 home slate on Saturday, March 14, when the team hosts D.C. United at Nippert Stadium in a 5:30 p.m. game.
Season Ticket Memberships are still available for purchase and start at $230 per ticket. A 2020 Season Ticket Membership also secures fans’ place on the club’s priority list, which will be utilized when sales begin in the new West End Stadium for the 2021 season. Information about all 2020 ticket options – season tickets, multiple-game options, group tickets and individual-game tickets – is available at fccincinnati.com/tickets or by calling 513-977-5425 (KICK).
For up-to-the-minute information about FC Cincinnati, visit the team’s official website at fccincinnati.com, or follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FCCincinnati.
MLS Preseason
Sporting Kansas City 4, FC Cincinnati 0
Grande Sports World | Casa Grande, Ariz.
Saturday, February 1, 2020
SCORING SUMMARY
SKC – Daniel Salloi (Jaylin Lindsey) 11’
SKC – Roger Espinoza (unassisted) 44’
SKC – Wilson Harris (unassisted) 65’
SKC – Johnny Russell (Wilson Harris) 82’
FC Cincinnati (First Half): Przemysław Tytoń, Mathieu Deplagne (Saad Abdul-Salaam 16’), Maikel van der Werff, Nick Hagglund ©, Greg Garza, Haris Medunjanin, Allan Cruz, Fatai Alashe, Yuya Kubo, Brandon Vazquez, Joris Ahlinvi (Rey Ortiz 25’)
FC Cincinnati (Second Half): Spencer Richey, Zico Bailey, Saad Abdul-Salaam, Kendall Waston ©, Andrew Gutman, Tommy McCabe, Frankie Amaya, Caleb Stanko, Joseph-Claude Gyau, Rashawn Dally, Jimmy McLaughlin
Bench: Bobby Edwards, Darren Mattocks
Sporting Kansas City (First Half): Richard Sanchez, Jaylin Lindsey, Roberto Puncec, Matt Besler, Luis Martins, Illie Sanchez, Gadi Kinda, Roger Espinoza, Khiry Shelton, Erik Hurtado, Daniel Salloi
Sporting Kansas City (Second Half): John Pulskamp, Cameron Duke, Graham Smith, Botond Barath, Amadou Dia, Camden Riley, Gianluca Busio, Tyler Freeman, Johnny Russell, Wilson Harris, Gerso Fernandes
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SKC – Daniel Salloi (caution) 27’
CIN – Joseph-Claude Gyau (caution) 55’
CIN – Caleb Stanko (caution) 62’
SKC – Gianluca Busio (caution) 80’
Weather: 60 degrees, sunny
GAME NOTES
- Today’s game was FC Cincinnati’s second preseason game of 2020
- Nick Hagglund wore the captain’s armband in the first half, then Kendall Waston took over as captain in the second half after lineups changed.
- Kekuta Manneh (shoulder/limited participation) and Tom Pettersson (groin/limited participation) were unavailable for today’s match
- Fatai Alashe made his preseason debut in today’s match … the midfielder was unavailable against Phoenix Rising FC
- Today’s match was FC Cincinnati’s second of three preseason matches in Arizona … the Orange and Blue will play their third and final match in Arizona against El Paso Locomotive FC (Feb. 5)
POSTGAME QUOTES
FC Cincinnati Head Coach Ron Jans
On today’s performance:
“A hard lesson. In preseason, you know you have sometimes setbacks. You have good times and bad times and this was a bad time. But, I think we can use this a lot to improve because especially we made so many mistakes in the building up and losing the ball in midfield and I think they scored maybe three times out of those situations. You have to learn you don’t play from A to B, but maybe A to C. The biggest thing is this is a preseason result, but I also think after we conceded goals we were a little bit depressed and that’s the way we played. So, also mentally, we can do much better than this, but we will continue and learn our lessons.“
On if there were positive takeaways from the match:
“It’s not easy with a 0-4 result, but I think the first 15 minutes from the second half, I think that moments I could see we did much better, but we didn’t score. And in the middle, we started very poor. We had to take Mathieu Deplagne off because of a minor back issue and we conceded a goal. But after that, we had some very good chances with a lot of set pieces, corner kicks and free kicks we could’ve scored. And then just before halftime, it was over again. In the middle of the first half and the start of the second half, those were the positive moments. But like with Phoenix, it was a positive game. This is a negative game.”
On the final takeaway from today’s match:
“It’s always good to have setbacks in the preseason and you can learn a lot. We will meet Kansas City again and maybe we can let them win in the preseason and we win in the MLS. It was a very deserved loss and we made a lot of mistakes in possession, and you saw the confidence in the team going down. There was fatigue and yeah, this is a lesson but a hard lesson.”
FC Cincinnati Defender Zico Bailey
On today’s match:
“I think we learned a lot playing against an MLS side rather than a USL side, but I think just being able to implement the tactics and maybe what went wrong, to just go back and look to see what we could do better. But, yeah, we could always do better.”
On his mindset after entering the match at the beginning of the second half:
“You just have to look at it as a new game, so 0-0. You just try to win the half that you’re playing.”
On positive takeaways from the match:
“I think just playing out from the back with confidence, and just reactions and shifting over as a whole unit. I think we did a little bit better than the last game, but it could still improve a little bit more.”
On being able to play against an MLS opponent:
“I think it’s really good to prepare against opponents that you’ll play later on in the future, and obviously they’re a good side, they’re at a high level. So, I think it was good.”
