Sporting Kansas City will match up against North American Soccer League expansion club Indy Eleven on Friday in the club's third and final pre-season match in Tucson, Ariz. The match, beginning at 3 p.m. CT, will not be streamed live but updates will be available at SportingKC.com and on Twitter: @SKCGameday.
Indy Eleven was established a year ago and will play their first season as a member of the NASL in 2014. Indy Eleven is in Tucson, Arizona for pre-season and will play three matches against Major League Soccer opponents. The first of these was on Wednesday when the NASL side fell 3-2 to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Indy conceded the first goal in the match, but wasted little time before tying the score at 1-1 three minutes later. Don Smart gave the NASL club the advantage in the 71st minute but a late second half brace by Vancouver's Omar Salgado would hand the Whitecaps a 3-2 victory.
Sporting KC are coming off 1-0 win vs FC Tucson and 1-1 draw against the Portland Timbers in their first two pre-season matches. Following Friday's match, Sporting KC will head back to Kansas City for a week of training before flying to Orlando for the Disney Pro Soccer Classic.
Against FC Tucson, C.J. Sapong scored the lone goal of the match assisted by Designated Player, Claudio Bieler. Four days later, Sporting KC earned a 1-1 draw against the Portland Timbers despite playing a man down for the majority of the match. Sal Zizzo gave Sporting KC the 1-0 lead as he headed Bieler's free kick past Donovan Ricketts. Aurelien Collin was ejected shorly after the goal for his second yellow card. Sporting KC was able to maintain the goal advantage until Maryland product and No. 17 pick in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft, Schillo Tshuma chipped Andy Gruenebaum in the 84 minute forcing a 1-1 draw at the conclusion of the match.
After facing Indy Eleven, Sporting KC will return to Kansas City and train until the club departs for Orlando on Friday. Indy Eleven will remain in Arizona and face the Portland Timbers on Feb. 12.
