The Swope Park Rangers (9-4-2, 3rd place) extended their unbeaten streak to seven games, including four straight victories, with a 4-0 thrashing of Rio Grande Valley FC (6-7-2, 9th place) at Swope Soccer Village on Saturday night. Sporting KC loanees Colton Storm and Cameron Iwasa both found the net, along with Lebo Moloto and Mark Anthony Gonzalez.
The Rangers dominated from the early moments and went closest to opening the scoring when Kevin Oliveira’s delivery from the right found the head of James Musa who crashed an effort off the crossbar, before Gonzalez fired the rebound narrowly over the bar in the 27th minute.
Ten minutes later, Moloto showed immense skill to skip his way through the Rio Grande Valley backline but prodded his final effort just wide of the target.
The South African wouldn’t be denied for long, however, as he gave the Rangers the lead just two minutes later. Wonderful build-up from SPR saw the ball worked down the left before Oliveira slid an inch-perfect through ball into the path of Moloto who rounded RGV goalkeeper Borja Angoitia and slotted into an empty net to make the score 1-0.
The Rangers doubled the lead with the final kick of the first half and again it was a well-worked goal supplemented with a composed finish. This time Moloto freed Gonzalez through on goal after SPR worked the ball back to front, and the 22-year-old knocked the ball beyond Angoitia before sliding his finish in off the post with the ball at a near-impossible angle on the endline for his team-leading fifth goal of the season.
The home side continued on the front foot in the second half as Musa found another opportunity from a corner kick, this time volleying an attempted bicycle kick a yard over the bar in the 48th minute.
Moments later, the Rangers added their third goal. More sumptuous play down the right saw Gonzalez slide a ball into the area for Moloto who back-heeled the ball into the path of Sporting KC loanee Colton Storm and he composed himself before firing into the back of the net for his first career goal.
The Toros posed their only real threat in the 74th minute when Emilio Garcia, who had just entered the play as a substitute, tested Adrian Zendejas from 25 yards, but the Sporting KC goalkeeper dived to his left to palm the ball away in what was RGV’s only shot on goal during the game.
The Rangers put the finishing touch on a truly dominant performance in the 84th minute as Kevin Oliveira dinked a ball through a host of RGV defenders for an onrushing Cameron Iwasa, and the Sporting KC loanee made no mistake to make the final score 4-0.
Next Match
- The Swope Park Rangers embark for a three-game road swing in the Pacific Northwest this week, taking on Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2, Portland Timbers 2 and Seattle Sounders FC 2 in the space of nine days. Kickoff for their first game against Vancouver on Wednesday, July 12 is set for 2 p.m. CT and the match will be streamed live on SportingKC.com and in-game updates will be available through the team’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels.
Swope Park Rangers vs. Rio Grande Valley FC
July 8, 2017 – Swope Soccer Village (Kansas City, Mo.)
Swope Park Rangers 4, Rio Grande Valley FC 0
Scoring Summary:
SPR – Lebo Moloto 2 (Kevin Oliveira 3) 39’
SPR – Mark Anthony Gonzalez 5 (Lebo Moloto 3) 48+
SPR – Colton Storm 1 (Lebo Moloto 4) 49’
SPR – Cameron Iwasa 2 (Kevin Oliveira 4) 84’
Misconduct Summary:
SPR – Nansel Selbol (Yellow Card) 33’
RGV – Todd Wharton (Yellow Card) 58’
RGV – Ruben Luna (Yellow Card) 82’
SPR – Parker Maher (Yellow Card) 89'
Swope Park Rangers: Adrian Zendejas; Colton Storm, Amer Didic, Liam Doyle, Parker Maher; James Musa, Lebo Moloto (Cameron Iwasa 71’), Christian Duke ©; Kevin Oliveira, Mark Anthony Gonzalez (Robert Mirosavic 83’), Nansel Selbol (Kharlton Belmar 66’).
Substitutes Not Used: Darrin MacLeod, Oumar Ballo, Dakota Barnathan, Felipe Hernandez.
STATS: Shots 13, Shots on Goal 5, Corners 7, Fouls 24, Possession 60.7%
Rio Grande Valley FC: Borja Angoitia; Kai Greene, Leo Ayala, Ivan Magalhaes, Robbie Sagel; Jorginho James, Eric Bird, TJ Casner (Christian Lucatero 67’), Todd Wharton (Emilio Garcia 74’), Kyle Murphy (Victor Garza 61’); Ruben Luna ©.
Substitutes Not Used: Marco Carducci, Juan Garcia.
STATS: Shots 2, Shots on Goal 1, Corners 1, Fouls 14, Possession 39.3%
