After suffering their first defeat of the season, Sporting KC II (1-1-1, 4 points) is back at Rock Chalk Park for their inaugural match against St Louis City2 (2-0-0, 6 points) on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT. Tickets for the contest can be purchased at SeatGeek.com and the match will be available to stream on MLSNEXTPro.com.
In last week's match, a Benny Feilhaber-led SKC II side was bested by Houston Dynamo 2 in the team’s Lawrence Kansas debut. Now the attention turns to next year’s MLS newcomers St Louis City, and their MLS NEXT Pro affiliate, St Louis City2.
Last Sunday's starting XI featured a similar look to SKC II's 2-0 win over MNUFC 2 a week prior. Jake Davis made his season debut for the team after leading SKC II in assists the season before, and Mataeo Bunbury also made his first start of the year.
John Pulskamp reappeared in the starting XI after traveling with the first team to Vancouver in the first week of April. Pulskamp made a pair of big saves for SKC II and blocked a penalty attempt early in the match. Kaveh Rad started alongside his twin brother Jahon Rad for the second week in a row.
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s match, SKC II will be without center back Aljaz Dzankic after he suffered a leg injury against Dynamo Dos. MLS SuperDraft first-round selection Esai Easley came off the bench after Dzankic went down and played 79 minutes at center back. Bunbury will also be unavailable as he is in Costa Rica with the Canadian U20 Men’s National Team for their first Youth National Team Camp in over two years.
SKC II captain Collin Fernandez who spent time with USL Championship side Saint Louis FC said he is looking forward to tomorrow’s match and beginning the rivalry between these two clubs in a press conference earlier this week.
St Louis City2 has begun their season with two wins in their first two matches. In the MLS NEXT Pro debut match against RNY FC, they scored twice and kept a clean sheet. Last Saturday, they jumped out to a 4-1 lead over Tacoma Defiance before giving up two goals in 10 minutes. City2 would hold on to win 4-3 and take third place in the Frontier Division.
Led by John Hackworth, City2’s roster includes Wan Kuzain, a Sporting KC Academy product with six appearances and a goal for the Sporting Kansas City first team. Much like SKC II, City2’s goals have all been scored by different members of the team. Their six goals rank third in the Western Conference.
Ahead of St Louis City’s MLS debut next season, SKC II and City2 will face off three times in the 2022 MLS NEXT Pro regular season. The beginning of what could be one of the biggest rivalries in MLS and MLS NEXT Pro begins tomorrow. Fans can tune into MLSNEXTPro.com or purchase tickets at SeatGeek.com to catch all of the action.
Match Information:
MLS NEXT Pro: Match 4
Date: Saturday, April 16
Kickoff: 7 p.m. CT
Location: Rock Chalk Park (Lawrence, Kansas)
Live Stream: mlsnextpro.com
Sporting Kansas City II: 1-1-1, 4 points
St Louis City2: 2-0-0, 6 points
SOCIAL TAGS:
Match-specific hashtag:r #SKCvSTL
Twitter: @SportingKCII
Instagram: @SportingKCII
Twitter: @stlCITYSC
Instagram: @stlcitysc
