SKC II Preseason Recap: Sporting KC II suffers 1-0 defeat to North Texas SC 

The Central Bank-presented 2023 Sporting Kansas City II preseason for Kansas City II continued Thursday morning with a friendly against MLS NEXT Pro North Texas SC opponents at the Toyota Soccer Center in Frisco, TX. The Texas side celebrated a 1-0 win as Sporting KC II ended their five-day, three-game road trip.

Head coach Benny Feilhaber fielded a starting XI consisting of Ethan Bandre, Lucas Rosa, Jahon Rad, Nassim Mekediche and Diedie Traore to occupy the defensive third. Enzo Mauriz was separated in midfield by Josh Coan and Danny Flores while Sebastian Cruz, Bakary Bagayoko and Amadou Traore acted in the last third.

North Texas scored the contest’s first shot in the sixth minute but was recalled for an offside call. The game slowed its pace as both teams grew into the 90-minute friendly. SKC II’s first shot on goal came on the 20th after Rosa North Texas reversed near the top box. The full-back pushed Coan into the 18 where the midfielder fired a shot just over target.

Feilhaber made two substitutions in the 30th minute, bringing on Ethan Bryant and Andrew Draper for Flores and Amadou Traore. Neither side could generate more dangerous attacks when the half-time whistle blew.

At the beginning of the second period, Carlito Saylon came on for Bandre. Sporting launched the first attacking moves of the second and took less than five minutes to bring North Texas to its knees. On the first try, Draper shot on goal after being played through by Coan. His shot was cleared by a retreating defender on the line. Moments later, another turnover from NTX resulted in a shot on target from Bryant, which was intercepted by the diving keeper.

The defense got involved a few ticks after those moves as Mekediche cleared a dangerous-looking cross over the end line at the near post. This was the final game for a large portion of the starters as Mikey Lenis, Jacob Bartlett, Mo Abualnadi, Nati Clarke, Cielo Tschantret, Matthew Fisher, Ozzie Cisneros and Pau Vidal for Rosa, Rad, Mekediche, Diedie Traore, Mauriz, Coan, Cruz and Bagayoko.

Seven minutes after the Subs, North Texas took the lead and converted a close-range chance. With 23 minutes remaining, SKC II desperately tried to equalize, with numerous chances narrowly denied. Just two minutes after North Texas took the lead, Cisneros fired in a curl that was deflected for an SKC II corner. That corner was defended immediately, but a subsequent Bryant corner connected to Fisher was diverted onto goal, drifting just inches wide of the back post.

Vidal then had successive chances denied. First, Lenis placed a centimeter-precise cross into the penalty area, where the impressive striker confidently headed the ball on goal. The keeper was positioned well enough to somehow make a kick save to blind SKC II. A minute later, the tenacious striker lashed out a close-range shot only for the last defender to touch the shot.

Saylon parried in the middle of his goal and was able to fall on the loose ball in the 89th in one of the last attacks on both sides. North Texas packed their defense and saw the rest of the contest in a 1-0 win.

SKC II will now return to Kansas City for a week of training before meeting UMKC at the Swope Soccer Village on Saturday 18 March in the club’s final preseason game. Follow for updates during preseason and regular season @SportingKCII on Twitter.

SK C: Ethan Bandre (Carlito Saylon 46′); Lucas Rosa (Mikey Lenis, 60th), Jahon Rad (Jacob Bartlett, 60th), Nassim Mekediche (Mo Abualnadi, 60th), Diedie Traore (Nati Clarke, 60th); Enzo Mauriz (Cielo Tschantret, 60th), Josh Coan (Matthew Fisher, 60th), Danny Flores (Ethan Bryant, 30th); Sebastian Cruz (Ozzie Cisneros, 60th), Bakary Bagayoko (Pau Vidal, 60th), Amadou Traore (Andrew Draper, 30th).