Sporting KC 5-0 over Miami FC: Highlights and Quotes

Sporting Kansas City improved their preseason record to 2-1-1 with a win over USL Championship side Miami FC on Saturday afternoon. It was the team’s fourth preseason game ahead of the 2024 Major League Soccer season. Just one preseason game remains before Sporting KC hit the road and face the Houston Dynamo to open 2024.

For the penultimate preseason game, Sporting would play 120 minutes, instead of the standard 90.

The Lineups

The starting lineup saw the first appearance of the preseason by center back Dany Rosero who returned (presumably with his green card) from Colombia. The only other change to the Starting XI was newcomer Zorhan Bassong playing left back in lieu of Tim Leibold, who would come on later. Everyone else remained the same as the lineup we saw against Nashville SC.

1' Vamos! Today's #SportingKC XI 🆚 @TheMiamiFC.

MeliaDavisRoseroFontasBassongRadojaWalterThommyRussellPulido

Afrifa

0-0 // #SKCvMIA pic.twitter.com/lwxEd4OBsh

— Sporting Matchday (@SKCmatchday) February 10, 2024

60 minutes in, the first round of subs came on:

• John Pulskamp for Tim Melia
• Tim Leibold for Bassong
• Alenis Vargas for Johnny Russell
• Willy Agada for Alan Pulido

In the 77th minute, more significant changes were made with the additions of Kayden Pierre, Robert Castellanos, Robi Voloder, Jacob Bartlett, Felipe Hernandez, Memo Rodrigues and Marinos Tzionis. 77 minutes for seven of the 11 starters is the longest anyone has played this preseason in a game we’ve been made aware of.

77' Several changes to the #SportingKC XI.

PulskampPierreCastellanosVoloderLeiboldBartlettHernandezRodriguezTzionisAgada

Vargas

2-0 // #SKCvMIA

— Sporting Matchday (@SKCmatchday) February 10, 2024

The final two subs saw unsigned third round pick Jonathan Robinson replace Leibold and Danny Flores replace Hernandez in the box-to-box midfielder role.

There are a few things to potentially take away from the lineups:

• Bassong with the starters is interesting and he put in a longer shift than Leibold, the presumed starter.
• Daniel Salloi was once again missing, though Peter Vermes says he should be ready for the Atlanta United preseason finale.
• Stephen Afrifa continues to play ahead of Marinos Tzionis at left wing and Vermes heaped praise on him after the game saying he “was very good again,” and later adding, “he is making believers out of all of us.”
• Vermes also praised Rosero, Agada, Voloder and SKC Academy defender Bartlett, who played defensive mid over Danny Flores.

The Goals

Sporting KC won 5-0 (highlights below) with an own goal from Miami, a run of play goal from Stephen Afrifa and a hat trick from Willy Agada, including two PKs. One PK was earned by Alenis Vargas and is shown below, and the other was earned by Marinos Tzionis.

• 46′ – Miami own goal
• 65′ – Stephen Afrifa
• 93′ – Willy Agada
• 96′ – Agada
• 118′ – Agada

Alan Pulido somehow hit the post with a wide-open net when he clearly should have scored. He had a banger against Nashville, so I guess there are bound to be some stinkers too.

The Highlights

The team released highlights without audio showing four of the five goals. We put some music over it to liven it up a bit. Enjoy!

Sporting KC close out preseason next Saturday against Atlanta United at 10:00 AM CST in Miami.