SKC II Suffers 3-0 Defeat at Home to Tacoma Defiance

July 22, 2022 – MLS NEXT Pro (MLS NEXT Pro) – Sporting Kansas City II News Release

Sporting KC II (7-8-2, 23 points) suffered a 3-0 loss to Tacoma Defiance (10-3-4, 37 points) at Children’s Mercy Victory Field on Friday night in the club’s return to Swope Soccer Village. Tacoma jumped out in front early, scoring in the third minute of the match, and never looked back.

The SKC II starting XI was switched around from the previous match with Jake Davis and Kaveh Rad joining Kendall McIntosh as Sporting KC loanees. Coby Jones entered for Joseph Addo Tetteh and the rest of the starters remained the same.

Despite Tacoma scoring first, SKC II looked to get out on the front foot just seconds into the match. After Josh Coan got the ball rolling the Defiance ended up with the ball. Forward Rauf Salifu forced a turnover, teed up a shot and curled it inches off target.

On the other end of the pitch, Tacoma worked the ball forward. The ball was spread out wide to Randy Mendoza who cut in towards the box and slipped it across to Georgi Minoungou who fired the visitors out in front in the third minute.

Immediately off the kickoff Julian Vazquez took the ball into the attacking third and was hacked down. Fernandez whipped a good ball into the area that was headed at Andrew Thomas’ back post. The keeper came off his line, punched the ball and clattered into Salifu. No foul was given and play resumed with Salifu on the sideline for a moment.

SKC II continued to pester the Tacoma backline, not allowing them to play from the back. Davis won the ball back for SKC II before spreading the ball to Fernandez. The midfielder sent another good-looking ball into the area that floated an inch too high of his target and into Thomas’ hands on one hop.

In the 14th minute, the roles flipped with Fernandez playing Davis out wide towards the endline. The first-team loanee played a turf burner into the box that split Vazquez and Salifu, bouncing harmlessly out of the danger zone. Vazquez got back on the ball and attempted a cheeky ball that skipped just wide of the target and just out of reach of his man.

The leveler went wanting again five minutes later when Fernandez latched onto a poor clearance, hitting his attempt into a Defiance defender at the top of the 18-yard box. Tacoma doubled their lead with a counter-attack goal on the ensuing corner. Marlon Vargas, the club’s leading goalscorer, picked up a through ball in his own half, dribbled the length of the field and converted a…