March 15, 2024 – MLS NEXT Pro (MLS NEXT Pro) – Sporting Kansas City II News Release
Sporting Kansas City II opens the 2024 MLS NEXT Pro season on Sunday when they travel south to take on Houston Dynamo 2 at AVEVA Stadium. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. CT and the match will stream live for free at MLSNEXTPro.com and can also be found on the MLS YouTube channel.
Fans can also follow @SportingKCII on X for live updates throughout the match.
Led by head coach and the newest Sporting Legend, Benny Feilhaber, Sporting KC II will look to build on a successful 2023 campaign which saw them host a playoff match at Rock Chalk Park in September. Feilhaber is joined by fellow 2013 MLS Cup Champion and two-time MLS Defender of the Year Ike Opara as the duo are set for their third season in charge.
A season ago, SKC II boasted one of MLS NEXT Pro’s most potent offenses, burying 60 goals in 28 matches, tied for second most in the league. Two massive contributors to that offensive attack were forwards Pau Vidal and Sebastian Cruz. Both of them are back for year two. Vidal tallied 11 goals in just 16 starts while Cruz netted five goals and tabbed a pair of assists. A product of the Sporting Kansas City Academy, Cruz spent the majority of January and February with the first team in Miami for the 2024 preseason presented by Children’s Mercy after making his first team debut in an Open Cup win a year prior.
Also returning for a second stint with the club is midfielder Ethan Bryant. The Texas native bagged eight goals and three assists in his first season in Kansas City, appearing in first-team preseason earlier this year. Bryant made two Open Cup appearances for Sporting KC in the 2023 version of the nation’s oldest soccer competition.
In the offseason, the SKC II roster was bolstered with 12 other MLS NEXT Pro contracted players including Nati Clarke who inked his first professional contract in December. The Academy product started 18 of 19 appearances as an amateur picking up one assist and taking home MLS NEXT Rising Star of Matchday 19.
Clarke joins a cast of newcomers that includes former MLS first-team players Beto Avila and Kamron Habibullah. Avila has recorded 15 goals and 13 assists in 95 professional appearances since 2019. Habibullah made 21 appearances for Whitecaps FC and Whitecaps FC 2 from 2021-2023 and has also represented Canada at the U-17 and U-20 levels, most recently competing at the 2022 Concacaf U-20 Championship.
Sporting KC II Roster
Defenders (5): Nati Clarke,…
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