ORLANDO, Fla. – The Vancouver Whitecaps continued mowing down the competition at the Disney Pro Soccer Classic as they registered yet another convincing victory on Wednesday night by beating Sporting KC 3-0 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
The Canadian side, led by an inspired and hard-working Davide Chiumiento, blitzed Sporting KC for three goals inside the first 20 minutes of the second half. It was their third straight shutout victory in the Disney tournament to finish atop Group 1, and they will now face the winner of Group 2 on Saturday night for the title.
Chiumiento lofted a teasing ball inside the six-yard box in the 50th minute and Frenchman Sébastien Le Toux came crashing in to knock the ball home for the opening goal.
The Whitecaps doubled their lead in the 63rd minute when the enterprising Long Tan worked the ball at the top of the box and fed second-half substitute Russell Teibert, who fired a left-footed shot past SKC goalkeeper Jon Kempin.
But Chiumiento wasn’t done. Four minutes later, he lofted another tasty ball from the left side to the near post. Left back Jordan Harvey, who was in an advanced position, received the ball, spun and sent a low cross that centerback Carlyle Mitchell pounced on for the 3-0 advantage.
Sporting Kansas City threatened on long distance efforts but their best look on a frustrating night came five minutes from time when captain Kei Kamara saw his deflection of a corner kick blocked off the goal line by Vancouver’s Lee Nguyen.
The first half was evenly played with very few opportunities on goal as both sides neutralized the other when unforced turnovers didn’t take care of stunting their respective attacks.
Vancouver came closest to opening the score in the 16th minute when a Chiumiento free kick from the left side took a few deflections before slamming off the crossbar and bouncing in front of the goal line.
SCORING SUMMARY:
VAN – Le Toux (Chiumiento) 50’
VAN – Teibert (Tan) 63’
VAN – Mitchell (Harvey, Chiumiento) 67’
DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY:
KC – Julio Cesar, 6’
KC – Aurelien Collin, 16'
VAN – Gershon Koffie, 40'
VAN – Jordan Harvey, 47'
KC – Kei Kamara, 60'
LINEUPS:
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS (4-2-3-1, right to left): Brad Knighton -- Greg Klazura, Michael Boxall, Carlyle Mitchell, Jordan Harvey -- Gershon Koffie (46’ Bryce Alderson), Matt Watson -- Michael Nanchoff (59’ Russell Teibert), Sebastien Le Toux, Davide Chiumiento (78’ Lee Nguyen) -- Long Tan (80’ Bilal Duckett)
Subs Not Used: June Marques Davidson, Darren Mattocks, Callum Irving, Sean Melvin
SPORTING KANSAS CITY (4-3-3, left to right): Jon Kempin -- Seth Sinovic, Matt Besler, Aurelien Collin (78’ Cyprian Hedrick), Chance Myers -- Paulo Nagamura (74’ Mozzi Gyorio) , Bobby Convey (63’ Soony Saad), Julio Cesar (63’ Luke Sassano) -- Jacob Peterson (83’ Michael Harrington), C.J. Sapong (69’ Dom Dwyer), Kei Kamara
Subs Not Used: Jimmy Nielsen, Korede Aiyegbusi, Konrad Warzycha, Lawrence Olum
HIGHLIGHTS: Vancouver Whitecaps 3, Sporting KC 0
