KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Swope Park Rangers will try to claim the second consecutive victory to start the season when they play host to a Portland Timbers 2 side aiming to bounce back from a defeat in its first game of the season. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT.
Matchcenter: http://bit.ly/2ndVJZB | Tickets: http://bit.ly/2nvlh87
Swope Park Rangers news and notes
Current record: 1-0-0, 3pts
The Rangers got out to a strong start to the season with a 3-1 victory against OKC Energy FC on Saturday night as Kharlton Belmar and Latif Blessing both scored their first goals for the club.
Daniel Salloi had a goal and assist in the contest to lead the team to victory, as the Sporting Kansas City Homegrown signing scored in a second consecutive home opener for SPR.
The Rangers will have U.S. U20 international Erik Palmer-Brown available for selection on Wednesday night. The SKC Homegrown signing having earned the Golden Ball at the CONCACAF U20 Championship this offseason as the U.S. claimed the championship.
Swope Park led every team in the USL on the opening weekend of the season with an 84-percent passing completion percentage, and sat tied for second on a 33-percent conversion rate in front of goal.
Portland Timbers 2 news and notes
Current record: 0-0-1, 0pts
Portland dropped its opening game of the season as Real Monarchs SLC took a 2-1 victory at Providence Park despite a goal by Augustine Williams for T2.
Despite conceding a pair of goals, Kendall McIntosh had a strong in goal for T2 as he finished with seven saves for the game, the most of any goalkeeper on USL Kickoff weekend.
Wednesday night’s game will see the return to Swope Park of new T2 midfielder Tomas Granitto, who played the full 90 minutes on Saturday and had a team-high 62 passes after moving to Portland this offseason.
Granitto and 2016 USL Assists Champion Villyan Bijev both created two chances in the opening game against the Monarchs, but neither resulted in a goal.
Series Notes
Swope Park took a 2-1 victory in its inaugural contest in 2016 against Portland as Kevin Oliveira scored the first goal in club history, but T2 turned the tables with a 2-1 win of their own at home later in the season.
Squads
Swope Park - GK: David Greczek, Darrin MacLeod, Adrian Zendejas; D: Chase Bromstedt, Parker Maher, Oumar Ballo, Dakota Barnathan, Patrick Wilkinson, Liam Doyle, Amer Didic, Colton Storm, Erik Palmer-Brown; M: Wan Kuzain Wan Kamal, Louis Bennett, Felipe Hernandez, Lebo Moloto, Max Rugova, Christian Duke, Robert Mirosavic, James Musa, Kevin Oliveira; F: Kharlton Belmar, Nansel Selbol, Will Little, Mark Anthony Gonzalez
Portland - GK: Wade Hamilton, Kendall McIntosh, Christian Herrera; D: Michael Amick, Lamar Batista, Kyle Bjornethun, Rennico Clarke, Alan Cruz, Harold Hanson, Marco Farfan, Shaquille Jimenez, Max Ornstill; M: Victor Arboleda, Villyan Bijev, Blake Bodily, Neco Brett, Russell Cicerone, Dylan Damraoui, Tomas Granitto, Andre Lewis, Omar Mohamed, Jacob Montes, Jose Perez: F: Jeremy Ebobisse, Augustine Williams, Lucas Cini
Discipline
Swope Park – None
OKC – None
Officials
REF: NIMA SAGHIFI
AR1: Shane Kennard
AR2: Devin Blazek
4TH: Spenser Scopel
Game hashtag:
Twitter social handles
Swope Park Rangers – @SwopeRangers
Portland Timbers 2 – @TimbersFC2
Tag(s):