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Sporting Kansas City continue their preseason preparations for the upcoming 2013 season on Friday night when they face the Portland Timbers in Tucson, Ariz., as part of The Desert Friendlies. Sporting KC played host club FC Tucson on Tuesday night, drawing 1-1 with the Premier Development League (PDL) club. Third year forward Soony Saad scored Sporting's only goal of the game.
Many of the clubs big name players - Claudio Bieler, Matt Besler, Benny Feilhaber and Graham Zusi - were not fielded in the lineup on Tuesday night. The three Americans were on international duty, each logging minutes in the United States national team's 0-0 draw with Canada in Houston, while Bieler was held out due to head coach Peter Vermes' decision. It is only preseason, after all.
Also absent was winger Kei Kamara, who as has since been announced, will join English Premier League club Norwich City until May, missing Sporting's first ten games of the season.
Lineups are in for Friday night's warm-up with Portland, and a big name, highly-paid Argentine forward is among the participants:
Starting XI: Nielsen, Myers, Collin, Opara, Sinovic, Nagamura, Rosell, Duke, Sapong, Bieler, Convey. Follow at 7 pm CT: ow.ly/hlCJd
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) February 2, 2013
Timbers Preseason XI vs. SKC: Ricketts; Miller, Jean-Baptiste, Silvestre, Harrington; Chara, Johnson; Zizzo, Valeri, Nagbe; Johnson #RCTID
— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) February 2, 2013
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. CT, and the game will be streamed live on SportingKC.com, as well as TheDailyWiz.com, so feel free to come back here and tune in this evening. We'll have a grand old chat about all things Sporting KC, and Andy Edwards will field any questions about the upcoming 2013 season.