Manchester City stroll to victory over Sporting Kansas City

Manchester City continued their pre-season commitments by cruising to a 4-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City in the opening game of their tour of the USA.

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The Premier League champions were ahead in just the second minute of the match when Bruno Zuculini fired a half-volley into the bottom corner after some good build-up play.

Andy Gruenebaum prevented Kansas from conceding a second goal inside 10 minutes by producing an impressive save to deny Kelechi Iheanacho.

Kansas were rewarded for surviving an extended spell of pressure after the opening goal as C.J. Sapong levelled the scores on the half-hour mark with a calm finish past Willy Caballero.

However, City were back ahead before the break when Dedryck Boyata found space to meet a corner with a powerful header which left Gruenebaum helpless in the Kansas goal.

Kansas were proving to be most threatening when the ball was pushed out wide, and that tactic almost produced a second equaliser in the 54th minute when Claudio Bieler headed just past the post.

Caballero frustrated the home side with a smart stop at the near post to deny Sal Zizzo, who had sprinted to the near post to meet Michael Kafari's cross.

City managed to survive a brief flurry of attacks before scoring a third 18 minutes from the time thanks to a calmly-taken penalty from Aleksandar Kolarov after Scott Sinclair had been chopped down by Kafari.

Kelechi then found the goal his fine display deserved as he beat Gruenebaum with a drilled effort from the edge of the box in the closing stages.