Kansas City, Kansas, Aug 1: Italian club Roma scored after just four minutes and went on to win 3-1 in Wednesday's friendly against an MLS All-Star team.
Kevin Strootman, Alessandro Florenzi and Junior Tallo scored for Roma while Omar Gonzalez of Los Angeles Galaxy scored a consolation goal for the MLS side in second-half stoppage time.
Most of a sellout crowd had barely found its seats at Sporting Park, the $200 million home of Sporting Kansas City, when Florenzi sent a pass ahead to Strootman.
Sporting defender Aurelien Collin got his foot to the ball, but Strootman still managed to guide it into the net.
Florenzi was denied a goal moments later by a close offside call, and then missed an open shot just wide of the net a few minutes later.
He finally found the back of the net in the 47th minute—he was clearly onside this time—and Tallo added his goal in 69th minute to put away the game.
While the MLS suffered defeat on the field, there was good news off it as MLS commissioner Don Garber announced at halftime that there will be four new clubs admitted to the league by 2020, expanding the MLS to 24 clubs.
