Kansas City Comets claim Central Cup championship again in preseason soccer tournament

The Kansas City Comets went 2-0 and defended their their Central Cup championship last weekend. Now they get a little time to fine-tune before the start of the Major Arenas Soccer League season later this month.

The Comets beat the Wichita Wings 14-2 Friday and the Omaha Kings 9-2 on Saturday in St. Louis. They won the preseason tournament on a goals-against tiebreaker with the St. Louis Ambush,

“I thought it was really good,” Comets player/coach Leo Gibson said. “They executed really well what we’ve been working on. We still have a lot of work to do, but it was really good.”

The Comets played a mix of veterans, rookies and trialists looking for a contract. First-year Comets Ali Sodal, Lesia Thetsane and Eduardo “Benji” Monreal all saw significant minutes. Monreal scored a spectacular header against his former Wichita teammates.

“They all played really well,” Gibson said. “I thought they did well both offensively and defensively.”

Trialists for the Comets included J.J. Oteze, Absa Solorio, Christian Anderaos and Eduardo “Lalo” Alonso. Oteze previously played for the Mesquite Outlaws and Solorio’s brother, Hector, played for the Comets the last two seasons.

The tournament was the first opportunity for the Comets to play under MASL’s new goalkeeper rules limiting the number of touches a keeper can make in his own defensive half. The Comets played Nicolau Neto in net Friday and Lou Misner on Saturday.

“It made the game more interesting,” Gibson said.

The Comets’ MASL opener is Nov. 26 at St. Louis. The teams play the following night in Kansas City.

Final Central Cup standings:

Comets (2-0): 4 goals against; +19 goal differential

St. Louis (2-0): 8 goals against; +9 goal differential

Omaha (0-2): 18 goals against; -14 goal differential

Wichita (0-2): 22 goals against; -14 goal differential