Roger Espinoza continuing to predicate his game on toughness and resolve

In the late summer of 2005, the Yavapai College men’s soccer team welcomed 18-year-old freshman Roger Espinoza to its squad.

At the time, few could have envisioned the Honduras native and longtime Denver resident making the meteoric jump from playing in the National Junior College Athletics Association to competing in two FIFA World Cups and an Olympics, winning three major championships at Sporting Kansas City and hoisting the heralded FA Cup in England.

Roll the tape 15 years forward and Espinoza has done precisely that, cementing his legacy as an all-time Sporting great alongside Matt Besler, Graham Zusi and a host of others who have comprised Sporting’s veteran core over the last…