Down the Byline

Comets Move Closer to the Playoffs

2012-02-10T23:13:00.005-06:00

The Missouri Comets magic number for clinching a playoff birth this year is now down to 1, after an 18-9 win over the Baltimore Blast at the Independence Event Center. The win, coupled with a 6-3 loss to the Milwaukee Wave in Milwaukee leaves the Comets 1 win or 1 Wichita loss away from clinching a spot in the playoffs this year.

The game tonight against the Blast started slow for both teams. The first quarter was an extremely sloppy affair as neither team was really able to create much with their possession and both teams seemed to lose it easily. Both Danny Waltman and Sagu were tested once or twice, but other than that, the first quarter was a complete and total stalemate.

The second quarter started very similar to the first, with neither team being able to really retain possession. The Blast had employed a very high pressure defense, pressuring Waltman and his two defenders very early on. This lead to a lot of early turnovers by the Comets. The combined with some chippy play pointed to the two teams both getting on the board soon. Just under 6 minutes into the quarter, the Blast broke the deadlock. Machel Millwood knocked a ball towards the middle of Missouri's box. It took a bit of a deflection, and Ricardinho was the first one to react and knocked the ball past Waltman for a 2-0 lead. Twenty-five seconds after the Ricardinho goal, the Blast were up 5-0. The Comets turned the ball over almost immediately off the kick off, Mike Lookingland fed the ball to Mike Deasel who raced a good quarter of the field unpressured and let loose a shot that got past Waltman and into the net for a 3 point goal.

The Comets called a timeout immediately to regroup, and it seemed to make a difference. From the timeout the Comets were getting more pressure and were finding quicker ways around the Blast's high pressure. Just after the half way point of the quarter, the Comets got on the board, as Byron Alvarez laid a ball into the middle for Vahid Assadpour who beat Sagu and made it 5-2. Unlike the Blast though, the Comets didn't need 25 seconds to score their second goal. Instead, it only took them 9 seconds, as Bato Radoncic won the ball immediately off the kick off, raced to the yellow line and let loose with a shot that Sagu was slow to get down for and the ball hit of the post and in, and just like that the Comets were level at 5-5.

The Comets weren't done though, and once again off the kick off, the Comets immediately won the ball through Christiano. Christiano fed Neto with a through ball that he fired past Sagu to make it 7-5. The Comets had gone from 5-0 down to 7-5 up in the span of 24 seconds. After taking the lead, the Comets sat back for a little bit. It took them 1 minute 1 second to grab another goal. Bryan Harris had a run in deep to the Blast end, he laid the ball back to Assadpour who beat Sagu for his second of the night and gave the Comets a 4 point lead at 9-5. In a minute twenty-five, the Comets had gone from 5-0 down to 9-5 up. The score held up through the end of the half and the Comets went into the half up 9-5.

The third quarter once again started with the Blast continuing their high pressure looking to get back into the game. But in their eagerness to get back into the game they got caught with too many men on the field. On the ensuing power play, the Comets were able to extend their lead. Lucas Rodriguez collected a pass from Assadpour and seemed to have all day just outside the 3 point arc to shoot. Rodriguez had time to line up his shot and fired a blast into the upper corner past Sagu to make it 12-5. From this point, the Blast really started to push the game and the game became the Danny Waltman show as more than once Waltman seemed left out to dry by his defense, but the goalkeeper stepped up and made a number of great saves, including getting across his goal once or twice to save goals. The Comets tried to break on the counter and Assadpour led a 2v1 with Neto but chose the shot instead of laying the ball off to his teammate and Sagu collected. The Blast did start to pull back into the game late in the quarter, as Shaun David played a ball into the middle for Ricardinho, who finally beat Waltman, but the Comets keeper almost made it across to keep it out but only got a small touch on it. With just under 4 minutes left, the Blast pulled back within a goal as they scored again to make it 12-9. Waltman on the series came up with two nice saves but could do nothing about the third as Pat Healey was fed by Adriano Dos Santos and Healey buried his chance. Late in the quarter, the Blast got their first power play of the game as Leo Gibson was called for kicking. The Comets though were able to kill the power play for the rest of the quarter, leaving them with only 1 second to kill in the fourth.

The Comets started off the fourth and were able to kill off the last second and get back to full strength. Just over a minute into the quarter, the Comets were back on the power play as Deasel was called for boarding. Unlike the Blast's last opportunity, the Comets again took advantage. They worked the ball around the perimeter before Rodriguez played the ball in down low to Alvarez who fired a shot into the roof of the net as Sagu went down for the save, making it 14-9. The Blast pushed for a way back into the game, and earned another power play as Stefan Stokic got a blue card for holding. The Blast once again though couldn't find a goal, in fact it was the Comets who controlled the ball for the majority of the two minute power play. Shortly after Stokic's power play was killed, the Comets found themselves on the power play again, as Max Ferdinand found himself in the penalty box for barreling into Waltman as he was playing the ball. To make matters worse for the Blast, the Comets once again scored on the power play to make them 3 for 3 with a man advantage compared to the Blast's 0 for 2. This time it was Rodriguez again, as he collected a pass from Gibson around the corner of the box and fired a shot past Sagu and into the net for his second of the night.

Waltman continued to come up big for the Comets making some more big saves and guaranteeing himself man of the match honors. With just under 4 minutes left, the Blast pulled Sagu for the 6th attacker. While the Blast had the majority of the possession after that, they couldn't find a goal. The Comets had a few quick counters with the open net but couldn't quite convert. Then with just under a minute left, Christiano fired a shot that was going to go just wide, but Geison raced onto it and buried it into the net to kill the game off and make it 18-9.

As mentioned above the Comets and need just one more win, or one more loss by the Wings to clinch themselves a spot in the playoffs. The Comets will have the first chance to wrap up a playoff spot on Sunday when they travel to Milwaukee to take on the Wave. Should they lose that the next opportunities would come next weekend when the Wings and Comets play the Rochester Lancers on back to back nights. A win by Rochester in the first game or by the Comets in the second will clinch a playoff spot.

Comets vs Blast Play by Play

2012-02-10T18:24:00.001-06:00

Comets back in action tonight against the Baltimore Blast, play by play here.

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=5db8776b9c" >Comets vs Blast play by play</a>

Changes Coming to Academy System

2012-02-09T22:39:00.002-06:00

It looks like members of the Sporting KC Juniors system will have some big decisions to make this coming fall. The rumor making the run around the internet today is that the US Soccer Developmental Academy will be making changes to the season, making it longer. The announcement sounds like it could even come tomorrow. The plan would increase the season to a 10 month season, starting in September and ending in June.

The change in season will cause a major decision to be made for players. With the extension of the season, players in all the USSDA teams, including the Sporting KC Juniors, will have to decide whether this schedule will be right for them. Choosing to play for a USSDA team would mean no high school soccer for these players.

It's certainly a big decision to make. I know some of my best memories of playing soccer came playing for Raytown South High School. It's an experience and one to really enjoy for any player. There's just something about representing your school that makes you feel good and fills you with some pride. But on the other side the academies are probably some of the best paths to get to the pro game. Especially in Sporting KC's case where there is a direct path from the Juniors system to the professional team. It'd be one of many sacrifices that someone that wants to potentially play professional soccer would need to make.

I can see both sides of the debate and both sides certainly have their merit. It'll be interesting to see how many, if any players decide to leave the SKC academy because they want to play for their high school team.

Sporting KC Extend Deal With KSMO

2012-02-09T20:36:00.003-06:00

Sporting KC today announced a new TV deal with KSMO today. Not only today did KC announce that KSMO will be broadcasting the 2012 season, but KSMO will also be broadcasting the 2013 season as well. There's plenty of good news out of the deal that was announced today.

First, all 28 games that are not being broadcasted on national television will be shown live on KSMO. So outside of the games on ESPN, ESPN2, and NBC Sports, KSMO will be the home of Sporting KC. To add onto how good the relationship between KC and KSMO is, KC will have two of their games this season on sister station, KCTV5, the local CBS affiliate. They will be showing KC's home game against the Houston on 7/7, the first of three Eastern Conference final rematches. That game's kickoff time has been moved up 30 minutes to accommodate the new station. KCTV5 will also be showing the September 22nd game from Saputo Stadium. This is a good sign of how well Sporting KC has done this past year in KC, reports were that KC's ratings improved as the season went on and were higher than anyone really expected I think. It shows good faith in the team by KCTV5 that they're going to put the games on.

As part of the deal, the 30 minute preshow continues on KSMO, which I really like. It continues the "major league" feel of the broadcast. The fact that there is pregame, hyping the game and looking at both Sporting and the opposition just seems to give the broadcast that extra level of legitimacy.

Also returning is the Sunday evening Off the Pitch. The weekly recap show was another step forward for KC last season. Good content and good insight into the week that was for KC. I'd like to see some of the production values improve, but overall I'm extremely happy that this show has returned for me to watch.

In unsurprising news, Callum Williams and Jake Yadrich will be returning together to the booth. I like the move, Williams is extremely good in the booth and will only continue to improve. Yadrich brought stability to the color position after the first bit of the season saw KC rotate through who was in the booth with him.

Former SKC Wizards Update

2012-02-08T21:26:00.004-06:00

Here's another former SKC Wizards update. The MLS season is getting closer. Some of the names in the unknown category will probably start to jump onto teams here in the near future. Here's the rest of the update.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Mike Jones
Chris Konopka
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Scott Lorenz
Amir Lowry
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Milos Stojcev
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.
Adam Cristman - LA - Season is over.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Season is over.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Season is over.
Frankie Hejduk - LA - Season is over.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Season is over.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Season is over.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Season is over.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Season is over.
Shavar Thomas - Montreal - Season is over.
Tyson Wahl - Montreal - Season is over.
Josh Wolff - DC - Season is over.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Season is over.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Out of season.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Out of season.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Out of season.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Out of season.
Yomby William - Richmond - Out of season.
John Wilson - Charleston - Out of season.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Out of season.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Out of season.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Out of season.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Scored a goal in Wichita's 19-17 win over Rochster.
Nick Garcia - Kansas Magic - Did not play in either of Kansas' games.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Scored a goal in Baltimore's 22-8 loss to Milwaukee.
Mike Jones - Illinois Piasa - Did not have a game this week.
JT Murray - Louisville Lightning - Did not play in Louisville's 10-6 win over Kansas.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not have a game this week.
Yomby William - Norfolk SharX - Did not have a game this week.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Did not have a game this week.

International
Vicente Arze - Diosgyor - Hungary - On winter break
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Started and played 90 minutes in Cruz Azul's 2-0 win over Jaguares. Came off the bench and played 17 minutes in Cruz Azul's 2-1 win over Nacional Asuncion.
Sunil Chhetri - Mohun Bagan - India - Started and played 90 minutes in Mohun Bagan's 1-1 draw with East Bengal.
Eloy Colombano - Defensores de Cambaceres - Argentina - Lost 3-1 to Deportivo Espanol.
Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Did not play for Deportivo Cali.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes, scoring a goal in North East Stars 2-1 loss to St. Ann's Rangers. Did not play in North East Stars loss to Defense Force.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 10 minutes in Santos' 2-1 win over Pumas.
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - Honved - Hungary - On winter break.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Lost 3-0 to Highgate United.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - Defeated Itabuna 4-3. Defeated Vitoria Da Conquista 2-0.
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - on winter break.
Neal Kitson - Northampton Town - England - Did not have a game this week.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - on winter break.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Season is over.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - On winter break.
Craig Rocastle - Thrasyvoulos Fylis FC - Greece - Game this week was postponed.
Matt Taylor - SC Paderborn 07 - Germany - Dressed but did not play in Paderborn's 3-2 win over Union Berlin.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - No game this week.

Sporting KC Announce Single-Game Ticket Sale Date

2012-02-07T22:05:00.003-06:00

Today, Sporting KC released information regarding the sell of single-game tickets. Starting next week, the team will start selling single game tickets to the team's first 8 home games. Games against New England, Dallas, LA, Real Salt Lake, Montreal, San Jose, Toronto and Chicago. Tickets will begin to go on sale starting February 13th for season ticket holders. Their presale will last until Wednesday the 15th at 10am. Starting at 10am on Wednesday a presale will begin for "Sporting Club Members". Their presale will end the 16th at 10am. Finally on Friday, February 17th, tickets will go on sale to the general public.

So you have 3 different release dates for tickets depending on what your status is (Season ticket holder, Sporting Club Member, or general public).

New Podcast

2012-02-07T21:25:00.004-06:00

We had some upload issues with the podcast, but here's the podcast from this past week. Thad and I discussed national team call ups, preseason news, the roster so far, my article about wanting a Sporting KC/KC Brass merger. It's up for you on Posterous and on iTunes.

Sporting Juniors College Signings

2012-02-07T19:54:00.003-06:00

Since national signing day was a week or so ago, I've gotten a few emails from people asking about where certain Juniors players were heading for college. Instead of directing people to 5 different places, I figured I'd post a list of players that have signed or at least have verbally committed. So with all apologies to Alex and his former Juniors update, here's some commitments for you. The players below are linked with official announcements from the school. If there is no link from the player, then I've pulled the information on their verbal commitment from here.

Andrew Brown - Bradley - I've found not official announcement from Bradley, but Brown has verbally committed to play in the Missouri Valley Conference with the Braves.

Eric De Julio - Creighton - No official announcement from Creighton on their official signings, but De Julio has signed with Creighton.

Daniel Hare - Loyola, IL - Hare is heading to the Chicago area to play with the Ramblers at Loyola Chicago.

Davis Isaacks - Rhode Island - No official announcement from Rhode Island, but Isaacks has verbally committed to Rhode Island.

Andrew Lightner - Dayton - Lightner has become one of the 8 additions to the Flyers team for this coming season.

Nate Oppermann - Evansville - Of all the Juniors that got time with the reserve team last year, Oppermann got the most, or close to it. He'll join Brown in the Valley playing for the Purple Aces.

Derek Shrick - SMU - There's no announcement from SMU, but Sporting posted on the Juniors blog that Shrick has signed with the Mustangs.

Taylor Walter - Colgate - Another player with no official announcement from Cologate, but has verbally committed to the Raiders.

Evan Wright - St. Louis - Goalkeeper, Wright will play on the opposite side of the state for the Billikens .

I haven't found anything so far on any players on the U18's and where they possibly committed to.

A Look at the Depth Chart

2012-02-06T22:22:00.003-06:00

With the first preseason game of the season under their belts, KC is one step closer to the start of the season. We are only 33 days from the first game of the season at DC United on March 10th. With plenty of people seeming to be fairly in unison on who the majority of the starting 11 is, let's take a look at the depth chart. Peter Vermes over the last few years has seemed to have an interest in picking up guys that can play multiple positions. And it's proven here with lots of players showing in 2 or more different positions for Sporting.

Projected starters are in bold. Players currently not under contract currently are italicized.

Plenty of the depth the further you go can go a few different ways. There are a few arguments that can be made in a few places, none more apparent than at center forward where you could argue for Teal Bunbury or CJ Sapong to be the starter.

Goalkeeper - Jimmy Nielsen, Eric Kronberg, Jon Kempin, Steve Spangler, Scott Angevine

Left back - Seth Sinovic, Michael Harrington, Korede Aiyegbusi, Roger Espinoza, Bobby Convey, Shawn Singh

Center back - Matt Besler, Aurelien Collin, Julio Cesar, Lawrence Olum, Daneil Cyrus, Cyprian Hedrick, Stefan Antonijevic, Kyle Miller

Right back - Chance Myers, Michael Harrington, Kevin Ellis, Shawn Singh

Defensive midfielder - Julio Cesar, Roger Espinoza, Paulo Nagamura, Lawrence Olum, Luke Sassano, Michael Thomas, Cyprian Hedrick, Peterson Joseph, Birahiim Diop

Box to box midfielder - Roger Espinoza, Paulo Nagamura, Michael Thomas, Graham Zusi, Konrad Warzycha, Luke Sassano, Peterson Joseph, Birahim Diop

Attacking midfielder - Graham Zusi, Konrad Warzycha, Paulo Nagamura

Left forward - Bobby Convey, Jacob Peterson, CJ Sapong, Soony Saad

Center forward - Teal Bunbury, CJ Sapong, Dom Dwyer, Soony Saad, Kei Kamara, Birahim Diop

Right forward - Kei Kamara, Jacob Peterson, Dom Dwyer, Soony Saad, Chance Myers

Cyrus Called into Trinidad Camp

2012-02-06T18:19:00.003-06:00

Daneil Cyrus is not in camp with Sporting KC due to "personal reasons" and it doesn't look like he'll be joining the team soon. Word out of Trinidad (h/t The Daily Wiz) is that Cyrus will be joining the Trinidad and Tobago U-23 for a camp. The camp will be capped off by two friendlies again the full national team of Guyana. The teams will play on the 14th and the 16th, the first match being less than a week away. Since Cyrus has yet to be in camp, it would seem unlikely that the TnT international would return for a few days then leave for Trinidad, but stranger things have happened. Trinidad continues to prepare for their Olympic qualifying matches coming up.

Cyrus continues to be one of the three players to not report to camp yet for KC along with Birahim Diop and Pablo Punyed. While Cyrus only played just over 100 minutes, his loss could be a bit of a blow for KC. KC entered this season with Cyrus likely being one of the candidates to be the center back on the bench, but the 4th or 5th option overall behind Matt Besler, Aurelien Collin, Julio Cesar, and possibly Lawrence Olum. If Cyrus doesn't end up on the team this year it would put Olum firmly in that spot, although he'd likely face some challenge from rookies Cyprian Hedrick and Stefan Antonijevic.

Sporting Win Preseason Opener

2012-02-04T19:50:00.003-06:00

Sporting KC got their first preseason game under their belts today when they took on the San Jose Earthquakes today down in Arizona. The two teams started the game with what would likely be considered their first team lineup. Both teams got things started quickly in the game. The Quakes grabbed the lead inside the first 5 minutes, as Chris Wondolowski finished off a cross from Marvin Chavez. Only a minute or so later, Sporting were level. Kei Kamara finished a cross from Roger Espinoza to level the scoring at 1-1.

KC made full scale changes at half time, although other changes were made in the first half as well. Jon Kempin played the majority of the game after coming on for Jimmy Nielsen. Late in the second half, KC grabbed what proved to be the winner. CJ Sapong had been fouled 25 yards out from goal and Konrad Warzycha stepped up to take the free kick. From 25 yards out, Warzycha hit the free kick over the wall and it dipped into the net out of reach of Jon Busch. Sporting have another friendly upcoming a week from today against DC.

Former SKC Wizards Update

2012-02-01T22:25:00.005-06:00

Another week of Sporting KC Wizards updates. As mentioned yesterday, 8 former players are up for the US Soccer Hall of Fame. Coming up soon, Stephane Auvray will figure out his new team in India when the new premier league holds it draft for "lesser known" and Indian players. Also, Neal Kitson is on the move, joining Northampton Town of the Football League 2. Here's the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Mike Jones
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Scott Lorenz
Amir Lowry
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Milos Stojcev
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.
Adam Cristman - LA - Season is over.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Season is over.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Season is over.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Season is over.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Season is over.
Chris Konopka - MLS Pool keeper - Season is over.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Season is over.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Season is over.
Shavar Thomas - Montreal - Season is over.
Tyson Wahl - Montreal - Season is over.
Josh Wolff - DC - Season is over.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Season is over.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Out of season.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Out of season.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Out of season.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Out of season.
Yomby William - Richmond - Out of season.
John Wilson - Charleston - Out of season.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Out of season.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Out of season.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Out of season.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Scored a goal in Wichita's 16-13 loss to Milwaukee.
Nick Garcia - Kansas Magic - Did not play in the games for the Magic.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Played in Baltimore's 18-10 win over Norfolk. Played in Baltimore's 8-7 win over Rochester. Had an assist in Baltimore's 26-4 win over Norfolk.
Mike Jones - Illinois Piasa - Had an assist in Illinois' 12-3 win over Ohio.
JT Murray - Louisville Lightning - Did not play in Louisville's 7-6 win over Missouri.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not have a game this week.
Yomby William - Norfolk SharX - Played in Norfolk's 18-10 loss to Baltimore. Played in Norfolk's 17-8 loss to Rochester. Played in Norfolk's 26-4 loss to Baltimore.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Hah a goal and an assist in Anaheim's 10-5 loss to San Diego. Did not play in Anaheim's 17-3 win over Arizona.

International
Vicente Arze - Diosgyor - Hungary - On winter break
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Started and played 66 minutes in Cruz Azul's 2-2 draw with Atlante.
Sunil Chhetri - Mohun Bagan - India - Did not play in Mohun Bagan's 3-1 win over Chirag United. Started and played 57 minutes in Mohun's 2-0 win over Arrows.
Eloy Colombano - Defensores de Cambaceres - Argentina - Lost 2-1 to UAI Urquiza.
Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Did not play for Deportivo Cali.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Came off the bench and played 7 minutes in North East Stars 3-2 win over Police FC.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Dressed but did not play in Santos' 3-1 win over Tijuana.
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - Honved - Hungary - On winter break.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Tied Humble Lions 0-0.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - Defeated Serrano BA 3-1. Beat Feirense 3-2.
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - on winter break.
Neal Kitson - Northampton Town - England - Did not play in Northampton Town's 1-0 loss to Torquay United.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - on winter break.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Season is over.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - On winter break.
Craig Rocastle - Thrasyvoulos Fylis FC - Greece - Played 90 minutes in Thrasyvoulos' 2-1 win over Pierkios.
Matt Taylor - SC Paderborn 07 - Germany - Next game 2/3.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Defeated BEC Tero Sasana 3-2.

Vermes, Zavagnin, and Six Other Former Wizards Up for Hall of Fame

2012-01-31T17:45:00.005-06:00

Today, US Soccer came out with their list of candidates available for selection to the US Soccer Hall of Fame. On that list are two current coaches of Sporting KC. Head coach and technical director, Peter Vermes is on the list again, as is assistant coach, Kerry Zavagnin, in his first year of eligibility. Vermes is in the final year on the "player ballot", should he not be elected to the Hall of Fame this year, he will move to the veteran ballot next year.

Vermes and Zavagnin are joined by five other former Wizards players on the players ballot, and one other is available on the veterans ballot. Two other former Wizards are like Zavagnin and in their first year of eligibility. Joining Zavagnin is Jose Burciaga Jr. and Tony Meola in their first year of eligibility. The other 3 former Wizards players available are Mike Burns, Chris Henderson, and Roy Lassiter. Burns, like Vermes is in his final year of being eligible for election on the player's ballot. Should he not be elected, he'll join Vermes and Mike Sorber on the veterans ballot. Sorber joined the veterans ballot a few years ago.

Of the former Wizards players up for election, I think Meola is probably the leading candidate to get elected on this ballot. Meola was the starter for the US in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups and has 100 caps for the US national team.

Sassano Re-Signed

2012-01-30T20:06:00.003-06:00

It's been rumored and speculated on since he pulled out of the re-entry draft, but today, Sporting KC finally made it official. Luke Sassano has signed a new contract with Sporting KC. Sassano had played in 9 league games last year in a season that was cut short by some injuries. Sassano had not had his contract picked up and had gone into the re-entry draft. But before the first stage of the re-entry draft took place, Sassano disappeared from the list, prompting the re-signing speculation. Finally it was made official today, so Sassano will return for his second season in Kansas City.

Three Trialists Heading to Arizona

2012-01-28T22:45:00.003-06:00

Three of Sporting KC's trialists are heading to Arizona with the Sporting KC team. Goalkeepers Steve Spangler and Scott Angevine will be joined by former Michigan State midfielder, Cyrus Saydee in Arizona. The team departs tomorrow.

Sadly for Irving Garcia, Matt Kuhn, Myron Samuel, and Kevin Struck the attempts to make the Sporting KC roster end after a few days.

It's interesting that KC is taking two goalkeepers with them to Arizona as trialists. With Jimmy Nielsen signing a new contract in the offseason, and Jon Kempin being an off-budget home-grown player, Spangler and Angevine are battling for a roster spot against Eric Kronberg. In reality I see that as an extremely difficult uphill battle for both of them to make this roster.

Saydee is the third trialist making the trip, he's still fairly young, but like Spangler and Angevine, he still has a big uphill challenge to make the roster.

No mention has been made of the teams draft picks yet, so one would assume that they are all headed down to Arizona. No mention was made of Shawn Singh or Pablo Punyed who were both not at training today. So we'll see what's going on soon enough.

Training Thoughts

2012-01-28T11:26:00.005-06:00

Today was Sporting KC's last training session in Kansas City before heading off to Arizona for a few weeks. A fairly light session for the most part, that involved two teams scrimmaging, and a third team working off to the side.

First game:

Orange team - Nielsen, Collin, Olum, Harrington, Warzycha, Thomas, Aiyegbusi, Dwyer, Kamara

Blue team - Kronberg, Myers, Cesar, Besler, Sinovic, Sassano, Joseph, Convey, Saad

Neutral - Zavagnin

Only one goal in this one, a Joseph Peterson and Luke Sassano worked a very nice 1-2 together finishing with Joseph flicking the ball past Nielsen and into the net. Shortly after that though, Joseph went off with an injury that he was icing later.

Second Game

Blue team - Kempin, Myers, Cesar, Besler, Sinovic, Sassano, Convey, Saad

Green team - Sangler, Strunk, Hedrick, Antonijevic, Miller, Kuhn, Saydee, Garcia, Ellis

Neutral - Warzycha

This game ended 1-1. The green team, full of trialists certainly came out the hungrier of the two teams to start, really pushing the blue team. The green team got rewarded with a goal as Konrad Warzycha played a 1-2 with Matt Kuhn and Warzycha buried his shot past Kempin. The goal seemed to wake the blue team up as much of the rest of the game was controlled by them. Warzycha got their goal as well finishing off a cross from Soony Saad. Later on, Kevin Ellis suffered what appeared to be a sprained ankle as he went for a long cross. Ellis went down and seemed to be in a lot of pain, but was helped off and left with ice on his ankle.

Third game

Orange team - Nielsen, Collin, Olum, Harrington, Warzycha, Thomas, Aiyegbusi, Dwyer, Kamara

Green team - Angevine, Strunk, Hedrick, Antonijevic, Miller, Kuhn, Saydee, Garcia, Saad

Neutral - Zavagnin

This game ended 0-0 with Saad forcing a good save out of Jimmy Nielsen at the end of the game to keep it scoreless. The orange team though was the better of play throughout this one. Saydee had to clear one chance off the line for the green team, but other than that both teams struggled to create real opportunities during this game.

Jacob Peterson, Roger Espinoza, and Paulo Nagamura were all running on the side of the field. Birahim Diop and Daneil Cyrus are both taking care of family issues (although rumors abound that Diop is going to go to Colombia to join Octavio Zambrano).

So who was impressive during the short scrimmages this morning?

The player that impressed me the most today was Konrad Warzycha. He looked incredibly comfortable on the ball. In the second game where he was on offense only he showed a good ability at being able to settle the game and pick out players on his team. Both of his finishes were well taken as well.

Matt Besler continues to step his game up. I thought he was at a different level last year, but just in the training today it seems like he's taken it to another level. Yes it was only a practice, but Besler looked intense out on the field. He also did a very good job of getting forward (although I doubt he'll be doing a ton of that in real games).

Really other than that it was hard to pick out guys who really stood out. The games were short field (they played between the 15's on the Chiefs practice field). But overall compared to last year when I attended the same practice, the level of the practice was a totally different level than it was last year. There seems to be a different level of intensity going on this year. More focus and more centered on certain things. That could come from the fact that Peter Vermes and players have driven home this week, that they've all come in, in better shape and better prepared. That means that Vermes doesn't have to spend as much time on certain things and instead can build quicker.

Finally some quick thoughts on the trialists and draft picks. Remember that these are based on just my one training session of viewing.

Scott Angevine - Goalkeeper that is trialing with the team. He's going to have trouble making the team I think though, but based off his tweets is heading to Arizona with the team.

Stefan Antonijevic - The kid is definitely big. He plays simple which is good for a defender, but the biggest thing that stood out to me was when he got shouldered off the ball by Soony Saad.

Dom Dwyer - Lots of movement teamed with Kei Kamara on his team, didn't get a ton of touches in either game though.

Cyrpian Hedrick - Hedrick did a decent job for the green team in the center of defense, did well with his distribution.

Irving Garcia - The guy was active on the field with a lot of movement off the ball, but really didn't do a whole lot when he did get the ball.

Matt Kuhn - Not going to say a lot here to avoid bias claims, (although I may be more harsh on him since I've seen him play a lot more). Kuhn had some decent play, did a good job of on Warzycha's goal for the green team. Did well getting his head up and with his passing, but could be a step quicker with decision making.

Kyle Miller - Partnered well with Kuhn in the midfield for the green team, did well getting forward and hanging back when needing to.

Pablo Punyed - Wasn't there, hasn't been there all week apparently. Looking at options overseas it appears.

Myron Samuel - Was not out there today. Didn't get any confirmation, but it seems he may already be gone.

Cyrus Saydee - The guy is small like his bio shows, Aiyegbusi size. He did a decent job down the wing, but his size is going to work against him.

Shawn Singh - Didn't realize until I was typing this up, but I didn't see KC's first round supplemental draft pick today.

Steve Spangler - Didn't make any mistakes in goal, nothing he really could have done on the goal he allowed, but he has his work cut out for him trying to make this team with KC already having 3 goalkeepers on the roster. The team isn't going to get rid of Jimmy Nielsen or Jon Kempin, so Spangler is going to have to beat out Kronberg to make this team, and I don't see it.

Kevin Struck - In these short games it's easier for the backs to get forward, and Struck did a good job of getting forward when he could.

Sporting KC News to End Your Week

2012-01-27T20:30:00.009-06:00

No major news out today, but here are some quick hits news wise for you on your Friday.

Sporting KC vs LA game time changed

Sporting KC's match up with LA on April 7th at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park has changed times and stations. Yesterday the team announced that the game would now kick off 1 hour earlier at 3pm Central time. The move in start time is to facilitate a station move for the game, as instead of being on ESPN2, the game will be on the mothership, ESPN. It's been a long time since KC has had a game, let alone hosted one. I honestly can't quite remember when there last was one.

Collin closing in on green card

Good news for KC on the front of potentially signing more internationals. Aurelien Collin posted today on Twitter after practice that he was headed to meet with his lawyer to discuss his green card. While the part about becoming an American citizen is a ways away, the good news in Sporting KC terms is that KC will free up at least one international spot. With the spots currently full Collin getting his green card would be a boost. With Jimmy Nielsen and possibly Korede Aiyegbusi also working on their cards' KC could have plenty of international space available.

Sporting KC International News

The next few bits of news are related to Sporting KC players and their potential national team aspirations. The first has to do with Roger Espinoza, while the last two, courtesy of The Daily Wiz have to do with Lawrence Olum, and supplemental draft pick, Pablo Punyed.

Not surprisingly, Espinoza left off Honduras camp roster

With Sporting KC currently in preseason camp, this news isn't surprising, but Roger Espinoza was left off the camp roster ahead of Honduras' February friendlies. Honduras' coach named a roster today for the camp that includes the man who put the dagger in KC's 2011 season Carlo Costly. Espinoza will obviously stay with KC as they continue preseason.

Olum heading to Kenya in February?

Alex over at The Daily Wiz today posted a comment and a video link about KC's Lawrence Olum heading to Kenya in February. The timing of the trip to Kenya would seem odd considering the fact that KC will be right in the middle of preseason, but Olum has wanted to represent his country for a while at this point and this may be the best chance for Olum to appear for the Kenyan national team. Kenya is scheduled to have two matches on the 23rd and the 29th against Egypt and Togo, and one would assume that Olum would hope to make his international debut and become the 32nd player to appear for their full national team while a member of Sporting KC. Still the timing of the trip is just a bit odd being in the middle of preseason.

Punyed to Represent El Salvador U23 team?

There are some rumors out of El Salvador, that supplemental draft pick, Pablo Punyed could be looking to potentially join Teal Bunbury and Daneil Cyrus in Olympic qualifying. Rumor out of El Salvador is that the St. John's product participated in some tryouts down there for the national team in preparation for Olympic qualifying. El Salvador has been grouped with the US, Canada, and Cuba in a group that will play in Nashville.

Sporting KC and the PDL

2012-01-26T22:21:00.003-06:00

Tonight I was watching Metro Sports Zone on Metro Sports, watching a feature that was being done on Kyle Miller and Matt Kuhn and their attempts to become the 5th and 6th local players on Sporting KC's current roster. It struck a thought in my head that I'd been thinking about yesterday after an announcement from the Seattle Sounders. Yesterday, the Seattle Sounders announced that they'd reached a partnership with the Tacoma Tide that sees the Tide become the Sounders FC U-23.

The Sounders become the 5th MLS team to get a team in the PDL, joining Chicago, Portland, Vancouver, and DC. Orlando City of the USL-Pro division also has a U-23 team in the PDL. The idea of a PDL team I think is a really good idea for MLS sides. Especially with the academies becoming more and more important. Players that played in the academy but aren't quite ready to make the jump up to the first team could play on the PDL team while in college to improve their play and potentially be a later academy signing similar to Kevin Ellis, who was signed after 2 years at Barton Community College. A place for those guys to play is certainly a good thing, especially if the players know there is a linked connection between the PDL team and the MLS squad.

Some people will say that the idea of having a PDL team hasn't worked out too well for the Fire though. There were 11 players from the Chicago Fire Premier that were selected in the MLS SuperDraft in Kansas City, and the Fire didn't get the rights to those players. The main reason for that was because academy signing requirements require the player to have to have been in the academy before they enter college. Most of the Fire Premier players only joined the team AFTER they entered college, hence why they couldn't be signed by the Fire. But I think we're going to see more and more players that attend college for a year or two and continue to play with their MLS academy teammates in the summer with the teams U23 teams in the PDL.

Kansas City does have a local PDL team themselves, the Kansas City Brass. The Brass have been around since 1997, one year less than Sporting KC has been. The Brass and the Wizards have a good working relationship, the team has drafted a lot of players that have spent time with the Brass while they were in college. In fact, the past two coaches for the Brass, Jefferson and Lincoln Roblee have both assisted Peter Vermes and the Sporting KC staff at times, including during the open tryouts the past few years. The two teams also play quite often during the summer as a way for some of the reserves a chance to play.

So it's not like the two teams are at odds with each other, they have a very good working relationship. But there is something to be said about making it an official relationship between the two teams, to give a good continued path from the Juniors to the first team with a stop in between for those that may not be quite ready to step from the Juniors directly to the first team. I've seen lots of local KC players go to places like Des Moines for the summer to play with the Menace instead of staying in KC. The goal should be to keep all the best KC players, especially those tied in with the Juniors academy in town where they can be watched and coached by the Sporting KC staff.

Former SKC Wizards Update

2012-01-26T21:13:00.006-06:00

A day late due to the Comets game last night, but here is this week's former SKC Wizards update. In news this week, Shavar Thomas has a new team, having signed for the expansion Montreal Impact. Here's the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Mike Jones
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Scott Lorenz
Amir Lowry
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Milos Stojcev
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.
Adam Cristman - LA - Season is over.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Season is over.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Season is over.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Season is over.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Season is over.
Chris Konopka - MLS Pool keeper - Season is over.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Season is over.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Season is over.
Shavar Thomas - Montreal - Season is over.
Tyson Wahl - Montreal - Season is over.
Josh Wolff - DC - Season is over.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Season is over.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Out of season.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Out of season.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Out of season.
Neal Kitson - Rochester - Out of season.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Out of season.
Yomby William - Richmond - Out of season.
John Wilson - Charleston - Out of season.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Out of season.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Out of season.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Out of season.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Scored 2 goals in the Wings 18-16 win over Milwaukee. Had a goal and an assist in the Wings 9-6 loss to Milwaukee.
Nick Garcia - Kansas Magic - Did not play in the Magic's 6-5 win over Cinncinati.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Scored a goal in Baltimore's 18-2 win over Norfolk.
JT Murray - Louisville Lightning - Did not play in Louisville's 7-4 win over Illinois. Did not play in Louisville's 9-7 win over Ohio.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not play in the Comets 14-6 win over Norfolk. Did not play in the Comets 33-12 win over Syracuse.
Yomby William - Norfolk SharX - Played in Norfolk's 18-2 loss to Baltimore. Played in the Sharx 14-6 loss to the Comets.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Did not have a game this week.

International
Vicente Arze - Diosgyor - Hungary - On winter break
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Started and played 76 minutes in Cruz Azul's 1-1 draw wiht Pachuca.
Sunil Chhetri - Mohun Bagan - India - Did not play in Bagan's 2-1 loss to Sporting Clube de Goa. Did not play in Bagan's 2-1 loss to Prayag United.
Eloy Colombano - Defensores de Cambaceres - Argentina - Next game 2-1.
Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Did not play for Deportivo Cali.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Did not play in North East Stars 1-1 draw with Defense Force.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 15 minutes in Santos' 1-0 win over Jaguares.
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - Honved - Hungary - On winter break.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Scored a goal in Harbour View's 2-0 win over Sporting Central.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - Lost 1-0 to Bahia De Feira. Defeated Juazeirense 2-0.
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - on winter break.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - on winter break.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Season is over.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - On winter break.
Craig Rocastle - Thrasyvoulos Fylis FC - Greece - Started and played 90 minutes in Thrasyvoulos' 1-0 win over Vyzas. Started and played 90 minutes in Thrasyvoulos 1-0 loss to Veria.
Matt Taylor - SC Paderborn 07 - Germany - On winter break.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Defeated Samut Songkhram 1-0.

Kris Boyd Linked with Move to KC

2012-01-26T19:03:00.006-06:00

Silly season continues to go on around the world, and today Sporting KC was named in the silliness. Sky Sports is reporting that the "Kansas City Wizards" are interested in Scottish international striker, Kris Boyd. The 28 year old striker was most recently with Eskisehirsqor in Turkey, where he recently had his contract canceled. He's also recently played with Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest. He was a prolific goal scorer for Rangers but since leaving the Glasgow club his scoring record has gone down.

Rumors on a Boyd move to the US started a week or two ago when he was linked with a move to the Houston Dynamo. The Dynamo apparently brought Boyd into town for 3 days. The two teams couldn't reach a deal though. In fact according in the news that Boyd would not being joining the Dynamo, the release said that Boyd "would not be plying his trade in MLS this season."

That comment would certainly seem to kill the Sky Sports rumor right there from the aspect that Boyd isn't going to play in MLS. To add to the quick killing of this rumor in my mind would be MLS' discovery process. Since Boyd has already been with the Dynamo, one would assume that the Dynamo have the discovery claim on Boyd. But I'm not sure how the discovery process changes with a designated player. If KC were though, that would fly in the face of Robb Heineman's tweet the other night, about the team not having a DP this window. Meaning KC would have to work out a deal with the Dynamo most likely to get Boyd's MLS rights. And I just totally don't see it happening. I just don't see Boyd as a move that KC would be making right now.

Zusi Goal Leads US Over Panama

2012-01-25T23:19:00.003-06:00

The US "Camp Cupcake" roster closed out their camp down in Panama today with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Sporting KC midfielder, Graham Zusi. Like the game on Saturday against Venezuela, both Zusi and Teal Bunbury started for the United States, while CJ Sapong found himself starting on the bench. The US got a good start, as Zusi finished off a chance in the 8th minute to give the US a 1-0 lead. Zach Loyd played the ball into the box, where Bunbury had overrun the ball. The ball hit the back of Bunbury's heal and fell right into the path of Zusi who one timed his shot past the keeper and into the net for his first international goal.

After the goal it became somewhat of the Nick Rimando show as the US defense struggled for long periods of time in the first half and Rimando had to come up with some big saves to preserve the USA's 1-0 lead. The US did have 1 other great chance those as Jermaine Jones fired in a blast from long range that the Panamanian keeper had to just knock into the air. Chris Wondolowski closed in on the rebound but somehow the keeper recovered in time to knock the ball away before it crossed the line. But the first half man of the match was easily Rimando who came to the US' rescue numerous times.

Things got worse for the US in the second half as they tried to weather the Panama attack as Geoff Cameron received a red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity for Panama. The Panamanian went down a little easy, but welcome to CONCACAF refereeing Jurgen Klinsmann. In the second half it wasn't so much that Sean Johnson, who came on for Rimando, had to come up big, but Blais Perez missed some good chances for Panama to tie the game.

For the Sporting KC players, besides the goal, Zusi had a strong game and was one of the bright spots for the US, especially in the first half, he made way in the 66th minute for a more defensive minded player in Brad Evans. Bunbury in his second start struggled once again, especially with his first touch. He's been playing himself off the national team radar it would seem with this play. Bunbury made way for teammate Sapong in the 76th minute. Sapong once again didn't have much opportunity to do much, especially as a lone forward for a team down to 10 men. Sapong though did a decent job of trying to hold up the ball when he got the opportunity to, but his chances were hurt by the fact that the US was playing with 10 men. Those 3 will now return to KC, but according to Peter Vermes earlier today, those 3 will not be at training until the team leaves for Arizona.

Record Setting Night as Comets Rout Silver Knights

2012-01-25T22:28:00.005-06:00

It was a big night for the Missouri Comets as they set multiple records at the Independence Events Center in their 33-12 rout over the Syracuse Silver Knights. They set a team record for the largest margin of victory since the teams rebirth, with 21. They tied a league record with 3 players recording a hattrick (Byron Alvarez, Geison, and Vahid Assadpour). They set a record for the most points this season so far, the largest margin of victory this season, and with the Knights 12 points the teams set a record for the most combined points this season.

The Comets got the night started off on the right foot as Leo Gibson collected a rebound from a shot by Ryan Junge and fired a 3 pointer into the far corner that Eric Reed in the Knights net didn't see until very late. The 3 point goal put the Comets up less than a minute into the game. Just after 5 minutes into the game, the Knights got as close as they were ever going to get the rest of the night when Daniel Stevens turned in a shot past Danny Waltman to make it 3-2. From there the first quarter was all down hill for the Knights. The Comets controlled the game after the goal, but struggled to find a shot to really test Reed in net. About the midway point in the quarter the Comets restored their 3 point lead though. John Sosa fed Assadpour down the left hand side, his first shot was saved by Reed, the second shot Assadpour fired off Reed and the ball rolled into the net. Assadpour was given the credit for the goal though and the Comets were up 5-2.

Things got worse for the visitors about 20 seconds later, as Waltman collected a shot by the Knights and played a quick outlet to Bato Radoncic, who had gotten in behind the Knights defense. One v one with the goalkeeper, Radoncic fired his shot low into the corner to make it 7-2. A minute and a half later things continued to go worse for the Knights. Tiguinho got his first assist of the night as his shot was spilled by Reed right into the path of Alvarez who just had to tap the ball over the line to increase the Comets lead to 9-2. They still weren't done in the first quarter though as Tiguinho got on the board, although once again likely an own goal, as Tiguinho beat his man down the side and fired a shot off the wall that hit a Knight's defender and went into the net to make it 11-2 with less than a minute left in the first quarter.

The second quarter started much the same way the first ended, with the Comets controlling possession, and under 2 minutes into the quarter it was 13-2. Tiguinho played another ball into the box and it looked as if it was another own goal, but in the end Geison ended up getting the last touch, putting the ball away. The Knights got themselves back on the board just under 5 minutes into the quarter as the Knights finally got some good passing and Cory Elenio found Alex Megson at the back post unmarked for a tap in to make the lead 9.

The Knights continued to push to get back into the game and looked to have a good opportunity as Brian Harris went to the box just past the half way point in the quarter for holding. In the end though the power play back fired on the Knights. The Comets killed the penalty and right out of the box, Harris was fed by Assadpour. Reed came well off his line, but Harris did well to round the keeper and then walked the ball into the net to make it 15-4. Before the half ended, the Knights once again cut into the lead, as Elenio fed Andriy Budnyy on a 2v1 break and Budnyy beat Waltman. Still the Knights struggled to get back into the game, and even another penalty for too many men on the field for the Comets, the Knights struggled on the power play.

The Comets didn't take their foot off the pedal in the second half either. Just over 6 minutes into the half, Tiguinho led a 3v3 break as the Comets countered. Tiguinho danced around his man and then fed the ball to Assadpour. Assadpour's initial shot was saved but once again Reed didn't hold the shot and Assadpour buried the rebound. And immediately after that goal to make it 17-6, the Comets were right back down the field and Radoncic fed Geison for his second of the game to make it 19-6 as the Comets continued to punish the Knights on the counter.

At this point you really started to almost feel sorry for the Knights. And if the next goal for the Comets just made it worse. Harris started the play with a shot from 3 point range that hit Megson in the groin area. With Megson hobbled, Harris was able to collect the rebound, cut past him and feed Alvarez who buried his shot to make it 21-6. Two minutes after Alvarez's second goal, Alvarez finished off his hattrick, and as was the theme all night it came as the Comets got in behind the Knights defense. Alvarez was played behind by Gibson. Alvarez, 1v1 with the keeper made no mistake making it 23-6. The Knights thought they salvaged a little bit of pride when Nelson Santana found net to make it 23-8, but before the 3rd quarter ended, the Comets got 1 more goal, again on the counter as Tiguinho led a 3v1 break. Tiguinho fed Geison who slotted the ball past Reed to complete his hattrick.

In the fourth quarter the Comets seemed content to sit back and continue to hit on the counter as they had started to do in the 3rd quarter. Just over a minute into the quarter, Stevens got his second goal of the game making it 23-10. A little over a minute after that goal though, the Comets had restored their lead off a restart. Tiguinho fed Geison who finished his 4th goal of the game to make it 27-10. Before 6 minutes were gone in the fourth, Assadpour completed his hattrick off an assist from Radoncic. As the Comets continued to sit back, the Knights were their own worst enemies as they missed 3 or 4 chances that should have been put away, but I think the mental factor of being down that much had thrown the Knights off their game as they just couldn't find the net. Before the quarter timeout, the Comets hit the 30 point mark, as Tiguinho beat Reed again to make it 31-10. The Comets had one more goal in them just past the 8 minute mark in the quarter as Harris bundled home his second of the night off a pass from Alvarez. The Knights continued to struggle to finish good chances, one of those actually led to their final goal as a miss on a wide open net by Megson had the ball fall to Elenio who headed in from a tight angle to give the final score of 33-12.

For those that don't want to track all there, here are the Comets stats from tonight.
Tiguinho - 2 goals 5 assists (9 points)
Geison - 4 goals (8 points)
Vahid Assadpour - 3 goals 1 assist (7 points)
Byron Alvarez - 3 goals 1 assist (7 points)
Brian Harris - 2 goals 1 assist (5 points)
Bato Radoncic - 1 goal 3 assists (5 points)
Leo Gibson - 1 goal (3 pointer) 1 assist (4 points)
Ryan Junge - 1 assist (1 point)
John Sosa - 1 assist (1 point)
Danny Waltman - 1 assist (1 point)

Comets vs Silver Knights PBP

2012-01-25T18:43:00.002-06:00

Here's tonight's play by play for the Comets and Silver Knights game. Fair warning, I may mention tonight's US-Panama game for a moment or two as well.

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=d433002775" >Comets vs Silver Knights</a>

No DP Likely This Window

2012-01-25T06:43:00.003-06:00

Late last night, once again Robb Heineman brought us news via Twitter. This time pertaining to the potential designated player that KC was looking to sign. And that news doesn't appear to be good news. Heineman says that "unless something dramatic happens in the next two days, we will not be announcing a DP in this window."

It all seems pretty cut and dry right there, KC's plans for bringing in a DP seem to have fallen through. It's not incredibly surprising based on an earlier tweet where Heineman was commiserating an injury in Spain. The assumption is that the injury was to the Spanish DP that KC had on their radar and were looking to sign.

It's certainly a blow to fans, who had been anticipating this big move for much of the offseason, but unfortunately now KC has to go in another direction. I'm sure that Peter Vermes had plans to build the team in place that did not include the DP, but it's still a blow to the team, because it's fairly hard to replace a DP level talent. But then again there are no guarantees that the DP would have fit into the league, that he would produce on the level you expect from a designated player. It's still a blow though to the team's development of the roster heading into this season. The roster though right now looks pretty good as a whole, one or two depth moves right now and the team should be in good shape. And if things don't turn out well, KC could still be working towards a summer transfer window move.

Preseason Trialists

2012-01-24T20:33:00.005-06:00

Sporting KC released the names today of their currently trialists that are in camp as the team prepares for preseason training out at the Chiefs indoor training facility. There looks to be some decent talent out there trialing right now, it'll be interesting to see who, if any, travel to Arizona, and which ones potentially make the team.

Here are the trialists.

Irving Garcia an attacking midfielder/right winger who is also a former draft pick by the New York Red Bulls in 2010. He appeared in 4 Open Cup games for the Red Bulls in the 2010 season before being waived. Since that time he's played with FC Tucson and Antigua GFC out of Guatemala.

Matt Kuhn. The DC United 4th round supplemental draft pick had been released before DC headed down to Florida. I hope in KC that my brother gets a better shake of things under Peter Vermes than he appeared to get from Ben Olsen and United. Kuhn spent time in college playing different positions in the midfielder as well as a forward when at Drake. He's also a former Junior's player, bringing the total in camp up to 4 with Kevin Ellis, Jon Kempin, and Kyle Miller.

Myron Samuel. The St. Vincent and the Grenadines international is only 19 years old and has already appeared 18 times for his country. He was found at Sporting KC's Caribbean combine last year. The forward's current club is based out of his home country, playing for Avenues United.

Cyrus Saydee. The former Michigan State midfielder is only 19, but has already finished his college eligibility. He was a first team all Big Ten honoree this past year. He is on the short side though, standing only 5'6", and that's without taking into any exaggeration.

Steve Spangler. The Oregon State grad is the only goalkeeper among the trialists. He's got decent size at 6'3", but his problem is that KC already seems set at goalkeeper with Jimmy Nielsen, Eric Kronberg, and Jon Kempin. So it would seem the odds of Spangler making the roster are probably slim.

Kevin Struck. Another recent college grad, this time from Lehigh University. Struck is a center back who was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 and 2011. While the Patriot League isn't the greatest conference in college soccer, that's still a feat to win it two years in a row.

Those trialists are currently training in a separate session from the veterans, and I'm sure there are a few other trialists the team hasn't mentioned, including the infamous Trialist 1.

LIVESTRONG Missing Out on All Star Game

2012-01-23T19:52:00.003-06:00

Rumors are running around tonight that LIVESTRONG Sporting Park will not be hosting MLS' all star game this year. Word out of Philadelphia is that the Union will be hosting the All Star game, at PPL Park. The game should be confirmed tomorrow in a press conference that Don Garber will be attending. It would be disappointing for the game not to be at LIVESTRONG, but sooner than later KC is going to be hosting the event.

US Top Venezuela

2012-01-22T12:40:00.002-06:00

Last night in Arizona, the US national team topped Venezuela in the first of two friendlies for the camp cupcake roster, 1-0 thanks to a late goal by Ricardo Clark. Sporting KC forward Teal Bunbury and midfielder Graham Zusi both started for the US, while forward, CJ Sapong came on as a second half sub, replacing Zusi.

Neither Bunbury or Zusi had spectacular performances, both had some difficulties at times, and both seemed to fade late in their shifts. Sapong brought a big body to assist on set pieces, and helped to pull 3 defenders with him on the corner kick that lead to Clark's goal.

Bunbury had a few chances, the best a turn and shot from about 22 yards out that was over the bar. He did a decent job of running at defenders and creating some opportunities, but the finishing shot wasn't there for Bunbury.

Zusi set up the best chance of the first half on a free kick, playing a ball right onto the head of Brek Shea who forced the keeper into a good save. In the second half he had a good chance himself, collecting a poor clearance, he drove in on goal, but his shot was wide of the net, not forcing the save. Zusi's biggest issue last night may have had more to do with his being played out of position. While Zusi spent a little time on the wing for KC last season, he really excelled when he was in the middle of the field. Last night Zusi was a little lost at times on the wing. He was almost invisible when he moved to the left wing for part of the first half.

Sapong had a strong short shift. He did exactly what I think everyone expected. He provided a strong body that would play back to goal, knock the ball down, and throw himself into defenders. He did that well throughout his shift.

For Bunbury it was his 3rd cap for the US, while Zusi and Sapong earned their first. Zusi and Sapong are the 30th and 31st players to be capped by their national team while a member of Sporting KC.

Bato Two Goals Lead Comets By Norfolk

2012-01-22T09:52:00.006-06:00

The Comets new signing Bato Radoncic made an immediate impact for the Comets in his first game, as he scored two goals as the Comets continued their push towards a playoff spot with a 14-6 win.

Bato got his Comets career started fairly quickly, as he scored just over 4 minutes into the game to give Missouri the early lead. Tennant McVea would tie the game with under 4 minutes to go in the quarter. But with 21 seconds left, Geison was able to put the Comets back on top with another 2 point goal.

In the second quarter, the Comets continued to pressure the Sharx, but were only able to add 1 goal to their lead as Ryan Junge fired in a shot off a restart from Byron Alvarez.

The Sharx came out firing in the 3rd quarter, and pulled within a goal only 44 seconds into the second half on a goal by Gary Brooks. Around the midpoint of the quarter, the Comets restored their 2 goal lead again off a restart as Vahid Assadpour found Tiguinho who fired his shot home to make it 8-4. Once again though, the Comets fell asleep after a goal, and less than a minute later it was again a 1 goal game as Matt Clare scored for Norfolk.

In the fourth quarter though the Comets put the game away. Bato scored a goal just over 3 minutes in to restore the 2 goal lead. Throughout the quarter the Sharx tried to find a way back into the game, but were unable to break down the Comets defense. With just over a minute left, the Comets basically ended the game as Geison scored his second of the game. Things didn't end there though, as Brian Harris got on the scoring sheet as well as the Comets won the ball off the ensuing kick off and Harris finished his opportunity.

The win puts the Comets at 10-8, 2 and a half games again of Wichita, who lost last night at home to Milwaukee 9-6.

New Byline To Back Post

2012-01-20T19:21:00.001-06:00

Another episode of From the Byline to the Back Post is available for your listening. This week Thad and I discussed the supplemental draft, more player movement, the US national team, and the Missouri Comets. Enjoy on both Posterous and iTunes.

Comets Sign Bato

2012-01-19T22:13:00.002-06:00

Sporting KC were not the only local team to announce a new signing today. The Missouri Comets also added a new player today, as they announced the signing of former Chicago Riot forward, Bato Radoncic. He's spent time in the US minor leagues and indoor games, mainly around the Milwaukee and Chicago area during his time here. Last season with the Riot, Bato was the 4th highest scorer in the league last season and was a first team all league selection. He adds more firepower to Missouri's front line and some needed size. Bato is apparently traveling with the team and will be available Saturday when they take on the Norfolk Sharx. Some highlights of Bato are below.

Sporting Announce Peterson Signing

2012-01-19T19:15:00.003-06:00

Yesterday's rumors about KC announcing the signing of Jacob Peterson turned from rumor to fact today as Sporting KC announced the signing of the 6 year MLS veteran. Peterson had been without a team since he was allowed to entry the re-entry draft by the San Jose Earthquakes. Peterson becomes the third player with a fairly long MLS career to join Kansas City this offseason, joining Bobby Convey and Paulo Nagamura. Of the 3, this really is the most underwhelming. Peterson in his 6th season has played just around 130 or so league games. In that time he's tended to play either as a wide forward or as a wide midfielder. During his career, he's scored 9 league goals. Four of those came in his rookie year, so in the last 5 he's averaged a goal a year. That's not the type of production you want from a guy you expect to spend time as a forward.

The big worry about the Indiana University product, is how much he is getting paid by KC. Last year, Peterson made $142,000 last year while splitting time with Toronto and San Jose. As I said last night this is going to be a deal breaker for me. Really Peterson hasn't done enough in this league to really strike me as a player that deserves the salary he's earning. I would hope that Peterson's new salary is somewhere between $42,000 and the $51,000 that Luke Sassano made this year. Anything more and I'm going to feel we over paid greatly for him and he'll have a lot more to prove that he's worth it.

Former SKC Wizards Update

2012-01-18T22:33:00.004-06:00

Here's another week of former SKC Wizards updates. First, came word last week that Craig Rocastle will not be playing for the Missouri Comets. Instead he has moved to Greece where he's joined his former club, Thrasyvoulos Fylis FC, who is currently at the bottom of the second division in Greece. In other news, Ryan Smith has come out with his side of what happened when he left KC. While I'm sure that his mother's illness had plenty to do with why he left, I'm just not sure the full story is actually out there. But I'm glad he seems to be getting things squared away.

In other news, Rauwshan McKenzie and Mike Jones are going about the process of finding new clubs. McKenzie is trialing with Chivas during preseason, while Jones appears on his way to Denmark for trialing. I'm sure other players will be showing up in team camps soon as well. Here's the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Mike Jones
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Amir Lowry
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Milos Stojcev
Shavar Thomas
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.
Adam Cristman - LA - Season is over.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Season is over.
Taylor Graham - Seattle - Season is over.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Season is over.
Frankie Hejduk - LA - Season is over.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Season is over.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Season is over.
Chris Konopka - MLS Pool keeper - Season is over.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Season is over.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Season is over.
Tyson Wahl - Montreal - Season is over.
Josh Wolff - DC - Season is over.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Season is over.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Out of season.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Out of season.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Out of season.
Neal Kitson - Rochester - Out of season.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Out of season.
Yomby William - Richmond - Out of season.
John Wilson - Charleston - Out of season.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Out of season.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Out of season.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Out of season.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Had an assist in Wichita's 10-9 win over Missouri.
Nick Garcia - Kansas Magic - Did not play in Kansas' 9-4 loss to Cincinnati. Did not play in Kansas' 10-7 loss to Detroit.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Played in Baltimore's 17-12 loss to Norfolk.
JT Murray - Louisville Lightning - Had 2 goals in Louisville's 15-4 win over Ohio. Scored 2 goals in Louisville's 10-7 loss to Detroit.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Placed on IR for the Comets
Yomby William - Norfolk SharX - Played in Norfolk's 17-12 win over Baltimore. Played in Norfolk's 12-11 win over Syracuse.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Did not play in Anaheim's 28-7 loss to Tijuana.

International
Vicente Arze - Diosgyor - Hungary - On winter break
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Started and played 81 minutes, setting up the PK and recording an assist in Cruz Azul's 2-0 win over Atlas.
Sunil Chhetri - Mohun Bagan - India - Did not play in Bagan's 3-2 win over Churchill Brothers.
Eloy Colombano - Defensores de Cambaceres - Argentina - Season over.
Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Did not play for Deportivo Cali.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - No game this week.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Dressed but did not play in Santos' 2-1 win over Atlante.
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - Honved - Hungary - On winter break.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - No game this week
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - Tied Alagoinhas Atletico Clube 3-3
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - on winter break.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - on winter break.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Season is over.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - On winter break.
Craig Rocastle - Thrasyvoulos Fylis FC - Greece - Started and played 84 minutes in Thrasyvoulos' 2-1 win over Panserraikos.
Matt Taylor - SC Paderborn 07 - Germany - On winter break.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - No game this week.

Player Contracts and Rumors

2012-01-18T18:28:00.002-06:00

Player news is starting to pick up a little bit for Sporting KC. The team today made two announcements on player news, and a new rumor has cropped up on another player.

First, after the announcement yesterday of the trade for Michael Thomas' rights, the team today announced that they had signed the Olathe native to a contract. Probably the least surprising of the news that came out today. With the trade yesterday for his rights you knew an announcement on his signing was going to come in the next few days. As mentioned previously, Thomas was drafted by San Jose in 2010 but instead went to Sweden, playing with Halmstads and Ljungskile.

Last night I questioned why KC had to give up a draft spot for Thomas based on MLS' rules that players are only on the "college protected list" for two years. So that should have expired on December 31st, 2011. But apparently San Jose offered Thomas a contract, thereby retaining his MLS rights permanently. Thus requiring the trade.

In other player news today, Seth Sinovic was signed to a new contract. An absolutely deserved upgrade for Sporting's starting left back. One would assume that new contract is going to come with a decent bump in salary as well since Sinovic was only making $32,604 last year. A good move by Peter Vermes and KC to lock up a key part of their defense.

Finally a new rumor from Tod Palmer with the KC Star. Apparently KC is also about to announce the signing of 6 year MLS veteran, Jacob Peterson. Peterson, has appeared in 130 or so matches in his 6 year MLS career. The majority of those from 2006 through 2009 when he was with Colorado, where he appeared 92 times. After that he spent the 2010 and part of last season with Toronto before moving on to San Jose later that year. Peterson made one appearance for the Earthquakes and at the end of the season was made available in the re-entry draft, but was not selected. In his 6 years, Peterson has scored 9 goals in MLS play.

Put me in the category of not really liking this move. I've seen plenty of Peterson over the past few years playing in this league and I'm really not impressed. Now one would assume that should Peterson actually be signed he'll take a pay cut. It should probably be pretty hefty though, as Peterson earned $142,000 last year. For this to be a move that is worth it for me, Peterson needs to have close to $100,000 cut off of that salary before I even consider this move decent. He's not proven anything to me over the last few years that he's worth anywhere near that much.

Zusi Scores Again for US in Scrimmage

2012-01-18T18:11:00.003-06:00

Last night the US national team once again scrimmaged the US under 23 team in Carson, California. And once again for the US, Graham Zusi got a goal as the US tied 1-1 with their U-23 counterparts.

Teal Bunbury and CJ Sapong were also involved in the game. Bunbury spent the first half on the field with the U23 team, as they continue to prepare for Olympic qualifying. In the second half Bunbury moved over to the full national team and partnered KC teammate, Sapong up top. Below are the highlights, including Zusi's goal, which is just after the 2 minute mark.

KC Select 4 in the Supplemental Draft

2012-01-17T20:21:00.005-06:00

Today was the second MLS draft, there was no ball room in Kansas City for the draft though. The Supplemental Draft took place on a conference call and took about as long as half the first round of the SuperDraft. After trading for Michael Thomas' rights, KC only had 4 picks, 1 in the first and second, and 2 in the third. In the first round, KC grabbed Shawn Singh, a defender/midfielder from UCLA. Singh can play left back and would provide cover and compete with Seth Sinovic and potentially Bobby Convey in the left back position.

In the second round, KC looked to add some depth to their midfield by bringing in St. John's midfielder, Pablo Punyed. According to Peter Vermes, Punyed is a two way midfielder that can do well in the offensive half of the field with his passing. He'd seem to provide depth in the box-to-box position in KC's midfield.

With their two third round picks, KC went back to improving their defense. First they grab Stefan Antonijevic, a 6'6" center back from Valparaiso. Antonijevic provides a big body to compete for a spot on the back line. He also has spent some time with the Serbian U-19 team while he was in college. Never a bad thing to have a kid that has a little international experience. With their last pick, KC went with a local kid, drafting Kyle Miller from Rockhurst University. Miller, another defender, is a local kid who grew up in KC and spent time with Sporting KC's juniors team. As for why KC had to draft Miller instead of filing a youth claim on him probably is because he didn't spend 2 years in the Juniors system.

I do have to apologize to Miller straight away, because with me he's probably not going to get much of a fair shake. It's no fault of his own unfortunately, it's the situation around his selection. And it's all personal so I apologize. For those that don't know, my brother, Matt Kuhn was also available in the draft. I would have loved for him to have been selected by KC. Like Miller he spent time with Sporting KC's juniors team. Kuhn though ended up getting drafted 10 picks after Miller by DC United. Like Miller, Kuhn didn't spend enough time in the Juniors system to qualify as a home grown player. My club allegiances won't be changing, I still love Sporting, but (and I'm shocking myself saying this) I will be cheering for DC should my brother make the team (except when they play SKC). That all said, I also hope Miller proves me wrong.

Sporting Acquire Rights to Michael Thomas

2012-01-17T19:09:00.003-06:00

The process that brought him in was a little unexpected, but the end result really wasn't. Today, Sporting KC acquired the rights to former San Jose Earthquakes draft pick, Michael Thomas for a 4th round Supplemental draft pick, the 73rd overall. The fact that Sporting had to give something to San Jose for Thomas is the surprising part.

I'm not sure why KC had to give up a draft pick for Thomas. Thomas was originally drafted by the Quakes in the second round of the 2010 MLS Superdraft. According to MLS' rules, San Jose held his rights through 2 December 31st's. This means their rights to Thomas expired on December 31st, 2011. So the question becomes why Sporting had to give up anything to get the rights to Thomas?

The rule states: "Unless claimed on waivers, a player who was drafted by a particular team through the SuperDraft or supplemental draft and did not sign with the League, is placed on that team’s “College Protected List” until the second December 31 following the draft in question, after which the team loses the rights to the player."

So it doesn't make sense why a trade had to be made, unless the trade was officially made last year and just not announced until today.

The unsurprising part is that KC was looking to acquire Matt Besler's college roommate. Thomas had played for KC in the last reserve league game of the season last year against FC Dallas. And rumors out of Sweden had been linking the midfielder with a move back to the US. Thomas will very likely be in camp once preseason starts for KC.

Busy Week for SKC

2012-01-16T22:03:00.003-06:00

It's going to be a busy week for KC in the last week of the offseason. There's plenty of information that looks like it will be coming out this week. Let's take a look real quick chronologically.

Tomorrow, as I posted earlier today is the Supplemental Draft. KC will possibly add 5 more players that would be coming into preseason this year.

Some time this week it sounds like we will be getting more announcements as well. Last week Robb Heineman Tweeted that the team was working on 3 contracts, 1 new player and 2 renewals. Those signings were not announced last week obviously, and when questioned on when we'd possibly see those signings announced, Heineman announced that they'd "probably 2-3 announcements next week." There's plenty of speculation that not only KC, but other MLS teams will be making player announcements tomorrow, so it's possible that KC could be one of those teams, making some announcement tomorrow. Either way, I'd probably expect the announcements to be made on Tuesday or Wednesday this week.

The reason for that is because on Thursday preseason for Sporting KC officially get under way. Players will have their entry physicals on that date. Most players seem to already be in town, and those that aren't should be in town probably tomorrow. After the physicals on Thursday, the team will get down to business on Friday with their first training session. And you can bet that one of the things that is likely to occur on the first day of training is the dreaded beep test. Along with all the players and draft picks I'm sure we're going to see trialists 1 through 52 in camp. Although maybe not all at the same time.

Supplemental Draft Tomorrow

2012-01-16T15:47:00.002-06:00

The second MLS draft is coming up tomorrow, the Supplemental Draft is going to take place via conference call. Sporting KC hold 5 picks in the 4 round draft. KC have the 16th, 35th, 43rd, 54th, and 73rd picks in the draft tomorrow. KC currently has 27 players on their roster, although some players will still have to earn contracts, particularly Cyprian Hedrick who has not signed a contract as yet with the team. So let's take Hedrick out of the conversation right now. If KC waives no one between now and the start of the season, there are 4 open roster spots as of this time. There's already 1 known player trying to make the roster (Hedrick), and 5 more could be joining the team come Thursday, and that's not even counting the other players coming in. And it's also not counting the likely signing of Michael Thomas.

There's some talent still out there for selection including guys like D-mids, Andy Rose and Kirk Urso, and winger/forward, Evans Frimpong. And for selfish reasons, my brother Matt Kuhn, a midfielder from Drake is also available. It'll be interesting to see who Sporting select with the picks. For historical reasons I'm reposting a portion of a post I previously did on the history around KC's picks. Here's a look at those picks for KC that would fall into the Supplemental Draft this year:

FIFTY-FOURTH PICK
2000 - Brian Waltrip - Tampa
2001 - Shaun Tsakiris - New England
2002 - Jeremy Piette - Dallas
2003 - Ryan Futagaki - Chicago
2004 - Edwin Miranda - Dallas
2005 - Jason Hernandez - New York
2006 - Christopher Joyce - Dallas
2007 - Desmond Brooks - Chivas
2008 - Austin Washington - Chicago
2009 - Raphael Cox - Salt Lake
2010 - Dane Saintus - Dallas
2011 - Alan Koger - New England

Jason Hernandez is about the only consistent MLS player on this list, he's played almost 150 league games for New York, Chivas, and San Jose. Every other player at this pick has had little more than a few token appearances in league play.

SEVENTY-THIRD PICK
2005 - Noah Palmer - Salt Lake
2006 - Lawson Vaughn - Chivas
2007 - Osei Telesford - Chicago
2008 - Tino Nuñez - Salt Lake
2009 - Joe Anderson - Vancouver

All but Anderson have made some league appearances for their club, Lawson Vaughn is probably the most well known of the 5 previous players drafted at this spot, making about 50 combined appearances with Chivas and DC.

EIGHTY-FIRST PICK
2005 - Easton Wilson - New England
2006 - Keith Cauldwell - Colorado
2007 - Chris Konopka - Kansas City
2008 - Vicente Arze - Kansas City
2011 - Yannick Salmon - Chicago

None of these players made much of any appearances, Konopka's first league appearance came this past year as a league keeper playing for New York. Overall Vicente Arze's probably been the best talent at this pick and all his success has been outside MLS with Vancouver in the USL, Bolivia, and Hungary.

NINETY-SECOND PICK
2005 - Chris Lee - Columbus
2006 - PASS - Houston
2007 - Tyler Hemming - Toronto
2008 - Ben Shuleva - Dallas
2011 - Taylor Mueller - Portland

Hemming made a handful of appearances for Toronto in their first few years in the league. He's also bounced around the lower leagues. Not much at all at this pick, evident by the fact that Houston passed on this pick in 2006.

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH PICK
2008 - PASS - New England

The only other time there's been a 111th pick in the drafts was in 2008 and the Revolution passed on that pick. So very good chances this player doesn't make the team, if KC even uses this pick. They could pass like New England.

Comets Lose Back and Forth Game with Wings

2012-01-15T11:58:00.002-06:00

Last night in the Missouri Comets' game against the Wichita Wings was the epitome of a back and forth game. Neither team scored 2 goals in a row all night, and there was only one lead the entire game that was more than 1 point. Unfortunately for the Comets though, the Wings ended up getting the last goal and getting the 10-9 win in front of over 8,000 fans at the Sprint Center in downtown KC.

The first part of the first half was a fairly uneventful affair as the teams seemed to be feeling each other out. Neither team really created any chances. Just over 7 minutes into the first quarter though, the Comets ended up having to play a man down as Brian Harris got a blue card for a tripping penalty on a 2v1 break. The result of the play also gave the Wings a penalty shootout. Danny Waltman though came up with a big save on Victor Quiroz in the shootout. The good vibes though didn't last long though, as the Wings took advantage of the power play, as Frederico Moojen scored. Moojen had 3 chances at it, firing two shots right at Waltman before his third attempt he turned into the far corner to give the Wings the 2-0 lead. That lead would be the largest either team would have all night. The Comets controlled much of the run of play after the goal, but struggled to get good shots off. Late on in the half though, the Wings tried to clear their end. Geison cut off the clearance with a chest trap, he took one touch and then let loose with a blast from outside the yellow line that wrong footed Sanaldo with it's movement, and the Comets were up 3-2.

Early in the second quarter, the Wings would retake the lead. Less than 2 minutes into the quarter, Fausto fired in a shot past Waltman to reestablish the Wings advantage 4-3. The Comets continued their pressure again but couldn't find a goal. Midway through the half, the Comets got their first power play of the game as Quiroz was sent to the box for tripping. The Comets pressured throughout the penalty but as time wore on, it looked like the Comets wouldn't be able to take advantage of the man advantage. But with only 2 minutes left, the Comets got their goal. Some good ball movement saw the ball go from one side of the field to the other through Leo Gibson to Lucas Rodriguez, who fed Byron Alvarez. Alvarez's first shot was blocked, but he fired his rebound across the middle of the goal. The ball took a deflection past Sanaldo and into the net, putting the Comets back on top.

That lead though would last a grab total of 6 seconds as directly off the kick off, the Wings came right back down the field and scored, with Brian Cushing getting the goal. It's a problem that has plagued the Comets all season, defensive lapses after they've just scored, and again it cost them a goal as the Wings went up 6-5. The Comets though would retake the lead before the end of the half, with some nice build up again. John Sosa played a ball in to Alvarez who had posted up on his defender. Sosa continued his run and received the ball back from Alvarez. Sosa got Sanaldo to commit to him and passed up a good shot for a better one, as he laid the ball off to Vahid Assadpour who passed the ball into the net to go up 7-6 at the break.

Into the third quarter both teams found good chances hard to come by. The Comets though had the better of the chances, forcing some good saves out of Sanaldo. It was the Wings though that grabbed the lead on some poor defense from the Comets. Bryan Perez played a ball over the top to Daniel Villegas. Villegas and a teammate were both back in behind the Comets defense. Villegas collected the ball and slotted it past Waltman to restore the Wings 1 point lead at 8-7.

The fourth quarter saw the Comets pushing for a goal to put them back in front. Early on they were back on the power play as Sanaldo was given a blue card for punching the ball outside the box. Sanaldo tried to argue that he was still inside the box, but the goalkeeper was easily a good foot or two outside his box when he punched it. The Comets though couldn't capitalize on the opportunity. Soon enough though, the Comets did find themselves back on top. Once again it was some nice build up from the Comets as Alvarez was played in behind with Rodriguez in a 2v1 situation. Alvarez slid the ball across to Rodriguez who buried his shot and once again put the Comets on top 9-8. As the half wore down it looked like the Comets might just hand on. But with just under 3 minutes left, right when the Wings were looking to pull their goalkeeper, the Wings found another goal. Kevin Ten Eyck with his back to goal was able to turn and hit a volley that beat Waltman to his far post. So instead of the Wings going with a 6th attacker, it would end up being the Comets that pulled their goalkeeper. With the extra man, the Comets had quite a few chances to retake the lead as Alvarez, Geison, and Rodriguez all had good opportunities blocked on the line. In the end though the Comets couldn't find another goal and the Wings pulled off a big win, 10-9.

The loss dropped the Comets to 9-8, with the Wings are now 5-8. With 4 games in hand on the Comets, the Wings would seem to have a very good chance to try to catch their I-35 rival for the other Central Division playoff spot.

New From the Byline to the Back Post

2012-01-15T07:50:00.002-06:00

New podcast for you, draft review edition. Thad and I reviewed the draft, talked about the MLS schedule, Open Cup changes, national team call ups for Sporting and the Missouri Comets. Available on Posterous and iTunes.

Missouri Comets v Wichita Wings at Sprint Center PBP

2012-01-14T18:27:00.002-06:00

Here's play by play for tonight's game.

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=fd839b1465" >Comets v Wings PBP</a>

Bunbury and Zusi Score for the US in Scrimmage

2012-01-14T09:47:00.003-06:00

Last night, the US men's national team took on the US under 23 team in a scrimmage in LA. Both teams are currently involved in camps. The US team for their upcoming games against Venezuela and Panama, and the U23's as they continue to prepare for their upcoming Olympic qualifying. Three Sporting KC players appeared for the full national team last night. Graham Zusi started for the US team. Teal Bunbury came in around the 30th minute for an injured Juan Agudelo. CJ Sapong was a half time substitution, coming on for Chris Wondolowski. All the scoring for the US team came in the first half as they cruised to a 4-0 win. Wondolowski opened the scoring, followed by Benny Feilhaber. Then the KC players got themselves involved. Bunbury grabbed the USA's 3rd goal before Zusi finished off the scoring off an assist from Brek Shea. The US will continue to train before heading to take on Venezuela in Arizona a week from today. Then they'll be in Panama next Wednesday the 25th.

Sporting KC Select Two in SuperDraft

2012-01-12T20:51:00.003-06:00

Today at Bartle Hall in Kansas City, Sporting KC added two new players to their roster ahead of the start of preseason next week. Not needing to draft a specific player that would be required to come in and fill a need, KC was able to look a few different directions with their pick at number 16 and even at pick number 30. There were a few positions that could use some depth. KC seemed to address their depth needs with the two picks.

With the 16th overall draft, KC appeared to get a very good steal that late in the draft. KC was able to grab 21 year old, Generation Adidas forward, Dom Dwyer from South Florida. Dwyer was a late signing to this year's Generation Adidas class, signing only a few days before the combine actually started. The Englishmen scored 16 goals in 20 appearances in his junior year at South Florida. the 5'9" forward has the strength to play with his back to goal, but would seem more destined to play a bit more wide in KC's system. But could see himself playing centrally as well, as Peter Vermes likes to have his forwards rotate positioning.

Some people are asking why Vermes went with a forward in the first round for the 3rd straight year, when KC could look to fill other spots on their roster. With Dwyer added to the forward line with Teal Bunbury, CJ Sapong, Soony Saad, Kei Kamara, possibly Bobby Convey and Birahim Diop, and any other potential signings, and the forward line is getting pretty crowded. But there are a few reasons why the Dwyer pick makes sense for KC. First, Dwyer is going to be cap exempt, he's not going to count against KC's senior roster and his salary isn't going to count against the cap either. Second, with Bunbury is likely to miss time this summer with the US Olympic team in London and Sapong on the USMNT radar now, there's the possibility of one or both being gone at any one time. Without one of them, you're depth is wearing thing. Remember KC plays with 3 forwards, if one is gone, or injured, your forward depth goes down pretty quickly, so having another forward isn't a bad thing. As has been said a few times about the 4-3-3, you can never have too many forwards.

The other worry in regards to Dwyer was his international status. The question was whether he was going to take up a precious international spot on KC's roster. Currently KC is utilizing 6 of their 7 international spots after trading one to San Jose in the Bobby Convey trade. Dwyer IS going to take up an international spot. What that means is that KC is at this time utilizing all 7 of their available international spots. Korede Aiyegbusi, Julio Cesar, Aurelien Collin, Daneil Cyrus, Peterson Joseph, and Jimmy Nielsen are the other 6. This, though, shouldn't bother you as much when it comes to the potential DP signing. A few of these guys are closing in on green cards. Particularly Aiyegbusi and Nielsen should be close to getting their GC's. Aiyegbusi in particular should really be trying to get his green card, if he doesn't then he would seem a prime candidate to be on his way out.

In the second round, KC grabbed a player that will hopefully fill the depth at center back need. KC grabbed Costal Carolina defender, Cyprian Hedrick. Hedrick was listed as a midfielder when in college, but Vermes sees him as more of a center back at the professional level. Hedrick hadn't been invited to the MLS combine, but does seem to fit some of the things that Vermes likes in a defender, having the ability to control and pass the ball well. The below video shows some of those things. The other things that some fans have said in regards to the video is that Hedrick reminds some people of Julio Cesar's composure and poise on the ball. He's a fairly unknown for most people and like a few of Vermes' previous draft picks. At this point for me, he's earned the benefit of doubt of with a few of his picks when he's been able to do fairly well in the draft.

MLS SuperDraft PBP

2012-01-12T13:26:00.000-06:00

Here's today's PBP of the SuperDraft

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=94f0345727" &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;MLS Superdraft PBP&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

With 30th Pick KC Select

2012-01-12T13:25:00.002-06:00

With the 30th pick, KC selected defender, Cyprian Hedrick. Hedrick is a 6 foot center back from Costal Carolina University. Like Dom Dwyer, he is a junior college transfer to CCU. He is the CB depth that I thought we needed.

Sporting KC Select Dwyer

2012-01-12T12:26:00.002-06:00

For the 3rd year in a row in the first round of the MLS draft, KC selected a forward. This year KC selected Generation Adidas forward from South Florida, Dom Dwyer. The native of Lonodon, England is smaller than KC's last two forward, Dwyer is 5'9", but another good addition to the team. Will have more, including quotes, later tonight.

New US Open Cup Format

2012-01-11T21:58:00.002-06:00

Today, US Soccer has announced changes to the US Open Cup that had been rumored for a few months. Plenty of changes have been made to the format and the design of the tournament. As a whole, all the moves that were made I would say were for the better.

First, all 32 professional teams in the United States will be competing in the tournament. That means all 16 MLS teams qualify for the tournament proper, no more qualifying for MLS teams. Not that it totally matters for KC this year as they would have been in the tournament proper automatically, but I like the fact that there are no longer qualifying games for the teams in the countries top division.

The second, and possibly the biggest change is the bidding process. US Soccer has changed the bidding process for the first round through the quarterfinals. Instead of teams bidding to host the game, the first round through the quarterfinals, teams will apply to host, and if both teams meet the USSF qualifications, there will be a blind draw. The semifinals and finals though will still use the same bidding process that had been used in the past.

The tournament will start on May 15th with the 32 amateur teams. The second round is on the 22nd, when the 16 NASL and USL Pro teams enter the tournament. Sporting KC and the rest of the US based MLS teams will enter the tournament in the third round on May 29th. That will be two days after Sporting host San Jose in a game on NBC Sports. The next round should KC advance would be on June 4th. The good news for KC is that KC's next league game after the 27th against San Jose is on the 16th. The quarterfinals would be on 6/26, the semifinals 7/10, and the finals would be on 8/7 or 8/8. A very condensed schedule this year for the cup.

Read the post from TheCup.us, the unofficial home for the US Open Cup for lots more information on the new format.

Former SKC Wizards Update

2012-01-11T21:32:00.004-06:00

Here's this week's former SKC Wizards update for you.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Amir Lowry
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Milos Stojcev
Shavar Thomas
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.
Adam Cristman - LA - Season is over.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Season is over.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Season is over.
Frankie Hejduk - LA - Season is over.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Season is over.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Season is over.
Mike Jones - New York - Season is over.
Chris Konopka - MLS Pool keeper - Season is over.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Season is over.
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Season is over.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Season is over.
Tyson Wahl - Montreal - Season is over.
Josh Wolff - DC - Season is over.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Season is over.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Out of season.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Out of season.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Out of season.
Neal Kitson - Rochester - Out of season.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Out of season.
Yomby William - Richmond - Out of season.
John Wilson - Charleston - Out of season.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Out of season.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Out of season.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Out of season.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Played in Wichita's 13-10 loss to Missouri.
Nick Garcia - Kansas Magic - No game this week.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Played in Baltimore's 21-6 win over Syracuse. Played in Baltimore's 8-5 win over Rochester.
JT Murray - Louisville Lightning - Had 3 goals and 1 assist in Louisville's 15-5 win over Illinois.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Placed on IR for the Comets
Craig Rocastle - Comets - Did not play in either of Missouri's games.
Yomby William - Norfolk SharX - Did not have a game this week.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Had a goal and 3 assists in Anaheim's 14-13 loss to Tijuana. Had 2 assists in Anaheim's 13-6 loss to San Diego.

International
Vicente Arze - Diosgyor - Hungary - On winter break
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Started and played 82 minutes in Cruz Azul's 1-1 draw with Tigres.
Sunil Chhetri - Mohun Bagan - India - No game this week.
Eloy Colombano - Defensores de Cambaceres - Argentina - Season over.
Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Did not play for Deportivo Cali.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - No game this week.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 16 minutes in Santos' 0-0 draw with Pachuca.
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - Honved - Hungary - On winter break.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - No game this week
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - No game this week.
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - on winter break.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - on winter break.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Season is over.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - On winter break.
Matt Taylor - SC Paderborn 07 - Germany - On winter break.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Tied Police United 1-1.

LIVESTRONG Finalist for All Star Game?

2012-01-10T19:31:00.003-06:00

Photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson

Reports out of Philadelphia today are that the bidding to host the 2012 all star game is down to the final two. Union blog, The Brotherly Game is reporting that PPL Park and LIVESTRONG Sporting Park are the two finalists, beating out BC Place of Vancouver and Saputo Stadium in Montreal. Some reports out of Philadelphia are that PPL Park has already won the bid to host the game, but the Brotherly Game article indicates that nothing has been decided.

It'd be cool to have the All Star game in KC. KC is only original city in MLS to not host either MLS Cup or the All Star game so it'd be nice for KC to finally host one of the marquee events of the league.

Most Starts for KC

2012-01-09T18:26:00.003-06:00

More stats updates for you on Sporting KC. This time it's the most starts for KC in league play and in all competitions.

League
Kerry Zavagnin - 228
Nick Garcia - 224
Davy Arnaud - 213
Jimmy Conrad - 203
Preki - 199
Chris Klein - 183
Jack Jewsbury - 142
Mo Johnston - 142
Josh Wolff - 128
Matt McKeon - 126
Tony Meola - 125
Michael Harrington - 119
Jose Burciaga - 110
Diego Gutierrez - 108
Uche Okafor - 107
Sean Bowers - 104
Matt Besler - 68
Roger Espinoza - 67
Jimmy Nielsen - 60
Kei Kamara - 55
Chance Myers - 37
Graham Zusi - 34
Teal Bunbury - 33
Julio Cesar - 25
CJ Sapong - 22
Aurelien Collin - 21
Seth Sinovic - 20
Birahim Diop - 15
Luke Sassano - 5
Eric Kronberg - 4
Korede Aiyegbusi - 3
Daneil Cyrus - 1

Matt Besler and Roger Espinoza have a chance to make it to the 100 starts club next season, but they need to start almost every single game for Sporting this coming season.

All Competitions
Kerry Zavagnin - 281
Nick Garcia - 272
Davy Arnaud - 234
Preki - 229
Jimmy Conrad - 228
Chris Klein - 216
Jack Jewsbury - 162
Matt McKeon - 159
Mo Johnston - 157
Tony Meola - 156
Josh Wolff - 144
Diego Gutierrez - 135
Michael Harrington - 133
Jose Burciaga - 123
Uche Okafor - 116
Sean Bowers - 113
Bo Oshoniyi - 105
Mark Chung - 103
Sasha Victorine - 102
Kevin Hartman - 100
Matt Besler - 78
Roger Espinoza - 76
Jimmy Nielsen - 63
Kei Kamara - 61
Chance Myers - 45
Graham Zusi - 40
Teal Bunbury - 40
Julio Cesar - 28
Aurelien Collin - 27
CJ Sapong - 26
Seth Sinovic - 24
Birahim Diop - 17
Eric Kronberg - 12
Luke Sassano - 9
Korede Aiyegbusi - 4
Daneil Cyrus - 1

An easier task for Besler and Espinoza to make the 100 start list. As with the above list, Michael Harrington is the only active player on the list that has hit 100 starts in all competitions for KC.

Michael Thomas in Final Contract Negotiations?

2012-01-08T21:50:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago, comments were made publicly about Michael Thomas coming to Kansas City. As mentioned previously, the Notre Dame grad has played with multiple members of Sporting KC, including Matt Besler and Seth Sinovic. Word out of Sweden is that Thomas will definitely not be returning to club, Ljungskile SK. Reports also say that Thomas is in the final stages of negotiations with the Wizards. He'd become the 5th KC player on the roster with the previously mentioned Besler and Sinovic, and home grown players Kevin Ellis and Jon Kempin.

Thomas was drafted in the second round of the 2010 MLS Superdraft by San Jose. Instead of signing with the Earthquakes though, Thomas went abroad to Sweden. When a team drafts a player in MLS, that club holds his MLS rights for 2 seasons. When the calender switched over to 2012, San Jose's claim to Thomas expired, meaning that KC was free to work on signing the midfielder. As it stands right now, Thomas would become the 3rd new player this offseason (I'm not totally counting the re-acquisition of Sinovic from Montreal).

Most Appearances

2012-01-08T21:13:00.002-06:00

More updating of stats for you, here is an updated list of players with over 100 appearances for Kansas City in league play and in all competitions. Also included in on this list is where the rest of the current roster stands in terms of appearances.

League

Davy Arnaud - 240
Kerry Zavagnin - 237
Nick Garcia - 224
Preki - 218
Jimmy Conrad - 204
Chris Klein - 200
Jack Jewsbury - 195
Mo Johnston - 149
Josh Wolff - 144
Matt McKeon - 144
Michael Harrington - 138
Tony Meola - 125
Chris Brown - 123
Diego Gutierrez - 119
Uche Okafor - 119
Jose Burciaga - 115
Francisco Gomez - 114
Sean Bowers - 111
Sasha Victorine - 106
Digital Takawira - 103
Roger Espinoza - 87
Matt Besler - 72
Kei Kamara - 65
Graham Zusi - 64
Jimmy Nielsen - 60
Chance Myers - 59
Teal Bunbury - 55
CJ Sapong - 34
Birahim Diop - 33
Julio Cesar - 27
Aurelien Collin - 23
Seth Sinovic - 20
Luke Sassano - 9
Korede Aiyegbusi - 8
Eric Kronberg - 5
Soony Saad - 4
Daneil Cyrus - 2
Lawrence Olum - 1
Peterson Joseph - 1

Davy Arnaud took over the number one spot on the list this season, but with his departure, Michael Harrington is the only player on the roster to appear in 100 games for KC. Roger Espinoza and Matt Besler both have good shots at hitting that mark this season though.

Now for the list in all competitions.

Kerry Zavagnin - 291
Davy Arnaud - 273
Nick Garcia - 273
Preki - 254
Chris Klein - 235
Jimmy Conrad - 230
Jack Jewsbury - 218
Matt McKeon - 183
Mo Johnston - 169
Josh Wolff - 165
Michael Harrington - 157
Tony Meola - 156
Chris Brown - 150
Diego Gutierrez - 147
Francisco Gomez - 141
Jose Burciaga - 130
Uche Okafor - 130
Sean Bowers - 120
Sasha Victorine - 114
Digital Takawira - 111
Bo Oshoniyi - 110
Mark Chung - 104
Shavar Thomas - 101
Kevin Hartman - 100
Roger Espinoza - 99
Matt Besler - 83
Kei Kamara - 73
Graham Zusi - 71
Chance Myers - 68
Jimmy Nielsen - 63
Teal Bunbury - 62
CJ Sapong - 40
Birahim Diop - 39
Julio Cesar - 30
Aurelien Collin - 29
Seth Sinovic - 24
Luke Sassano - 13
Eric Kronberg - 13
Korede Aiyegbusi - 10
Soony Saad - 6
Daneil Cyrus - 2
Kevin Ellis - 1
Lawrence Olum - 1
Peterson Joseph - 1

Shavar Thomas joined the list this year, but his and Arnaud's departure once again sees Harrington as the only player currently on the team with over 100 appearances. That will definitely change next season. In fact, 4-5 players could be joining the list next year, as Espinoza is only 1 appearance away. Besler is also very likely going to hit the mark. Kei Kamara and Graham Zusi are less than 30 games away, while Chance Myers is currently 32 away from the 100 mark.

Comets Win Turnpike Trophy

2012-01-08T13:15:00.003-06:00

The Missouri Comets wrapped up the Turnpike Trophy last night in Wichita taking out the Wings 13-10 to take the season series with a game remaining. KC now has 4 wins to Wichita's 1. Missouri opened the game quickly, as Brian Harris blasted a 3 point goal only 2 minutes into the game to give the Comets the lead. The Comets continued to push the game in the first quarter, but Harris' goal was the only goal in the quarter.

Into the second quarter, the two teams traded goals back and forth, but the 3 pointer from Harris remained the difference. Tijani Ayegbusi opened the scoring in the second quarter under 3 minutes in, cutting the lead to 3-2. The Comets restored their 3 point lead through Neto off an assist from Vahid Assadpour. Only about 30 seconds later, Frederico Moojen had the lead back to 1, 5-4. With less than 5 minutes left in the quarter, Byron Alvarez made it 7-4. Once again though, the Comets couldn't hold the lead for a long period of time as only 20 seconds later the Comets were only up by 1, as Alargie Jobe finished an opportunity.

In the second half, the Comets tried to hold onto their 1 point lead, but with under5 minutes left, Moojen got his second of the game. to give the Wings the lead 8-7.

It didn't take long in the fourth quarter for the Comets to jump back in front, just over 30 seconds into the half, Geison got a goal to put the Comets back on top. Just over half way through the half, the Wings once again jumped back in front as once again Moojen struck to make it 10-9 and complete his hattrick. The Comets pushed the game trying to find another goal to put them back on top. Finally with under 5 minutes left, Tiguinho found net putting the Comets back on top 11-10. As the game was winding down, the physicality continued and Jamar Beasley picked up a blue card, and before that penalty expired the Wings picked up another blue card to Edvin Worley that made it 5 on 3. The second penalty meant that MO would end the game on the power play. Before the first penalty expired, Geison fired in a shot that made it 13-10. With Missouri still on the power play though, it was hard for the Wings to get the 6th attacker out there and only finally did for the last few seconds when the Wings had a restart. The Comets though held off the opportunity and left Wichita with the trophy.

Wizards/Sporting Player Registry

2012-01-07T12:30:00.008-06:00

1/7/12 UPDATE: I've updated the list with the information that I've found lately.

One of my goals with my former Wizards updates I do was to keep people updated on how all the former Wizards around the world were doing. Recently I ended up trying to find the former Wizards again. Here is a list of every player listed in the Wizards registry in the media guide, along with Eric Frimpong, who the Wizards drafted but is not listed in the media guide. The list also includes goalkeepers that I assume were emergency league keepers at one time or another, because Preston Burpo for example was never officially on the Wizards roster so I have to assume he was an emergency addition for a game or two.

The status for each player is whether the player is still playing the game or not at some professional level. On some of the players it is my best guess. There are also some players who I was unable to get updates on, but I'm still trying. I will be updating this list with any updates I get on these players and the post is now linked over on the right under features. If you have any updates on former Wizards, please feel free to post a comment in this section or shoot me an email.

Bold players are currently with the team.

Player	Year	Status	currently
Aiyegbusi, Olukorede	10-	Active	Kansas City
Albert, Jay	04	Retired	living in Nashville
Allnut, Yari	96	Retired	NOMADS SC coach
Ammann, Mike	96-98	Retired	Twenty-Four Seven Goalkeeper Academy
Antonijevic, Stefan	12-	Active	Kansas City
Armstrong, Stephen	02-03	Active	Charleston Battery
Arnaud, Davy	02-11	Active	Montreal
Arze, Vicente	08	Active	Diósgyöri VTK (Hungary)
Auvray, Stephane	10-11	Active
Barber, Ryan	04	Retired
Baumhoff, Billy	96	Retired	Freshman coach CBC High School
Beasley, Jamar	10	Acitive	Wichita Wings
Besler, Matt	09-	Active	Kansas City
Bliss, Brian	98	Retired	Columbus Technical Director/ US U20 assistant coach
Bowers, Sean	96-99	Retired	San Diego Miramar College women's coach
Branan, Dustin	05	Retired	living in Minneapolis
Bravo, Omar	11	Active	Cruz Azul
Brown, Chris	99-03	Retired
Brunt, Chris	02-03	Active
Bunbury, Alex	99-00	Retired	MN Thunder Academy coach/The Sanneh Foundation board member
Bunbury, Teal	10-	Active	Kansas City
Burciaga Jr, Jose	01-07	Active	Individual Sports Solutions soccer instructor
Burns, Mike	01-02	Retired	New England Revolution Director of Soccer
Burpo, Preston	00	Retired	Goalkeeper coach Montreal Impact
Byaruhanga, Peter	00-01	Retired
Cardenas, Nick	10	Active
Carmichael, Byron	03	Active	Ocean City Nor'easters/Rutgers-Camden assistant women's coach
Caugherty, Ryan	05	Retire	working at Competitive Consulting
Causey, Jeff	96	Retired	working at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
Cesar, Julio	11-	Active	Kansas City
Chhetri, Sunil	10-11	Active	Mohun Bagan AC
Chung, Mark	96-98	Retired	Boca United coach
Collin, Aurelien	11-	Active	Kansas City
Colombano, Eloy	07-08	Active	Defensores de Cambaceres (Argentina)
Conrad, Jimmy	03-10	Retired	FSC analyst
Convey, Bobby	11-	Active	Kansas City
Cristman, Adam	09	Active	LA Galaxy
Cross, Matthew	01	Retired
Cyrus, Daneil	11-	Active	Kansas City
Da Silva, Nino	97-99	Retired	Sockers SC coach
Dancy, Jake	97-99	Retired	Greater Osceola SC coach
DeBrito, John	97-98	Retired	Living in Miami FL
Dedini, Randy	99	Retired	Sacramento State women's coach
Delgado, Cesar	99	Retired
DeMartin, Doug	09	Active
DePra, Dominic	02	Retired
Detter, Justin	04-05	Retired	Justin Detter Soccer Academy
Diffley, John	97	Retired	Sr. Associate AD at St. John's University
Diop, Birahim	10-	Active	Kansas City
Dobson, Daniel	06	Retired	Sachse Academy Director (Mustang FC), Daniel Dobson Private Soccer Training
Dotsenko, Ihor	00	Retired	Technical Director for Richmond Kickers Youth Soccer Club
Dwyer, Dom	12-	Active	Kansas City
Eichmann, Eric	96	Retired	Director of Coaching and Player Development for the Boca United
Ekeme, Samuel	96	Retired	Andromeda FC coach
Elcock, Edson	07	Active	Richmond Kickers
Ellis, Kevin	11-	Active	Kansas City
Enna, Luke	06	Retired	Coaching Ahwatukee Foothills Soccer Club
Erickson, Dane	02	Retired
Esocbar, Pablo	10	Active
Espinoza, Roger	08-	Active	Kansas City
Fabbro, Dario	02-03	Retired	living in New York
Farabi, Corey	06	Retired	living in Chicago
Fernandes, Narcisco	01	Retired
Figueroa, Vicente	99-00	Retired
Fogarty, Ken	99	Coach	Technical Director for Dallas Texans Houston Chapter
Friedland, Kevin	03	Active	NSC Minnesota Stars player/ Asst coach
Frimpong, Eric	07	Retired	incarcerated in California
Fuzetti, Mauro	10	Active
Gansler, Bob	99-06	Coach	staff coach for Elm Grove Soccer Club
Garcia, Nick	00-07	Active	Kansas Magic
Gil, Luis	10	Active	Real Salt Lake
Glasgow, Gary	00-02	Active	North East Stars
Godbolt, AJ	07	Active
Gomez, Francisco	99-04	Retired
Gomez, Herculez	08-09	Active	Santos Laguna
Goode, Taly	01	Retired	assistant coach Ohio State
Gough, Richard	97	Retired	living in San Diego
Graham, Taylor	03-04	Retired
Gray, Tom	08	Active	Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Green, Michael	99-02	Retired	Michael Green Soccer School, Loudoun soccer coach
Greenwood, Ricci	97	Retired	living in Seattle
Gregor, Andrew	01	Retired	Pacific University assistant coach
Groenwald, Matt	06	Retired
Guadarrama, Willy	07	Retired	living in Austin
Gutierrez, Diego	96-97, 02-05	Retired	Head of Scouting and Player Development for Philadelphia
Hamburger, Chris	06	Retired	Capital Soccer Association (NE)
Hannig, TJ	01	Retired
Hardy, Tom	98	Retired
Harrington, Michael	07-	Active	Kansas City
Harrington, Pat	96	Retired
Harris, Wolde	03	Retired	Jamaica Grass-Roots Football Co
Hartman, Kevin	07-09	Active	FC Dallas
Healey, Pat	08	Active	Baltimore Blast
Hedrick, Cyprian	12-	Active	Kansas City
Hejduk, Frankie	10	Active	LA Galaxy
Henderson, Chris	99-00	Retired	Technical Director for Seattle Sounders FC
Hercegfalvi, Zoltán	09-11	Active	Honved
Hesmer, Will	04-06	Active	Columbus Crew
Hirsig, Santiago	09-10	Active
Hohlbein, Aaron	07-10	Active	Fort Lauderdale Strikers
Hue, Jermaine	05-06	Active	Harbour View
Hunjak, Goran	98	Retired	President of Victory Soccer Camp
Hutton, Martin	05	Retired
Issacs, Peter	96	Retired	living in South Florida
Jakins, Tahj	00-01	Retired
Jeferson	11	Active	Bahia (Brazil)
Jewsbury, Jack	03-10	Active	Portland Timbers
John, Will	06-07	Active	NK Vinogradar
Johnson, Brian	97-01	Retired	Assistant Coach West Virginia
Johnson, Eddie	06-07	Active
Johnston, Mo	96-01	Retired
Jones, Mike	11	Active
Joseph, Peterson	11-	Active	Kansas City
Joy, Jake	97	Retired	Solar SC coach
Kalish, Kevin	99	Retired	SIU Edwardsville Mens' Coach
Kamara, Kei	09-	Active	Kansas City
Kartunen, Andrew	08	Retired	Harvard medical school
Kempin, Jon	10-	Active	Kansas City
Kitson, Neal	09	Active	Rochester Rhinos
Klein, Chris	98-05	Retired	Senior Director Academy & Special Projects LA Galaxy
Klopas, Frank	96-97	Retired	Technical Director/coach for Chicago Fire
Koetters, Kevin	96	Retired	Gardner Edgerton HS boys soccer coach
Konopka, Chris	07	Active	MLS pool keeper
Kostrov, Igor	10	Active	FC Tiraspol
Kounenakis, Nikos	10	Retired	Living in Chicago
Kraus, Michael	07-10	Active
Kronberg, Eric	06-	Active	Kansas City
Lagerwey, Garth	96	Retired	Technical Director for Real Salt Lake
Lalas, Alexi	99	Retired	ESPN analyst
Lascody, Douglas	05	Retired
Lassiter, Roy	00-02	Retired	Advancement Director, U11-U14 Albion SC (San Diego)
Latronica, Anthony	01	Retired	Air Force assistant coach
Lavin, Brian	02	Retired	Paul, Weiss law firm
Leathers, Jonathan	08-10	Active
Lopez, Claudio	08-09	Retired
Lorenz, Scott	11	Active
Lowe, Onandi	01	Retired
Lowery, Amir	07-08	Active
Marinelli, Carlos	07-08	Active	Universidad de San Martin
Marino, Pete	98	Retired	Treasure Coast Galleons assistant coach
Marquess, Matt	08-09	Retired
Mayard, Josué	02	Retired
McGinnis, Pat	05	Retired
McKenzis, Raushawn	08-09	Active
McKeon, Matt	96-98, 00-02	Retired
McMahen, Ryan	06-08	Active
Meola, Tony	99-04	Retired	Coaching youth baseball, GK1 CEO
Miller, Kyle	12-	Active	Kansas City
Minagawa-Webster, John	05	Retired
Mitchell, Jamel	97-98	Retired	living in Harrisburg
Molnar, Miklos	00	Retired	living in Denmark
Morsink, Kurt	07-09	Active	DC United
Movsisyan, Yura	06-07	Active	FC Krasnodar
Moxom, David	96	Retired
Mravec, Michal	11	Active
Murray, JT	11	Active	Louisville Lightning
Myers, Chance	08-	Active	Kansas City
Nagamura, Paulo	11-	Active	Kansas City
Newman, Ron	96-99	Coach
Nielsen, Jimmy	10-	Active	Kansas City
Noriega, Anthony	06	Active
Okafor, Uche	96-00	Retired	Deceased
Olum, Lawrence	11-	Active	Kansas City
Onalfo, Curt	07-09	Coach	LA Galaxy Assistant
Oshoniyi, Bo	00-06	Retired	Assistant coach at Penn State
Pardo, Boris	08-09	Active	Wizards Juniors goalkeeping coach/Missouri Comets
Peart, O'Neil	02	Retired	living in Chicago
Peters, Nyanforth	96	Retired
Peterson, Jacob	12-	Active	Kansas City
Pittman, Steve	97	Retired	coaching Broxburn Athletic F.C. in Scotland
Pizarro, Nelson	08-09	Active	San Diego Flash
Pore, Ryan	05-08	Active
Prampin, Alan	96	Retired	living in Tampa
Preki	96-00, 02-05	Retired
Prideaux, Brandon	99-01	Retired	Assistant coach U of Washington
Priestley, Akeem	09	Active	LA Blues
Punyed, Pablo	12-	Active	Kansas City
Quill, Eric	02-03	Retired	assistant coach U of Houston women's team
Raad, Sergei	06	Active	FC Jax Destroyers
Rambo, Rodney	98	Retired
Rasovic, Vuk	04	Retired	head coach at FK Teleoptik
Raybould, Ryan	05-07	Retired	law school at Notre Dame
Reasoner, Tommy	96	Retired
Rideout, Paul	98	Retired	KC Wizards Juniors Coach
Roberts, Brian	05-06	Retired	working at Lockton Inc./ KC Legends coach
Rocastle, Craig	10-11	Active	Missouri Comets
Rodriguez, Edmundo	97-98	Retired
Ruiz, Edwin	05	Retired
Saad, Soony	11-	Active	Kansas City
Sabanadzovic, Refik	98-99	Retired
Sanchez, Mario	98	Retired	Louisville assistant
Santel, Mark	01	Retired	Executive Director of St. Louis Scott Gallagher Soccer Club
Sapong, CJ	11-	Active	Kansas City
Sarkodie, Ofori	10	Active	finishing degree at Indiana
Sassano, Luke	10-	Active	Kansas City
Sawyer, Christopher	05	Retired	Justin Detter Soccer Academy
Scales, Sam	11	Active
Sealy, Scott	05-08	Active	San Jose Earthquakes
Sebwe, Dionysus	96	Retired	Deputy Minister for Operations for the Minister of Defense for Liberia
Shirley, Stephen	06	Retired
Silvera, Damian	97	Retired	deceased
Simutenkov, Igor	02-04	Retired	Assistant coach Zenit St. Petersburg
Singh, Shawn	12-	Active	Kansas City
Sinovic, Seth	11-	Active	Kansas City
Smith, Ryan	10-11	Active	Chivas USA
Snitko, Chris	96-99	Retired	real estate agent
Snow, Ken Publish Post	96	Retired
Sorber, Mike	96	Retired	Montreal Impact Assistant coach
Soto, Tony	99	Retired
Souter, Kevin	08-09	Retired	Co-ordinator for men's and women's soccer at Ryerson University
Spears, Mark	02	Retired
Stafford, Ben	01	Retired
Stephenson, Khari	04-05	Active	San Jose
Stojcev, Milos	11	Active
Sumiala, Antti	05	Retired	Sporting Director Porin Palloilijat
Takawira, Vitalis	96-99	Retired	youth coach Lake Country SC in WI
Talley, Carey	02-03	Retired
Taylor, Matt	04	Active	SC Paderborn 07
Thomas, Michael	12-	Active	Kansas City
Thomas, Shavar	04-06, 10-	Active
Thompson, Abe	08-09	Active	Fort Lauderdale
Tinsley, Ryan	97-99	Retired
Todd, Michael	07	Retired
Trujillo, Ivan	08	Active
Turner, Ryan	99	Retired
Udeh, Ike	97	Retired	Free Soccer Training Academy Founder
Uderitz, Scott	96-99	Retired	youth coach Snohomish United in Washington
van den Bergh, Dave	06	Retired
van Saun, Jesse	99	Retired	Soccer Plus Academy Training Staff
Vazquez, Jorge	03	Retired
Vermes, Peter	00-02	Retired	Technical director/coach for KC
Vermillion, Scott	98-99	Retired	KC Legends youth coach
Victorine, Sasha	05-08	Retired	working for Sporting KC
Wahl, Tyson	06-08	Active	Montreal Impact
Walsh, Diego	04-05	Active	TOT SC (Thailand)
Warzycha, Konrad	11-	Active	Kansas City
Watson, Lance	06-09	Active
Webster, Pablo	01	Retired
Wellington, Phil	96	Retired
William, Yomby	08	Active	Richmond Kickers/Norfolk Sharx
Wilson, John	99-00	Active	Charleston Battery
Winner, David	99	Retired
Wolff, Josh	03-06, 08-10	Active	DC United
Woodberry, Terry	96	Retired	Dallas Solar Youth coach
Wright, Paul	96-99	Active	Anaheim Bolts
Zavagnin, Kerry	00-08	Retired	assistant coach KC
Zotinca, Alex	03-06	Retired	FC Irvine youth coach
Zusi, Graham	09-	Active	Kansas City

Comets Fall to Wave

2012-01-07T09:44:00.002-06:00

The Missouri Comets found themselves in a position they've been in quite a few times this season, trailing by a few goals with little time left in the game. Last night in Milwaukee it was the 9 points as the Wave took an 11-2 lead early in the 4th quarter before the Comets made a comeback to cut the lead to 11-7 by the final whistle.

In the first couple minutes it looked like the Comets had come to play as the Wave were saved by an early shot off the bar. Things changed though quickly. Inside the last five minutes the Wave go two goals though that made it 4-0. The Comets pushed the game more, now trailing, but couldn't find a way to beat Nick Vorberg.

In the second, Missouri continued to push the game trying to get on the board as Milwaukee seemed a little content to kill the game off and strike on the counter. Finally late on in the half, Brian Harris finished off a chance on a pass from Bryon Alvarez to get the Comets on the board heading into the half down only 4-2.

In the third quarter the Wave started to pull away, a three pointer by Ian Bennett under 3 minutes into the half, and a 2 point goal by Pablo made it 9-2 through 3 quarters.

In the fourth quarter, the Comets continued to press while the Wave still looked to hit on the counter. Nine minutes into the 4th Greg Howes made it 11-2. At that time the Comets pulled Danny Waltman, going with the 6th attacker. Lucas Rodriguez made the score closer, hitting a 3 pointer with 12:50 gone in the 4th. Less than a minute later, Alvarez found the net from 2 point range to make it 11-7. The Comets though would get no closer, falling to the Wave 11-7. The team now flies home and will head to Wichita for a game tonight.

New From the Byline to the Back Post

2012-01-07T09:05:00.003-06:00

Back from the holiday break with a new episode of From the Byline to the Back Post. This week, Thad and I discussed call ups for Sporting KC players, the draft, the Missouri Comets, and other news. Available on both Posterous and iTunes.

Sporting KC Schedule Out

2012-01-05T20:17:00.002-06:00

Today MLS released the 2012 MLS schedule with the new unbalanced format. The full schedule is at the end of the post, but here are some thoughts and information on the schedule.

KC opens the season on the 10th of March against DC, it's the 7th time in KC's history that they've opened against DC. KC's record in those games is 4-2, including KC's 4-0 win in the season opener in 2010. It's also the second time that KC's last regular season game of the previous season and first game of the new season is against DC, it also happened in 2009-2010.

KC's home opener is on St. Patrick's Day against the New England Revolution.

KC plays 3 teams, New England, Chicago, and Toronto twice at home and once away.

KC plays 3 teams, Montreal, Columbus, and New York once at home and twice away.

KC plays DC and Philadelphia once at home and once away.

KC plays Dallas, LA, Salt Lake, and San Jose at home. KC plays Chivas, Portland, Vancouver, Colorado, and Seattle away. KC definitely got the better of this schedule, getting 3 of the top four teams in the West at home this year.

KC's last game against the Western Conference is June 20th at Seattle. That's 14 games into the season, the final 20 games of Sporting KC's season is against the Eastern Conference. KC will have no one to blame but themselves if they don't make the playoffs with that many games in a row against direct opponents.

KC has 7 games on national television. All 7 are at home. KC hosts the Galaxy on 4/7 and New York on 8/26 on ESPN 2. KC hosts San Jose on 5/27, Chicago on 6/29, Houston on 9/14, and Chicago on 9/28 on NBC Sports, they also host Dallas on 3/25 on Galavision. Quite a few more than last year's regular season.

KC only has one week night game, the season finale against Philadelphia.

MLS Cup is now in December. the MLS Cup final will be on December 1st. Could be interesting weather if a "cold weather" city team is the highest ranked team.

Here's KC's full schedule
Sat., March 10 - at D.C. United - 6:30pm
Sat., March 17 - NEW ENGLAND - 7:30pm
Sun., March 25 - FC DALLAS - 6:00pm - Galavision
Sun., April 1 - at Chivas USA - 8:00pm
Sat., April 7 - LA GALAXY - 4:00pm - ESPN2
Sat., April 14 - REAL SALT LAKE - 7:30pm
Wed., April 18 - at Vancouver - 9:00pm
Sat., April 21 - at Portland - 9:30pm
Sat., May 5 - MONTREAL - 7:30pm
Sat., May 12 - at Chicago - 7:30pm
Sat., May 19 - at Colorado - 8:00pm
Sun., May 27 - SAN JOSE - 3:30pm - NBCSN
Sat., June 16 - TORONTO FC - 7:30pm
Wed., June 20 - at Seattle - 9:00pm
Sat., June 23 - at Philadelphia - 6:00pm
Fri., June 29 - CHICAGO - 7:00pm - NBCSN
Wed., July 4 - at Montreal - 6:30pm
Sat., July 7 - HOUSTON - 7:30pm
Sat., July 14 - at Columbus - 6:30pm
Wed., July 18 - at Houston - 7:30pm
Sat., July 21 - NEW ENGLAND - 7:30pm
Sat., July 28 - COLUMBUS - 7:30pm
Sat., August 4 - at New England - 6:30pm
Sat., August 11 - D.C. UNITED - 7:30pm
Sat., August 18 - at Toronto FC - 3:30pm
Sun., August 26 - NEW YORK - 8:00pm - ESPN2
Sat., Sept. 1 - TORONTO FC - 7:30pm
Fri., Sept. 14 - HOUSTON - 7:30pm - NBCSN
Wed., Sept. 19 - at New York - 6:00pm
Sat., Sept. 22 - at Montreal - 12:00pm
Fri., Sept. 28 - CHICAGO - 7:30apm - NBCSN
Sun., Oct. 7 - at Columbus - 3:00pm
Sat., Oct. 20 - at New York - 6:00pm
Wed., Oct. 24 - PHILADELPHIA - 7:30pm

Former SKC Wizards Update

2012-01-04T22:17:00.005-06:00

Another week of former SKC Wizards updates, some extra news this week as well. By now you've heard about Craig Rocastle signing with the Missouri Comets, but there's other news as well. Eddie Johnson's club career continues to spiral down for him, as he's already out at Puebla in Mexico. Apparently the forward failed his physical and was not fit and was released basically 2 days after showing up in Mexico. Not the direction you want your club career to be going in. Another former Wizard though moving in the other way, is Yura Movsisyan could be moving on again. The latest rumor has Movsisyan linked with a move to England and 3rd place side Tottenham. Finally, former player and interim head coach, Brian Bliss has picked up a second job along with being Crew GM. Bliss has also been named as an assistant coach on the US U-20 team. He will server as an assistant under Tab Ramos. There aren't a lot of other players playing right now, mainly it's those that are playing indoor. Here's the update.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Milos Stojcev
Shavar Thomas
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.
Adam Cristman - LA - Season is over.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Season is over.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Season is over.
Frankie Hejduk - LA - Season is over.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Season is over.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Season is over.
Mike Jones - New York - Season is over.
Chris Konopka - MLS Pool keeper - Season is over.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Season is over.
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Season is over.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Season is over.
Tyson Wahl - Montreal - Season is over.
Josh Wolff - DC - Season is over.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Season is over.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Amir Lowery - Montreal - Season is over.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Out of season.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Out of season.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Out of season.
Neal Kitson - Rochester - Out of season.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Out of season.
Yomby William - Richmond - Out of season.
John Wilson - Charleston - Out of season.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Out of season.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Out of season.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Out of season.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Scored a goal in Wichita's 12-10 win over Missouri.
Nick Garcia - Kansas Magic - No game this week.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Scored a goal in Baltimore's 9-4 win over Milwaukee.
JT Murray - Louisville Lightning - Scored 2 goals in Louisville's 9-3 loss to Cincinnati.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Placed on IR for the Comets
Craig Rocastle - Comets - Just signed with the team.
Yomby William - Norfolk SharX - Scored a goal in Norfolk's 18-16 win over Rochster. Played in Norfolk's 23-13 loss to Syracuse. Played in Norfolk's 24-11 loss to Rochester.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - No game this week.

International
Vicente Arze - Diosgyor - Hungary - On winter break
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Clausura has not started.
Sunil Chhetri - Mohun Bagan - India - Did not play in Bagan's 2-1 loss to Pune FC.
Eloy Colombano - Ferro Carril Sud - Argentina - Season over.
Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Did not play for Deportivo Cali.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Clausura has not started.
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - Honved - Hungary - On winter break.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - No game this week
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - On break.
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - on winter break.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - on winter break.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Season is over.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - On winter break.
Matt Taylor - SC Paderborn 07 - Germany - On winter break.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - No game this week.

Comets Sign Former SKC Player Rocastle

2012-01-04T18:21:00.003-06:00

News started to leak out last night on through Thad, and today it was officially announced that the Missouri Comets have added to their roster by signing former Sporting KC midfielder, Craig Rocastle. Rocastle had been waived by Sporting at the end of this past season after two years with the club. Rocastle should be available for Friday's match up against Milwaukee and then in Wichita to take on the Wings on Saturday.

Rocastle certainly gives the Comets an interesting addition. Rocastle gives the Comets a calm and composed midfielder. But indoor isn't always a calm and composed game, it's a very fast paced game. It'll be interesting to see how Rocastle adjusts to the change in style the indoor game provides. The other question would probably have to do with Rocastle's knees, but the big thing he does provide is a large amount of experience and a big imposing body to help man up on some of the bigger players in the league.

Daneil Cyrus in Trinidad Training Squad for Olympic Qualifying

2012-01-03T23:01:00.003-06:00

H/T to The Front Men

Trinidad and Tobago has named their training squad in preparations for the Olympic qualifying coming up in March. Sporting KC defender, Daneil Cyrus has been named to the TnT squad that is currently training in Port of Spain in Trinidad. The team is preparing to be in Group B of Olympic qualifying with Honduras, Panama, and Mexico in Los Angeles which begins on March 22nd. Should Trinidad finishing as one of the top two teams, they'll qualifying for the semifinals in Kansas City with a chance to qualify for the 2012 London games. Before going to LA though, Trinidad ends this camp with a friendly against the Finland national team.

MLS Schedule Coming Soon

2012-01-03T22:09:00.003-06:00

It sounds like we won't have to wait much longer for the 2012 MLS schedule to come out. It seems that the league has the schedule finalized and will be putting it out hopefully later this week. KC is set to have their home opener on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, other than that, the schedule isn't really known.

Today though, a little has been cleared up it seems. Canadian Soccer News has gotten a leaked copy of Toronto FC's schedule. The leak does give a little information into Sporting KC's schedule. If the schedule is true, KC will play Toronto two times this year on August 18th and September 1st. The schedule though lists both games as being at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, which appears to be a mistake because Toronto has 18 away games listed on that schedule and only 16 home games. One of those games will be at BMO Field, but it would fill 2 dates though on KC's schedule.

The other thing the leaked TFC schedule would point out is that KC is definitely playing on March 10th in the season opener. Since Toronto is not listed as having a game, it would mean that they're the lone team to get a bye in the first weekend of the season. What that means is that KC will definitely be playing at one of Colorado, DC, LA, San Jose, or Seattle on the 10th. KC, Chicago, Columbus, New England, and Salt Lake will each play one of those teams in the first weekend of the season. Hopefully later this week we'll have this all straightened out.

Pricing for Olympic Qualifiers Out

2012-01-03T20:12:00.004-06:00

US Supporter's Section tickets went on sale right before Christmas, now today, Sporting KC announced the rest of the pricing structure for the tournament at LIVESTRONG Sporting KC. There are 3 levels of ticket buying, you can buy the series, single game advanced, and at the gate. The pricing is also pretty competitive, good pricing, anywhere from $28 a game to $220 a game. There are a few interesting aspects to the pricing though. There is one section around 3/4ths of the stadium for front row access in each section except on the West side of the stadium. The series tickets look to be especially great value, getting you in to both matches on Saturday and the final Monday will cost you $56 in the Member's Stand. Not bad for 3 games of soccer. The other interesting aspect is that the member's club has been divided some more on the East side of the stadium. The sections match up with the section in the group above members stand in the stadium. It's interesting the way that CONCACAF has Sporting laying out the stadium for the games. Tickets go on sale to season ticket holders on the 9th, they go on sale to the general public two days later.

Looking at the 16th Pick

2012-01-02T22:27:00.002-06:00

There is so much that can change the draft and the way that teams select that it's really hard to look at KC's first round pick, the 16th overall, let alone the rest of KC's draft. So we're going to just look at the 16th draft pick at this point and go through the rest of the picks as they come up during the draft.

Last year with the 10th pick I had said that KC needed to grab either a defender, either AJ Soares or Jalil Anibaba. Neither player was available at the 10 spot, and KC didn't even go defensive. Instead, KC went with a forward, and drafted the rookie of the year, CJ Sapong. This year I still think that KC needs to go with a center back. Although unlike last year, I don't think that KC needs to find a starter in this year's draft. They need a guy who could start if need be, but isn't expected to be a starter right out of the gate. Based on what it seems KC could get out of the 16th pick, I think that's probably a better expectation.

KC currently has Matt Besler, Aurelien Collin, Julio Cesar, and likely Daneil Cyrus, whose official return hasn't been announced yet. But with Cesar playing more in the midfield, getting some depth in the center of defense would be a good thing. So who could be available at the 16 spot when it comes to KC? Andrew Wenger is probably the top prospect that can play center back, but it'll be surprising if the Generation Adidas signing falls out of the top 3 or 4. Matt Hedges, of national champion, UNC is another center back that likely isn't going to be around at the 16 spot.

The rest of the depth at center back in the first round is likely going to be played out depending on where other teams choose to go with their pick. Aaron Maund of Notre Dame could potentially be on the board still and could provide center back coverage. Also available could be the player that Ives has us taking in his latest mock draft, Austin Berry of Louisville.

If KC doesn't go with a center back, they could look to improve their depth on the forward position, specifically the wing forwards. Bobby Convey could be the starter on the left wing and Kei Kamara is likely to start on the right, but getting depth could be something Peter Vermes is looking at. Maybe going after a guy like Brian Ownby, Ethan Finlay, Lucky Mkosana, or even maybe reach a little more with a guy like Arthur Ivo.

One thing I've learned with Vermes as coach is that it's incredibly hard to figure out which way he's going to go with his picks.

A Historical Look at KC's Draft Spots

2012-01-02T13:32:00.002-06:00

We're about a week and a half away from the MLS Superdraft in Kansas City. It's the first of two drafts for the league, with a supplemental draft following a week later. KC have their natural 16th pick in the 1st round of the Superdraft, and then have the 30th selection in the second round. That selection came from FC Dallas in the trade that sent Kevin Hartman to Dallas. KC's natural selection, the 35th pick, went to Philadelphia as part of the trade that brought Shavar Thomas to KC.

In the Supplemental draft, KC have 5 picks, the 16th (54th overall), 35th (73rd), 43rd (81st) (that was received from Chivas as part of the Ryan Smith trade), 54th (92nd), and 73rd (111th).

That's one pick in every round of the two drafts, except for 2 picks in the third round of the supplemental draft. But really at this point, when looking at the history of the draft, the rounds are meaningless, specifically because this is going to be only the third MLS draft where the 16th pick has even been considered a first round pick, or the 30th pick, which in 1996 was the last pick of the 3rd round is now a mid-second round pick, so it's better to look at the draft from the pick number instead of the round. For a look at what type of talent KC can get in each spot, let's take a historical look at who has been drafted at each spot throughout the league's history.

SIXTEENTH PICK
1996 - Imad Baba - New England
1997 - Alan Branigan - Dallas
1998 - Billy Walsh - New York
1999 - Kevin Knight - New York
2000 - Justin Evans - San Jose
2001 - Brian Ching - Los Angeles
2002 - Danny Jackson - Colorado
2003 - Scot Thompson - Los Angeles
2004 - Adrian Cann - Colorado
2005 - Ryan Pore - Kansas City
2006 - Lance Watson - Kansas City
2007 - Robbie Findley - Los Angeles
2008 - Eric Brunner - New York
2009 - Evan Brown - Seattle
2010 - Michael Stephens - Los Angeles
2011 - Paolo Cardozo - Los Angeles

Not exactly a who's who of talent, but there is some out there in the history of the draft. Brian Ching and Robbie Findley both had pretty successful MLS careers, Findley used it and a World Cup to get a move to England. The rest is fairly uninspiring, although there are a few decent starters and depth players in this spot, including Adrian Cann and Eric Brunner. KC has even picked twice at this spot before, drafting GA player Ryan Pore in 2005 and Lance Watson in 2006. Combined the two made 94 league appearances for KC.

THIRTIETH PICK
1996 - Todd Miller - Columbus
1997 - Brandon Leib - DC
1998 - Joe Franchino - Los Angeles
1999 - Andrew Parrish - Dallas
2000 - Kerry Zavagnin - Kansas City
2001 - Kevin Adams - Columbus
2002 - Sam Forko - New York
2003 - Tim Glowienka - New York
2004 - Lindon Pecorelli - San Jose
2005 - Victor Arbelaez - San Jose
2006 - Ray Burse - Dallas
2007 - Steven Curfman - Salt Lake
2008 - Mike Zaher - Toronto
2009 - Paul Gerstenberger - Columbus
2010 - Steven Beitashour - San Jose
2011 - Tyler Lassiter - New York

Slimmer pickings here, Kerry Zavagnin is the cream of this pick, although Joe Franchino had a decent MLS career. Steven Beitashour has been a solid contributor recently for San Jose, and Ray Burse is a starter in the NASL. Other than that there's not a lot of sustainable talent in this pick.

FIFTY-FOURTH PICK
2000 - Brian Waltrip - Tampa
2001 - Shaun Tsakiris - New England
2002 - Jeremy Piette - Dallas
2003 - Ryan Futagaki - Chicago
2004 - Edwin Miranda - Dallas
2005 - Jason Hernandez - New York
2006 - Christopher Joyce - Dallas
2007 - Desmond Brooks - Chivas
2008 - Austin Washington - Chicago
2009 - Raphael Cox - Salt Lake
2010 - Dane Saintus - Dallas
2011 - Alan Koger - New England

Jason Hernandez is about the only consistent MLS player on this list, he's played almost 150 league games for New York, Chivas, and San Jose. Every other player at this pick has had little more than a few token appearances in league play.

SEVENTY-THIRD PICK
2005 - Noah Palmer - Salt Lake
2006 - Lawson Vaughn - Chivas
2007 - Osei Telesford - Chicago
2008 - Tino Nuñez - Salt Lake
2009 - Joe Anderson - Vancouver

All but Anderson have made some league appearances for their club, Lawson Vaughn is probably the most well known of the 5 previous players drafted at this spot, making about 50 combined appearances with Chivas and DC.

EIGHTY-FIRST PICK
2005 - Easton Wilson - New England
2006 - Keith Cauldwell - Colorado
2007 - Chris Konopka - Kansas City
2008 - Vicente Arze - Kansas City
2011 - Yannick Salmon - Chicago

None of these players made much of any appearances, Konopka's first league appearance came this past year as a league keeper playing for New York. Overall Vicente Arze's probably been the best talent at this pick and all his success has been outside MLS with Vancouver in the USL, Bolivia, and Hungary.

NINETY-SECOND PICK
2005 - Chris Lee - Columbus
2006 - PASS - Houston
2007 - Tyler Hemming - Toronto
2008 - Ben Shuleva - Dallas
2011 - Taylor Mueller - Portland

Hemming made a handful of appearances for Toronto in their first few years in the league. He's also bounced around the lower leagues. Not much at all at this pick, evident by the fact that Houston passed on this pick in 2006.

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH PICK
2008 - PASS - New England

The only other time there's been a 111th pick in the drafts was in 2008 and the Revolution passed on that pick. So very good chances this player doesn't make the team, if KC even uses this pick. They could pass like New England.

2012 Wishes

2011-12-31T21:31:00.003-06:00

Time for another year of wishes for 2012. Here's a look of what I am wanting and wishing to see in 2012.

1. Silverware - Is anything else really that important? I want silverware, as Robb Heineman put it tonight on Twitter, #paintthewall. I want to add more stuff to the wall that shows our accomplishments. Bring home a trophy.

2. A double digit goal scorer - In league play this last year KC had 3 players hit 9 goals, but none reached the double digit mark. Tela Bunbury, Kei Kamara, CJ Sapong, or a new designated player, I want a double digit scorer.

3. A designated player who scores double digit goals - KC is going to have to replace the 9 goals that Omar Bravo scored, and is probably going to need to surpass that. Whether it's the mystery Spanish DP, or another DP, KC is going to need a big performance from a designated player to win trophies this year.

4. Equal or better last year's attendance mark - It's a lofty goal, but with a spread out home schedule and the team that Peter Vermes has put together, KC should hopefully be able to top this past year's 17,810.

5. One home loss at most - LIVESTRONG was a virtual fortress for the majority of the season last year. Time to make it one for real. KC making LSP a facility that teams fear coming to is the next step. The Cauldron's growth this past year has helped immensely, the growth on the south stand will help even more. Doing it on the field will be the final step.

6. Lock up Matt Besler, Graham Zusi, and Chance Myers long term - These 3 are likely the young nucleus of the team for the next 5 years or so. All 3 had break out years this past year. Now to avoid a situation similar to Michael Harrington's from this past year where he didn't seem to live up to his new contract I would have all three, especially Myers, who had done little to justify his number one selection until this past year. Still I think signing these 3 before they become free agents is going to be extremely important.

7. A World Cup qualifier at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park - The US's first round of World Cup qualifying starts up this coming year, The USA is grouped with Jamaica, Guatemala, and Antigua and Barbuda. Part of me doesn't want a game this round, instead I want it in the Hex. But getting one this coming year, proving once again that KC is a place that can and will pull a pro-USA crowd is important for me. Prove that KC can be a fortress for the US and the big games will follow.

8. Get OUR MLS Cup back from Hunt Sports Group - For those that dont' know, the MLS Cup 2000 trophy is NOT in Kansas City. The trophy is not at the Sporting KC front office, it is not at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. The trophy for the Wizards MLS Cup 2000 win is apparently at HSG headquarters in Dallas. I'm wanting to use this year to start a campaign to bring home OUR MLS Cup. The trophy wasn't won by HSG, it was won by the the Wizards. While Lamar Hunt plays a HUGE role in not only the KC Wizards existence, but them currently being STILL being in KC, and not San Antonio, Tulsa, St. Louis, or Rochester, the trophy belongs in KC. BRING OUR TROPHY HOME ROBB.

Year End Look at 2011 Wishes

2011-12-31T18:51:00.002-06:00

With it being New Year's Eve, I figured it was time to take a look back at the 2011 wishes that I'd posted at the end of last year.

1. Return to the Playoffs - This was filled 100%, not only did KC qualify for the playoffs again, but the team won the regular season Eastern Conference crown and had home field advantage. Unfortunately that didn't translate to making the cup finals. Which brings us to the next one...

2. Silverware - Twice KC looked in a good position to make the finals of two competitions, but both times KC failed to make it. Earlier in the season, KC looked to have a good path to the semifinals of the US Open Cup, but couldn't get past the Richmond Kickers. In the MLS Cup playoffs, KC was one step away from the finals, but got outplayed in the Eastern Conference finals, losing to Houston.

3. Re-Sign Michael Harrington - The team got this taken care of, but it Harrington seemed to drop off after a career year last year. He started the year with a small knock that kept him out of action. When he returned he did ok, but wasn't the same player he was last year. As the year went on, he lost his starting spot to Chance Myers and Seth Sinovic. It'll be interesting to see Harrington's role next year.

4. 10-15 points on road trip to start the season - This didn't come true, KC only picked up 6 points on the road trip and looked dead in the water. But after the poor start, KC lost only 3 regular season games the rest of the season. Combine that with a weaker Eastern Conference and KC was able to finish on top of the East.

5. Average over 15,000 in the new stadium - New all time attendance high for Kansas City this year, at 17,810. Over 2,000 over what I was wanting for the new high, and less than 1,000 under LIVESTRONG's capacity.

6. Sell out half the home games - Seventeen home games, of those, KC had 9 games that were at capacity or over. So that was just over the half number. I imagine if KC didn't have most of those home games cramped into about 3 months that total would likely have been a little higher. Still that's a wish that was met.

7. At most 1 home loss - Not quite, Kansas City lost 2 regular season games at home, along with a third in the playoffs to Houston. All 3 of the losses hurt the first two because of the fact that KC let late leads slip away leading to those loses. And the third ended KC's season.

8. Omar Bravo scores 10+ goals - Bravo didn't quite hit the mark, scoring 9 league goals. If he hadn't missed time due to the hernia surgery I figure he likely would have hit the mark. Bravo is now gone and we're likely looking to add another designated player in the upcoming transfer window.

9. US in KC for the Gold Cup and double header sell out - This one came true. KC hosted the final group stage game as the US fought to qualify for the knock out rounds. They did so on the backs of a 1-0 win over Guadeloupe. KC seemed to impress enough to earn the US Olympic qualifying semifinals and finals this year. They also would seem to be at the forefront of earning a World Cup qualifier back at LSP as well.

Comets Fall Behind Earlier, Can't Quite Make Comeback

2011-12-31T09:53:00.003-06:00

Two days after the Comets fought back to defeat the Wichita Wings in a close game at the Independence Events Center, the Comets found themselves having to do it again against the Wings, this time in Wichita. Unfortunately the result wasn't the same as the Wings pulled off a 12-10 win over the Comets to get their first win in the series.

The Wings used a strong first quarter to pull away from the Comets, Kevin Ten Eyke was the star, assisting on the first two goals, before scoring the fourth goal himself as the Wings led 8-0 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Comets started to wake up, under two minutes into the quarter, the Comets were on the board as John Sosa tapped one home off a pass from Neto. Shortly after that, the Comets got another, as Geison finished an opportunity on a power play to cut the lead to 8-4. The power play goal came after a period of time when the Comets were playing with a 4 on 3 advantage due to a number of penalties being called. The Wings though extended their lead on the power play as Jamar Beasley finished off a chance. But in the span of about 30 seconds late in the quarter, the Comets pulled themselves within a goal as both Leo Gibson and Neto found net to cut the lead to 10-8.

In the second half, the scoring settled down quite a bit, the two teams had chances in the third and fourth quarters, but until late, neither team was able to find the net. Byron Alvarez ended up tying the game up for the Comets with 2:45 left in the game off a pass from Christiano. But in something that's become a bit of the story of the season for the Comets, shortly after the goal, with only 1:36 left in the game, the Wings found one last goal to extend the lead to 12-10. The Comets couldn't find net in the last little bit with the 6th attacker on the field, as the Wings won their first game in the series.

Most Capped as Sporting KC Players

2011-12-30T21:54:00.003-06:00

Continuing on with the caps trend, here's the updated stats for caps as a member of the SKC Wizards. First is the caps that a player got while with KC, the second number is goals scored in those caps.

Josh Wolff - USA - 38 - 6
Jimmy Conrad - USA - 28 - 1
Preki - USA - 26 - 4
Roger Espinoza - Honduras - 21 - 3
Kerry Zavagnin - USA - 21 - 0
Eddie Johnson - USA - 20 - 3
Shavar Thomas - Jamaica - 19 - 0
Chris Klein - USA - 17 - 3
Gary Glasgow - Trinidad & Tobago - 16 - 1
Khari Stephenson - Jamaica - 15 - 3
Scott Sealy - Trinidad & Tobago - 14 - 1
Tony Meola - USA - 12 - 0
Craig Rocastle - Grenada - 9 - 0
Sunil Chhetri - India - 9 - 5
Stephane Auvray - Guadeloupe - 8 - 1
Davy Arnaud - USA - 7 - 1
Kei Kamara - Sierra Leone - 6 - 0
Nick Garcia - USA - 6 - 0
Uche Okafor - Nigeria - 6 - 0
Onandi Lowe - Jamaica - 3 - 2
Mike Sorber - USA - 3 - 0
Miklos Molnar - Denmark - 3 - 0
Teal Bunbury - USA - 2 - 1
Mark Chung - USA - 2 - 0
Jermaine Hue - Jamaica - 2 - 0
Peterson Joseph - Haiti - 1 - 0
Chris Henderson - USA - 1 - 0
Steve Pittman - USA - 1 - 0
Digital Takawira - Zimbabwe - Unknown

Unfortunately I've still been unable to find a source for Digital Takawira's caps for Zimbabwe while with Kansas City, I've tried contacting the FA and the CAF, but have struck out in both instances. I'm still looking for the number, but if anyone knows, please let me know so that I can update the list.

Hopefully next month we'll be adding both CJ Sapong and Graham Zusi to this list. Daneil Cyrus and Bobby Convey could also be potential additions to this list.

Most capped Sporting KC Players

2011-12-30T20:49:00.002-06:00

I have gone ahead and updated my list of capped Sporting KC players total. This is a list of players that have played for Kansas City and been capped by their respective national teams at any time. New signing Bobby Convey, along with Daneil Cyrus and Peterson Joseph are the only new players to join the list. Although we could see the likes of Graham Zusi and CJ Sapong join the list in the near future.

USA
Tony Meola - 100
Alexi Lalas - 96 - 9
Chris Henderson - 79 - 3
Mike Burns - 75
Peter Vermes - 67 - 11
Mike Sorber - 67 - 2
Josh Wolff - 52 - 9
Bobby Convey - 46 - 1
Brian Bliss - 44 - 2
Eddie Johnson - 42 - 12
Frank Klopas - 40 - 12
Roy Lassister - 30 - 4
Eric Eichman - 29 - 4
Preki - 28 - 4
Jimmy Conrad - 28 - 1
Mark Chung - 24 - 2
Chris Klein - 22 - 5
Kerry Zavagnin - 21
Mark Santel - 8 - 1
Herculez Gomez - 8 - 2
Davy Arnaud - 7 - 1
John Diffley - 7
John DeBrito - 6
Nick Garcia - 6
Yari Allnut - 5 - 2
Kevin Hartman - 5
Sasha Victorine - 4 - 1
Steve Pittman - 3
Teal Bunbury - 2 - 1
Matt McKeon - 2
Alan Prampin - 2
Ken Snow - 2
Diego Gutierrez - 1
Curt Onalfo - 1

Argentina
Claudio Lopez - 58 - 10

Armenia
Yura Movsisyan - 11 - 4

Cameroon
Samuel Ekeme - 32

Canada
Alex Bunbury - 64 - 16
Pat Harrington - 1

Denmark
Miklos Molnar - 18 - 2

Finland
Antti Sumiala - 36 - 9

Grenada
Craig Rocastle - 9

Guadeloupe
Stephane Auvray - 23 - 2

Haiti
Josué Mayard - 17 - 2
Peterson Joseph - 6

Holland
Dave van den Bergh - 2

Honduras
Roger Espinoza - 21 - 3

Hungary
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - 3

India
Sunil Chhetri - 55 - 33

Jamaica
Onandi Lowe - 65 - 27
Shavar Thomas - 42
Jermaine Hue - 30 - 11
Wolde Harris - 28 - 7
Khari Stephenson - 26 - 3
Peter Isaacs - 15 - 4
Akeem Priestley - 3

Liberia
Dionysius Sebwe - 7

Mexico
Omar Bravo - 63 - 15

Nigeria
Uche Okafor - 34 - 1

Puerto Rico
Taylor Graham - 3 - 1

Russia
Igor Simutenkov - 20 - 9

Scotland
Richard Gough - 61 - 6
Mo Johnston - 38 - 14

Serbia and Montenegro
Vuk Rasovic - 5

Sierra Leone
Kei Kamara - 10

Trinidad and Tobago
Gary Glasgow - 53 -11
Scott Sealy - 25 - 2
Daneil Cyrus - 13 - 0
Anthony Noriega - 5

Yugoslavia
Refik Sabanadzovic - 8

Zimbabwe
Vitalis Takawira - 26 - 12

10,000 Minute Club

2011-12-30T18:51:00.002-06:00

Continuing the stat updating for you tonight, it's time to update the 10,000 minute club.

In league play one new player joined the 10,000 minute club, as Michael Harrington became the 12th player for Kansas City, Davy Arnaud also jumped up 1 spot on the list moving ahead of Jimmy Conrad. The next closest active player, is Matt Besler with 6,132 minutes played. So no one new will be joining the list during the 2012 season.

1. Kerry Zavagnin - 20,516
2. Nick Garcia - 20,158
3 Davy Arnaud - 19, 399
4. Jimmy Conrad - 18,194
5. Preki - 17,818
6. Chris Klein - 16,381
7. Jack Jewsbury - 13,275
8. Mo Johnston - 12,600
9. Matt McKeon - 11,584
10. Josh Wolff - 11,467
11. Tony Meola - 11,331
12. Michael Harrington - 10,753

In all competitions no players joined the 10,000 minute club. Besler once again is the closest to making the list, and could join the list next season if he plays just under 3,000 minutes. He could also be joined by Roger Espinoza, if the Honduran plays just over 3,000 minutes. Arnaud though did become the 5th member of the 20,000 minute club this past season.

1. Kerry Zavagnin - 25,290
2. Nick Garcia - 24,650
3. Davy Arnaud - 21,607
4. Preki - 20,647
5. Jimmy Conrad - 20,551
6. Chris Klein - 19,437
7. Jack Jewsbury - 14,973
8. Matt McKeon - 14,602
9. Tony Meola - 14,205
10. Mo Johnston - 14,182
11. Josh Wolff - 12,939
12. Michael Harrington - 12,286
13. Diego Gutierrez - 12,246
14. Jose Burciaga - 10,624
15. Uche Okafor - 10,281

Quick Sporting KC News

2011-12-29T21:25:00.003-06:00

Two quick bits of Sporting KC news to throw out real quick for you.

First, last night during the Comets game, Robb Heineman posted on Twitter that there was good news on a "GREAT friendly." Nothing is finalized per the tweet, as Heineman said that "hopefully they'll be able to finish it up." So let the speculation begin on what the "GREAT friendly" is. One would assume it would be a well known club based off the "GREAT" comment, someone considered a top tier club in one of the top leagues. Someone like a "top 4" EPL club, or one of the big Italian or Spanish clubs. To a lesser extent maybe someone like Bayern Munich. It'll be interesting to see who it is that KC brings in for the friendly. I'm excited, but the excitement is tempered and will be until we know when the friendly will take place. I don't want the friendly to force the movement of a league game, and I'd also hope the friendly is in an off week or something that doesn't really cause problems for the efforts for winning trophies.

In other news, KC has apparently missed out on signing of 27 year old Venezuelan forward, Jesus Gomez. According to The Daily Wiz, Sporting was beat to the player's signature by Venezuelan club, FC Caracas. The posting on Facebook by FC Caracas is the only reference I can find to Sporting's interest in the striker, who was last with Belgian club, Lierse SK. He's also been capped 15 times by Venezuela. Finding highlights online, Gomez looks impressive, but without knowing what KC offered I'm can't say I'm really disappointed.

Former SKC Wizards Update

2011-12-29T19:49:00.003-06:00

An incredibly quiet week in former SKC Wizards news with the Christmas season in full affect. But here is your update for this week.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Scott Lorenz
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Craig Rocastle
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Milos Stojcev
Shavar Thomas
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.
Adam Cristman - LA - Season is over.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Season is over.
Taylor Graham - Seattle - Season is over.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Season is over.
Frankie Hejduk - LA - Season is over.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Season is over.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Season is over.
Mike Jones - New York - Season is over.
Chris Konopka - MLS Pool keeper - Season is over.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Season is over.
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Season is over.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Season is over.
Tyson Wahl - Montreal - Season is over.
Josh Wolff - DC - Season is over.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Season is over.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Amir Lowery - Montreal - Season is over.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Out of season.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Out of season.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Out of season.
Neal Kitson - Rochester - Out of season.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Out of season.
Yomby William - Richmond - Out of season.
John Wilson - Charleston - Out of season.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Out of season.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Out of season.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Out of season.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Played in the Wings 10-7 loss to Missouri.
Nick Garcia - Kansas Magic - No game this week.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - No game this past week.
JT Murray - Louisville Lightning - No game this week.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Placed on IR for the Comets
Yomby William - Norfolk SharX - Played in Norfolk's 26-10 loss to Rochester.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - No game this week.

International
Vicente Arze - Diosgyor - Hungary - On winter break
Sunil Chhetri - Mohun Bagan - India - Missed Bagan's 0-0 draw with Salgaocar SC. Did not play in Bagan's 3-1 win over Air India.
Eloy Colombano - Ferro Carril Sud - Argentina - Season over.
Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Did not play for Deportivo Cali.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Clausura has not started.
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - Honved - Hungary - On winter break.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - No game this week.
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - on winter break.
Eddie Johnson - Puebla - Mexico - Clausura has not started.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - on winter break.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Season is over.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - On winter break.
Matt Taylor - SC Paderborn 07 - Germany - On winter break.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Tied Chiangrai United 1-1.

Comets Pull Off Comeback

2011-12-28T22:59:00.005-06:00

The Comets looked like they were going to give the Wichita Wings a leg back into the Turpike Trophy competition between the two teams. Poor shooting and some good goalkeeping Sanaldo had the Comets facing a 7-2 deficit heading into the fourth quarter, but 4 unanswered goals saw the Comets pull out the 10-7 win taking a 3-0 lead in their series with the Wings.

The Comets got off to an early start after an early penalty to Victor Quiroz. On the ensuing power play, the Comets played the ball around the top of the arc before playing it inside to Leo Gibson, Gibson played the ball out wide to Byron Alvarez who cut inside and fired a ball into the far post to give the Comets the 2-0 lead. Just about half way through the quarter though, Quiroz made amends as he fired home a shot past Danny Waltman to make it 2-2. About a minute past this, the Wings grabbed the lead through former Comet, Jamie Harding. On a fast break, Chile Farias fed Harding who fired a 3 point shot that Waltman let slip by him and into the net for a 3 pointer giving the Wings a 5-2 lead.

Into the second quarter, both teams pushed to find the next goal, but saves by Sanaldo and Waltman kept the score level at 5-2 heading into the half time break. The shot selection by the Comets was another issue as well, many times they chose the wrong shot or the wrong pass giving the ball away or watching the ball roll to Sanaldo.

About five minutes into the 3rd quarter, the Wings went onto the power play for the first time after Waltman handled the ball outside the box on a Wings fast break. On the ensuing penalty shootout by Farias, the Wings forward tried to get cute laying the ball off to a teammate and Waltman came up with a big save. Still Quiroz converted later on the power play to extend the Wings lead to 7-2. Later in the 3rd quarter, the Comets started their comeback, again on the power play. Once again it was Alvarez finishing off the chance. This time it came about as Geison fired in a shot from the far side that the Comets captain turned in to cut the lead to 3.

The lead was down to 1 only 42 seconds into the fourth quarter. Neto fired in a shot from the corner that Geison slid to met the shot pushing it past Sanaldo and making it 7-6. The Comets were able to kill off another power play as Cristiano was sent to the box for boarding. The Comets though probably had the best opportunity on the fast break, but Tiguinho, who had plenty of chances throughout the night was stuffed by Sanaldo. The chances kept coming for the Comets, Cristiano hit the cross bar for the second time in the game and it looked like it just wouldn't be the Comets night. But with just under 5 minutes left, as the Comets were looking to pull the Waltman for a 6th attacker, the Comets took the lead. Alvarez held up a ball into the top of the arc well, and then laid the ball off to an on rushing Vahid Assadpour who collected the ball and one v one with Sanaldo slotted the ball into the corner to give the Comets the 8-7 lead. So instead of the Comets pulling their goalkeeper, it was the Wings looking to regain the lead. The Wings created some half chances, but it was the Comets that found the next goal, as Waltman started a fast break, feeding Tiguinho. Tiguinho fired a shot into the net at the near post, beating the Wings 6th attacker and making it 10-7. Still with just over 2 minutes left, the Comets still had to be on their toes as a 3 pointer by the Wings tied the game. The Comets created a few more chances, but couldn't find another goal, and Waltman made one last big save to guarantee the points and a nice win for the Comets.