Sporting Sign Three to New Contracts, Lose One in Expansion Draft

Sporting Kansas City continued their work with their roster ahead of the 2017 MLS season. Today the club announced that they had signed three players to new contracts, but then lost one of those three players in the expansion draft.

First today the club announced that they had agreed to new contracts with homegrown defender Kevin Ellis, back up goalkeeper Alec Kann, and midfielder/defender Jimmy Medranda. Ellis, KC's second ever homegrown player, has enjoyed a good run with the team over the past couple years, becoming a regular at center back for Kansas City in the 2015 season after an injury to Ike Opara. This past season, Ellis became a spot starter for Sporting KC, but by the end of the season was Peter Vermes' preferred partner to Matt Besler in KC's back line. He certainly has his share of detractors among fans, but seems to have established himself in Vermes' system as a guy that Vermes feels he can rely on.

Medranda enjoyed a break out season for Kansas City after a position change. In 2015 Medranda had played a couple games at left back, to varying degrees of success, and eventually the idea was scraped. In 2016 though Medranda again found time at left back and seemed to make the position his own becoming a consistent starter, playing in 29 games and starting 22 of them for KC. He did surprisingly well on the defensive side of the ball providing KC with an attack from the left back position as well. The club has said they see his future further up the field, but his ability to play left back is something that Vermes is certain to use from time to time.

The last of the three signed also had the most interesting day as Kann signed his new deal with KC and then was promptly selected by Atlanta United with their final pick of today's expansion draft. Kann had appeared in 10 games for Sporting last season across all competitions, appearing in the league, the Open Cup, and the CCL for Kansas City spelling Tim Melia. He'd shown some good ability in goal and looked to be a decent back up goalkeeper that KC picked up in the re-entry draft last year. His new contract didn't last long in Kansas City though as shortly after KC announced the three signings, the expansion draft started and Kann was selected by Atlanta United with their fifth and final pick, the second goalkeeper they'd taken after Clint Irwin of Toronto. Irwin though has already been traded back to Toronto leaving Kann, as one of two goalkeepers on the roster. The Decatur, Georgia native would right now appear to be the club's starter, but with the rumors of Brad Guzan coming in, Kann looks like a good local product to have as a backup goalkeeper in MLS.

The move would put KC back in the market for a third goalkeeper it would seem as the club now just has two goalkeepers under contract for 2017, Melia and new signing Adrian Zendejas. The club already declined the option on homegrown goalkeeper Jon Kempin, but the possibility is there that the club could re-sign him, something that I was absolutely sure wasn't going to happen a few weeks ago.

Sporting Continue Road Winless Streak

The big talking point of tonight's game for Kansas City fans won't be the result, but will instead be the refereeing, a missed call in the first half and a questionable red card in the second half highlighted the 2-0 loss for Sporting KC. Unfortunately the refereeing decisions will take away from another aimless performance by the Kansas City offense that recorded just two shots on goal, one of those coming in the fourth minute of added time.

From the start Kansas City looked like a team that was on their fifth game in 15 days in five different cities, the Philadelphia Union kept Sporting pinned in their own end for a decent part of the first half. In just the ninth minute, Tranquillo Barnetta fired a shot from outside the box that Alec Kann had to palm away to keep the Union off the board. The Union continued the pressure with Fabinho having a good time early on against Saad Abdul-Salaam on KC's right side, but the Union weren't able to capitalize. For the most part though the first half was pretty uneventful in terms of chances for either side. The biggest point of the half was a refereeing decsion in the 20th minute when Juan Guzman didn't call a foul on Philadelphia's Fabian Herbers for a high boot, instead calling a slide tackle seconds later by Jimmy Medranda and giving Roger Espinoza and Medranda yellow cards for dissent and the challenge.

Things turned bad for Sporting KC just before the hour mark as Medranda brought down Keegan Rosenberry on a give and go pass in KC's defensive third. Medranda was given his second yellow and his marching orders putting Kansas City down to 10 men with 30 minutes to go. Down a man KC actually almost went up a goal as Dom Dwyer did all the work himself in the 65th receiving a long ball and creating space before pushing a shot just wide of the far post. Unfortunately for KC the man advantage worked in Philadelphia's favor in the 67th minute as Roland Alberg got space at the top of the box and curled a shot into the far post upper 90 to give the Union the 1-0 lead that they arguably deserved after their play early on. Down a man and a goal KC still tried to push forward looking to equalize, in the 83rd minute, Espinoza curled a shot just wide of Andre Blake's post that would have equaled the beauty of Alberg's goal, but the Union remained up 1-0. Philadelphia came down the other way and Kann came up with a huge save after a low cross into the box was redirected on goal by Alberg, but the Sporting KC goalkeeper got a piece of his body on it and deflected it over the bar for a corner. Things got worse for Sporting KC in the 87th minute when Espinoza was given a straight red card for what appeared to be an elbow to Alberg, but after reviewing replays it seemed Espinoza was just trying to hold the Philadelphia player back, Peter Vermes has already said the club will appeal the red card to Espinoza before their game against Houston. With a two man advantage, the Union doubled their lead in stoppage time as Alberg played Barnetta in on goal and he beat Kann to make it 2-0 for Philadelphia. Sporting will now get a break before they take on the Hosuton Dynamo at Children's Mercy Park in September.

Wizards Man of the Match - Alec Kann - Made six saves for Sporting tonight to keep Kansas City in the game, the save on Alberg in the second half was absolutely amazing.

Player Ratings - Kann 8, Abdul-Salaam 5, Besler 5, Opara 5, Medranda 4, Mustivar 4, Espinoza 5, Feilhaber 5, Zusi 4, Dwyer 4, Peterson 3. Subs Alvarado 4, Davis 5, Rubio NR.

Sporting Grab a Point to Start Long Trip

Facing the start of their long trip around North America and the Caribbean, Sporting Kansas City got a 2-2 draw on the road against an FC Dallas team that had dropped only six points out of a possible 36 home points heading into the game tonight. In the first half both teams had some chances, but it was FC Dallas putting Kansas City goalkeeper Alec Kann to the test more. He did a good job early on blocking an effort by Maximilliano Urruti in front of goal after a cross by Michael Barrios. While Kann was the busier goalkeeper, Dom Dwyer forced a good save out of Chris Seitz in the 24th minute off a Graham Zusi corner. Dwyer headed a powerful header on goal but Seitz got down really well and saved the shot right at his feet and the rebound was cleared away. KC suffered an injury blow just 35 minutes in as Ike Opara had to leave with an ankle injury, forcing Kevin Ellis into action in defense for KC. The injury comes at a bad time as the team is still without Matt Besler and Nuno Coelho is just starting to return to form. With the busy stretch ahead the defensive Kann came up big again on another cross by Barrios, this time palming the cross away before it could get to Urruti who had gotten himself space on in the middle of KC's defense.

Kann continued to keep Kansas City in the game in the second half as he made a good save on a header by Walker Zimmerman off a Mauro Diaz free kick. The rebound was put off the post, but Kann appeared to have that shot covered as well. Dallas did finally beat Kann in the 66th minute as Tesho Akindele ghosted into the box completely unmarked by the KC defense and headed home a cross by Atiba Harris to put Dallas on top 1-0. The lead didn't last long for Dallas though as just two minutes later Kansas City was level. Brad Davis received the ball cutting towards the box and fired a shot that Dwyer intercepted as Seitz went to ground, Dwyer was able to turn and fire a shot into the roof of the net over Seitz to level the game at 1-1. Five minutes later Kansas City grabbed the lead. Benny Feilhaber fed the ball into Dwyer who flicked the ball up to himself but Zimmerman knocked the ball into the air. Dwyer followed the ball and one timed a shot past Seitz and into the net putting Kansas City on top 2-1. Once again the lead didn't last long though as three minutes later, Dallas was level. On a cross toward the near post, Kann tried to nonchalantly tip the ball over the bar for a corner, but missed. The ball bounced off the post to Urruti who biked the ball into the net as Kann tried to punch the ball away as he recovered. For as good as Kann played all night it was a glaring mistake that leveled the game at 2-2. Dallas almost retook the lead in the 82nd when Akindele was played in behind the KC defense, but as Kann came out, Akindele attempted to chip the KC goalkeeper, but he put it just wide of the post. Minutes later Dallas had another great opportunity as Dallas countered a KC corner and got a four on one break against Saad Abdul-Salaam, but after a ball played wide, all Dallas got out of the counter was an offside header wide of the post. KC was able to escape that chance and get out of Dallas with a point and will now move on to Trinidad to kick off their Champions League campaign.

Wizards Man of the Match - Alec Kann - The gaff on the second goal for Dallas aside, Kann came up big for Kansas City tonight he made some exceptional saves to keep the game scoreless and to keep Kansas City in the game. He had one miss step and it cost KC the lead.

Honorable Mention - Dom Dwyer

Player Ratings - Kann 7, Medranda 5, Olum 6, Opara 5, Abdul-Salaam 6, Coelho 6, Appiah 5, Feilhaber 5, Peterson 4, Dwyer 7, Zusi 5. Subs Ellis 5, Davis 6, Nagamura NR.

Kann Loaned to Rangers

Sporting Kansas City announced today that they'd loaned back up goalkeeper, Alec Kann to the Swope Park Rangers ahead of tonight's game between the Rangers and Rio Grande Valley Fc Toros at the Swope Soccer Complex at 7:30. Kann, who has one league appearance this year in KC's 1-1 draw against Vancouver, should get the start in goal tonight ahead of Rangers' goalkeepers Jon Kempin (also on loan from SKC) and Zac Lubin. The pair have split the Rangers 10 games so far this season with Kempin starting the first six, going 2-3-1 while Lubin has started the last four going 1-2-1. The move appears to be one to get Kann some game action ahead of next Wednesday's US Open Cup game between Sporting KC and Minnesota United. Peter Vermes has said with MLS on a break he would look to loan players to the Rangers to get them time ahead of the Open Cup game. For me I just didn't consider that Kann would be one of them. I figured KC would send someone like Connor Hallisey who has gotten limited minutes this season, or Amadou Dia who has found himself on the bench behind Jimmy Medranda.

S.A.S. Thursday After Stats

In the first minute, Matt Besler moved past Chris Klein and into sole possession of 6th place for minutes played in league play for KC, he finished the game with 16,471 minutes played.

Besler made his 183rd league start for KC, tying him with Klein for 6th all time on that list.

At 22 years, 348 days, Diego Rubio became the 17th youngest goal scorer in Sporting KC's history, he knocked Chris Klein out of the top 20.

Alec Kann made his Sporting KC debut.

In the 9th minute, Roger Espinoza moved past Chance Myers and into 17th place for league minutes played for KC, Espinoza finished the game wtih 10,447 minutes played.

Sporting KC Season Preview - Goalkeepers

We're less than a week away from the kick off of the 2016 MLS season for Sporting KC. This coming Sunday Sporting will take the field against the Seattle Sounders at Century Link Field on Fox Sports 1. With the season a week away it's time to take a look at KC's roster as it stands heading into the opener. At this time the team has 26 players on their roster, but that includes Canadian international, Marcel de Jong, who was not with the club at all basically since returning from national team duty with Canada for their friendly against the United States in early February. That number also doesn't include Bernardo Anor and Erik Palmer-Brown, who are both on loans for the entire season, and as such will not count against their roster spots. I'm going to take a look at the 26 man roster based on the positions the players play. Today it is the goalkeeping position.

Alec Kann - KC's newest goalkeeper was acquired by Sporting in the first stage of the re-entry draft this offseason. Kann looks set to be Kansas City's every game back up for Tim Melia based on Jon Kempin spending the majority of his preseason with the Rangers. Whether he'll actually be the one getting the minutes should Melia go down for an extended period of time will remain to be seen. Kann appeared 19 times for Saint Louis FC, started the Chicago Fire's final game of the 2015 season and performed fine there. He's got an unimpressive resume as a whole, but then again, so did Tim Melia last year.

Jon Kempin - Over the past two seasons, Sporting KC's first homegrown player, Kempin, has been expected to go out on loan for the whole season and get the valuable experience that he needs at this point to continue to develop his game to be a starter for the club. Unfortunately injuries to Eric Kronberg and Andy Gruenebaum forced his loan to Oklahoma City in 2014 to be cut short and in 2015 it was the emergence of Melia and Luis Marin heading back to Chile that caused him to be recalled from his loan to the San Antonio Scorpions. This year Kempin has spent the majority of his time with KC's USL team, the Swope Park Rangers, appearing in all but one of their preseason games in Tucson. I'd expect Kempin to be one of the players that gets loaned to the Rangers for the season, where he'll hopefully, finally be able to get a full season as a starter under his belt. And if Melia goes down again, he's a lot closer now and can float back and forth between Sporting and the Rangers than he could with his prior loans. The interesting thing to see will be whether Kann gets the minutes in things like the US Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League, or if Vermes brings in Kempin for those games since the Rangers don't get to participate in the Open Cup.

Tim Melia - The breakout performer for Sporting Kansas City in the 2015 season, Melia had joined the club as a league goalkeeper in 2014 after all the injury issues the club had at goalkeeper, and earned himself a contract with the club to basically play the same position that Kann is this year, be the backup for the starter so that Kempin could go out on loan. When Marin had trouble adjusting to the style of play in MLS, Melia stepped in and established himself quite well in net. He finished 2015 with a 11-8-4 record, eight shutouts, and a 1.22 goals against average for Sporting. In 2016 he comes in as the established starter which should continue to build on the confidence that he got winning the job in 2015. He gives a strong presence back there that makes me feel as confident about the goalkeeping position as I have for KC since Jimmy Nielsen retired.

Overall confidence in the goalkeeping situation for Kansas City should be good. They have a solid starter in Melia that can win them points if it comes to that as we saw in the two regular season meetings against Portland in Portland in 2015. His immediate back up is a bit of an unknown with Kann simply due to his lack of first team action in recent years, but the club also has Kempin likely on loan to the Rangers in the same city, making it much easier if KC needs to call on him to replace Melia.

Sporting Select Fire's Kann in Re-Entry Draft

Sporting KC actually made use of this year's Re-Entry Draft. Throughout the five previous drafts, KC had only ever selected one player, taking Frankie Hejduk in the second phase of the inaugural Re-Entry Draft in 2010. Hejduk was almost immediately traded to Los Angeles for the rights to Luke Sassano. KC had never been involved in the first phase of the re-entry draft, until today when the club selected the Chicago Fire's Alec Kann with the 11th pick of the draft.

Kann a 26 year old goalkeeper from Georgia was signed by the Fire before the 2013 MLS season. He spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons on loan with the Charlotte Eagles and St. Louis FC respectively. For both he was a regular starter, appearing in over 30 games over his two seasons in the US third division. Last year he played in 19 games for St. Louis, with a goals against average of 1.24 with six shutouts and a 5-7-7 record as St. Louis' primary starter. Kann also made his MLS debut this year, starting the Fire's season finale against the New York Red Bulls. He made six saves as the Fire fell 2-1. According to the players union numbers, Kann made just $60,000 last year for the Fire as their third string goalkeeper, so his salary number would fall in line with what you'd want from your third string goalkeeper.

With the selection of Kann, Sporting now has three goalkeepers on their roster joining Jon Kempin and Tim Melia heading into the 2016 season. The trio will head into preseason with Melia the clear number one but Kempin likely wanting to challenge him for that spot. If Kempin can't beat Melia out for the starting spot I'd like to see Kempin loaned to the Swope Park Rangers for the 2016 season to get continuous playing time in goal. With the Rangers not allowed to compete in the US Open Cup you could bring him back for those games or start him if Melia gets hurt. The upside to having the USL team in town allows for more fluid movement. Kann in this example would be the everyday back up for Melia in MLS regular season games, but would also potentially spend time with SPR as well. Of course this was the same feeling I had about Melia with Luis Marin last year and we all know how that turned out.