2017 Wants and Wishes

A new year means that it's time to reset and look towards the future. With that said, here are my wants and wishes for 2017.

1. Silverware - Always the number one priority, winning trophies, painting the wall. Kansas City has made a habit of winning trophies over the last few years, hopefully KC's teams can return to that in 2017.

2. Secure a home playoff game - Children's Mercy Park hasn't hosted a home playoff game for Sporting Kansas City since the 2013 MLS Cup final against Real Salt Lake. In the three seasons since, Sporting KC has qualified for the playoffs each year, but as the fifth or sixth seed an been required to play the first round on the road. KC has lost all three of those games to New York, Portland, and Seattle. CMP hasn't been a complete fortress for Sporting KC like people would like it to be, but playing a playoff game at home is a distinct advantage for Sporting. That means the club's regular season for has to improve in 2017.

3. Find a secondary goal scorer - Dom Dwyer had his second best goal scoring season of his career, scoring 16 goals for KC in 2016, none of them from the penalty spot. KC's second leading scorers last year were Jacob Peterson and Benny Feilhaber, both scoring six goals, one of those players is gone, and the other had five of his six goals come from the penalty spot. Teams were able to key in specifically on Dwyer most of the time, and while he rose to the occasion, varying KC's attack is going to be better overall for the team. Only three teams scored fewer goals than the 42 that Sporting KC scored in 2016, Sporting is going to have to find a secondary goal threat to not only take some pressure off of Dwyer, but to create a duel threat that will keep other teams more honest, and probably open up more chances for Dwyer. It could be one of the two guys that KC is reportedly set to sign, Gerso Fernandes or Latif Blessing, although I have worries about both being able to do it, or it could be someone new that KC brings in. Either way, KC can't rely on 16 goals from Dwyer and the next highest scorer having 10 fewer and hope to do much next season.

4. A consistent center back pairing - Sporting KC's defense was strong last season, allowing just 41 goals, good for sixth in the league, but as I mentioned in my review of my 2016 wishes, the club had a lot of rotation at the center back position, with seven different pairings being used throughout the season due to injuries, form and national team call ups. Of all the pairings, the Matt Besler/Nuno Coelho was the most used, and that was only used about 11 times all of last season. KC managed with the shuffling of players last season, but really need to have a consistent center back pairing going forward. If you look at the better teams in the league, they all have a consistent pairing that starts the majority of the games, with a third and maybe fourth option available should they be needed. KC used this strategy to great success in 2012 through 2014 with the pairing of Besler and Aurelien Collin. Right now the first team pairing would appear to be Besler and Ike Opara, although Kevin Ellis being preferred to Opara late last season could be seen as a sign for the season. There are also still the questions about Opara's ability to stay healthy over the course of an entire season, as 2016 was the first time Opara has played more than 1,500 minutes in a single season in his seven year MLS career.

The other possibility is a returning Erik Palmer-Brown, who played consistently for Porto's reserve team while on loan. If he returns though, Palmer-Brown looks set to miss a good portion of preseason and a chunk of the regular season with the US U20 national team for World Cup qualifying and the World Cup this summer, which would obviously limit his time and ability to play for Sporting.

5. Quick decision on EPB - Before people can begin to dream about Palmer-Brown having a big impact on Sporting KC this season, his future with the team needs to be decided. With Palmer-Brown's loan to Porto now being up, it's down to negotiations between the two sides on whether Palmer-Brown will return to Kansas City or whether he'll be making a permanent move to the Portuguese power house. Palmer-Brown is reportedly in the last year of his contract, which Porto will use as an argument to get a lower price on the defender as he'd be available on a free next winter, but they also run the risk of Palmer-Brown having a breakout performance with the U20 team and being outbid by other clubs if they go that route. Either way, KC needs to resolve it quickly as selling Palmer-Brown leaves KC again a little thin along the back line in terms of depth.

6. Swope Park Rangers continues to play the "kids" and develop the likes of Amer Didic and Kevin Oliveira - Marc Dos Santos is off to San Francisco and the Rangers have a new coach this year. Taking over for him is Nikola Popovic, an assistant with the Rangers' last year, he came to SPR from Benfica B, where he was an assistant coach. Popovic having that experience with the Portuguese reserve side should bode well for the continued youth mindset the Rangers had last season. That should mean players like Amer Didic, Mark Anthony Gonzalez, Nansel Selbol, and Kevin Oliveira (when he returns), all under the age of 23 should continue to get time to prove themselves and use SPR as a stepping stone to reach Sporting KC. Hopefully SPR also continue to bring in young players to develop them, along with a few players that are maybe a step away from the jump up to help Sporting. Also hopefully the Rangers' players that are signed to academy contracts get more time in 2017.

7. US qualify for Russia 2018 - Well, I (and many other anti-Klinsmann fans) got their wish, Jurgen Klinsmann was fired as head coach of the US national team after the US started the "Hex" 0-2 losing at home to Mexico and in Costa Rica. With qualification for the World Cup important, the US went with the "safe" pick for a new head coach in Bruce Arena. He's not a head turning signing, but the expectation is to get things straightened out and get the US to the World Cup. The route back to the World Cup will start in March when the US will host Honduras in San Jose before traveling to Panama in a pair of games that the US really need to get six points out of to get qualification back on track.

8. Comets start run in second half of season - The Kansas City Comets have been one of the dominate forces in the MASL since it was founded, losing just three times in the regular season in their first two seasons in the league. Through 10 games this season they've already surpassed that loss total, having lost four times, and currently sit in third place in the five team Central division behind both Cedar Rapids and Chicago, the later of which still has two games in hand. The swagger that the team had the last two seasons doesn't seem to be there, they've lost talented players like Max Touloute and Coady Andrews, and the players that they've replaced them with haven't hit the same stride. At the same time, teams like Cedar Rapids and Chicago have really stepped up their game and brought in good talent to compete with the Comets in the Central division. Both of those teams have done so well that it appears like one of the Comets or the Milwaukee Wave are likely going to miss out on the playoffs for the first time in a long time this season. Something that most indoor fans would have thought next to impossible a couple years ago.

9. FCKC return to playoffs in 2017 - The Blues missed the playoffs for the first time in their history last season after losing five expected starters before the season to retirement or pregnancy and then lost a sixth early in the 2016 season. FCKC's defense stepped up big time last season to be one of the best in the league, but the offense struggled greatly. In 2017 the offense looks set to get a big boost as both forwards Amy Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux will be returning to the team after both giving birth in 2016. The pair will join with last season's leading scorer, Shea Groom to give the Blues some more offense. In fact, as long as the Blues can stay healthy, they should be in great shape in 2017, with the three previously mentioned players up top and a defense that includes Becky Sauerbrunn and Desiree Scott along with goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart. The Blues should be able to get themselves back into the playoffs in 2017.

Children's Mercy Park to Host Final Olympic Tune Up for US Women

The US women's national team will be making a return to Kansas City and Children's Mercy Park this year for their final friendly ahead of this summer's Olympics in Brazil. The women will be taking on Costa Rica at Children's Mercy Park on Friday, July 22nd at 8pm. It'll be the women's first trip to Kansas City since October of 2014 when the US women defeated Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 on a goal by Abby Wambach.

Like the men, the US women are undefeated when playing in Kansas City, holding a 3-0-3 record against opponents. They're 1-0-1 at Children's Mercy Park, a 1-1 draw against Canada back in 2011 being the other result for the women in Kansas City.

The interesting thing to watch with this game will be the price of tickets as well as attendance for the game. The reason for this is because of the similarities between this game and the last time the US men played in KC in late May in the build up to the Copa America Centenario. Like that game, this will be the final tune up for the US women before departing for the tournament, but I don't think I'll be going out on much of a limb to say that tickets for the US women probably won't be the same price as that for the US men. I'd been unable to attend the US game against Bolivia, but reports from fans who did attend were that the cheapest ticket available for purchase was over $50 after all the fees; season ticket holders in the East Stand were saying that their tickets were $70+ after fees. Even though the US women are world champions, I would still expect lower prices for the tickets for this game compared to what fans got for the men.

Children's Mercy Park to Host Liga MX Friendly

While Sporting Kansas City looks set to not be playing a friendly against a foreign opponent in 2016, there looks like there will be a friendly at Children's Mercy Park this summer. Sporting announced today that Liga MX sides Pachuca and Santos Laguna will be playing a friendly at CMP on Tuesday, June 21st.

The match up will feature a pair of Mexican sides that have traditionally come to the US to play competitive games in the CONCACAF Champions League. In fact, this will actually be Santos' fourth trip to Kansas City in their history for a game. Back when Sporting KC were the Wizards they hosted Santos Laguna in three different competitions, the 2001 Copa Mercanorte, the 2002 CONCACAF Champions Cup (precursor to the CCL), and the 2009 SuperLiga. Santos holds a 2-1 record in those three games. Pachuca on the other hand has never played in Kansas City as far as I can tell.

The pair of teams could be down a few of their higher profile players for the game though as the friendly takes place on the same day as one of the Copa America Centenario semifinals. Combined the two teams have nine players that have made their countries' preliminary roster for the competition. Pachuca has two players from Colombia, Stefan Medina and Oscar Murillo, one from the US, Omar Gonzalez, and two from Mexico, Rodolfo Pizarro and Hirving Lozano. Santos meanwhile has two from Mexico, Nestor Araujo and Jesus Molina, one from Argetina, Agustin Marchesin, and one from Chile, Bryan Rabello.

US Friendly Confirmed for Children's Mercy Park

Back at the beginning of this month reports started to come out that Children's Mercy Park would be hosting a US men's national team friendly in their tune up for the Copa America. Reports out of Bolivia were confirmed when looking at FIFA's site that the US team would be hosting Bolivia in Kansas City. Today, US Soccer confirmed the friendly at Children's Mercy Park, the first US friendly to take place in Kansas City.

Children's Mercy Park will host the US vs Bolivia on Saturday, May 28th one day after Sporting KC will take the same field in a league game against DC United. The US has enjoyed plenty of success in their history in Kansas City, not just at Children's Mercy Park. The US team is unbeaten with a 5-0-1 record all time in Kansas City, 4-0 in World Cup qualifiers and 1-0-1 in Gold Cup games. Now Kansas City will get to host their second international friendly in a little over a year. Last year Mexico and Paraguay played an international friendly at Arrowhead that Mexico won 1-0. The game will serve as the USA's final tune up before kicking off the tournament in Santa Clara against Colombia.

The US has never beaten Bolivia, currently with a 0-2-4 record against the South American side. The two last met in 1999 when the two sides drew 0-0 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It'll be just under 20 years since the two met on US soil when they play at CMP; the last time was a 2-0 win for Bolivia on June 12, 1996 in Washington DC.

Kansas City to Host Copa America Tune Up Friendly for US?

Reports out of Bolivia and FIFA are that the US men's national team will be returning to Kansas City in 2016. Facetas Deportivas in Bolivia is reporting that the Bolivian national team in preparation for the 2016 Copa America in the United States will play a friendly in Kansas City on May 29th against the United States. The match is also currently listed on FIFA's site, although it lists the date as the 28th. Steven Goff with the Washington Post confirmed that the two sides are apparently working towards a deal but said that it wasn't finalized as yet.

While the US has previously played four World Cup qualifiers and two Gold Cup group phase games in Kansas City in their history, going 5-0-1, the only draw coming in last year's Gold Cup against Panama, this would be the first friendly the men's team has played in Kansas City. The assumption is that the game would take place at Children's Mercy Park, the site of the last four games the US has played in Kansas City. This would also be the second international friendly in as many years hosted in Kansas City as Mexico defeated Paraguay at Arrowhead Stadium 1-0 in 2015.

No matter the date, the game would likely serve as the last tune up for the US team before they kick off the Copa America tournament on June 3rd in Santa Clara against Colombia. It would also come a day or two (depending on if the game is officially on the 28th as FIFA has it or the 29th as Bolivia announced it) after Sporting KC is scheduled to take on DC United at home.

Sporting KC and Children's Mercy Announce Partnership, Sporting Park Now Children's Mercy Park

Sporting Kansas City and Children's Mercy Hospital today announced a long term partnership "to promote health and fitness among Kansas City-area schoolchildren and provide specialized sports medicine to a youth athlete market that has experienced a substantial increase in sports-related injuries."

The partnership is a 10 year agreement that will begin in 2016 and will focus on three areas; improving access to pediatric-trained sports medicine, strengthing community, protecting youth athletes and educating parents and coaches. And while there's plenty of PR speak in the release about these sections I don't doubt that much of this will be done. On the first point, Children's Mercy will open a sports medicine and rehabilitation center at the National Training Center when it opens.

Having one of the best medical centers for children in the country opening a center in a facility that will very likely be used by US youth national teams over the years (along with SKC academy and other children) is a no brainer. As for strengthing the community, it's a lot of PR speak, but this will strength Sporting's connection with Children's Mercy, especially with the Victory Project. And on the protecting youth athletes point, Children's Mercy will develop a "soccer-specific curriculum" for the Sporting Club Network as well as providing training, rehabilitation, and conditioning program for the academy.

The partnership will also give Children's Mercy exclusive naming rights to Sporting Park, which will be renamed Children's Mercy Park. It also gives Children's Mercy the naming rights to the team's training center as well as the championship field at the Swope Soccer Village. It'll be the third official name for the stadium since its completion back in 2011 when it was LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.

Overall I don't think SKC could have done any better with their new name for the stadium. Children's Mercy is a fantastic hospital and working with them on this seems to be a no brainer.