Sporting and Rangers End Preseason in Tucson Unbeaten

Sporting Kansas City and the Swope Park Rangers closed out their runs at the Desert Diamond Cup in Tucson tonight. Both teams finished the run undefeated as the Rangers topped FC Tucson 1-0 while Sporting drew 2-2 with the Houston Dynamo.

The Rangers kicked off 30 minutes ahead of Sporting and controlled the game against the PDL side creating a number of chances. The opener for the Rangers came in the 32nd minute when former Sporting KC academy player Nansel Selbol won a ball off a Tucson defender near midfield. Selbol raced into the box holding off his defender before chipping a ball across the box for Dane Kelley who let the ball bounce before volleying the ball into the net to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. The Comets continued to pressure, not just in the first, but in the second as well with Tomas Granitto and Tommy Meyer both having good chances but neither able to put it in the net as the Rangers finished the Diamond Cup with a 2-0-2 record.

Sporting KC passed on playing in the Desert Diamond Cup final, passing on playing a second game against the New England Revolution, instead choosing to play the Houston Dynamo who KC had not yet played in preseason. The Dynamo had the better of the chances in the early going and center back Nuno Andre Coelho had to save a ball on the line after a header from Will Bruin. Shortly after Coelho was on the offensive end giving KC the lead in the 16th minute. Off a Connor Hallisey corner, Coelho made a near post run and flicked Hallisey's corner into the net to put KC on top 1-0. The Dynamo continued to control the game though after the goal and found a deserved equalizer when Jalil Anibaba crossed the ball for Giles Barnes to head past Tim Melia on an effort that he would say he should have done better with. The two teams went into the half tied at 1-1.

Kansas City came out better in the second half and was able to push forward more and create more opportunities in the second half. KC had a great opportunity to retake the lead in the 55th when Houston was called for a back pass when a cross was knocked back to Houston goalkeeper Calle Brown, who picked the ball up. On the restart the Dynamo lined up eight players on the goal line and instead of doing a touch and shoot like most teams do in that situation, Dom Dwyer fired the ball to the back post where Daniel Salloi just had to touch the ball home to give Sporting a 2-1 lead. The Dynamo picked up the pressure again and pushed Sporting looking for another equalizer. With all the pressure they found another one after some good interplay Erick Torres got in behind KC's defense and beat Melia to tie the game at 2-2. KC had to be strong defensively over the final 13 minutes to end the preseason unbeaten. Melia was called upon to make some big saves and KC finished the Desert Diamond Cup 1-0-3.

Both Sporting and the Rangers will return home to Kansas City with Sporting getting ready for their season opener against Seattle while the Rangers will continue preseason with a pair of games against local colleges set up over the next couple weeks.

Sporting Win Preseason Opener

Sporting Kansas City stepped onto the field for the first time in 2016 to face off against an opponent today in Tucson when they played PDL side FC Tucson in a 60 minute scrimmage. Playing two separate lineups that saw the first 30 minutes played by the predominately first team (save Lawrence Olum starting instead of Soni Mustivar and Jordi Quintilla instead of Benny Feilhaber) KC jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Brad Davis and Dom Dwyer traded playing set up man and finisher. First Dwyer set up Davis to put KC up 1-0 before he returned the favor to Dwyer to make it 2-0.

Full scale changes after 30 minutes didn't keep Kansas City from adding two more on the PDL side. Second year man, Connor Hallisey scored both for Sporting off assists from Benny Feilhaber and Justin Mapp. KC will face the same team again on Wednesday before closing out the first phase of preseason in Tucson next Sunday February 7th against South Korean side, Seongnam FC.

Sporting End First Phase of Preseason with Win

Sporting KC closed out the first phase of their preseason ahead of the 2015 season with a win in Tucson. Twice Sporting came from behind to beat PDL side, FC Tucson 4-2.

The first half saw Sporting play as much of the first team as they can at this point, with the team still without Matt Besler and Chance Myers, Ike Opara, and Graham Zusi all still recovering from injury. The predominately first team lineup though could not find the net for Kansas City in the first half.

At half time, Sporting made 10 changes, with only 17 year old Erik Palmer-Brown staying on and playing the full 90 minutes for Kansas City. The team also only had three trialists play in the game. Sporting's third first round pick, Amadou Dia, their third round pick, James Rogers, and former Sporing KC midfielder, Christian Duke. The rest of the roster were players that were already under contract to Sporting KC. Tucson grabbed the lead just a few minutes into the half with Marquis Brooks scoring in the 48th minute to put the PDL side on top. KC equalized in the 60th minute from the penalty spot as Krisztian Nemeth converted after Mikey Lopez was fouled in the box.  Tucson would re-grab the lead in the 74th as Derek Boggs headed home a free kick from Vincent Mediate to put make it 2-1. The lead lasted only a minute though as Nemeth scored his second goal of the game finishing of a cross from Rogers to make it 2-2. Then just a couple minutes later, Sporting went on top thanks to Jimmy Medranda as he one timed a shot into the net off an assist from Nemeth. Sporting put the game away in stoppage time as Dia found Nemeth who beat his defender and then beat former KC academy player, Jacole Turner to finish off his hattrick and make it 4-2 right before the final whistle.

Sporting Win, KC Chasing Winger?, Palmer-Brown Called Up, Myers Update

The 2014 season feels extremely close now after Sporting KC kicked off their preseason slate of games against PDL side, FC Tucson. Sporting KC got a first half goal from CJ Sapong to help lead them to a 1-0 win. The main talking point of the game ended up being how Sporting KC designated player, Claudio Bieler lined up. With Benny Feilhaber and Graham Zusi away with the US national team, Bieler lined up in an attacking midfield position right behind starting center forward, Dom Dwyer. Bieler ended up getting the assist on Sapong's opening goal, and was praised by Peter Vermes after the game as being "very fit at the moment (compared) to last year."

Sporting played 26 players in all in the game today with none playing more than 45 minutes. Of the players on the roster and in camp, that left six players that didn't appear. Goalkeepers Jon Kempin and Jacole Turner did not play as Eric Kronberg and AndyGruenebaum split time. Seth Sinovic just arrived back with the team after training with the US team and did not play. Also not playing was Peterson Joseph, who we've had no update on his health and the tests that were done since the end of the 2013 season. The other two, Jacob Peterson and Oriol Rosell, I can find no specific reason why they did not play.

Sporting Chasing Former Barcelona Winger?

There are two positions that Sporting KC fans have said the team could stand to upgrade this offseason. The first was a midfielder to play the box-to-box role to help take pressure off of Paulo Nagamura. The second was a left sided winger. Word out of Spain, picked up by Tribal Football, has Sporting in the running to try to land former Barcelona Winger, Jeffren Suarez. The Venezuelan, who has represented Spain at the youth levels has most recently been playing with Sporting Lisbon. But from reading the Spanish article, it appears the winger is more likely to Real Valladolid or Rayo Vallecano, as he's apparently wanting to return to Spain. Still if Sporting can grab him, it could solve one of KC's problems.

Palmer-Brown call up

While he's been the rumor of transfer speculation the last week or so, Erik Palmer-Brown made a 45 minute appearance for Sporting KC today as a second half sub. That will be Palmer-Brown's only game with the team in Arizona as he's been called up to the US U18 team for the Copa del Atlantico in Spain. The tournament is held in Spain from January 30th through February 8th with the US playing games on the 4th, 5th, and 7th against the hosts Spain, Argentina, and the Canary Islands.

Myers Close to Re-Signing?

It's amazing how things can change in a day. Yesterday I was thinking that Chance Myers was on his way out of KC. Comments from a few people on Twitter made it sound like Myers was wanting more money than KC was willing to pay and Myers was ready to head abroad. Now news today from Vermes says that Sporting is close to re-signing the right back. In an interview with the Star, Vermes said that they'd hope to have news today or tomorrow about Myers' return to the team.

Josh Gardner's Comments Overshadow Preseason Game

Sporting KC played to a 1-1 draw with FC Tucson tonight in Arizona in the team's second preseason game.  Soony Saad scored early off a cross from Chance Myers.  Shortly after that Tucson equalized.  It was actually Tucson who had some of the better chances, putting a shot just wide and hitting the cross bar.  KC though controlled most of the first half and probably should have scored another goal or two.  KC made full scale changes plugging in many of the new players, trialists, and draftees in a lineup that played without a true forward.  KC had much of the play in the second but couldn't find a winner as KC played to it's second draw of the preseason.

The most interesting part of the game came in the second half when Sporting KC midfielder/defender Josh Gardner joined the broadcast booth.  Gardner was asked about joining Sporting and his playing style and how it fit it.  Gardner mentioned his getting forward and crossing ability and then said "we'll miss Kei a little bit with his size." 

A short while later when about Sporting's national team players and specifically Graham Zusi, and where he fits in, Gardner finished a comment saying "with Kei leaving."

Nothing officially has been stated from Sporting regarding Kamara's status, but he hasn't played in either of Sporting's two preseason games and from comments people have made it sounds like he is actually in Kansas City currently, not Tucson.

Earlier in the broadcast, the two calling the game for the MLS stream made it sound like Kamara's deal to Norwich would only be a short term loan deal instead of a permanent deal.  A loan would likely see Kamara leave Kansas City until May or so and then returning to KC.

Any move for Kamara would have to be completed before the close of the transfer window in England, which ends on Thursday around 5pm Central time. 

The loss of Kamara would be a rough one for Sporting to recover from.  Kamara's speed and size on the wing causes all kinds of problems for defenses and he has the ability to finish as well.  He's been at least joint leading scorer for KC each of the last 3 seasons, including a career high of 11 this past season.

Dwyer Hattrick Leads Sporting Past FC Tucson

Sporting KC closed out the Arizona leg of their preseason today with a win over local PDL side, FC Tucson. In a 120 minute game that was cut short due to the weather, KC got goals from Kei Kamara, Roger Espinoza, and a hattrick from rookie, Dom Dwyer gave Sporting a 5-1 win over the local side. The first 60 minutes of the game saw a team that contained mostly first teams get a 2-0 lead.

It was actually FC Tucson that had the best chance early, as Jon Kempin, who started in goal, was called for a penalty after bringing down Tucson's Kevin King in the box. Kempin though redeemed himself as he stopped the ensuing PK from Reid Schmitt. KC opened the scoring in the 18th minute, as Soony Saad successfully challenge the Tucson keeper for the ball in the air off a long ball from Luke Sassano. Saad's challenge caused the ball to Kamara who knocked the ball into the net giving KC the 1-0 lead. KC doubled the lead 5 minutes before halftime through Espinoza who fired home from about 30 yards out, beating Tucson keeper Mike Selmo.

KC made full scale changes in the 60th minute, and for the first time in preseason, the rest of KC's draft picks that hadn't previously played, and the trialists got a chance to get onto the field. It was Tucson that got the first response though, as Schmitt beat trialist goalkeeper Steve Spangler in the 65th to make it 2-1.

From there though, it became the Dom Dwyer show, as Dwyer scored 3 goals over the final 20 minutes of the game. The first game 5 minutes after Tucson got on the board, Dwyer put away a cross from supplemental draft pick, Shawn Singh. Nine minutes later, Dwyer had his second goal after navigating through a crowded penalty area and squeezing the ball past a few defenders and into the net. Just before the final whistle at the 90 minute mark, Dwyer finished off a cross from Cyrus Saydee with a glancing header to make it 5-1.

The team left for the airport virtually right after the game to head back to KC. The team will have tomorrow off before training in KC Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Monday they'll depart for the final phase of preseason in Orlando.