Sporting KC was busy today announcing that the club had re-signed two players who had played a large role in the 2016 season. The biggest news belonged to the re-signing of Benny Feilhaber. The news, which had been rumored for the last two days was confirmed with the club announcing that they had signed Feilhaber to a new two year deal with the club. Feilhaber confirmed that he had been ready to move on from Sporting KC, setting his sights on a move to Israel and Hapoel Be'er Sheva before Sporting KC came in with an offer.
Plenty can be said about Peter Vermes tradition of not negotiating new contracts during the season as coach and technical director, in this instance it came close to costing the club arguably their best player over the past two years. Feilhaber, being in the last year of his contract had been free in the final six months of his contract to sign a pre-contract with a new team. Feilhaber though stuck around and Kansas City was able to convince him to stay.
While he's getting a raise from his salary from last year, which was reportedly just over $400,000, Feilhaber will not be a designated player, instead the club will use allocation money to pay down his salary to the maximum salary cap hit. His play over the last two years, with 17 goals and 28 assists in league play is certainly deserving of a raise, and the two year contract is the right amount for Sporting KC with Feilhaber turning 32 before the 2017 season kicks off.
The other signing the team announced today was that the club will be bringing back Ike Opara on a one year deal with two option years. Opara's career has been marred by injuries that have limited his time, but in 2016 he set career highs in games, starts, and minutes played. Depending on what goes on with Nuno Coelho, Opara could be penciled in as the projected starter at center back next to Matt Besler.
The pair signing brings KC up to 10 players currently under contract for the 2017 season, joining Matt Besler, Dom Dwyer, Roger Espinoza, Tim Melia, Soni Mustivar, Cameron Porter, Diego Rubio, and Graham Zusi.
Showing posts with label Ike Opara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ike Opara. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Sunday, October 02, 2016
Sunday After Stats
Paulo Nagamura made his 250th league appearance of his MLS career.
Dom Dwyer's goal was his 23rd away from home in all competitions for KC, tying him with Josh Wolff for the second most all time for KC.
Benny Feilhaber's assist was his 36th for KC, breaking his tie with Davy Arnaud for 4th all time on that list.
In the 45th minute, Feilhaber moved ahead of Aurelien Collin and into 20th place for minutes played in all competitions for KC, he finished the game with 11,502 minutes played.
Feilhaber made his 142nd appearance in all competitions for KC, tying him with Jimmy Nielsen and CJ Sapong for 20th on that list.
Feilhaber also made his 108th league start for KC, tying him with Diego Gutierrez for 20th on that list.
Saad Abdul-Salaam and Ike Opara both made their 50th league appearance for KC, they're the 55th and 56th players to hit that mark.
Dom Dwyer's goal was his 23rd away from home in all competitions for KC, tying him with Josh Wolff for the second most all time for KC.
Benny Feilhaber's assist was his 36th for KC, breaking his tie with Davy Arnaud for 4th all time on that list.
In the 45th minute, Feilhaber moved ahead of Aurelien Collin and into 20th place for minutes played in all competitions for KC, he finished the game with 11,502 minutes played.
Feilhaber made his 142nd appearance in all competitions for KC, tying him with Jimmy Nielsen and CJ Sapong for 20th on that list.
Feilhaber also made his 108th league start for KC, tying him with Diego Gutierrez for 20th on that list.
Saad Abdul-Salaam and Ike Opara both made their 50th league appearance for KC, they're the 55th and 56th players to hit that mark.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
S.A.S. Wednesday After Stats
The loss was the first home loss in CONCACAF international competitions for Sporting KC.
By the end of the night, Seth Sinovic had moved into 5th place for Sporting KC for minutes played in international competitions, finishing the game with 937 minutes played.
In the 45th minute, Sinovic moved back ahead of Roger Espinoza and into 13th place for minutes played in all competitions, finishing the game with 14,020 minutes played in all competitions.
Sinovic made his 11th appearance in international competitions for KC, tying him wtih Mike Burns and Chris Brown for 5th all time on that list.
Paulo Nagamura by the end of the night had moved into 13th place for minutes played in international competitions for KC, finishing the game with 660 minutes played.
Ike Opara moved into a tie with Aurelien Collin, Oriol Rosell, and Kevin Ellis for 16th place on the list of minutes played in international competitions with 540 minutes played.
Tyler Pasher made his first appearance and first start for Sporting KC.
Kris Tyrpak made his first appearance for Sporting KC.
By the end of the night, Seth Sinovic had moved into 5th place for Sporting KC for minutes played in international competitions, finishing the game with 937 minutes played.
In the 45th minute, Sinovic moved back ahead of Roger Espinoza and into 13th place for minutes played in all competitions, finishing the game with 14,020 minutes played in all competitions.
Sinovic made his 11th appearance in international competitions for KC, tying him wtih Mike Burns and Chris Brown for 5th all time on that list.
Paulo Nagamura by the end of the night had moved into 13th place for minutes played in international competitions for KC, finishing the game with 660 minutes played.
Ike Opara moved into a tie with Aurelien Collin, Oriol Rosell, and Kevin Ellis for 16th place on the list of minutes played in international competitions with 540 minutes played.
Tyler Pasher made his first appearance and first start for Sporting KC.
Kris Tyrpak made his first appearance for Sporting KC.
Monday, July 11, 2016
S.A.S. Monday After Stats
Jimmy Medranda's goal was his first for the team.
Medranda's goal was the 150th league goal scored by KC at Children's Mercy Park.
At 22 years, 154 days, Medranda became the 13th youngest player to score a goal for KC in league play, he knocked Jack Jewsbury out of the top 20.
He became the 15th youngest goal scorer in all competitions for KC, knocking Vicente Figueroa off that list.
Benny Feilhaber's goal was his 13th in league play at home for KC, tying him with Mark Chung for 12th on that list.
It was his 15th at home in all competitions, tying him with Igor Simutenkov for 12th on that list.
In the 76th minute, Roger Espinoza moved past Tony Meola and into 15th place for minutes played in league play for KC. He finished the game with 11,346 minutes played.
Espinoza made his 170th appearance in all competitions for KC, tying him with Michael Harrington for 12th all time on that list.
Espinoza made his 128th league start for KC, tying him with Harrington, Josh Wolff, and Jimmy Nielsen for 11th all time on that list.
Ike Opara made his 50th appearance in all competitions for KC, he's the 64th player to hit that mark.
Sporting Top East Leaders
Sporting Kansas City continued their good recent run of form, extending their unbeaten run in MLS play to five games with a 3-1 win over New York City FC. The offense is finally starting to click and score goals after looking anemic for the first couple months of the season and the defense is still holding strong with both center backs who started the season now on the bench. Sporting almost made it look easy against the Eastern Conference leaders, pinning them back in their own end and allowing just three shots on goal all game, just one after the 14th minute.
The game started out at a frantic pace with Sporting Kansas City really pushing the game and pressuring NYCFC early on. The early pressure paid off in just the eighth minute when Benny Feilhaber was the first to react to a rebound off the post on a redirected shot by Jacob Peterson to tap the ball into the net to make it 1-0 Kansas City. Kansas City continued to push forward after the early goal and were almost immediately exposed on the counter by Jack Harrison and NYCFC has he raced by Jimmy Medranda and fired a shot on goal that Tim Melia pushed wide. A poor give away by KC in 14th minute gave New York their equalizer. Ike Opara made a poor pass forward that Andrea Pirlo knocked down and played to David Villa in a two-v-two situation. Villa fed it back to Pirlo who played it to an overlapping Ronald Matarrita who squared a pass into the middle of the box where Frank Lampard had ghosted in unmarked and he passed the ball into the near post past Melia. The game wasn't level long though as KC retook the lead two minutes later. A Feilhaber corner kick didn't get over the first man and was cleared to Medranda who was able to bring the ball down line his shot up and fire it on goal. NYCFC goalkeeper Josh Saunders had a clear view of it and dove to save it but the ball bounced right in front of him and over and into the net to put Kansas City back on top 2-1. Kansas City continued to push things looking to extend their lead with Roger Espinoza having a shot from outside the box saved by Saunders, then before half Diego Rubio really should have made it 3-1 after a ball found its way to him in the box, but his attempt at a curling shot into the corner went well high and wide of the goal.
Kansas City continued the pressure in the second half and found the third goal just five minutes in. After NYCFC failed to fully clear a corner the ball fell to Feilhaber at the top of the box who slid a ball through to Opara who had been up for the corner. Opara was brought down in the box but got up quickly and touched a shot past Saunders that rolled into the net to put KC up 3-1. NYCFC just didn't seem to really get into the game as Sporting was able to shut down their midfield and limit New York to just 33% possession for the game. KC continued to create chances of their own with Brad Davis firing just over the bar and Rubio having another chance at a goal late on after some good work down the wing by Connor Hallisey. Hallisey played a ball into the box that Rubio skillfully brought down and turned but couldn't get a good shot off with a defender right on his shoulder. It wasn't needed though as KC was able to cruise to victory over the Eastern Conference leaders.
Wizards Man of the Match - Benny Feilhaber - Looked like the 2015 version of Feilhaber has been showing up recently for KC, Feilhaber had another solid performance, scoring a goal and setting up Opara's goal as well. He was also all over the field running the offense for Kansas City.
Honorable Mention - Roger Espinoza
Player Ratings - Melia 6, Medranda 7, Olum 7, Opara 7, Abdul-Salaam 7, Mustivar 8, Espinoza 8, Feilhaber 8, Davis 7, Rubio 6, Peterson 6. Subs Hallisey 6, Coelho NR, Mapp NR.
The game started out at a frantic pace with Sporting Kansas City really pushing the game and pressuring NYCFC early on. The early pressure paid off in just the eighth minute when Benny Feilhaber was the first to react to a rebound off the post on a redirected shot by Jacob Peterson to tap the ball into the net to make it 1-0 Kansas City. Kansas City continued to push forward after the early goal and were almost immediately exposed on the counter by Jack Harrison and NYCFC has he raced by Jimmy Medranda and fired a shot on goal that Tim Melia pushed wide. A poor give away by KC in 14th minute gave New York their equalizer. Ike Opara made a poor pass forward that Andrea Pirlo knocked down and played to David Villa in a two-v-two situation. Villa fed it back to Pirlo who played it to an overlapping Ronald Matarrita who squared a pass into the middle of the box where Frank Lampard had ghosted in unmarked and he passed the ball into the near post past Melia. The game wasn't level long though as KC retook the lead two minutes later. A Feilhaber corner kick didn't get over the first man and was cleared to Medranda who was able to bring the ball down line his shot up and fire it on goal. NYCFC goalkeeper Josh Saunders had a clear view of it and dove to save it but the ball bounced right in front of him and over and into the net to put Kansas City back on top 2-1. Kansas City continued to push things looking to extend their lead with Roger Espinoza having a shot from outside the box saved by Saunders, then before half Diego Rubio really should have made it 3-1 after a ball found its way to him in the box, but his attempt at a curling shot into the corner went well high and wide of the goal.
Kansas City continued the pressure in the second half and found the third goal just five minutes in. After NYCFC failed to fully clear a corner the ball fell to Feilhaber at the top of the box who slid a ball through to Opara who had been up for the corner. Opara was brought down in the box but got up quickly and touched a shot past Saunders that rolled into the net to put KC up 3-1. NYCFC just didn't seem to really get into the game as Sporting was able to shut down their midfield and limit New York to just 33% possession for the game. KC continued to create chances of their own with Brad Davis firing just over the bar and Rubio having another chance at a goal late on after some good work down the wing by Connor Hallisey. Hallisey played a ball into the box that Rubio skillfully brought down and turned but couldn't get a good shot off with a defender right on his shoulder. It wasn't needed though as KC was able to cruise to victory over the Eastern Conference leaders.
Wizards Man of the Match - Benny Feilhaber - Looked like the 2015 version of Feilhaber has been showing up recently for KC, Feilhaber had another solid performance, scoring a goal and setting up Opara's goal as well. He was also all over the field running the offense for Kansas City.
Honorable Mention - Roger Espinoza
Player Ratings - Melia 6, Medranda 7, Olum 7, Opara 7, Abdul-Salaam 7, Mustivar 8, Espinoza 8, Feilhaber 8, Davis 7, Rubio 6, Peterson 6. Subs Hallisey 6, Coelho NR, Mapp NR.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Survive and Advance
Knock out competitions aren't about looking good or necessarily being the better team, knock out competitions are all about surviving and advancing to the next round. Tonight in Minnesota, Sporting KC did just that, surviving a very physical game with Minnesota United, at game that saw 42 fouls, a shoving match, two penalty kicks awarded, and 11 yellow cards (surprisingly no reds), to advance 2-1 after extra time thanks to a goal by Diego Rubio.
After a slow start for Sporting Kansas City, where Minnesota had much of the early play, Kansas City stepped up and started to take over the game in the first half. They couldn't create much in the way of chances, but held the ball for over 60% of the first half. There was really only one really dangerous chance for either side in the first half and that fell to Dom Dwyer in the 20th minute. Jimmy Medranda played an excellent curled ball into the box that sailed over the defenders to Dwyer. Dwyer had an excellent first touch to bring the ball down and set up his shot, but couldn't beat United goalkeeper Sammy Ndjock who had come quickly off his line. United's best chance came later in the half as a cross from KC's right went past the goal to the back post for Danny Cruz who was surprised that the ball made it past both Ike Opara and Medranda and landed at his feet, and the winger couldn't get much of a touch on it to bring the ball down.
The second half once again saw Minnesota come out with some early aggression and had a good opportunity on a free kick outside the box but defender Damion Lowe was offside on a ball played over the top, Sporting goalkeeper Alec Kann still made the save though as Lowe tried to score. KC started to build possession again, and unlike the first half started to get Benny Feilhaber more involved in the attacking half of the field, a switch from the first half when he mainly played right in front of the center backs. Feilhaber was able to create some more space with his passing, but it was another player's dribbling that finally set up the first goal of the game. In the 62nd minute Medranda received the ball about 40 yards from goal and to the left, he proceeded to beat four Minnesota defenders getting just wide of the box before playing a cross into Dwyer. Dwyer brought the ball down, turned and fired a shot that hit a Minnesota defender's hand leading to a penalty kick for Kansas City. Feilhaber stepped up and while Ndjock guessed right, Feilhaber slotted the ball into the corner to put KC in front and score the team's first goal in over 280 minutes of game play. After the goal though Minnesota really started to take the game over, pinning KC back in their own end, not allowing them to get forward. The pressure caused the KC defense to make some mistakes but Minnesota was unable to capitalize. Finally in the 79th minute they were able to as Cruz received the ball out wide and dribbled at Medranda taking him on. The Colombian went for a tackle, missing the ball and taking Cruz out leading to another penalty. Upon replay it looked like the contact of the foul started outside the box, but the penalty was awarded and Christian Ramirez was able to slot the ball into the corner as Kann guessed right to tie the game at 1-1. Minnesota continued to pressure late but could not find a winner sending the game to extra time.
Extra time saw both teams control the game for periods of time but fail to find the final ball. The first period's best chance fell to Minnesota after some very good one touch passing down the wing and into the middle JC Banks chested the ball into the path of Ramirez and only a great sliding tackle by Ike Opara kept the United forward from scoring. KC was able to test Ndjock a little, but not with real clear chances. Heading into the second period of extra time, Peter Vermes inserted his young designated player, Diego Rubio, who has struggled for playing time while on loan. Rubio's insertion paid almost immediate dividends as a Medranda shot was spilled by Ndjock right in front of goal where Rubio pounced, but was offside and had the goal called back. Minutes later though Rubio would find the net as Feilhaber led a quick break for KC getting space and slotted a ball through to Rubio into the box. The Chilean had time to look up and fire a shot past Ndjock and into the net. Over the final 10 minutes Minnesota threw everything at Kansas City but couldn't find a way through. Their best chance came in the 120th minute on a long ball over the top that Kann came for weakly looking to get a foul. He missed the ball and the header was flicked on towards goal but rolled just wide of the post keeping KC in front. Shortly after the final whistle blew and KC advanced to the next round where they'll find their opponent for June 29th out tomorrow.
Wizards Man of the Match - Ike Opara & Lawrence Olum - Did an excellent job of containing Christian Ramirez all night. United's leading scorer was kept in check by Kansas City's center back pairing for a good portion of the game.
Player Ratings - Kann 5, Medranda 6, Opara 8, Olum 8, Abdul-Salaam 7, Mustivar 6, Espinoza 6, Feilhaber 6, Hallisey 4, Dwyer 5, Peterson 4. Subs Davis 5, Myers 5, Rubio 6.
After a slow start for Sporting Kansas City, where Minnesota had much of the early play, Kansas City stepped up and started to take over the game in the first half. They couldn't create much in the way of chances, but held the ball for over 60% of the first half. There was really only one really dangerous chance for either side in the first half and that fell to Dom Dwyer in the 20th minute. Jimmy Medranda played an excellent curled ball into the box that sailed over the defenders to Dwyer. Dwyer had an excellent first touch to bring the ball down and set up his shot, but couldn't beat United goalkeeper Sammy Ndjock who had come quickly off his line. United's best chance came later in the half as a cross from KC's right went past the goal to the back post for Danny Cruz who was surprised that the ball made it past both Ike Opara and Medranda and landed at his feet, and the winger couldn't get much of a touch on it to bring the ball down.
The second half once again saw Minnesota come out with some early aggression and had a good opportunity on a free kick outside the box but defender Damion Lowe was offside on a ball played over the top, Sporting goalkeeper Alec Kann still made the save though as Lowe tried to score. KC started to build possession again, and unlike the first half started to get Benny Feilhaber more involved in the attacking half of the field, a switch from the first half when he mainly played right in front of the center backs. Feilhaber was able to create some more space with his passing, but it was another player's dribbling that finally set up the first goal of the game. In the 62nd minute Medranda received the ball about 40 yards from goal and to the left, he proceeded to beat four Minnesota defenders getting just wide of the box before playing a cross into Dwyer. Dwyer brought the ball down, turned and fired a shot that hit a Minnesota defender's hand leading to a penalty kick for Kansas City. Feilhaber stepped up and while Ndjock guessed right, Feilhaber slotted the ball into the corner to put KC in front and score the team's first goal in over 280 minutes of game play. After the goal though Minnesota really started to take the game over, pinning KC back in their own end, not allowing them to get forward. The pressure caused the KC defense to make some mistakes but Minnesota was unable to capitalize. Finally in the 79th minute they were able to as Cruz received the ball out wide and dribbled at Medranda taking him on. The Colombian went for a tackle, missing the ball and taking Cruz out leading to another penalty. Upon replay it looked like the contact of the foul started outside the box, but the penalty was awarded and Christian Ramirez was able to slot the ball into the corner as Kann guessed right to tie the game at 1-1. Minnesota continued to pressure late but could not find a winner sending the game to extra time.
Extra time saw both teams control the game for periods of time but fail to find the final ball. The first period's best chance fell to Minnesota after some very good one touch passing down the wing and into the middle JC Banks chested the ball into the path of Ramirez and only a great sliding tackle by Ike Opara kept the United forward from scoring. KC was able to test Ndjock a little, but not with real clear chances. Heading into the second period of extra time, Peter Vermes inserted his young designated player, Diego Rubio, who has struggled for playing time while on loan. Rubio's insertion paid almost immediate dividends as a Medranda shot was spilled by Ndjock right in front of goal where Rubio pounced, but was offside and had the goal called back. Minutes later though Rubio would find the net as Feilhaber led a quick break for KC getting space and slotted a ball through to Rubio into the box. The Chilean had time to look up and fire a shot past Ndjock and into the net. Over the final 10 minutes Minnesota threw everything at Kansas City but couldn't find a way through. Their best chance came in the 120th minute on a long ball over the top that Kann came for weakly looking to get a foul. He missed the ball and the header was flicked on towards goal but rolled just wide of the post keeping KC in front. Shortly after the final whistle blew and KC advanced to the next round where they'll find their opponent for June 29th out tomorrow.
Wizards Man of the Match - Ike Opara & Lawrence Olum - Did an excellent job of containing Christian Ramirez all night. United's leading scorer was kept in check by Kansas City's center back pairing for a good portion of the game.
Player Ratings - Kann 5, Medranda 6, Opara 8, Olum 8, Abdul-Salaam 7, Mustivar 6, Espinoza 6, Feilhaber 6, Hallisey 4, Dwyer 5, Peterson 4. Subs Davis 5, Myers 5, Rubio 6.
Friday, June 03, 2016
S.A.S. Friday After Stats
Since I was away for the DC game, here are stats from both last week's DC game and last night's game vs LA.
Vs DC.
At 33 years, 86 days, Paulo Nagamura became the 17th oldest player to start a league game for KC, knocking Diego Gutierrez out of the top 20.
He also became the 18th oldest player to start a game in all competitions, knocking Uche Okafor off the top 20.
Chance Myers made his 169th appearance in all competitions, tying him with Mo Johnston for 14th all time on that list.
Myers made his 143rd league appearance for KC, tying him with Roger Espinoza for 16th all time on that list.
Vs LA.
Ike Opara made his 50th start in league play in his MLS career.
Chance Myers made his 170th appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Mo Johnston, and moving him into a tie with Michael Harrington for 11th all time on that list.
Myers and Roger Espinoza both made their 144th league appearance for KC, tying them with Matt McKeon and Josh Wolff for 12th all time on that list.
Vs DC.
At 33 years, 86 days, Paulo Nagamura became the 17th oldest player to start a league game for KC, knocking Diego Gutierrez out of the top 20.
He also became the 18th oldest player to start a game in all competitions, knocking Uche Okafor off the top 20.
Chance Myers made his 169th appearance in all competitions, tying him with Mo Johnston for 14th all time on that list.
Myers made his 143rd league appearance for KC, tying him with Roger Espinoza for 16th all time on that list.
Vs LA.
Ike Opara made his 50th start in league play in his MLS career.
Chance Myers made his 170th appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Mo Johnston, and moving him into a tie with Michael Harrington for 11th all time on that list.
Myers and Roger Espinoza both made their 144th league appearance for KC, tying them with Matt McKeon and Josh Wolff for 12th all time on that list.
Tuesday, March 01, 2016
Sporting KC Season Preview - Defenders
Today on the preview of Sporting KC's roster ahead of the 2016 MLS season we'll take a look at the defenders. With today's announcement about the mutual termination of Marcel de Jong's contract there is one fewer defender on the roster for Sporting KC. The loss of de Jong though doesn't appear to be too big as the team is still two deep at each position along the back line at this time.
The defense overall isn't seeing much of a shake up from the unit that allowed 43 goals in the 2015 season, the fourth most in the Western Conference in 2015. The big thing for them is probably the overall health of the lineup this season. Of the eight players on the roster, seven were on Sporting KC's roster last year, and pretty much all of them missed time with injuries, the biggest of those being Chance Myers, Ike Opara, and Seth Sinovic. Those three were expected starters on the 2015 Sporting KC team. Instead they started just 26 of an available 102 games in league play. In their place came the likes of Saad Abdul-Salaam, Amadou Dia, and Kevin Ellis. And while all three of those players were able to get valuable playing experience last year the loss of Myers, Opara, and Sinovic were certainly felt.
Saad Abdul-Salaam - The second year wingback had a good 2015 season after starting on loan with Jon Kempin at the San Antonio Scorpions. He was recalled around the same time Kempin was when injuries started to take their toll on Sporting's back line. Abdul-Salaam did well, replacing Myers who struggled in his return from an Achilles injury. He even got a bar at Providence Park named after his penalty kick against the Portland Timbers.
Matt Besler - Sporting KC's captain and the leader of the back line, Besler continues to be solid for Kansas City in the middle of defense. Without a World Cup, and not being called into the Gold Cup, Besler was able to more games for KC in 2015 than he has since breaking into the US national team, starting 32 games. With the Copa America this summer Besler could potentially miss time if he's once again named to the US team. Last year he did a better job of transitioning between the composed, stay at home defender that he always got to be when he partnered with Aurelien Collin and being the more aggressive of the two center backs defensively. It was an area he'd previously struggled with but in 2015 he did better about holding his own when he had to take on the later role.
Nuno Andre Coelho - The Portuguese center back, the only new member to the back line, appears to have won probably the biggest position battle in preseason camp this year, the spot next to Besler as the right center back. Throughout the Desert Diamond Cup, Coelho was the one that was mainly partnering Besler in the middle of KC's back line when the KC captain was out there. In the preseason games I've seen Coelho has performed well and looks like he's acclimating well to his position and working with Besler. He'll also provide a threat on set pieces with his height, an area KC probably needed to improve on, they couldn't rely on 5'9" Ellis equaling his four goal total of last year.
Amadou Dia - Like Abdul-Salaam, Dia had himself a solid 2015 rookie season. He got plenty of time at left back after the concussion for Sinovic and he basically made Marcel de Jong expendable for Kansas City with his level of development in 2015. In 2016 he'll be expected to mainly back up Sinovic, but if he struggles this year Dia is more than capable of replacing him.
Kevin Ellis - Possibly the most polarizing player on Sporting KC's roster (only maybe equaled by Jacob Peterson). Some people thought he performed well enough last year when put in a difficult situation having to start for Opara at center back for over 80% of the season after he went down with an injury. Others never want him near the field again, felt he was a liability and doesn't have the size to play center back. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle, if he had done as good as some think, KC wouldn't have made upgrading center back as much of a priority as they did in the offseason and if he was as bad as some think, he still wouldn't be with the club. Ellis will get his chances at center back this season with spot starts in the league or in other competitions he needs to prove he can continue to develop at that position as he appears to have fully made the switch from outside back.
Chance Myers - After three seasons of remaining fairly healthy, Myers suffered a torn Achilles in the 2014 season. The injury kept him out for the start of the 2015 season, not returning to action until late June. He started only 10 league games in the entire season and missed out on the playoff game against the Timbers due to injury as well. With him getting a full preseason with the team this year the hope is that he'll return to the form of the last few years when he was healthy and help solidify the back line.
Ike Opara - Opara was dominating in defense over Kansas City's first six games of the 2015 season. Then another injury happened, his fourth season ending injury in six professional seasons. He's strong in the air and is a good defender but the questions of his health continue to be answered negatively each time he gets the opportunity as a regular starter. The injury issue force Peter Vermes' hand into bringing in Coelho in the hopes that he'll be more reliable. Opara will be very helpful to KC though as a spot starter and appearing in other competitions in 2016. He'll also potentially be needed this summer if Besler is called up for Copa America. Hopefully he can remain healthy.
Seth Sinovic - The third of KC's three 2015 starters who missed significant time in 2015, Sinovic suffered a concussion in a 1-1 draw with DC United in May. That left him out of action until August. When he returned though Sinovic didn't seem to be the same player, he was a step slower and he just didn't appear to be fully recovered at the time. Like Myers he missed the playoff game, instead Vermes favored the rookie Dia in his spot. Hopefully with an offseason to fully heal and get some down time he comes back closer to where he was when he got the concussion, if not Dia will be likely to get a lot of time at left back.
There are also players elsewhere on the field that can be pushed into defensive positions if the situation calls on it. Jimmy Medranda had one decent game at left back against Toronto, and one horrid half at left back against San Jose. In a pinch he could fill in as an outside back for Kansas City. Meanwhile Lawrence Olum has spent time at center back for both Kansas City and for his country, Kenya. He played the 2013 US Open Cup final at center back in place of the suspended Collin. So while he seems set to mainly play in the midfield a spot on the back line shouldn't be out of the question, especially if KC starts to get hit with more injuries.
The defense overall isn't seeing much of a shake up from the unit that allowed 43 goals in the 2015 season, the fourth most in the Western Conference in 2015. The big thing for them is probably the overall health of the lineup this season. Of the eight players on the roster, seven were on Sporting KC's roster last year, and pretty much all of them missed time with injuries, the biggest of those being Chance Myers, Ike Opara, and Seth Sinovic. Those three were expected starters on the 2015 Sporting KC team. Instead they started just 26 of an available 102 games in league play. In their place came the likes of Saad Abdul-Salaam, Amadou Dia, and Kevin Ellis. And while all three of those players were able to get valuable playing experience last year the loss of Myers, Opara, and Sinovic were certainly felt.
Saad Abdul-Salaam - The second year wingback had a good 2015 season after starting on loan with Jon Kempin at the San Antonio Scorpions. He was recalled around the same time Kempin was when injuries started to take their toll on Sporting's back line. Abdul-Salaam did well, replacing Myers who struggled in his return from an Achilles injury. He even got a bar at Providence Park named after his penalty kick against the Portland Timbers.
Matt Besler - Sporting KC's captain and the leader of the back line, Besler continues to be solid for Kansas City in the middle of defense. Without a World Cup, and not being called into the Gold Cup, Besler was able to more games for KC in 2015 than he has since breaking into the US national team, starting 32 games. With the Copa America this summer Besler could potentially miss time if he's once again named to the US team. Last year he did a better job of transitioning between the composed, stay at home defender that he always got to be when he partnered with Aurelien Collin and being the more aggressive of the two center backs defensively. It was an area he'd previously struggled with but in 2015 he did better about holding his own when he had to take on the later role.
Nuno Andre Coelho - The Portuguese center back, the only new member to the back line, appears to have won probably the biggest position battle in preseason camp this year, the spot next to Besler as the right center back. Throughout the Desert Diamond Cup, Coelho was the one that was mainly partnering Besler in the middle of KC's back line when the KC captain was out there. In the preseason games I've seen Coelho has performed well and looks like he's acclimating well to his position and working with Besler. He'll also provide a threat on set pieces with his height, an area KC probably needed to improve on, they couldn't rely on 5'9" Ellis equaling his four goal total of last year.
Amadou Dia - Like Abdul-Salaam, Dia had himself a solid 2015 rookie season. He got plenty of time at left back after the concussion for Sinovic and he basically made Marcel de Jong expendable for Kansas City with his level of development in 2015. In 2016 he'll be expected to mainly back up Sinovic, but if he struggles this year Dia is more than capable of replacing him.
Kevin Ellis - Possibly the most polarizing player on Sporting KC's roster (only maybe equaled by Jacob Peterson). Some people thought he performed well enough last year when put in a difficult situation having to start for Opara at center back for over 80% of the season after he went down with an injury. Others never want him near the field again, felt he was a liability and doesn't have the size to play center back. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle, if he had done as good as some think, KC wouldn't have made upgrading center back as much of a priority as they did in the offseason and if he was as bad as some think, he still wouldn't be with the club. Ellis will get his chances at center back this season with spot starts in the league or in other competitions he needs to prove he can continue to develop at that position as he appears to have fully made the switch from outside back.
Chance Myers - After three seasons of remaining fairly healthy, Myers suffered a torn Achilles in the 2014 season. The injury kept him out for the start of the 2015 season, not returning to action until late June. He started only 10 league games in the entire season and missed out on the playoff game against the Timbers due to injury as well. With him getting a full preseason with the team this year the hope is that he'll return to the form of the last few years when he was healthy and help solidify the back line.
Ike Opara - Opara was dominating in defense over Kansas City's first six games of the 2015 season. Then another injury happened, his fourth season ending injury in six professional seasons. He's strong in the air and is a good defender but the questions of his health continue to be answered negatively each time he gets the opportunity as a regular starter. The injury issue force Peter Vermes' hand into bringing in Coelho in the hopes that he'll be more reliable. Opara will be very helpful to KC though as a spot starter and appearing in other competitions in 2016. He'll also potentially be needed this summer if Besler is called up for Copa America. Hopefully he can remain healthy.
Seth Sinovic - The third of KC's three 2015 starters who missed significant time in 2015, Sinovic suffered a concussion in a 1-1 draw with DC United in May. That left him out of action until August. When he returned though Sinovic didn't seem to be the same player, he was a step slower and he just didn't appear to be fully recovered at the time. Like Myers he missed the playoff game, instead Vermes favored the rookie Dia in his spot. Hopefully with an offseason to fully heal and get some down time he comes back closer to where he was when he got the concussion, if not Dia will be likely to get a lot of time at left back.
There are also players elsewhere on the field that can be pushed into defensive positions if the situation calls on it. Jimmy Medranda had one decent game at left back against Toronto, and one horrid half at left back against San Jose. In a pinch he could fill in as an outside back for Kansas City. Meanwhile Lawrence Olum has spent time at center back for both Kansas City and for his country, Kenya. He played the 2013 US Open Cup final at center back in place of the suspended Collin. So while he seems set to mainly play in the midfield a spot on the back line shouldn't be out of the question, especially if KC starts to get hit with more injuries.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
A Look Back at my 2015 Wants and Wishes
With 2015 about to end, here's a look at my 2015 wants and wishes and how they turned out ahead of the calendar switch to 2016.
1. Silverware - Silverware is always fun and this year Kansas City soccer teams brought home two trophies. Sporting KC started the season off strong and for a period of time looked to be one of the favorites to win MLS Cup. Injuries though played a role in their downfall, but in the end were able to finish the season with their third trophy in four years, the US Open Cup. It was the club's third US Open Cup trophy to go with the 2004 and 2012 trophies, and as expected, came in a penalty kick shootout. Also this year FC Kansas City brought home their second straight NWSL title repeating as champions with a 1-0 win over Seattle thanks to an Amy Rodriguez goal.
2. Sporting KC improve their home form - I'd say this was a successful wish for 2015, Sporting KC. After going 6-5-6 in 2014, and losing 10 over the last two years, Kansas City lost just twice at home in 2015. Sporting finished with a 10-2-5 record, an 11 point positive swing in Kansas City's favor from their 2014 form. Add in their four US Open Cup wins at home and KC went 14-2-5 in 2015, tying a club record for home wins.
3. A little more balanced scoring - Overall scoring was much better for Kansas City in 2015. The club didn't have to rely solely on Dom Dwyer and ended up scoring 64 goals in all competitions, the second most in club history. Leading the way was Dwyer, Krisztian Nemeth, and Benny Feilhaber who all scored 10 goals or more in league play, becoming the first trio to accomplish that feat in one season for Kansas City. While Dwyer's scoring was down, he still led the team with 12 league goals, added another five in the US Open Cup, and one in the playoffs to finish the season with 16. Nemeth to go along with his 10 league goals scored five in the Open Cup for 15, while Feilhaber added two in the Open cup to finish with 12 on the season.
4. Finally defeat the Seattle Sounders at home - Sporting finally got their first home win against the Sounders thanks to a late Benny Feilhaber penalty kick back on June 6th. KC actually was unbeaten against the Sounders this year, going 1-0-2, drawing 0-0 in Seattle on May 23rd and earning a 1-1 draw at home on September 27th with a mostly reserve lineup three days before the US Open Cup final.
5. Ike Opara (or whoever partners Matt Besler) is fully recovered and starts 25-30 games - I guess I can't technically call this one a failure as Kevin Ellis started 26 games paired with Matt Besler in central defense for Sporting during the regular season, but the spirit of this wish didn't come true, especially after the way Ike Opara started the season. Opara had been Sporting's best player over the first month of the season, but another injury in early May put him out for the rest of the season leaving KC to lean heavily on homegrown player Kevin Ellis again. Ellis performed better than I think anyone expected, but was still prone to mistakes that a player with more size or experience at center back wouldn't make.
6. Luis Marin is available for all 34 league games, allowing Jon Kempin to start all but a game or two with Oklahoma City - Well this is another one that didn't come to be at all. We'll ignore the fact that Jon Kempin didn't go on loan at all to the Energy and instead focus on the fact that Luis Marin played just eight games for Kansas City before being benched in favor of Tim Melia. Marin just never seemed to adjust to the style of play of MLS very well. He did pick up three shutouts in his eight games, but two of those were at home against teams that seemed to have little to no interest in attacking on the road (Portland and Salt Lake) and the third came against New York City. The last straw for Marin came in the club's 4-4 draw with Houston where Marin was at least partially responsible for a few of the Dynamo goals. Marin though has rebounded well in Chile where he helped lead Palestino to the Apertura finals there.
And while Melia turned out to be a diamond in the rough as a starter for Kansas City, Kempin only appeared in three games for KC after being recalled from his loan to San Antonio. Peter Vermes says Kempin will challenge Melia for the starting job in 2016 preseason. If Kempin doesn't beat Melia out I hope he can spend quite a bit of time with the Swope Park Rangers getting plenty of minutes.
7. US Men's national team says perfect in Kansas City - Unfortunately the perfect run in Kansas City ended at five as the US national team drew with Panama 1-1 at Sporting Park in the final group play game of the 2015 Gold Cup. Falling behind on a first half goal by Blas Perez the US equalized early in the second half on a goal by Michael Bradley. The entire group stage of the Gold Cup didn't go that well for the US, and the problems were only compounded in the knock out round, but I'll get to that next.
8. US win the Gold Cup - I almost want to laugh at this wish now, after seeing how the 2015 Gold Cup played out. After getting out of Group A as the top seed going 2-0-1 but looking less than impressive in their wins against Honduras and Haiti, and draw against Panama, the US took Cuba behind the woodshed, winning 6-0 in the quarterfinals. This set up a semifinal match against Jamaica. The Jamaicans came out on the front foot and really pushed the game against the United States and were rewarded for it with goals from Darren Mattocks and Giles Barnes putting them up 2-0 at half time. Michael Bradley scored very early in the second half to give the US hope, but they were unable to break down the Jamaican defense and missed the finals for the first time since 2003. Things got even worse for the US as they lost the third place game on penalty kicks to Panama after drawing 1-1 with Fabian Johnson, Bradley, and DeMarcus Beasley all missing.
9. Missouri Comets return to championship game - Unfortunately the Comets didn't make it back to the finals. After going undefeated in the regular season and defeating Milwaukee 8-2 in the Central Division final, the Comets met up with the Baltimore Blast, losing 6-4 in Baltimore then coming home and having the wheels completely come off their season with red cards and suspensions being issued to Brian Harris and John Sosa and then the headbutt incident involving Andre Braithwaite and Pat Healey after the game. Not the way you want to end your season with so much of a sour taste in the team's and fans' mouths.
10. FC Kansas City improve attendance - FC Kansas City played in their third stadium in three years as they moved from Durwood on UMKC's campus down the road to the newly completed Swope Soccer Village and played at the Championship field there. The move bumped the available capacity to 3,557 for the Blues in their third season. The move, coming off a championship, and a boost from the Women's World Cup helped FCKC up their average attendance by over 1,000, going from 2,018 to 3,091 in 2015.
11. US women's team wins World Cup - The United States made it through their group as the winners picking up wins over Australia and Nigeria with a draw against Sweden in between to finish with 7 points. They met the upstart Colombians in the round of 16 and needed two second half goals after Colombia's starting goalkeeper was sent off to see them through. The quarterfinals saw a rematch of the 1999 final against China with Carli Lloyd scoring the lone goal to send the US through to the semifinals. There they met two time winners, Germany. The US though played their best game of the tournament up to that point though and scored twice in the second half from a Lloyd penalty and a Kelley O'Hara goal to make the finals. There they met Japan, who had beaten them in the finals of the last World Cup in Germany. The knockout rounds though had become the Carli Lloyd show and she continued in the finals. Lloyd had had two goals in the first five minutes as the US jumped on Japan early. Lauren Holiday scored in the 14th to make it 3-0 and in the 16th Lloyd finished her hattrick with an outlandish shot from midfield that went over goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori and into the net to make it 4-0 to the US before Japan even knew what happened. Japan got a goal back on each side of halftime before Tobin Heath finished the scoring in the 54th to give the US the 5-2 win.
1. Silverware - Silverware is always fun and this year Kansas City soccer teams brought home two trophies. Sporting KC started the season off strong and for a period of time looked to be one of the favorites to win MLS Cup. Injuries though played a role in their downfall, but in the end were able to finish the season with their third trophy in four years, the US Open Cup. It was the club's third US Open Cup trophy to go with the 2004 and 2012 trophies, and as expected, came in a penalty kick shootout. Also this year FC Kansas City brought home their second straight NWSL title repeating as champions with a 1-0 win over Seattle thanks to an Amy Rodriguez goal.
2. Sporting KC improve their home form - I'd say this was a successful wish for 2015, Sporting KC. After going 6-5-6 in 2014, and losing 10 over the last two years, Kansas City lost just twice at home in 2015. Sporting finished with a 10-2-5 record, an 11 point positive swing in Kansas City's favor from their 2014 form. Add in their four US Open Cup wins at home and KC went 14-2-5 in 2015, tying a club record for home wins.
3. A little more balanced scoring - Overall scoring was much better for Kansas City in 2015. The club didn't have to rely solely on Dom Dwyer and ended up scoring 64 goals in all competitions, the second most in club history. Leading the way was Dwyer, Krisztian Nemeth, and Benny Feilhaber who all scored 10 goals or more in league play, becoming the first trio to accomplish that feat in one season for Kansas City. While Dwyer's scoring was down, he still led the team with 12 league goals, added another five in the US Open Cup, and one in the playoffs to finish the season with 16. Nemeth to go along with his 10 league goals scored five in the Open Cup for 15, while Feilhaber added two in the Open cup to finish with 12 on the season.
4. Finally defeat the Seattle Sounders at home - Sporting finally got their first home win against the Sounders thanks to a late Benny Feilhaber penalty kick back on June 6th. KC actually was unbeaten against the Sounders this year, going 1-0-2, drawing 0-0 in Seattle on May 23rd and earning a 1-1 draw at home on September 27th with a mostly reserve lineup three days before the US Open Cup final.
5. Ike Opara (or whoever partners Matt Besler) is fully recovered and starts 25-30 games - I guess I can't technically call this one a failure as Kevin Ellis started 26 games paired with Matt Besler in central defense for Sporting during the regular season, but the spirit of this wish didn't come true, especially after the way Ike Opara started the season. Opara had been Sporting's best player over the first month of the season, but another injury in early May put him out for the rest of the season leaving KC to lean heavily on homegrown player Kevin Ellis again. Ellis performed better than I think anyone expected, but was still prone to mistakes that a player with more size or experience at center back wouldn't make.
6. Luis Marin is available for all 34 league games, allowing Jon Kempin to start all but a game or two with Oklahoma City - Well this is another one that didn't come to be at all. We'll ignore the fact that Jon Kempin didn't go on loan at all to the Energy and instead focus on the fact that Luis Marin played just eight games for Kansas City before being benched in favor of Tim Melia. Marin just never seemed to adjust to the style of play of MLS very well. He did pick up three shutouts in his eight games, but two of those were at home against teams that seemed to have little to no interest in attacking on the road (Portland and Salt Lake) and the third came against New York City. The last straw for Marin came in the club's 4-4 draw with Houston where Marin was at least partially responsible for a few of the Dynamo goals. Marin though has rebounded well in Chile where he helped lead Palestino to the Apertura finals there.
And while Melia turned out to be a diamond in the rough as a starter for Kansas City, Kempin only appeared in three games for KC after being recalled from his loan to San Antonio. Peter Vermes says Kempin will challenge Melia for the starting job in 2016 preseason. If Kempin doesn't beat Melia out I hope he can spend quite a bit of time with the Swope Park Rangers getting plenty of minutes.
7. US Men's national team says perfect in Kansas City - Unfortunately the perfect run in Kansas City ended at five as the US national team drew with Panama 1-1 at Sporting Park in the final group play game of the 2015 Gold Cup. Falling behind on a first half goal by Blas Perez the US equalized early in the second half on a goal by Michael Bradley. The entire group stage of the Gold Cup didn't go that well for the US, and the problems were only compounded in the knock out round, but I'll get to that next.
8. US win the Gold Cup - I almost want to laugh at this wish now, after seeing how the 2015 Gold Cup played out. After getting out of Group A as the top seed going 2-0-1 but looking less than impressive in their wins against Honduras and Haiti, and draw against Panama, the US took Cuba behind the woodshed, winning 6-0 in the quarterfinals. This set up a semifinal match against Jamaica. The Jamaicans came out on the front foot and really pushed the game against the United States and were rewarded for it with goals from Darren Mattocks and Giles Barnes putting them up 2-0 at half time. Michael Bradley scored very early in the second half to give the US hope, but they were unable to break down the Jamaican defense and missed the finals for the first time since 2003. Things got even worse for the US as they lost the third place game on penalty kicks to Panama after drawing 1-1 with Fabian Johnson, Bradley, and DeMarcus Beasley all missing.
9. Missouri Comets return to championship game - Unfortunately the Comets didn't make it back to the finals. After going undefeated in the regular season and defeating Milwaukee 8-2 in the Central Division final, the Comets met up with the Baltimore Blast, losing 6-4 in Baltimore then coming home and having the wheels completely come off their season with red cards and suspensions being issued to Brian Harris and John Sosa and then the headbutt incident involving Andre Braithwaite and Pat Healey after the game. Not the way you want to end your season with so much of a sour taste in the team's and fans' mouths.
10. FC Kansas City improve attendance - FC Kansas City played in their third stadium in three years as they moved from Durwood on UMKC's campus down the road to the newly completed Swope Soccer Village and played at the Championship field there. The move bumped the available capacity to 3,557 for the Blues in their third season. The move, coming off a championship, and a boost from the Women's World Cup helped FCKC up their average attendance by over 1,000, going from 2,018 to 3,091 in 2015.
11. US women's team wins World Cup - The United States made it through their group as the winners picking up wins over Australia and Nigeria with a draw against Sweden in between to finish with 7 points. They met the upstart Colombians in the round of 16 and needed two second half goals after Colombia's starting goalkeeper was sent off to see them through. The quarterfinals saw a rematch of the 1999 final against China with Carli Lloyd scoring the lone goal to send the US through to the semifinals. There they met two time winners, Germany. The US though played their best game of the tournament up to that point though and scored twice in the second half from a Lloyd penalty and a Kelley O'Hara goal to make the finals. There they met Japan, who had beaten them in the finals of the last World Cup in Germany. The knockout rounds though had become the Carli Lloyd show and she continued in the finals. Lloyd had had two goals in the first five minutes as the US jumped on Japan early. Lauren Holiday scored in the 14th to make it 3-0 and in the 16th Lloyd finished her hattrick with an outlandish shot from midfield that went over goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori and into the net to make it 4-0 to the US before Japan even knew what happened. Japan got a goal back on each side of halftime before Tobin Heath finished the scoring in the 54th to give the US the 5-2 win.
Friday, November 20, 2015
Season Review - Defenders - Once Again Injuries Plague the Back Line
Continuing to work up from the back on our review of the Sporting Kansas City season, we reach the defense. You can read my review of the goalkeeper position here. Sporting's defense in 2015 suffered one of the main issues that plagued the team during their 2014 run. Injuries were a big issue for the team with Chance Myers, Ike Opara, and Seth Sinovic, all three considered starters, missed considerable time due to different injuries. At one point in the season, KC had the best defensive record in the league, allowing the fewest goals in the league. Unfortunately after the 5-0 drubbing by San Jose, KC started leaking goals the rest of the season, allowing 20 over their last 12 games to finish the season with 45 goals against, the fourth most in the Western Conference.
The Players
Saad Abdul-Salaam - KC's second of three first round picks in the 2015 Superdraft, Abdul-Salaam started the season on loan with Jon Kempin at San Antonio, before being recalled in mid-May after starting five games for the NASL club. With injuries and squad rotation, Abdul-Salaam was able to get plenty of time over the course of the season at both left and right back as well as some time at winger to kill time late in some games. Abdul-Salaam improved so much over the course of the season that he displaced Jalil Anibaba who had started the 2015 season at right back with Chance Myers still recovering from injury. He finished second among KC's three rookies with 1,074 minutes played in league play, but down the stretch seemed at times to be preferred over his counterpart, Amadou Dia, even at left back.
Jalil Anibaba - Anibaba started the season as KC's starting right back after coming to the club as part of the Aurelien Collin trade with Orlando City. Anibaba did well enough for KC defensively and gave KC a big body for set pieces that helped in KC's 3-2 win over Philadelphia early in the season. He picked up a quadricep injury in early July that limited him the rest of the season. He only made one start after KC's 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake on 6/21, and that was against Seattle at home when KC rested the majority of their starters for the US Open Cup final. He made just two other appearances after his injury, both substitution appearances. His injury combined with the emergence of Abdul-Salaam to play right back made him a bit expendable.
Matt Besler - Despite the number of goals that KC allowed this year, Besler, Sporting KC's captain, may have had his best season with the club. He didn't get a ton of credit, but Besler took on a much larger role defensively this year. With Collin traded in the offseason, Ike Opara going down injured again, along with Chance Myers and Seth Sinovic, Besler at times had a lot more recovery work to do in settling the defense and keeping it organized, sometimes with two rookies and a converted wing back, and some times with a pair of rookies and a teenager with him. He did so playing the most league games he has since 2011. He also set a career high for assists this year, with only one coming from one of his long throws.
Marcel de Jong - 2015 probably wasn't the year that de Jong envisioned when he came to MLS. The Canadian international played in just 13 games for KC, starting 11 of them. Similar to Anibaba, de Jong saw his time late in the season really shrink. He made just three appearances for KC after the beginning of August, starting two games and coming on as a substitute in the 5-0 thrashing by San Jose. Like Anibaba with the emergence of Abdul-Salaam and Dia, de Jong could become expendable, but that may also depend on the long term health of Sinovic.
Amadou Dia - KC's other defensive rookie played the most minutes of any of KC's three first round picks, playing 1,317 minutes. Like his rookie counterpart, Abdul-Salaam, Dia kept more experienced wingbacks on the bench as the season went on with his play. Dia's minutes actually fell late in the season, like de Jong and Anibaba, as he lost minutes to Sinovic and Abdul-Salaam, but in the playoffs with both Sinovic and Myers hurt, Peter Vermes went with his two rookie outside backs. It speaks well of the strides that both players made in their rookie season.
Kevin Ellis - Speaking of strides, there's probably not one player on this list that made as big of strides this year as Ellis. KC's second homegrown player was once again thrust into a large number of minutes in 2015 due to injury. Once Opara went down, Ellis became Kansas City's starting center back next to Besler. Ellis played in a career high, 30 games, starting 28 of them, and played the fourth most minutes on the team, 2,335, behind only Besler, Benny Feilhaber, and Dom Dwyer. And despite being listed at only 5'9", he was a major threat on set pieces, scoring four league goals this past year, good for fourth on the team, and added another in the playoffs, all with his head off of set pieces. For all the good work he did though he was also a point of contention with his play as he had poor play during the season which were really apparent because of the way KC played out of the back, either with poor passing or some poor choices when he would make runs forward. I think a lot of the anger though came from the fact that he was a converted wingback and KC didn't bring in another true central defender when Opara went down.
Chance Myers - Missed the first few months of the 2015 season still recovering from his Achillies tear that he suffered in 2014. When he did return, Myers was solid, but still struggled with some other injuries. He was limited to just 10 starts and 13 appears for KC. At times he still looked to be a step slower than his top speed before the injury, which isn't incredibly surprising given the nature of it. Next season is going to be big for Myers with a full preseason to continue to work back fully from his lingering injuries, and with the likes of Abdul-Salaam coming along last year he'll certainly be pushed for minutes.
Ike Opara - Looked set for a monster break out season in 2015, and fulfilling the potential that saw him go third overall in the 2010 MLS Superdraft. He was KC's leading goalscorer early in the season was a massive threat on set pieces and was a solid partner for Besler in defense. Unfortunately he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in the sixth game of the season and his year was done. It's the four time in his five pro seasons that Opara has missed significant time with an injury. He's certainly a strong, very capable defender, but his inability to keep healthy is a risk that KC has to be running low on patience for. It's what made acquiring him from San Jose so cheap. I don't doubt that Opara will be back in 2016, but I think he's going to have a lot of competitions for the starting spot next to Besler next year. And if he does win it, he's going to be on a short leash. Another long term injury and he'll be gone.
Erik Palmer-Brown - Sporting KC's youngest player had a career high in games played (7), started (4), and minutes (376). He missed time in 2015 while with the US U20 team at the U20 World Cup as well as other tournaments. when KC was struggling though Palmer-Brown had been unable to displace Ellis next to Besler in central defense. A bit of a concern, but the kid is still just 18. The hope at this point has to be that he either has a Matt Miazga break out season for Sporting or that he is loaned to the Swope Park Rangers to get regular playing time like will hopefully happen to Jon Kempin.
Seth Sinovic - Like his partner on the other wing, Myers, Sinovic missed quite a bit of time this year with injury. A concussion against DC United in early May caused him to miss the majority of the season as he didn't return until late August. When he did return though Sinovic didn't seem to be at the same level that he'd been at pre-injury. Judgment and speed just seemed a little off for him after the injury. Hopefully a full offseason and preseason will see him get back to his old level. But like Myers, he has a young player behind him in Dia that looks ready to step up.
Looking towards 2016
Robb Heineman stole a bit of my thunder yesterday when he mentioned how the team needed to find a high-quality center back. With Opara's injury history I'm not sure how much you can rely on him to be able to go in 2016. I'd like to have higher hopes for him, but he hasn't given much of a reason to with his injuries. He's a good player and would help out KC a lot if he was healthy. But that if has gotten a lot bigger as the years have gone on. And while Ellis didn't do a horrible job at center back, his position is one that Sporting really needs to look to upgrade in the offseason if they're wanting to compete for more trophies in 2016.
I'd like to see Palmer-Brown get more time next year, everyone from the club to the national team coaches talk up his ability and his high ceiling, in 2016 I'd hope we'd get to see more of it. He's shown flashes at times, but needs more game play to really step up. That seems more likely to happen at the USL level with the Rangers at this point though.
The other area that I think KC needs to address a little bit in the offseason is their depth at outside back. Not necessarily needing to add more to it, but actually to reduce some of the players the team currently has. At this time KC has six players currently whose primary position with the team is outside back. With Abdul Salaam, Anibaba, de Jong, Dia, Myers, and Sinovic all predominately outside backs, there's probably some space to cut some fat and cap space there. Outside Abdul-Salaam and Dia, they're all making over $100,000, ranging from Anibaba's $120,000 to de Jong's $180,000. Myers and Sinovic both have tenure with the team on their side, but Myers' injury issues again coming up and Sinovic's play post concussion have to give at least a little pause. Anibaba meanwhile is the least expensive of the experienced outside backs and did good, but not exceptional at that position early in the season. With de Jong, if he provides a lot more to the attack than the other five do, and is also able to play the wing position as he did against Columbus this year. At the same time, de Jong's Canadian citizenship may make him the most appealing trade, specifically for the Canadian clubs.
In the end, heading into 2016, KC needs to look to add a center back who can at the least be a replacement for Ellis and at best push and potentially beat out Opara for the starting job. Out wide it becomes a matter of needing to probably shed at least one of their outside backs.
The Players
Saad Abdul-Salaam - KC's second of three first round picks in the 2015 Superdraft, Abdul-Salaam started the season on loan with Jon Kempin at San Antonio, before being recalled in mid-May after starting five games for the NASL club. With injuries and squad rotation, Abdul-Salaam was able to get plenty of time over the course of the season at both left and right back as well as some time at winger to kill time late in some games. Abdul-Salaam improved so much over the course of the season that he displaced Jalil Anibaba who had started the 2015 season at right back with Chance Myers still recovering from injury. He finished second among KC's three rookies with 1,074 minutes played in league play, but down the stretch seemed at times to be preferred over his counterpart, Amadou Dia, even at left back.
Jalil Anibaba - Anibaba started the season as KC's starting right back after coming to the club as part of the Aurelien Collin trade with Orlando City. Anibaba did well enough for KC defensively and gave KC a big body for set pieces that helped in KC's 3-2 win over Philadelphia early in the season. He picked up a quadricep injury in early July that limited him the rest of the season. He only made one start after KC's 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake on 6/21, and that was against Seattle at home when KC rested the majority of their starters for the US Open Cup final. He made just two other appearances after his injury, both substitution appearances. His injury combined with the emergence of Abdul-Salaam to play right back made him a bit expendable.
Matt Besler - Despite the number of goals that KC allowed this year, Besler, Sporting KC's captain, may have had his best season with the club. He didn't get a ton of credit, but Besler took on a much larger role defensively this year. With Collin traded in the offseason, Ike Opara going down injured again, along with Chance Myers and Seth Sinovic, Besler at times had a lot more recovery work to do in settling the defense and keeping it organized, sometimes with two rookies and a converted wing back, and some times with a pair of rookies and a teenager with him. He did so playing the most league games he has since 2011. He also set a career high for assists this year, with only one coming from one of his long throws.
Marcel de Jong - 2015 probably wasn't the year that de Jong envisioned when he came to MLS. The Canadian international played in just 13 games for KC, starting 11 of them. Similar to Anibaba, de Jong saw his time late in the season really shrink. He made just three appearances for KC after the beginning of August, starting two games and coming on as a substitute in the 5-0 thrashing by San Jose. Like Anibaba with the emergence of Abdul-Salaam and Dia, de Jong could become expendable, but that may also depend on the long term health of Sinovic.
Amadou Dia - KC's other defensive rookie played the most minutes of any of KC's three first round picks, playing 1,317 minutes. Like his rookie counterpart, Abdul-Salaam, Dia kept more experienced wingbacks on the bench as the season went on with his play. Dia's minutes actually fell late in the season, like de Jong and Anibaba, as he lost minutes to Sinovic and Abdul-Salaam, but in the playoffs with both Sinovic and Myers hurt, Peter Vermes went with his two rookie outside backs. It speaks well of the strides that both players made in their rookie season.
Kevin Ellis - Speaking of strides, there's probably not one player on this list that made as big of strides this year as Ellis. KC's second homegrown player was once again thrust into a large number of minutes in 2015 due to injury. Once Opara went down, Ellis became Kansas City's starting center back next to Besler. Ellis played in a career high, 30 games, starting 28 of them, and played the fourth most minutes on the team, 2,335, behind only Besler, Benny Feilhaber, and Dom Dwyer. And despite being listed at only 5'9", he was a major threat on set pieces, scoring four league goals this past year, good for fourth on the team, and added another in the playoffs, all with his head off of set pieces. For all the good work he did though he was also a point of contention with his play as he had poor play during the season which were really apparent because of the way KC played out of the back, either with poor passing or some poor choices when he would make runs forward. I think a lot of the anger though came from the fact that he was a converted wingback and KC didn't bring in another true central defender when Opara went down.
Chance Myers - Missed the first few months of the 2015 season still recovering from his Achillies tear that he suffered in 2014. When he did return, Myers was solid, but still struggled with some other injuries. He was limited to just 10 starts and 13 appears for KC. At times he still looked to be a step slower than his top speed before the injury, which isn't incredibly surprising given the nature of it. Next season is going to be big for Myers with a full preseason to continue to work back fully from his lingering injuries, and with the likes of Abdul-Salaam coming along last year he'll certainly be pushed for minutes.
Ike Opara - Looked set for a monster break out season in 2015, and fulfilling the potential that saw him go third overall in the 2010 MLS Superdraft. He was KC's leading goalscorer early in the season was a massive threat on set pieces and was a solid partner for Besler in defense. Unfortunately he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in the sixth game of the season and his year was done. It's the four time in his five pro seasons that Opara has missed significant time with an injury. He's certainly a strong, very capable defender, but his inability to keep healthy is a risk that KC has to be running low on patience for. It's what made acquiring him from San Jose so cheap. I don't doubt that Opara will be back in 2016, but I think he's going to have a lot of competitions for the starting spot next to Besler next year. And if he does win it, he's going to be on a short leash. Another long term injury and he'll be gone.
Erik Palmer-Brown - Sporting KC's youngest player had a career high in games played (7), started (4), and minutes (376). He missed time in 2015 while with the US U20 team at the U20 World Cup as well as other tournaments. when KC was struggling though Palmer-Brown had been unable to displace Ellis next to Besler in central defense. A bit of a concern, but the kid is still just 18. The hope at this point has to be that he either has a Matt Miazga break out season for Sporting or that he is loaned to the Swope Park Rangers to get regular playing time like will hopefully happen to Jon Kempin.
Seth Sinovic - Like his partner on the other wing, Myers, Sinovic missed quite a bit of time this year with injury. A concussion against DC United in early May caused him to miss the majority of the season as he didn't return until late August. When he did return though Sinovic didn't seem to be at the same level that he'd been at pre-injury. Judgment and speed just seemed a little off for him after the injury. Hopefully a full offseason and preseason will see him get back to his old level. But like Myers, he has a young player behind him in Dia that looks ready to step up.
Looking towards 2016
Robb Heineman stole a bit of my thunder yesterday when he mentioned how the team needed to find a high-quality center back. With Opara's injury history I'm not sure how much you can rely on him to be able to go in 2016. I'd like to have higher hopes for him, but he hasn't given much of a reason to with his injuries. He's a good player and would help out KC a lot if he was healthy. But that if has gotten a lot bigger as the years have gone on. And while Ellis didn't do a horrible job at center back, his position is one that Sporting really needs to look to upgrade in the offseason if they're wanting to compete for more trophies in 2016.
I'd like to see Palmer-Brown get more time next year, everyone from the club to the national team coaches talk up his ability and his high ceiling, in 2016 I'd hope we'd get to see more of it. He's shown flashes at times, but needs more game play to really step up. That seems more likely to happen at the USL level with the Rangers at this point though.
The other area that I think KC needs to address a little bit in the offseason is their depth at outside back. Not necessarily needing to add more to it, but actually to reduce some of the players the team currently has. At this time KC has six players currently whose primary position with the team is outside back. With Abdul Salaam, Anibaba, de Jong, Dia, Myers, and Sinovic all predominately outside backs, there's probably some space to cut some fat and cap space there. Outside Abdul-Salaam and Dia, they're all making over $100,000, ranging from Anibaba's $120,000 to de Jong's $180,000. Myers and Sinovic both have tenure with the team on their side, but Myers' injury issues again coming up and Sinovic's play post concussion have to give at least a little pause. Anibaba meanwhile is the least expensive of the experienced outside backs and did good, but not exceptional at that position early in the season. With de Jong, if he provides a lot more to the attack than the other five do, and is also able to play the wing position as he did against Columbus this year. At the same time, de Jong's Canadian citizenship may make him the most appealing trade, specifically for the Canadian clubs.
In the end, heading into 2016, KC needs to look to add a center back who can at the least be a replacement for Ellis and at best push and potentially beat out Opara for the starting job. Out wide it becomes a matter of needing to probably shed at least one of their outside backs.
Monday, April 13, 2015
Opara Out with Ruptured Achilles Tendon
The news regarding the injury that Ike Opara picked up in Sporting's 0-0 draw with Real Salt Lake is not good, the team announced today that the center back, and team's leading scorer had ruptured his Achilles Tendon. Opara will now miss at least four months and could be out for the season recovering from the injury. It's the fifth time in six professional seasons that Opara has had his season end early due to injury, four of those seasons were due to leg injuries of some kind.
It's certainly disappointing for one of the better defenders in the league this year to have his season end disappointingly like this. Hopefully he'll be able to return and pick up where he left off. But with his injury history that certainly has to be a big question of whether KC can afford having this happen to a defender they expect a lot from. It's not that Opara doesn't have the talent, he certainly does, but it's a question of whether KC can continue with the threat of having to use their third center back regularly when Opara picks up an injury.
As for this season though, the question is where KC goes from here in regards to their center back situation. The team still has three players that can play center back with Jalil Anibaba, Kevin Ellis, and Erik Palmer-Brown. Anibaba probably has the most experience at the position having played there for Chicago and Seattle before coming to KC. Ellis got the most time there last season after Opara's injury, having a decent if unspectacular season. Finally teenager Palmer-Brown got some experience last year filling in, but is still green as a professional.
Anibaba right now is probably best utilized in the right back position, moving him centrally with Matt Besler would mean that either Amadou Dia or Ellis would have to come into the right back position. The likely choice though for the center back position is Ellis. The KC home grown player started at center back with Opara in the only game that Opara and Besler did not start together this season. It won't be an easy game this coming weekend against Los Angeles, especially if Robbie Keane is back and able to start, but it's what KC is likely going to need to do at this point.
Unlike last year when Opara went down and KC still had Besler and Aurelien Collin to start for a majority of the season (minus the World Cup) still. Now with Opara down and 28 games left in the season, KC is looking at a likely platoon next to Besler to finish out the season. That's not ideal as we saw for periods of time last year. While I wasn't of the opinion that KC needed to go out and get a defender last year, I think the team may need to consider looking at bringing in another central defender that can start next to Besler every game, especially with the Gold Cup and the U20 World Cup both coming this summer.
It's certainly disappointing for one of the better defenders in the league this year to have his season end disappointingly like this. Hopefully he'll be able to return and pick up where he left off. But with his injury history that certainly has to be a big question of whether KC can afford having this happen to a defender they expect a lot from. It's not that Opara doesn't have the talent, he certainly does, but it's a question of whether KC can continue with the threat of having to use their third center back regularly when Opara picks up an injury.
As for this season though, the question is where KC goes from here in regards to their center back situation. The team still has three players that can play center back with Jalil Anibaba, Kevin Ellis, and Erik Palmer-Brown. Anibaba probably has the most experience at the position having played there for Chicago and Seattle before coming to KC. Ellis got the most time there last season after Opara's injury, having a decent if unspectacular season. Finally teenager Palmer-Brown got some experience last year filling in, but is still green as a professional.
Anibaba right now is probably best utilized in the right back position, moving him centrally with Matt Besler would mean that either Amadou Dia or Ellis would have to come into the right back position. The likely choice though for the center back position is Ellis. The KC home grown player started at center back with Opara in the only game that Opara and Besler did not start together this season. It won't be an easy game this coming weekend against Los Angeles, especially if Robbie Keane is back and able to start, but it's what KC is likely going to need to do at this point.
Unlike last year when Opara went down and KC still had Besler and Aurelien Collin to start for a majority of the season (minus the World Cup) still. Now with Opara down and 28 games left in the season, KC is looking at a likely platoon next to Besler to finish out the season. That's not ideal as we saw for periods of time last year. While I wasn't of the opinion that KC needed to go out and get a defender last year, I think the team may need to consider looking at bringing in another central defender that can start next to Besler every game, especially with the Gold Cup and the U20 World Cup both coming this summer.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Sporting Get Off the Mark
It wasn't a pretty game last night at Yankee Stadium between Sporting KC and New York City FC, but KC made an early goal from Ike Opara stand up for their first win of the season. The game should have brought back some not so good memories to KC fans watching the game take place in a baseball stadium. Even though the stadium is much bigger, the size of the field looked no different than the pill box that KC played on at Community America Ballpark for three years.
KC set out to try to immediately take advantage of the small field with their long throw-ins. Through the first three games of the season we hadn't seen a lot of the long throw, but KC was using it a lot last night. In the 10th minute after a long throw by Matt Besler, the ball fell to Jalil Anibaba who got enough of a shot to get the ball on goal, but Josh Saunders grabbed the ball in front of Dom Dwyer to settle play down. Two minutes later though Saunders could do nothing as KC took the lead. Again off the long throw Besler put it right on the head of Opara who thundered it past Saunders and into the net giving KC the 1-0 lead. In the 32nd minute that could have made it 2-0 as Jimmy Medranda picked out Benny Feilhaber with a nice through ball, Feilhaber flicked the ball out wide to an open Graham Zusi who skied is effort well over the bar. An effort that Zusi would want back as he only had Saunders in front of him from 18 yards out. Less than 10 minutes later Zusi's night would be done as he pulled up lame with a hamstring injury. A big blow to KC who will now likely be without Zusi for a couple weeks as he recovers from the injury.
NYCFC had injury issues of their own before the game even started as designated player; David Villa was a late scratch from the lineup. Already down another forward in Adam Nemec, who was away on international duty New York was very thin up top and it showed as they struggled to create chances with Opara and Besler both doing very well to shut down the New York attack. In the 43rd KC again had an opportunity to add to their lead and it again came off a Besler long throw. The initial ball was cleared just out of the box, but Paulo Nagamura knocked it back to the top of the 18 where it fell to Medranda who fired an effort just over the goal.
The second half lacked in real quality chances, but each side did create some. KC created a couple in the matter of a couple minutes, first a nice through ball for Dwyer, but it ran a little long and Saunders was quick off his line to tackle it away. The best chance came in the 64th minute after some very good combination play in the middle of the field the ball got played wide to Jimmy Medranda who dribbled into the box and slid a ball to Bernardo Anor near the six yard box, but Anor's one time effort skied over the bar.
New York controlled much of the second half, and the game as they searched for the equalizer. NYCFC thought they'd earned a penalty kick in the 70th minute as referee Edvin Jurisevic called a hand ball in the box. Sporting immediately surrounded Jurisevic, unhappy with the call, pleading with him to confer with his assistant referee. After a conversation, Jurisevic waived off the penalty and gave a drop ball in the box.
Late in the game NYCFC picked up the pressure searching for an equalizer. In the 83rd minute a nice cross into the box found its way all the way through to Andrew Jacobsen at the back post, but Jacobsen appeared surprised that the ball made it all the way through and scuffed his shot wide of the net. In stoppage time New York had another glorious opportunity as Jeb Brovsky played a cross right into the middle of the box for an unmarked Ned Grabavoy but he put his diving header wide of the net. A minute later the final whistle blew and KC were able to walk out with all three points.
Wizards Man of the Match - Ike Opara - Scored the winner and was a rock in central defense for KC last night. Him and Besler controlled the middle of the defense shutting down Patrick Mullins and Javier Calle.
Honorable Mention - Matt Besler
Player Ratings - Marin 6, Sinovic 7, Opara 8, Besler 8, Anibaba 6, Carrasco 6, Nagamura 6, Feilhaber 6, Zusi 5, Dwyer 4, Medranda 5. Subs Anor 4, Peterson 4, Mustivar 5.
KC set out to try to immediately take advantage of the small field with their long throw-ins. Through the first three games of the season we hadn't seen a lot of the long throw, but KC was using it a lot last night. In the 10th minute after a long throw by Matt Besler, the ball fell to Jalil Anibaba who got enough of a shot to get the ball on goal, but Josh Saunders grabbed the ball in front of Dom Dwyer to settle play down. Two minutes later though Saunders could do nothing as KC took the lead. Again off the long throw Besler put it right on the head of Opara who thundered it past Saunders and into the net giving KC the 1-0 lead. In the 32nd minute that could have made it 2-0 as Jimmy Medranda picked out Benny Feilhaber with a nice through ball, Feilhaber flicked the ball out wide to an open Graham Zusi who skied is effort well over the bar. An effort that Zusi would want back as he only had Saunders in front of him from 18 yards out. Less than 10 minutes later Zusi's night would be done as he pulled up lame with a hamstring injury. A big blow to KC who will now likely be without Zusi for a couple weeks as he recovers from the injury.
NYCFC had injury issues of their own before the game even started as designated player; David Villa was a late scratch from the lineup. Already down another forward in Adam Nemec, who was away on international duty New York was very thin up top and it showed as they struggled to create chances with Opara and Besler both doing very well to shut down the New York attack. In the 43rd KC again had an opportunity to add to their lead and it again came off a Besler long throw. The initial ball was cleared just out of the box, but Paulo Nagamura knocked it back to the top of the 18 where it fell to Medranda who fired an effort just over the goal.
The second half lacked in real quality chances, but each side did create some. KC created a couple in the matter of a couple minutes, first a nice through ball for Dwyer, but it ran a little long and Saunders was quick off his line to tackle it away. The best chance came in the 64th minute after some very good combination play in the middle of the field the ball got played wide to Jimmy Medranda who dribbled into the box and slid a ball to Bernardo Anor near the six yard box, but Anor's one time effort skied over the bar.
New York controlled much of the second half, and the game as they searched for the equalizer. NYCFC thought they'd earned a penalty kick in the 70th minute as referee Edvin Jurisevic called a hand ball in the box. Sporting immediately surrounded Jurisevic, unhappy with the call, pleading with him to confer with his assistant referee. After a conversation, Jurisevic waived off the penalty and gave a drop ball in the box.
Late in the game NYCFC picked up the pressure searching for an equalizer. In the 83rd minute a nice cross into the box found its way all the way through to Andrew Jacobsen at the back post, but Jacobsen appeared surprised that the ball made it all the way through and scuffed his shot wide of the net. In stoppage time New York had another glorious opportunity as Jeb Brovsky played a cross right into the middle of the box for an unmarked Ned Grabavoy but he put his diving header wide of the net. A minute later the final whistle blew and KC were able to walk out with all three points.
Wizards Man of the Match - Ike Opara - Scored the winner and was a rock in central defense for KC last night. Him and Besler controlled the middle of the defense shutting down Patrick Mullins and Javier Calle.
Honorable Mention - Matt Besler
Player Ratings - Marin 6, Sinovic 7, Opara 8, Besler 8, Anibaba 6, Carrasco 6, Nagamura 6, Feilhaber 6, Zusi 5, Dwyer 4, Medranda 5. Subs Anor 4, Peterson 4, Mustivar 5.
Monday, March 09, 2015
S.A.S Monday After Stats
Jacob Peterson made his 200th league appearance in his MLS career.
Ike Opara made his 50th start in all competitions in his MLS career.
Benny Feilhaber recorded his 17th assist in all competitions for KC, tying him with Claudio Lopez for 16th all time on that list.
Matt Besler picked up his second red card of his MLS career, which ties him with 7 others for 7th on the list in KC's history.
Seth Sinovic made his 143rd appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Jimmy Nielsen and CJ Sapong for 18th on that list.
Graham Zusi made his 149th league appearance for KC, tying him with Mo Johnston and Michael Harrington for 9th all time on that list.
Sinovic and Zusi both started their 142nd game in all competitions for KC, tying them with Nielsen for 14th all time on that list.
Ike Opara made his 50th start in all competitions in his MLS career.
Benny Feilhaber recorded his 17th assist in all competitions for KC, tying him with Claudio Lopez for 16th all time on that list.
Matt Besler picked up his second red card of his MLS career, which ties him with 7 others for 7th on the list in KC's history.
Seth Sinovic made his 143rd appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Jimmy Nielsen and CJ Sapong for 18th on that list.
Graham Zusi made his 149th league appearance for KC, tying him with Mo Johnston and Michael Harrington for 9th all time on that list.
Sinovic and Zusi both started their 142nd game in all competitions for KC, tying them with Nielsen for 14th all time on that list.
Same Old Issues Arise in Sporting Draw with New York
It's a new year for Sporting KC, but it's the same old problems that came up again in their 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls Sunday at Sporting Park. Kansas City had 18 shots yesterday, just four of those 18 ended up being on goal, just 22%, and just one goal as KC played to a 1-1 draw, closing the game with just 10 men after Matt Besler was sent off for two cautionable offenses.
KC had some good early pressure in the first half forcing an early corner that almost led to the first regular season goal in Seth Sinovic's career. Graham Zusi played the corner short to Sinovic who was near the top of the box, he faced up and fired a low shot towards the far corner, but New York goalkeeper, Luis Robles got down well and pushed the shot away denying Sinovic the goal. Overall though other than that chance, both teams really struggled to create clear chances in the first half an hour or so with a lot of the play taking place around the middle of the field. New York really lacked for chances in the first half, their best coming on a break when Bradley Wright-Phillips received a ball over the top and touched it into the path of Felipe. The ball was too far in front of him though and Luis Marin was able to get quickly off his line and block Felipe's effort without it posing a ton of danger. Neither team really offered much in the first half as both teams still appeared to be in preseason mode feeling each other out.
The second half saw both teams pick up their level of play, and just five minutes into the half KC had jumped on top. After a corner by KC was partially cleared, KC kept the Red Bulls pinned in their own end. The ball eventually made it back wide to Benny Feilhaber who played a nice cross into the middle where Ike Opara came running in unmarked and headed the ball past Robles and into the net. The lead didn't last long though as minutes later, New York was level through Lloyd Sam. KC's midfield of Roger Espinoza, Benny Feilhaber, and Krisztian Nemeth had done well in preseason in covering for each other and limiting space, but last night there were all kinds of openings there as neither Espinoza nor Feilhaber really sat back to help defensively. This allowed a through ball by Felipe to pick out Sam in that space between the midfield and center backs. With the gap, Besler stepped up to challenge Sam, who attacked at Besler as the defender was already on a yellow card at that time. Besler pushed back, trying to shadow Sam away from getting a shot away. Sam though cut back on Besler and curled a nice shot into the far corner out of reach of Marin and into the net to tie the game.
Besler wasn't able to avoid the second yellow forever though, and in the 71st minute as New York started to counter, Besler went for a ball that was played in to Wright-Phillips at midfield. Wright-Phillips got to the ball first knocking it ahead up field, Besler went through Wright-Phillips as the ball went away. Certainly a foul, but referee Baldomero Toledo felt it was a tactical foul, giving Besler his second yellow and his marching orders for his second foul of the game.
While New York had the man advantage and the possession after the red card they didn't seriously threaten Marin's goal that much. In fact, it was Kansas City that ended up looking to break more on the counter. In the 88th minute, Dwyer could have won it for KC as Sporting attacked down the right, Feilhaber played a great low cross into the middle for Dwyer, but he couldn't turn his sliding shot on target, pushing it wide of the post keeping the game tied at 1-1. In stoppage time, Dwyer had another great opportunity to score the winner. This time on a long ball over the top, Dwyer got behind his defender and into the box. He shrugged off a challenge from a defender and stayed on his feet before trying to put a shot between Robles' legs. The New York keeper though made the kick save and the rebound was eventually cleaned up by the New York defense as both teams settled for a point.
Overall last night the game looked like two teams playing their first real game, neither team looked like they were firing on all cylinders at any point during the night. In fact that seemed to be true of pretty much every MLS team this past week with one to two exceptions. Dwyer struggled greatly last night, and admitted his failings post game, specifically when it came to his finishing, taking the blame with his two late misses. As I mentioned previously, the midfield wasn't together last night either, without a true defensive midfielder in there, there are big gaps created between the midfield and defense. Maybe it's because over the years I've grown used to seeing the likes of Julio Cesar, Oriol Rosell, and even Lawrence Olum sitting in that hole to help clean up anything that comes through the middle. Last night without it, New York overran KC's midfield until the introduction of Paulo Nagamura helped to settle things down for KC. While Matt Besler's form still doesn't look like it's really picked up, Ike Opara looks like he came in with a chip on his shoulder, last night was a dominate performance from the center back, he read the game well and after Besler went out did a good job of organizing the back line with Feilhaber filling in at center back until Erik Palmer-Brown was subbed on late.
Wizards Man of the Match - Ike Opara - A great run to get into the box to get on the end of Feilhaber's cross to give KC the lead. Did a good job of denying service to Wright-Phillips throughout the night and shut down New York's attack when they were a man up.
Player Ratings: Marin 6, Dia 6, Opara 7, Besler 4, Sinovic 5, Espinoza 4, Feilhaber 6, Nemeth 5, Anor 4, Dwyer 4, Zusi 4. Subs Nagamura 6, Peterson 4, Palmer-Brown NR.
Saturday, January 03, 2015
2015 Wishes
Time to make my wishes for the year 2015. Yesterday I reviewed my wishes for 2014, so let's move forward.
1. Silverware - As always, number 1 on the list is trophies. I want more trophies. For a period of time last year, Kansas City held the MLS Cup, NWSL championship, and MISL title all at the same time. While I'd prefer it to be Sporting KC bringing home more silverware, I'd be thrilled to see FCKC and/or the Missouri Comets repeat.
2. Sporting KC improve their home form - Last year, Sporting was a mediocre 6-5-6 at Sporting Park. Over the past two years, Sporting KC has lost 10 league games at home, that's almost 30 percent of the team's home games over that two year stretch. With Sporting moving to the Western Conference, which on paper looks to be a brutal conference next year, Kansas City will need to take advantage of their home games.
3. A little more balanced scoring - Not saying that I want Dom Dwyer's scoring in 2015 to drop off, but Sporting needs a little more balance in their attack in 2015. While Dwyer scored 22 goals for KC, the next highest scorer in league play was Graham Zusi with 5. For Dwyer to have continued success, someone needs to pick up the scoring a little bit and get closer to 10-12 goals than anyone did this past season.
4. Finally defeat the Seattle Sounders at home - With the move to the Western Conference, Sporting KC will get to face the Seattle Sounders at least once at home in 2015. Since the Sounders came into the league in 2009, Sporting is 0-4 at home against the Sounders and 0-4-1 in all competitions (the US Open Cup goes in the record books as a draw). In face, KC has just one win period against the MLS incarnation of the Sounders, in the team's first match up in 2009. Since then, KC is 0-7-1 in league play and 0-8-2 in all competitions. It's about time to end that losing streak, both at home and overall.
5. Ike Opara (or whoever partners Matt Besler) is fully recovered and starts 25-30 games - I'm not foolish enough to think that Opara will make Sporting fans forget Aurelien Collin, but Opara is a talented center back. The question with him has always been his health. Like with Chance Myers, hopefully Peter Vermes' patience with him pays off this season when he's likely to be the starting center back. If he's not, hopefully whoever does replace Collin can be solid enough so that I don't see tons of "Collin wouldn't have made that mistake" comments this season.
6. Luis Marin is available for all 34 league games, allowing Jon Kempin to start all but a game or two with Oklahoma City - At this point in Kempin's development he needs to be regularly playing. With Marin the clear number 1 on the roster I'd like to see Kempin loaned out to OKC again for the season. Unlikely last year hopefully Marin can stay healthy which will allow Kempin to spend the entire season in OKC starting pretty much every game. That way, either late in Marin's contract or when it runs out, Kempin is ready to step up and take over the starting job.
7. US Men's national team says perfect in Kansas City - This summer, for the sixth time in KC and fourth time in Sporting Park's history, the US men's national team will be playing here. So far the US is 5-0 in Kansas City, and with the US hosting a group stage game, no matter who it's against the US should be able to beat them at Sporting Park.
8. US win the Gold Cup - A win in the Gold Cup would guarantee them a spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. Thanks to their 2013 win though if they lose they still have a chance to make it, but the easier option is to just win the Gold Cup this year.
9. Missouri Comets return to championship game - The Comets are 10-0 at this point with 10 games left in the season. And looking at the schedule of remaining games, I can't see the Comets not making the playoffs at this point. With that, the next step should be to get back to the championship game. That should see the Comets have to face the winner of the match up between 2nd and 3rd place in the Central Conference, which could see another game against the Milwaukee Wave. From there the Comets are likely to have to face the Baltimore Blast out of the Eastern Conference, who at this point are also undefeated. Getting past them would see a final against the winner of the Southern Conference (either Monterrey or Dallas) and the Western Conference (likely San Diego). Still, the way the Comets are playing this season a trip to the finals should be expected of this team.
10. FC Kansas City improve attendance - With the move to Durwood Stadium last year, the Blues went from the second highest attended team, to the second lowest. Being the defending champion should help the team's attendance some, but there needs to be more to it than that. For this team, and league to continue, attendance needs to improve.
11. US women's team wins World Cup - The women didn't get an easy draw, having to face both Australia and Sweden before closing the group out against Nigeria. The team showed some weakness in the recent tournament in Brazil where the women finished second and there have been plenty of questions about coach Jill Ellis. But there's no reason the US shouldn't compete, and it's been too long (16 years) since the US last won the women's World Cup.
1. Silverware - As always, number 1 on the list is trophies. I want more trophies. For a period of time last year, Kansas City held the MLS Cup, NWSL championship, and MISL title all at the same time. While I'd prefer it to be Sporting KC bringing home more silverware, I'd be thrilled to see FCKC and/or the Missouri Comets repeat.
2. Sporting KC improve their home form - Last year, Sporting was a mediocre 6-5-6 at Sporting Park. Over the past two years, Sporting KC has lost 10 league games at home, that's almost 30 percent of the team's home games over that two year stretch. With Sporting moving to the Western Conference, which on paper looks to be a brutal conference next year, Kansas City will need to take advantage of their home games.
3. A little more balanced scoring - Not saying that I want Dom Dwyer's scoring in 2015 to drop off, but Sporting needs a little more balance in their attack in 2015. While Dwyer scored 22 goals for KC, the next highest scorer in league play was Graham Zusi with 5. For Dwyer to have continued success, someone needs to pick up the scoring a little bit and get closer to 10-12 goals than anyone did this past season.
4. Finally defeat the Seattle Sounders at home - With the move to the Western Conference, Sporting KC will get to face the Seattle Sounders at least once at home in 2015. Since the Sounders came into the league in 2009, Sporting is 0-4 at home against the Sounders and 0-4-1 in all competitions (the US Open Cup goes in the record books as a draw). In face, KC has just one win period against the MLS incarnation of the Sounders, in the team's first match up in 2009. Since then, KC is 0-7-1 in league play and 0-8-2 in all competitions. It's about time to end that losing streak, both at home and overall.
5. Ike Opara (or whoever partners Matt Besler) is fully recovered and starts 25-30 games - I'm not foolish enough to think that Opara will make Sporting fans forget Aurelien Collin, but Opara is a talented center back. The question with him has always been his health. Like with Chance Myers, hopefully Peter Vermes' patience with him pays off this season when he's likely to be the starting center back. If he's not, hopefully whoever does replace Collin can be solid enough so that I don't see tons of "Collin wouldn't have made that mistake" comments this season.
6. Luis Marin is available for all 34 league games, allowing Jon Kempin to start all but a game or two with Oklahoma City - At this point in Kempin's development he needs to be regularly playing. With Marin the clear number 1 on the roster I'd like to see Kempin loaned out to OKC again for the season. Unlikely last year hopefully Marin can stay healthy which will allow Kempin to spend the entire season in OKC starting pretty much every game. That way, either late in Marin's contract or when it runs out, Kempin is ready to step up and take over the starting job.
7. US Men's national team says perfect in Kansas City - This summer, for the sixth time in KC and fourth time in Sporting Park's history, the US men's national team will be playing here. So far the US is 5-0 in Kansas City, and with the US hosting a group stage game, no matter who it's against the US should be able to beat them at Sporting Park.
8. US win the Gold Cup - A win in the Gold Cup would guarantee them a spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. Thanks to their 2013 win though if they lose they still have a chance to make it, but the easier option is to just win the Gold Cup this year.
9. Missouri Comets return to championship game - The Comets are 10-0 at this point with 10 games left in the season. And looking at the schedule of remaining games, I can't see the Comets not making the playoffs at this point. With that, the next step should be to get back to the championship game. That should see the Comets have to face the winner of the match up between 2nd and 3rd place in the Central Conference, which could see another game against the Milwaukee Wave. From there the Comets are likely to have to face the Baltimore Blast out of the Eastern Conference, who at this point are also undefeated. Getting past them would see a final against the winner of the Southern Conference (either Monterrey or Dallas) and the Western Conference (likely San Diego). Still, the way the Comets are playing this season a trip to the finals should be expected of this team.
10. FC Kansas City improve attendance - With the move to Durwood Stadium last year, the Blues went from the second highest attended team, to the second lowest. Being the defending champion should help the team's attendance some, but there needs to be more to it than that. For this team, and league to continue, attendance needs to improve.
11. US women's team wins World Cup - The women didn't get an easy draw, having to face both Australia and Sweden before closing the group out against Nigeria. The team showed some weakness in the recent tournament in Brazil where the women finished second and there have been plenty of questions about coach Jill Ellis. But there's no reason the US shouldn't compete, and it's been too long (16 years) since the US last won the women's World Cup.
Wednesday, November 05, 2014
What Happened and Where Do We Go From Here - Defenders
Yesterday I looked at Sporting KC's goalkeeping play in the 2014 season and what to look ahead to in the 2015 season. Now I'm going to look at Kansas City's defense.
The stories written about Kansas City's 2014 season will always talk about the bulk of injuries that Kansas City suffered through in the 2014 season. Nowhere is that more apparent than on the team's back line. Between just two of Kansas City's defenders expected to play big roles in 2014, Chance Myers and Ike Opara missed a combined 56 league games of a possible 68 the two could have played this year. There are also the minor knocks that both Aurelien Collin and Matt Besler dealt with. The only guy that seemed to stay healthy was Seth Sinovic who again led the team in minutes played this year in all competitions.
Kansas City's expected starting four on the back line, Myers, Collin, Besler, and Sinovic got to play just four games together due to Myers' injuries this year. That put even more pressure on 20 year old Brazilian, Igor Juliao. Juliao offensively looked perfect for Kansas City's high pressure system with his ability to get up the field and into the attack. Unfortunately his defense was not up to the level of Myers, which isn't surprising, but it eventually led to teams concentrating their attack down KC's right side to look to exploit Juliao's defense. His defensive play led to some issues for Collin who ended up getting pulled out of position to help Juliao often on the wing. The two for much of the season seemed to struggle to really get on the same page at times defensively.
On the opposite side of the defense, Sinovic was again solid for Kansas City at left back. But multiple times this year he appeared worn down and exhausted. Sinovic played over 7,200 minutes in all competitions. At this point with the number of games that Sinovic has played, I'm not sure that he's fully human.
The main reason for Sinovic's number of minutes has to do with KC's early season moves to waive both reserve defenders Josh Gardner and Mechack Jerome. Those two moves after KC's dismantling by Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF Champions League and Myers' injury left KC with only one true reserve outside back, Kevin Ellis, and he spent much of the season filling in at center back for Kansas City. KC got to the point where forward Jacob Peterson was pressed into playing on the back line for Kansas City at times. Gardner, Jerome, and Peterson combined to start six games in all competitions for Kansas City along the back line. In those six games, Kansas City went 2-2-2 with wins over Chicago and Minnesota in the US Open Cup.
Next to Sinovic, Sporting's captain, Besler missed a chunk of games in the middle of the season while he was away with the US national team at the World Cup. Upon his return, Besler didn't look like he ever regained the form he was in that led to his national team call ups, and that led to him winning a starting job on the USA's back line in Brazil. Besler, like Sinovic looked exhausted. Since the start of 2013, along with his 5,445 minutes played across all competitions, Besler added 1,746 while on national team duty, putting him just a little behind the number of minutes that Sinovic has played. And both have done that with basically one month off in that two year span as both players were called into the January US national team camp in 2014.
Besler's fatigue late in the season wasn't helped by the Opara injury mentioned earlier. Opara played in just three league games, and five in all competitions before hurting his foot and missing the rest of the season. The injury to Opara combined with suspensions, call ups, and selling Oriol Rosell led to Sporting's youngest player, teenager, Erik Palmer-Brown. Expected to maybe just start an Open Cup game or two, KC's third home grown player started five games across all competitions and came in very early in a sixth before he too suffered a season ending injury late in the season.
Probably the brightest spot of the defense was Ellis who played basically every position along the back line at some point this season. After Opara went down, Collin went down, Besler left for the World Cup, and Palmer-Brown got suspended, Ellis was put into emergency service at center back and did quite well. He was no world beater, but did well enough to stop some of the bleeding that KC was suffering from. The home grown player appeared in 20 league games and played over 2,000 minutes in all competitions this year for KC.
The defense going into the 2015 season is a big question for KC, possibly the biggest the team has to deal with this offense and there could be a number of changes. The biggest of which is Collin, who is out of contract. Collin and the team apparently haven't talked about a new contract in a while. Based on the KC Star article about Collin, the two teams appear to be far apart. With his center back partner, Besler earning a DP contract, it's easy to assume that Collin is looking for a DP salary as well. While the assumption is that KC will be getting rid of one DP this offseason, most people think it would be foolish for KC to use two of their three DP slots on their center backs when there are other needs for the team.
Another line of thinking with Collin is to wait to see how the upcoming CBA negotiations work out. The assumption there is that there will be a decent bump in the salary cap, bumping the maximum salary and possibly adding more DP slots. The problem with that line of thinking is that KC first has to deal with the expansion draft. The question with Collin is whether you protect the out of contract defender, potentially losing another player who is coming back next year, or leave him exposed and let him go for nothing. A third possibility would be to trade him in the small window between MLS Cup and the expansion draft, getting something for him while knowing that the likelihood of re-signing him is small. If KC does protect him, or he isn't taken, KC have another potential worry. If KC decides to wait for the CBA negotiations and they drag out, a foreign club could come and offer a contract to the player and he could leave KC and MLS.
Beside Collin there are other questions that KC has to look at for 2015. Another big one revolves around the health of KC's defenders who ended the season on IR, Myers, Opara, and Palmer-Brown. The question for all three is whether they'll even be ready for the start of the 2015 season. I've seen players get Achilles injuries similar to Myers' and it take well over a year to really get back up to speed, and with Myers reliant on pace on the wing his potential involvement, at least early in the season is in question. The same is true for Opara who picked up his ankle injury, a chondral defect in his right ankle in late March. From looking at the recovery time from that injury, it seems to take 10 to 12 months. That would possibly make him available for the beginning of 2015, but where would he be at fitness wise after such a long layoff? Palmer-Brown's late season injury, a fifth metatarsal fracture to his right foot shouldn't have a huge effect on him for 2015 as he should hopefully be able to return in plenty of time.
The question with Palmer-Brown though could be if he's still going to be in KC for much longer. The rumors of Juventus’ interest in the center back continue. His lack of an EU passport though leaves Palmer-Brown having to wait until he turns 18 in April of 2015 before he can officially make a move. That means that any transfer would not occur until the summer of 2015.
Another big question on the back line for Kansas City is the outside back position. With Myers' injury still a question mark heading into 2015, that leads to his replacement this year, Juliao. The Brazilian is on loan from Fluminense this year and the question is whether he's done well enough for Kansas City to pick up his loan option and make him a permanent member of the club. That should all come down to his teachability in Peter Vermes' eyes to become a more well-rounded defender.
Other than Juliao, the other thing KC needs to do on the wings is bring in depth. Sinovic can't continue to play 3,500 minutes a season at the level he does, pretty soon he's going to need a break or he's going to get an injury that would put him out for a while. After waiving Gardner and Jerome, KC never really filled that gap in the team. So finding an outside back or two either via the draft or other means is something that should be a priority for KC.
The other priority has to be getting their center back position resolved. Whether the team re-signs Collin or not is the first thing. If that doesn't happen the questions become how is Opara recovering from his injury and is KC willing to put that much faith in a defender who has shown to be quite injury prone over the course of his career. After Collin, Opara, and Belser, KC still has Palmer-Brown, Ellis, and even Lawrence Olum to play center back. Finding another starter if Collin is gone and depending on Opara's health could be a big priority for KC.
But in the end with the defenders there are currently too many questions regarding health and contracts to really make a great guess for where the team will become the 2015 season.
The stories written about Kansas City's 2014 season will always talk about the bulk of injuries that Kansas City suffered through in the 2014 season. Nowhere is that more apparent than on the team's back line. Between just two of Kansas City's defenders expected to play big roles in 2014, Chance Myers and Ike Opara missed a combined 56 league games of a possible 68 the two could have played this year. There are also the minor knocks that both Aurelien Collin and Matt Besler dealt with. The only guy that seemed to stay healthy was Seth Sinovic who again led the team in minutes played this year in all competitions.
Kansas City's expected starting four on the back line, Myers, Collin, Besler, and Sinovic got to play just four games together due to Myers' injuries this year. That put even more pressure on 20 year old Brazilian, Igor Juliao. Juliao offensively looked perfect for Kansas City's high pressure system with his ability to get up the field and into the attack. Unfortunately his defense was not up to the level of Myers, which isn't surprising, but it eventually led to teams concentrating their attack down KC's right side to look to exploit Juliao's defense. His defensive play led to some issues for Collin who ended up getting pulled out of position to help Juliao often on the wing. The two for much of the season seemed to struggle to really get on the same page at times defensively.
On the opposite side of the defense, Sinovic was again solid for Kansas City at left back. But multiple times this year he appeared worn down and exhausted. Sinovic played over 7,200 minutes in all competitions. At this point with the number of games that Sinovic has played, I'm not sure that he's fully human.
The main reason for Sinovic's number of minutes has to do with KC's early season moves to waive both reserve defenders Josh Gardner and Mechack Jerome. Those two moves after KC's dismantling by Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF Champions League and Myers' injury left KC with only one true reserve outside back, Kevin Ellis, and he spent much of the season filling in at center back for Kansas City. KC got to the point where forward Jacob Peterson was pressed into playing on the back line for Kansas City at times. Gardner, Jerome, and Peterson combined to start six games in all competitions for Kansas City along the back line. In those six games, Kansas City went 2-2-2 with wins over Chicago and Minnesota in the US Open Cup.
Next to Sinovic, Sporting's captain, Besler missed a chunk of games in the middle of the season while he was away with the US national team at the World Cup. Upon his return, Besler didn't look like he ever regained the form he was in that led to his national team call ups, and that led to him winning a starting job on the USA's back line in Brazil. Besler, like Sinovic looked exhausted. Since the start of 2013, along with his 5,445 minutes played across all competitions, Besler added 1,746 while on national team duty, putting him just a little behind the number of minutes that Sinovic has played. And both have done that with basically one month off in that two year span as both players were called into the January US national team camp in 2014.
Besler's fatigue late in the season wasn't helped by the Opara injury mentioned earlier. Opara played in just three league games, and five in all competitions before hurting his foot and missing the rest of the season. The injury to Opara combined with suspensions, call ups, and selling Oriol Rosell led to Sporting's youngest player, teenager, Erik Palmer-Brown. Expected to maybe just start an Open Cup game or two, KC's third home grown player started five games across all competitions and came in very early in a sixth before he too suffered a season ending injury late in the season.
Probably the brightest spot of the defense was Ellis who played basically every position along the back line at some point this season. After Opara went down, Collin went down, Besler left for the World Cup, and Palmer-Brown got suspended, Ellis was put into emergency service at center back and did quite well. He was no world beater, but did well enough to stop some of the bleeding that KC was suffering from. The home grown player appeared in 20 league games and played over 2,000 minutes in all competitions this year for KC.
The defense going into the 2015 season is a big question for KC, possibly the biggest the team has to deal with this offense and there could be a number of changes. The biggest of which is Collin, who is out of contract. Collin and the team apparently haven't talked about a new contract in a while. Based on the KC Star article about Collin, the two teams appear to be far apart. With his center back partner, Besler earning a DP contract, it's easy to assume that Collin is looking for a DP salary as well. While the assumption is that KC will be getting rid of one DP this offseason, most people think it would be foolish for KC to use two of their three DP slots on their center backs when there are other needs for the team.
Another line of thinking with Collin is to wait to see how the upcoming CBA negotiations work out. The assumption there is that there will be a decent bump in the salary cap, bumping the maximum salary and possibly adding more DP slots. The problem with that line of thinking is that KC first has to deal with the expansion draft. The question with Collin is whether you protect the out of contract defender, potentially losing another player who is coming back next year, or leave him exposed and let him go for nothing. A third possibility would be to trade him in the small window between MLS Cup and the expansion draft, getting something for him while knowing that the likelihood of re-signing him is small. If KC does protect him, or he isn't taken, KC have another potential worry. If KC decides to wait for the CBA negotiations and they drag out, a foreign club could come and offer a contract to the player and he could leave KC and MLS.
Beside Collin there are other questions that KC has to look at for 2015. Another big one revolves around the health of KC's defenders who ended the season on IR, Myers, Opara, and Palmer-Brown. The question for all three is whether they'll even be ready for the start of the 2015 season. I've seen players get Achilles injuries similar to Myers' and it take well over a year to really get back up to speed, and with Myers reliant on pace on the wing his potential involvement, at least early in the season is in question. The same is true for Opara who picked up his ankle injury, a chondral defect in his right ankle in late March. From looking at the recovery time from that injury, it seems to take 10 to 12 months. That would possibly make him available for the beginning of 2015, but where would he be at fitness wise after such a long layoff? Palmer-Brown's late season injury, a fifth metatarsal fracture to his right foot shouldn't have a huge effect on him for 2015 as he should hopefully be able to return in plenty of time.
The question with Palmer-Brown though could be if he's still going to be in KC for much longer. The rumors of Juventus’ interest in the center back continue. His lack of an EU passport though leaves Palmer-Brown having to wait until he turns 18 in April of 2015 before he can officially make a move. That means that any transfer would not occur until the summer of 2015.
Another big question on the back line for Kansas City is the outside back position. With Myers' injury still a question mark heading into 2015, that leads to his replacement this year, Juliao. The Brazilian is on loan from Fluminense this year and the question is whether he's done well enough for Kansas City to pick up his loan option and make him a permanent member of the club. That should all come down to his teachability in Peter Vermes' eyes to become a more well-rounded defender.
Other than Juliao, the other thing KC needs to do on the wings is bring in depth. Sinovic can't continue to play 3,500 minutes a season at the level he does, pretty soon he's going to need a break or he's going to get an injury that would put him out for a while. After waiving Gardner and Jerome, KC never really filled that gap in the team. So finding an outside back or two either via the draft or other means is something that should be a priority for KC.
The other priority has to be getting their center back position resolved. Whether the team re-signs Collin or not is the first thing. If that doesn't happen the questions become how is Opara recovering from his injury and is KC willing to put that much faith in a defender who has shown to be quite injury prone over the course of his career. After Collin, Opara, and Belser, KC still has Palmer-Brown, Ellis, and even Lawrence Olum to play center back. Finding another starter if Collin is gone and depending on Opara's health could be a big priority for KC.
But in the end with the defenders there are currently too many questions regarding health and contracts to really make a great guess for where the team will become the 2015 season.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Who Starts at Center Back Sunday?
Sporting Kansas City came into the 2014 season with
five center backs on their roster, Matt Besler, Aurelien Collin,
Lawrence Olum, Ike Opara, and Erik Palmer-Brown. With Besler set to miss
about a month in May for the World Cup, it seemed that the four other
central defenders on KC's roster would be able to shoulder the load
through May and June until Besler's return. Now fans are not so sure.
It started in Colorado about a month ago where KC
lost Opara to an injury. The injury ended up requiring surgery and the
big central defender, KC's primary back up, was done for the season.
While that was a blow, KC could survive, Sporting still
had Olum there, who while mainly playing in the midfield lately had
performed well in previous years when starting there. Then yesterday
morning articles from Kenya were stating that Olum had been called up
for Kenya's African Cup of Nations qualifier this weekend and would miss
Sunday's game against the Fire.
That fear though looked like it went away before the
game when Andrew Weibe tweeted that it appeared that Olum would not be joining Kenya for the game. That lasted for less than 24 hours before
Weibe tweeted again that he wasn't sure if Olum actually would be available on Sunday now and that we wouldn't know for sure until Friday.
Then in the 60th minute of last night's game against
things got even worse when fans didn't think it could. Collin went down
holding his hamstring and had to be substituted for the previously
mentioned Olum. After the game, Collin said he'd probably be out for two
weeks. No comment on the length of time came from Peter Vermes, but I
would expect him to be more cautious with his estimate than Collin was.
On top of all that, Plamer-Brown, KC's youngest
player has been listed as questionable the last few weeks on the injury
report because of sesamoiditis in his right foot.
All
this ends up doing is potentially putting Sporting KC in a huge bind in
Chicago on Sunday. Sporting could very well come into the game with
none of their center backs on their roster available. With that as a
possibility, who would partner in front of Eric Kronberg against the
Fire?
There are a few options for KC that give you a
little bit of confidence, both Oriol Rosell and Chance Myers have
previously played the center back position and if all five of KC's
center backs are out, would seem to be the logical replacements at CB.
Rosell, while a midfielder his entire time in MLS,
played as a center back for Barcalona's B team in Spain. It's certainly a
different game in MLS vs the Spanish second division, but he at least
has some experience there.
Myers is a bit more questionable though. KC's
regular right back played some center back in college at UCLA. He's
never played the position in a professional game for KC, but could very
well be forced there Sunday.
Either player moving to center back would lead to a
drop in their other position on the field. Rosell dropping into the
middle of defense would cause a domino affect in midfield, with Paulo
Nagamura dropping to the holding position, Benny Feilhaber going to the
more box-to-box role, and Alex Martinez or Jimmy Medranda going into the
more attacking position. Myers moving into the middle would mean that
Igor Juliao would likely get his second straight start. Defensively last
night he didn't look out of place, but some of his passing was off.
Another option for KC would be to recall Kevin Ellis from his Oklahoma
City loan for the game.
Other than those two, I'm not sure there's anyone
else on the roster that I'd put at center back. Seth Sinovic and Paulo
Nagamura I feel are both a little too short to play in the middle of
defense.
This wouldn't be the first time that KC travels to Chicago with a makeshift central defense, back in 2011 in the second game of the season, Vermes paired Besler and Roger Espinoza in the middle of defense after injuries and other issues left KC without much defensive coverage. So it looks again like KC will travel to Chicago with a makeshift back line.
The best thing for KC heading into the weekend is for Olum to not travel to Kenya and be available for the game. That would allow one of Myers or Rosell to partner him in the middle and allow the other to play their natural position. It's certainly not an ideal situation, especially with KC looking to put the poor performance against Philadelphia behind them. The back line will have their hands full with Quincy Amarikwa, Mike Magee, and Harry Shipp on top of their back line issues.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Sporting Lose Opara for the Season
Sporting Kansas City took a blow to its depth chart today with the announcement that defender Ike Opara will have ankle surgery that will keep him out for the rest of the 2014 season. Opara was injured in his last appearance for KC, against the Colorado Rapids almost two weeks ago. While attempting to clear a ball, Opara got hit on the ankle/leg by Rapid's midfielder, Jared Watts. Opara went down in a heap grabbing his leg, but in the process falling on the ball, which the referee felt was a hand ball, giving the Rapids a penalty kick.
In the aftermath of the call, Opara had to be stretchered off the field and was replaced by Aurelien Collin. After the game many KC fans in Colorado, including myself, saw Opara on crutches. The next day Tweets from Opara stated that it wasn't a break.
Jump ahead to the game last weekend against Real Salt Lake, Opara was not on the bench for KC. That wasn't overly surprising after the injury the weekend before, giving Opara a break made sense.
The news today though is a big blow for KC. Opara had become a solid contributor to Kansas City since the team traded for him before the 2013 season. Filling in when Matt Besler was away with the US team or Aurelien Collin was suspended, or when either needed a break, Opara appeared in 18 league games for KC, starting 15 of them. He also appeared in US Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions League, and playoff games. With his injury history in the past though, those were both career highs for the defender. He's missed a number of games due to injury in his career, including a broken left foot that caused him to miss a number of games when he was with San Jose.
The biggest blow this year will be for KC will be when Besler leaves to join the US team for the World Cup. With Opara out, the primary backup center back role will fall to Lawrence Olum. While Olum has played the center back position before, including in the 2012 US Open Cup final that KC won, he's spent most of the past year playing in the midfield, primarily as Oriol Rosell's back up in the deep lying midfield position. It shouldn't be a big change for him, but it'll still be a step down from Opara.
Behind Olum is where the bigger drop off is. KC's only other center back on the roster is 16 year old, Erik Palmer-Brown. The teenager, while appearing for the US youth team at a number of levels, including a call up to the U20 team for the Dallas Cup, likely is not in the position to be the primary back up while Besler is away.
If KC does want to make a move, they still have an open roster spot available. The player that they bring in likely won't be a big signing, depending on the team's hopes for the summer window, but they do have the ability to bring someone in if Peter Vermes wants to add to his depth.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Ellis Goal Enough as Sporting Head to Mexico with Advantage
Sporting KC started their series against Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF Champions League tonight on the right foot riding Kevin Ellis' first professional goal to a 1-0 win over the Mexican giants. Whether that single goal will be enough to see Kansas City through to the semifinals or not remains to be seen.
KC came out and pushed the game right from the start against Cruz Azul. In the seventh minute they should have gone up a goal as the ball fellt to Graham Zusi on the left. Zusi fired a shot but put it well wide of the goal, sending it out for a throw in. In the 17th their early pressure paid off. After some passing on the right, the ball got played to Claudio Bieler who hit a cross field ball with the outside of his foot to an open Ellis. The home grown player cut inside his defender and before he was closed down again fired a shot that squeezed in the near post of Jesus Corona and KC w3nt up 1-0. KC continued to push the game and kept searching for a second goal. Ike Opara fired a shot from long range that Corona had to tip over the bar for a corner. Off the ensuing corner, Ellis headed a ball on goal that Benny Feilhaber tried to flick past Corona, but the Cruz Azul keeper beat him to the ball. Cruz Azul had a good chance themselves as Marco Fabian got in behind KC's defense. But his touch let him down and before he could get an opportunity against Eric Kronberg, Opara recovered and knocked the ball away. Late in the half KC had another golden opportunity as Ellis played Bieler in on goal with only one defender between him. Bieler cut back and forth on Luis Perea before firing a shot towards the corner of the goal, but Corona at full stretch knocked the ball out for a corner kick. Cruz Azul was left frustrated as the teams went into the half time break.
In the second half Cruz Azul came out pressing the game much more and looked much better. They got more of the possession and kept KC locked in deep in their own end. Cruz Azul looked sure to score in the 55th minute as Mariano Pavone got played in behind KC's defense. 1v1 with Kronberg, the striker rounded KC's goalkeeper but Pavone's shot was cleared off the line by a recovering Opara. On the ensuing corner a moment of controversy as the corner was headed onto Fabian at the back post. His header was blocked by the arm of Feilhaber, which was away from his body. The ball then started looping towards goal, but Seth Sinovic cleared the ball off the line. KC found opportunities going forward few and far between but Zusi got off a good effort in the 64th from about 22 yards from goal. His shot left Corona rooted to the ground, but it hit the cross bar and bounced back into play. Cruz Azul kept pushing the ball up field and KC started to look extremely tired as the minutes ticked by, but KC held on and will travel with the lead to Mexico. It won't be easy, but the confidence from this result will hopefully carry over.
Wizards Man of the Match - Kevin Ellis - Not just because of the goal, but because of his defensive play as well. Cruz Azul went at him all night down KC's right and he did a very good job of keeping their attacks in check. Certainly looked like a guy that will be able to contribute more going forward.
Honorable Mention: Ike Opara, Benny Feilhaber's arm
Player Ratings: Kronberg 6, Ellis 8, Opara 7, Besler 6, Sinovic 7, Rosell 6, Nagamura 6, Feilhaber 5, Zusi 5, Bieler 7, Zizzo 6. Subs Peterson 5, Sapong 4, Dwyer NR.
KC came out and pushed the game right from the start against Cruz Azul. In the seventh minute they should have gone up a goal as the ball fellt to Graham Zusi on the left. Zusi fired a shot but put it well wide of the goal, sending it out for a throw in. In the 17th their early pressure paid off. After some passing on the right, the ball got played to Claudio Bieler who hit a cross field ball with the outside of his foot to an open Ellis. The home grown player cut inside his defender and before he was closed down again fired a shot that squeezed in the near post of Jesus Corona and KC w3nt up 1-0. KC continued to push the game and kept searching for a second goal. Ike Opara fired a shot from long range that Corona had to tip over the bar for a corner. Off the ensuing corner, Ellis headed a ball on goal that Benny Feilhaber tried to flick past Corona, but the Cruz Azul keeper beat him to the ball. Cruz Azul had a good chance themselves as Marco Fabian got in behind KC's defense. But his touch let him down and before he could get an opportunity against Eric Kronberg, Opara recovered and knocked the ball away. Late in the half KC had another golden opportunity as Ellis played Bieler in on goal with only one defender between him. Bieler cut back and forth on Luis Perea before firing a shot towards the corner of the goal, but Corona at full stretch knocked the ball out for a corner kick. Cruz Azul was left frustrated as the teams went into the half time break.
In the second half Cruz Azul came out pressing the game much more and looked much better. They got more of the possession and kept KC locked in deep in their own end. Cruz Azul looked sure to score in the 55th minute as Mariano Pavone got played in behind KC's defense. 1v1 with Kronberg, the striker rounded KC's goalkeeper but Pavone's shot was cleared off the line by a recovering Opara. On the ensuing corner a moment of controversy as the corner was headed onto Fabian at the back post. His header was blocked by the arm of Feilhaber, which was away from his body. The ball then started looping towards goal, but Seth Sinovic cleared the ball off the line. KC found opportunities going forward few and far between but Zusi got off a good effort in the 64th from about 22 yards from goal. His shot left Corona rooted to the ground, but it hit the cross bar and bounced back into play. Cruz Azul kept pushing the ball up field and KC started to look extremely tired as the minutes ticked by, but KC held on and will travel with the lead to Mexico. It won't be easy, but the confidence from this result will hopefully carry over.
Wizards Man of the Match - Kevin Ellis - Not just because of the goal, but because of his defensive play as well. Cruz Azul went at him all night down KC's right and he did a very good job of keeping their attacks in check. Certainly looked like a guy that will be able to contribute more going forward.
Honorable Mention: Ike Opara, Benny Feilhaber's arm
Player Ratings: Kronberg 6, Ellis 8, Opara 7, Besler 6, Sinovic 7, Rosell 6, Nagamura 6, Feilhaber 5, Zusi 5, Bieler 7, Zizzo 6. Subs Peterson 5, Sapong 4, Dwyer NR.
Tuesday, March 04, 2014
A Look at the Depth Chart - Defense
Continuing the look through the roster and moving up the field, it's not time to take a look at the defense. Every player that played minutes for KC in competitive games in defense this past year have returned for the upcoming season. It gives KC stability in the position, which is key with a new goalkeeper in net.
Center Back Current Depth Chart
1. Matt Besler
2. Aurelien Collin
3. Ike Opara
4. Lawrence Olum
5. Erik Palmer-Brown
Unsigned factor: Peter Schmetz
The top three are as you'd expect. One of the best center back pairings in the league in Besler and Collin anchor the center of defense, with Opara being an extremely solid back up. Opara should get plenty of time this year with Besler spending time with the national team and Collin likely to pick up at least one suspension over the course of the season. From there things get a little murky. Teenager Palmer-Brown has gotten more time at center back this preseason than Olum, but I'd guess if Vermes needed to start one in a game it'd probably be Olum at this point. The other factor is current unsigned third round draft pick, Schmetz. If KC were to sign the German his position on the depth chart would be interesting, or if he'd be heading to one of our USL-Pro affiliates.
Right Back Current Depth Chart
1. Chance Myers
2. Mechack Jerome
3. Kevin Ellis
A fairly straight forward list as you'd expect for Sporting KC. With Myers re-signing with the club earlier this offseason he remains atop the list of KC's depth char.t Behind him is Haitian international Jerome. While his minutes dropped off as the season progress, he's still likely to remain ahead of Ellis. KC's second home grown player is in a big year for him. He's only played in two MLS games so far in his career, and entering his third season he should really be pushing Jerome to be Myers' back up.
Left Back Current Depth Chart
1. Seth Sinovic
2. Josh Gardner
3. Chance Myers
4. Kevin Ellis
Another straight forward selection at number one, another player that spent time with the US naitonal team, Sinovic will remain as the first choice selection at left back. Behind him is one of the more polarizing players in the last few years on KC's roster. Gardner had a poor performance in KC's last preseason game, but his performances have been better since he stopped playing as a winger in KC's system. Behind Gardner are two players who are predominately right backs, but can play left. Myers played on the left against Dallas this past year while Ellis also filled in on the left when needed.
With the defense here are a few questions.
Can the defense keep up their stellar record without Nielsen behind then?
The back line of Myers, Collin, Besler, and Sinovic are 33-8-9 when they start together. So far that record has come with Jimmy Nielsen behind them in net. Can this foursome keep up the record with a new goalkeeper behind them? Nielsen's style as a goalkeeper and as a leader fit in well with the way that KC's back line played. With a goalkeeper that controls his box more, will KC's back line adapt as well?
Can Opara continue to be a key contributor?
Much is going to be expected of Opara this year, especially in late May and early June when he'll be expected to take over in the center of defense for Besler who should be away with the US national team. The former number three overall pick in the draft has struggled with injuries throughout his MLS career. In fact last year, starting 15 games and playing in 18 were both career highs for the center back. KC will need him to stay healthy and contribute defensively when Besler is gone or Collin is suspended.
Will Palmer-Brown see the field in KC this year?
KC's 16 year old academy product signed in the 2013 season and has been impressing with Sporting and with the US youth national teams. With the continued rumors or a deal with Juventus and rumors that the deal is incentive based, the young center back could see some time with KC this year. With KC playing games on four different fronts before the playoffs (league, US Open Cup, and two different segments of the CCL) there are a number of games, and plenty of time for him to get his feet wet. If not in one of those competitions than I'm not sure he'll see time this year. With his current age I'm not sure that Vermes sees a loan to Oklahoma City or Orlando as being the best move for him at this point in his career.
Center Back Current Depth Chart
1. Matt Besler
2. Aurelien Collin
3. Ike Opara
4. Lawrence Olum
5. Erik Palmer-Brown
Unsigned factor: Peter Schmetz
The top three are as you'd expect. One of the best center back pairings in the league in Besler and Collin anchor the center of defense, with Opara being an extremely solid back up. Opara should get plenty of time this year with Besler spending time with the national team and Collin likely to pick up at least one suspension over the course of the season. From there things get a little murky. Teenager Palmer-Brown has gotten more time at center back this preseason than Olum, but I'd guess if Vermes needed to start one in a game it'd probably be Olum at this point. The other factor is current unsigned third round draft pick, Schmetz. If KC were to sign the German his position on the depth chart would be interesting, or if he'd be heading to one of our USL-Pro affiliates.
Right Back Current Depth Chart
1. Chance Myers
2. Mechack Jerome
3. Kevin Ellis
A fairly straight forward list as you'd expect for Sporting KC. With Myers re-signing with the club earlier this offseason he remains atop the list of KC's depth char.t Behind him is Haitian international Jerome. While his minutes dropped off as the season progress, he's still likely to remain ahead of Ellis. KC's second home grown player is in a big year for him. He's only played in two MLS games so far in his career, and entering his third season he should really be pushing Jerome to be Myers' back up.
Left Back Current Depth Chart
1. Seth Sinovic
2. Josh Gardner
3. Chance Myers
4. Kevin Ellis
Another straight forward selection at number one, another player that spent time with the US naitonal team, Sinovic will remain as the first choice selection at left back. Behind him is one of the more polarizing players in the last few years on KC's roster. Gardner had a poor performance in KC's last preseason game, but his performances have been better since he stopped playing as a winger in KC's system. Behind Gardner are two players who are predominately right backs, but can play left. Myers played on the left against Dallas this past year while Ellis also filled in on the left when needed.
With the defense here are a few questions.
Can the defense keep up their stellar record without Nielsen behind then?
The back line of Myers, Collin, Besler, and Sinovic are 33-8-9 when they start together. So far that record has come with Jimmy Nielsen behind them in net. Can this foursome keep up the record with a new goalkeeper behind them? Nielsen's style as a goalkeeper and as a leader fit in well with the way that KC's back line played. With a goalkeeper that controls his box more, will KC's back line adapt as well?
Can Opara continue to be a key contributor?
Much is going to be expected of Opara this year, especially in late May and early June when he'll be expected to take over in the center of defense for Besler who should be away with the US national team. The former number three overall pick in the draft has struggled with injuries throughout his MLS career. In fact last year, starting 15 games and playing in 18 were both career highs for the center back. KC will need him to stay healthy and contribute defensively when Besler is gone or Collin is suspended.
Will Palmer-Brown see the field in KC this year?
KC's 16 year old academy product signed in the 2013 season and has been impressing with Sporting and with the US youth national teams. With the continued rumors or a deal with Juventus and rumors that the deal is incentive based, the young center back could see some time with KC this year. With KC playing games on four different fronts before the playoffs (league, US Open Cup, and two different segments of the CCL) there are a number of games, and plenty of time for him to get his feet wet. If not in one of those competitions than I'm not sure he'll see time this year. With his current age I'm not sure that Vermes sees a loan to Oklahoma City or Orlando as being the best move for him at this point in his career.
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