Top League Scorers Through 2016

Continuing my stat updating, here is Sporting KC's top scorers through the 2016 season. For prior years, see the links below.

1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010 - 2011 - 2012  - 2013 - 2014 - 2015

1. Preki - 71 (-)

2. Dom Dwyer - 52 (+4)

3T. Josh Wolff - 43 (-1)

3T. Davy Arnaud - 43 (-1)

5. Chris Klein - 39 (-1)

6. Kei Kamara  - 38 (-1)

7. Mo Johnston - 31 (-)

8T. Digital Takawira - 28 (-)

8T. Scott Sealy - 28 (-)

10. Graham Zusi - 26 (-)

11. Benny Feilhaber - 24 (+3)

12T. Mark Chung - 20 (-1)

12T. CJ Sapong - 20 (-1)

14. Teal Bunbury - 19 (-1)

15T. Eddie Johnson - 17 (-1)

15T. Jimmy Conrad - 17 (-1)

17. Chris Brown - 15 (-)

18. Jack Jewsbury - 14 (-)

19T. Matt McKeon - 13 (-)

19T. Jose Burciaga Jr. - 13 (-)

19T. Sasha Victorine - 13 (-)

19T. Claudio Lopez - 13 (-)

19T. Jacob Peterson - 13 (N/A) - A career year from "The Answer" in his final year in Kansas City sees Jacob Peterson make his way onto the list. Proving able to help take some of the goal scoring load off of Dom Dwyer in 2016. Peterson scored six goals, the second most on the team in 2016.

Dom Dwyer jumped up four more places in 2016 and became only the second player in club history to score 50 league goals for KC. Elsewhere, Benny Feilhaber jumped up three more spots and is closing in on the top 10, only two goals behind Graham Zusi for that spot. The most surprising of the moves came at the bottom of the list, where Jacob Peterson set a career high for goals, joining the list in a tie for 19th with Matt McKeon, Jose Burciaga Jr, Sasha Victorine, and Claudio Lopez. As for who could make the list in 2017, unless someone comes in and blows up, a new player joining the list seems unlikely. The highest currently active player not in the top 20 is Ike Opara, who has scored just six goals, followed by Lawrence Olum with five.

Here are the remaining players currently on KC that have scored goals.

Ike Opara - 6
Lawrence Olum - 5
Kevin Ellis - 5
Roger Espinoza - 4
Matt Besler - 3
Diego Rubio - 1
Jimmy Medranda - 1

Most Appearances

More end of season stats, tonight it is appearances for Sporting Kansas City.

In league play, three players joined the list in 2016 with Benny Feilhaber leading the way getting all the way to 120 appearances in 2016. Further up the list, Matt Besler hit 200 appearances in league play for KC, becoming the seventh player to reach 200 appearances for Sporting KC in the club's history. The eighth player to hit that mark should come in 2017 as Graham Zusi is only six appearances away from 200 right now. As for who could join the list in 2017, there is only one player who has a chance, Lawrence Olum is 14 appearances from hitting 100. He'd become the thirty-third player to hit 100 appearances for Sporting KC.

Davy Arnaud - 240
Kerry Zavagnin - 237
Nick Garcia - 224
Preki - 218
Jimmy Conrad - 204
Chris Klein - 200
Matt Besler - 200
Jack Jewsbury - 195
Graham Zusi - 194
Roger Espinoza - 160
Michael Harrington - 149
Mo Johnston - 149
Chance Myers - 147
Josh Wolff - 144
Matt McKeon - 144
Seth Sinovic - 133
Jimmy Nielsen - 128
Tony Meola - 125
Chris Brown - 123
Benny Feilhaber - 120
Diego Gutierrez - 119
Uche Okafor - 119
Jose Burciaga - 115
Francisco Gomez - 114
Kei Kamara - 113
Dom Dwyer - 113
Sean Bowers - 111
CJ Sapong - 110
Jacob Peterson - 108
Aurelien Collin - 107
Sasha Victorine - 106
Digital Takawira - 103
Lawrence Olum - 86
Kevin Ellis - 63
Ike Opara - 52
Saad Abdul-Salaam - 52
Tim Melia - 50
Soni Mustivar - 50
Jimmy Medranda - 41
Diego Rubio - 15
Erik Palmer-Brown - 10
Cameron Porter - 2

Across all competitions, Besler moved into the top five for appearances, hitting 239. He should move into top four in 2017 and close in on a top two position by the end of the season. Elsewhere, Espinoza should become the 10th player to play 200 games in all competitions for Kansas City. In all competitions, Olum was the only player that joined the list in all competitions in 2017 finishing with 105 appearances in all competitions, tying him with Teal Bunbury. As for players who could join the list in 2017, there is only one, Kevin Ellis is 18 appearances away from hitting 100 in all competitions, and the only candidate to join in 2017.

Kerry Zavagnin - 291
Davy Arnaud - 273
Nick Garcia - 273
Preki - 254
Matt Besler - 239
Chris Klein - 235
Jimmy Conrad - 230
Graham Zusi - 227
Jack Jewsbury - 218
Roger Espinoza - 184
Matt McKeon - 183
Chance Myers - 175
Michael Harrington - 170
Mo Johnston - 169
Seth Sinovic - 166
Josh Wolff -165
Tony Meola - 156
Chris Brown - 150
Diego Gutierrez - 147
Benny Feilhaber - 145
CJ Sapong - 142
Jimmy Nielsen - 142
Francisco Gomez - 141
Dom Dwyer - 141
Jacob Peterson - 135
Aurelien Collin - 133
Jose Burciaga - 130
Uche Okafor - 130
Kei Kamara - 126
Sean Bowers - 120
Sasha Victorine - 114
Digital Takawira - 111
Bo Oshoniyi - 110
Paulo Nagamura - 119
Teal Bunbury - 105
Lawrence Olum - 105
Mark Chung - 104
Shavar Thomas - 101
Kevin Hartman - 100
Kevin Ellis - 82
Ike Opara - 64
Saad Abdul-Salaam - 62
Soni Mustivar - 61
Tim Melia - 58
Jimmy Medranda - 46
Diego Rubio - 20
Erik Palmer-Brown - 13
Cameron Porter - 6
Benji Joya - 1
Tyler Pasher - 1

Landmark Goals

Another set of stats to update, this time it is landmark goals. In 2016, Sporting KC hit two landmarks with Graham Zusi scoring Sporting's 900th league goal and Jacob Peterson scoring the 1,100th across all competitions for KC. Looking at the numbers I'm not sure that KC is going to hit any milestones this coming season though, the closest they are to any right now, is KC's league goals away from home, where they're currently 29 goals away. Not sure KC's offense is going to score that many goals away from home in 2017, the only time in the club's history that they've scored that many goals away from home was in 2005.

League play - currently 922 goals
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Mark Chung - 7/19/1997 - 15th - DC United
200. Preki - 3/25/2000 - 63rd - Chicago Fire
300. Chris Klein - 7/13/2002 - 64th - New England Revolution
400. Josh Wolff - 4/2/2005 - 34th - Colorado Rapids
500. Eddie Johnson - 4/25/2007 - 5th - Toronto FC
600. Josh Wolff - 9/5/2009 - 91st+ - New England Revolution
700. Aurelien Collin - 3/25/2012 - 49th+ - FC Dallas
800. Dom Dwyer - 5/18/2014 - 68th - Chicago Fire
900. Graham Zusi - 7/3/2016 - 56th - Columbus Crew



League play home - currently 552
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Paul Wright - 9/5/1998 - 59th - San Jose Clash
200. Eric Quill - 5/3/2003 - 89th - Columbus Crew
300. Dave van den Bergh - 10/7/2006 - 50th - Chivas USA
400. Teal Bunbury - 8/3/2011 - 34th - Real Salt Lake
500. Krisztian Nemeth - 5/20/2015 - 39th - New England Revolution

League play away - currently 371
1. Uche Okafor - 4/21/1996 - 16th - San Jose Clash
100. Roy Lassiter - 6/2/2001 - 52nd - Tampa Bay Mutiny
200. Davy Arnaud - 5/19/2007 - 58th - Colorado Rapids
300. Oriol Rosell - 3/2/2013 - 66th - Philadelphia Union


Competitive play - currently 1109
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Edmundo Rodriguez - 6/21/1997 - 87th - DC United
200. Preki - 7/31/1999 - 35th - San Jose Clash
300. Roy Lassister - 8/12/2001 - 90th - Colorado Rapids
400. Stephen Armstrong - 7/4/2003 - 90th - Colorado Rapids
500. own goal - 5/21/2005 - 62th - DC United
600. Jose Burciaga Jr. - 5/5/2007 - 90th - Columbus Crew
700. own goal - 6/24/2009 - 85th - New England Revolution
800. Kei Kamara - 8/21/2011 - 19th - DC United
900. Graham Zusi - 7/7/2013 - 8th - Chicago Fire
1000. Krisztian Nemeth - 4/5/2015 - 94+ - Philadelphia Union
1100. Jacob Peterson - 9/18/2016 - 50th - LA Galaxy



Competitive home - currently 666
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Preki - 8/26/1998 - 21th - DC United
200. Preki - 5/4/2002 - 29th - LA Galaxy
300. Davy Arnaud - 6/25/2005 - 70th - Chivas USA
400. Herculez Gomez - 10/18/2008 - 93rd+ - San Jose
500. CJ Sapong - 6/17/2012 - 18th - Toronto
600. Krisztian Nemeth - 5/29/2015 - 19th FC Dallas

Competitive away - currently 440
1. Uche Okafor - 4/21/1996 - 16th - San Jose Clash
100. Matt McKeon - 10/3/2000 - 29th - LA Galaxy
200. Josh Wolff - 5/14/2005 - 89th - Columbus Crew
300. Davy Arnaud - 8/28/2010 - 12th - LA Galaxy
400. Dom Dwyer - 10/18/2014 -  54th - Philadelphia Union

Sporting Lose Peterson to Atlanta

Sporting Kansas City continued the makeover of their wings today as 2016's second leading scorer, Jacob Peterson is leaving the club to join expansion side, Atlanta United. Peterson was a free agent in MLS terms being over 28 with eight years of experience in the league, meaning he was free to sign with any club in the league. He chose the expansion Atlanta side who is putting together a fairly strong attacking front. Peterson will likely be a utility player for the club slotting in where needed to provide a spark and energy.

Peterson played in 108 league games for KC over his five seasons with Sporting Kansas City, scoring 13 goals, including a career high six goals in 2016. He also added seven assists for Sporting KC. In 2016 he became an invaluable part of the KC attack after the departure of Krisztian Nemeth, the injuries to Brad Davis and Justin Mapp, and the ineffectiveness of Connor Hallisey. He's not a player that's probably shouldn't be an every day starter, but became one for Kansas City and returned Peter Vermes' faith in him by having a career year.

This is actually probably the best move for both Kansas City and Peterson. While Peterson is a "Vermes' guy" with his hustle and his willingness to play anywhere on the field, he's also set to turn 31 early in 2017 and should predominately be a backup. While he had a career high 18 starts for Kansas City in 2017, his hustle and work ethic really shouldn't make him a starter any more for KC. Kansas City should be to the point where if they need a Peterson it's as a bench player. KC has shown that they're ready to get younger on the wings, with four of the six to seven wingers from last season (six if you don't count Jimmy Medranda as one, seven if you do) already gone, and an eighth (Anor) also not coming back in 2017, KC is going to be doing a lot of rebuilding on the wing over the winter. For Peterson it gives him a chance to go somewhere and continue to contribute. I'm one of those that has grown to respect Peterson more over the course of his time in Kansas City for his style of play and how he seemed to leave it all on the field, while I'm happy for him, if the role here had been right I would have liked him to stay.

Sunday of Stats

Lots of stats from today's game, lots of landmarks hit.

Dom Dwyer's goal was his 50th league goal for KC, he's only the second player to hit that mark for KC.

In the 62nd minute, Dwyer hit 10,000 minutes played for KC in all competitions, becoming the 24th player to hit that mark.

In the 20th minute, Matt Besler moved past Preki and into 4th place for minutes played in all competitions for KC, he finished the game with 20,708 minutes played.

Besler made his 236th appearance in all competitions, breaking his tie with Chris Klein for 5th all time on that list.

Besler started his 228th game in all competitions for KC, tying him with Jimmy Conrad for 5th all time on that list.

Jacob Peterson's goal for Kansas City was the 1,100th in all competitions for KC.

His goal was his 13th league goal for KC, tying him with Matt McKeon, Jose Burciaga, Sasha Victorine, and Claudio Lopez for 19th all time on that list.

Peterson's goal was his 8th at home in league play for KC, tying him with Lopez, Burciaga, and Teal Bunbury for 20th on that list.

In the 47th minute, Roger Espinoza again moved past Seth Sinovic and into 13th place for minutes played in all competitions, he finished the game with 14,064 minutes played.

Roger Espinoza started his 156th game in all competitions for KC, tying him with Tony Meola for 13th all time on that list.

Benny Feilhaber started his 129th game in all competitions for KC, tying him with Aurelien Collin for 20th on that list.

Soni Mustivar made his 50th start in all competitions for KC, he's the 57th player to hit that mark.

Landon Donovan's goal was his 14th in league play against KC, tying him with Jason Kreis as the 2nd leading scorer all time against KC.

Sporting Draw at Home Again, Playoff Chances Take a Dive

Yesterday's results around MLS didn't going Sporting Kansas City's way, Portland jumped ahead of Kansas City thanks to a win over Philadelphia while Seattle closed the gap with Sporting KC to just four points with a win over Vancouver. The pair of results put KC in a dangerous situation heading into today's game against the LA Galaxy, a game where Kansas City really needed to win to give themselves some breathing room above the red line and making the playoffs. Unfortunately on the field Sunday Sporting KC put on a typical Sporting KC performance where they dominated in terms of shots, but couldn't put many of those opportunities on goal and had to settle for a 2-2 draw with the Galaxy. The result now sees Sporting KC start a three game road trip, probably needing to pick up a couple wins in those three games to keep in the race for a playoff spot.

Sporting KC came out with some early control of play with Jacob Peterson putting a header just over from about six yards out that showed KC's early intent to really push the game against the Galaxy. Unfortunately it was the Galaxy that struck first early as in just the seventh minute, Emmanuel Boateng got the ball out wide and crossed a ball into the box where Alan Gordon had gotten some separation from Matt Besler and beat Tim Melia with a header to put the Galaxy up 1-0 very early.

After the goal the rest of the half turned into Sporting KC trying to find an equalizer. They created a number of opportunities but either by missing the target or by sliding challenges by LA defenders, KC didn't get a shot on goal until late in the half. The pressure was firmly on both teams as they went into the half time break. It was on KC as the club desperately needed to find a goal to get themselves back into the game, while LA was under all the pressure on the field, having to consistently deal with the Sporting KC attack coming at them, or controlling the ball in their end of the field.

KC found their way back into the game early in the second half though as Dom Dwyer made his way out wide after collecting a ball and crossed into the middle for Jacob Peterson who had about his fourth or fifth chance of the game with his head. Peterson finished this opportunity and leveled the game at 1-1 in only the 50th minute, giving Kansas City plenty of time to find themselves a second goal. The second goal in the 69th minute for Kansas City off a quick restart as Benny Feilhaber smartly put the ball down and played it to Saad Abdul-Salaam who was racing up the wing. Abdul-Salaam crossed it into the middle for Dwyer who knocked the ball into the net to put KC on top 2-1, a heads up play by Feilhaber to catch the Galaxy slack in the back as they slowly backed up for the free kick.

The Galaxy then had to chase the game, and did so by inserting the league's all time leading scorer, Landon Donovan. Donovan had an immediate impact, equalizing just two minutes after coming on, he worked a give-and-go with Robbie Rogers down KC's left, and ran away from Soni Mustivar who seemed to slow down. Receiving the pass back from Rogers Donovan slotted the ball into the far corner on Melia like he had never missed a game and the game was tied 2-2. Kansas City picked the pressure back up after the goal but were unable to find a third and had to settle for the 2-2 draw that sees them only increase their lead on the Sounders to five points while the Sounders have two games in hand.

Wizards Man of the Match - Dom Dwyer - A goal and an assist for the new dad in the game, he set up Peterson with a great cross and read the quick restart that Feilhaber played very well to beat his man. On the down side, he had six shots but only put one of those six on goal.

Player Ratings - Melia 4, Medranda 4, Besler 4, Ellis 4, Abdul-Salaam 5, Mustivar 3, Espinoza 4, Feilhaber 5, Peterson 5, Dwyer 6, Davis 4. Subs Rubio 3, Coelho NR.

S.A.S. Saturday After Stats

Here are some stats from last night's draw.

In the 24th minute, Matt Besler moved past Jimmy Conrad and into 5th place for minutes played in all competitions for KC, Besler finished the game with 20,618 minutes played.

Besler made his 235th appearance in all competitions for KC, tying him with Chris Klein for 5th all time on that list.

Dom Dwyer's goal gave him 13 league goals on the season, tied with Digital Takawira for the fourth most in a single season for KC.

Jacob Peterson's goal was his 5th league goal of the season, a career high for him.

It was his 5th in all competitions as well, tying a career high.

Roger Espinoza's assist was his 20th in league play for KC, tying him with Jack Jewsbury and Kei Kamara for 10th all time on that list.

It was his 22nd in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Jewsbury and Kamara for 10th on that list.

In the 49th minute, Espinoza moved past Seth Sinovic and into 13th place for minutes played in all competitions, he finished the game with 13,974 minutes played.

Sporting Blow Two Leads, Have to Settle for a Point vs Houston

After a strong start by Sporting Kansas City last night the club blew a pair of leads and ended up drawing in the final moments of the game as the Houston Dynamo came back to tie Sporting 3-3 at Children's Mercy Park. Sporting had a major let down after going up 2-0 and again in the final moments and it cost them two points at a critical point of the season when they need to get points, especially at home.

For their early pressure in the game, KC was rewarded with the opening goal just 13 minutes in. A Saad Abdul-Salaam cross found Jacob Peterson unmarked near the penalty spot, his initial shot was saved by Joe Willis, the rebound fell to Dom Dwyer who had two chances to put it away with both being blocked before the ball fell to Peterson again who buried it into the net to put KC ahead. KC was able to double their lead about 10 minutes later on a rocket by Roger ESpinoza as he stepped in front of a poor pass by Collen Warner and fired from about 25 yards out that flew into the top corner to make it 2-0. The two goal lead only lasted four minutes as Houston pulled one back in the 30th as Boniek Garcia found himself with all kinds of space near the top of the box before sliding a ball through to Mauro Manotas whose shot to the back post beat Alec Kann to make it 2-1. After the goal the Dynamo controlled the game, keeping KC pinned back in their own end through the rest of the half, but KC held the lead heading into the break.

Just before the hour mark though the lead was gone, after some work down KC's left the ball was crossed into the middle for Manotas who didn't get a good touch on it but it deflected into the path of Alex, who beat Kann to make it 2-2 with the Dynamo having all the momentum. KC finally started to come back into the game though after the equalizer with Dwyer forcing a good save from Willis in the 66th minute. As the minutes ticked by though it seemed KC would have to settle for a 2-2 draw, but in the 81st minute Dwyer found the back of the net off a Benny Feilhaber corner that was knocked into his path by Espinoza to give KC a 3-2 lead and possibly all three points. Unfortunately that wasn't to be either as Sporting again blew the lead, this time in stoppage time after a silly foul by Espinoza on Garcia. With the free kick about 40 yards out Garcia drove the ball into the box where Raul Rodriguez beat Matt Besler in the air, his header hit the cross bar, bounced off Kann and into the net to give the Dynamo a last gasp equalizer as the final whistle blew just seconds after the kick off by KC.

Wizards Man of the Match - Roger Espinoza - The foul on Garcia aside, Espinoza had himself a strong match with a wonder goal and an assist on Dwyer's goal in the second half.

Player Ratings - Kann 4, Ellis 2, Besler 2, Coelho 3, Abdul-Salaam 3, Feilhaber 5, Espinoza 7, Mustivar 5, Davis 4, Dwyer 5, Peterson 5. Subs Sinovic 3, Hallisey 3, Opara NR.

Sunday After Stats

Matt Besler made his 195th league appearance for KC, tying him with Jack Jewsbury for 7th all time on that list.

Jacob Peterson tied a career high for league goals in a season with 4. He'd previously hit that total in 2007 and 2012.

Peterson's goal was his 6th league game winner for KC, tying him with 5 players for 11th all time on that list.

It was his 7th game winner in all competitions, tying him with 2 players for 13th all time on that list.

Benny Feilhaber's goal was his 27th in all competitions for KC, tying him with CJ Sapong for 11th all time on that list.

At 21 years, 214 days, Feilhaber became the 19th oldest goal scorer for KC in league play, moving past Omar Bravo.

He also knocked Bravo out of the top 20 for oldest goal scorer in all competitions, taking Bravo's place at number 20.

Feilhaber's goal was his 14th at home in league play for KC, tying him with Jimmy Conrad for 11th all time on that list.

It was his 16th at home in all competitions, tying him with Digital Takawira for 11th all time on that list as well.

Sporting Climb the Table

Sporting got some help from other results around the league before they took on the Vancouver Whitecaps late at Children's Mercy Park, and took full advantage claiming a 2-0 win over Vancouver to push them up into fourth place in the Western Conference.

Kansas City controlled the first half of play keeping the Whitecaps pinned back in their own end for long stretches. Just four minutes in Nuno Coelho curled a free kick just wide of the near post, although it appeared that Dave Oustad had the chance covered. In the 19th minute, Brad Davis rung the cross bar with a curling effort after a short corner that had beaten Oustad. Unfortunately the rebound couldn't be turned in by anyone for KC. A dominating half looked like it may be for not until the 39th minute when KC finally ended their long run of corner kicks without a goal. Benny Feilhaber drove the ball into the box where Coelho volleyed his effort on net. Jacob Peterson was standing in front of Oustad and redirected the shot past a diving Oustad and into the net to put KC up 1-0 heading into the half time break.

Early in the second half the Whitecaps had their best chance of the game on a header by Giles Barnes. Former KC defender Marcel de Jong got forward and had a cross into the box partially deflected by Graham Zusi. The ball fell to Barnes who beat Kevin Ellis in the air and got a header on target, but Alec Kann reacted very well and tipped it over the cross bar. Minutes later the Whitecaps again threatened in the air, this time on a corner, but Kann caught Kendall Waston's header easily. In the 62nd minute though Kansas City won themselves a penalty kick as Peterson was taken down in the box after a good one-two between him and Feilhaber. Feilhaber stepped up for his penalty duties but Oustad guessed right and easily saved Feilhaber's attempt. Fortunately for Kansas City though the linesman correctly raised his flag as Oustad was well off his line before Feilhaber took his kick. With a second bite of the cherry, Feilhaber made no mistake and even though Oustad guessed right again and got a hand on it but it wasn't enough to keep Feilhaber's effort out and put KC up 2-0. In the 75th KC probably should have made it 3-0 when Oustad could only push away a low cross by Zusi into the path of Davis who collected it and turned to shoot but had his effort saved by Oustad. Oustad was again called on in the 86th on a curling effort by Peterson that he could only palm away for a corner. The Whitecaps got forward late but really failed to trouble Kann any more in KC's net as Sporting won their sixth straight at home.

Wizards Man of the Match - Jacob Peterson - Continues to prove himself to be "The Answer" Kansas City needs on the wing to help take some pressure off of Dom Dwyer. His first goal was his fourth of the season, tying his MLS career high that he set in 2012 and in his rookie year in 2007. He also won the penalty kick that iced the game for Kansas City.

Player Ratings - Kann 7, Medranda 7, Ellis 7, Besler 7, Zusi 7, Coelho 6, Espinoza 7, Feilhaber 7, Peterson 8, Dwyer 5, Davis 6. Subs Mustivar 6, Abdul-Salaam 6, Nagamura 5.

S.A.S. Monday After Stats - Century Edition

A lot of century marks hit in yesterday's game for Sporting KC.

Peter Vermes earned his 100th league win as Sporting's coach. He's the sixth MLS coach to hit that mark and the first KC coach to do it.

Jacob Peterson made his 100th league appearance for KC, he's the 32nd player to hit that mark.

Benny Feilhaber started his 100th league game for KC, he's the 24th player to hit that mark.

In the 18th minute, Roger Espinoza moved past Michael Harrington and into 11th place on the list of league minutes played, he finished the game with 11,706 minutes played.

Espinoza started his 150th game in all competitions, he's the 14th player to hit that mark.

Sporting Take Down Timbers

Sporting Kansas City continued their current home unbeaten run with a win over the Portland Timbers 1-0 at Children's Mercy Park. Unlike their previous matches in the win streak where Kansas City has scored three goals in each game, Kansas City had struggles finding the back of the net again thanks to some poor finishing and good goalkeeping by Jake Gleeson. It took a flicked header by Jacob Peterson off a Benny Feilhaber free kick to give KC the only goal they needed.

Portland started the game on the front foot, pressing Kansas City in their own end. Kansas City didn't help themselves out as the defensive giveaways returned in the game. A poor clearance by Lawrence Olum allowed Ben Zemanski to set up Darlington Nagbe, but Alec Kann made a nice diving save to his right to tip the ball wide for a corner kick. KC came back and in the 20th had a chance of their own as Gleeson didn't handle a low cross by Peterson, spilling it right in front of his goal. The Timbers defense only cleared it as far as Feilhaber at the top of the box, but his shot with his left foot hit the cross bar leaving the game scoreless. Portland continued to have the better of the play as the half continued but both teams went into the half without a goal.

Early in the second half though KC jumped on top thanks to a free kick by Feilhaber that Peterson flicked on into the net to put KC up 1-0. The goal seemed to wake the Kansas City offense up as they started to create more chances for themselves. Only the goalkeeping of Gleeson kept KC from adding to their lead. Less than five minutes after the goal Dom Dwyer had been left unmarked on the back post where he received a cross, brought it down, but his shot high to the near post was saved by Gleeson. On the ensuing corner the ball made it to Olum who headed the ball back across goal, but Gleeson was able to dive back and get a hand on it to keep it out before Portland cleared up the rebound. Minues later Gleeson again denied Dwyer after he was played in by Peterson, the rebound fell to Connor Hallisey who had a good look but Gleeson was back to his feet and knocked that shot away. KC continued the pressure but Gleeson was up to the task. Late on the Timbers had a great chance to equalize on the counter. With a five on three advantage, Diego Valeri fed the ball wide to Jack McInerney who curled a shot towards the far post, but his effort hit the cross bar and bounced away. Minutes later the final whistle blew and KC walked out the winners.

Wizards Man of the Match - Jacob Peterson - Scored the winner for Sporting and had a strong game overall. He almost set up Dwyer for a goal shortly after his effort. And he did all of this when it looked like he'd sub out early in the first half.

Player Ratings - Kann 6, Medranda 5, Olum 6, Opara 7, Abdul-Salaam 6, Mustivar 5, Espinoza 7, Feilhaber 6, Hallisey 6, Dwyer 6, Peterson 7. Subs Porter 5, Ellis NR, Myers NR.

S.A.S. Monday After Stats

Dom Dwyer's first goal was his 14th game winner for KC in all competitions, tying him with Preki for the most game winners for KC in all competitions.

It was his 11th game winner for KC in league playing, tying him with Kei Kamara and Josh Wolff for third all time on that list.

Dwyer's two goals gave him 29 in league play for KC at home in his career, breaking his tie with Davy Arnaud and Kamara for second on that list.

The two goals gave him 36 at home in all competitions, breaking his tie with Arnaud for second on that list.

Jacob Peterson's goal was the 200th in all competitions for Kansas City at Children's Mercy Park.

Roger Espinoza's assist was his 19th in league play for KC, tying him with Sasha Victorine and Digital Takawira for 12th all time on that list.

It was his 21st in all competitions for KC, tying him with Kamara and Jack Jewsbury for 10th all time on that list.

In the 59th minute, Espinoza moved past Matt McKeon and into 12th place for league minutes played for KC, he finished the game with 11,616 minutes played.

Espinoza made his 173rd appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Chance Myers for 11th all time on that list.

Graham Zusi started his 150th league game for KC, he's the 8th player to hit that mark.

Zusi made his 219th appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Jack Jewsbury for 8th all time on that list.

Seth Sinovic made his 129th league appearance for KC, breaking his tie with Jimmy Nielsen for 16th all time on that list.

Sporting Top Listless Seattle

Sporting Kansas City took advantage of a slumping opponent that looks to have quit on their coach and were able to walk away with a 3-0 win over the Seattle Sounders. From the first whistle Kansas City was on the front foot keeping the Sounders pinned back not allowing them to get forward much. Jacob Peterson almost put KC up 1-0 in just the sixth minute after running onto a deflected pass, but Stefan Frei palmed the ball away for a corner. The early pressing paid off for Kansas City in the 21st when they took a deserv3ed 1-0 lead thanks to Dom Dwyer. Dwyer got on the end of a cross by Roger Espinoza after some good passing by Kansas City through the middle of the field. Espinoza received the ball out wide and had plenty of time to take a touch and pick out the run of Dwyer who headed the ball past Frei to give KC the lead. It wasn't all good news for Kansas City in the first half though as Graham Zusi, who just returned from injury had to leave the game in just the 41st minute being replaced by Connor Hallisey. Hallisey had a great opportunity to make it 2-0 in first half stoppage time after a turn over by the Sounders off a throw in. Hallisey was played in on goal but couldn't beat Frei with the effort. KC did make it two before the break though as Saad Abdul-Salaam raced down the wing before playing the ball back to the top of the box to an unmarked Peterson who one touched a shot past Frei into the far post upper 90 to make double KC's lead right before the break.

Kansas City continued the pressure in the second half while the Sounders continued to almost sleep walk through the game, they rarely were getting forward in KC's attack and Tim Melia wasn't very busy at all in the KC net. KC had a number of chances to add to their lead as Dwyer forced a good save out of Frei in the 61st minute on a shot from distance. Then moments late Peterson set up Hallisey on the doorstep but he miss-hit his shot with only Frei to beat and pushed his effort wide. Peterson almost got a brace in the 67th but dragged an effort just wide of the post while one on one with Frei. Finally KC got their third in the 79th on a giveaway by the Sounders. After passing around in their own end a poor pass towards the middle was easily picked off by Dwyer who walked in on goal and beat Frei to make it 3-0. The Sounders defenders all seemed to quit on the hospital ball giving Dwyer the chance to go one on one with Frei. KC continued to go searching for a fourth goal to pad the lead further but were unable to. Seattle finally got their first shot in the 88th minute of the game, a slow roller that was well wide of Melia's goal.

Wizards Man of the Match - Dom Dwyer - A brace for the man linked with a move to Europe, Dwyer looked very good yesterday, was active and was really testing Frei even with the shots he didn't score.

Honorable mention: Roger Espinoza

Player Ratings: Melia 6, Abdul-Salaam 7, Opara 7, Olum 7, Medranda 8, Mustivar 7, Espinoza 8, Feilhaber 8, Peterson 8, Dwyer 9, Zusi 7. Subs Hallisey 7, Porter 5, Sinovic NR.

S.A.S. Monday After Stats

Peter Vermes coached his 271st game in all competitions, becoming the club's all time leader for games managed.

Benny Feilhaber's goal was his 25th league goal in his MLS career.

Feilhaber's assist was his 28th in league play for KC, tying him with Mo Johnston for 5th all time on that list.

It was his 40th assist in all competitions for KC, tying him with Davy Arnaud for 4th all time on that list.

Feilhaber's goal was his 20th league goal for KC, moving him into a tie with CJ Sapong and Mark Chung for 11th on that list.

It was Feilhaber's 24th in all competitions for KC, tying him with Teal Bunbury for 12th all time on that list.

Feilhaber's goal was his 13th at home in all competitions for KC, tying him with Chris Brown, Chung, and Claudio Bieler for 14th on that list.

It was his 11th league goal at home, tying him with Brown, Igor Simutenkov, and Sapong for 13th on that list.

At 31 years, 345 days, Lawrence Olum became the 15th oldest player to score a goal for KC in both league play and in all competitions, moving past Diego Gutierrez (31 years, 320 days).

Jacob Peterson made his 50th start in league play for KC, he's the 46th player to hit that mark.

In the 4th minute, Roger Espinoza moved past Chance Myers and into 17th place for minutes played in all competitions, Espinoza finished the game wtih 12,817 minutes played.

In the 62nd minute, Espinoza passed Seth Sinovic and moved into 16th place for league minutes played for KC, Espinoza finished the game with 11,076 minutes played.

Espinoza made his 166th appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Josh Wolff for 14th all time on that list.

He made his 142nd start in all competitions for KC, tying him with Jimmy Nielsen for 16th all time on that list.

Espinoza made his 125th start in league play for KC, tying him with Sinovic and Tony Meola for 15th place on that list.

Espinoza and Chance Myers both made their 145th league appearance for KC, breaking the tie they were in with Wolff and Matt McKeon for 12th all time on that list.

The Streak is Broken

Sporting KC came out and looked bond and determined to end their seven game winless streak today when they welcomed Orlando City to Children's Mercy Park. Kansas City set a club record with 34 shots today but it wasn't until the final 16 minutes that they finally broke through and ended their scoreless streak. The spark also came from an unlikely source, substitute Jacob Peterson who had a goal an an assist as Kansas City won 2-1.

Kansas City looked to set the tone from the start and just three minutes in were denied by the post, after a good run from Jimmy Medranda down the line he squared it for Dom Dwyer whose dummy deflected back to Graham Zusi who curled a shot that hit off the cross bar. Orlando would find most of their luck going the other way on the counter, in the seventh Kaka played Brek Shea through on goal and he played the ball to the back post but it was wide of the post and too far in front of Cyle Larin to be put past Tim Melia. KC kept finding space on the wing when they went to the end line and squared the ball back across goal, but no one was making the secondary run into the box to finish the chances, or players missed their opportunities firing good chances high or wide of the goal. Dwyer thought he'd ended the scoreless streak in the 43rd minute on a turning shot that went in off the underside of the cross bar, but Dwyer was just offside on the play. Just before half time KC had another pair of chances from Dwyer and Zusi that were denied by goalkeeper Joe Bendik while Orlando's Darwin Ceren was on the ground.

The second half saw Kansas City continue to pin Orlando back and create the better of the chances. Off a corner in the 56th minute, Saad Abdul-Salaam put a header onto the post after the corner came all the way to the back post for him, off the rebound the ball eventually made to Dwyer who put a header on goal but Bendik made the save. KC continued to get efforts on goal and shots but Bendik made anything that was on goal keeping the game scoreless. It really began to feel like KC was never going to score and many fans started to dread the inevitable goal by Orlando against the run of play. That goal came in the 67th minute off an Orlando corner kick. Kaka played the ball to the back post where David Mateos headed the ball back to the middle of the goal for Larin. The ball though got knocked around and eventually was knocked by Matt Besler off of Medranda and into the net to put Orlando on top 1-0 and begin the questions of "is this happening again?"

KC came back the other way and almost responded immediately as a Zusi corner found Dwyer but his header was saved on the line by Rafael Ramos. In the 74th Kansas City finally broke through with Dwyer finally finding the net. Benny Feilhaber set up the play with a great scoop pass into the box for Peterson who headed the ball into the path of Dwyer, who with a hint of offside headed the ball past Bendik and into the net to tie the game. Four minutes later Kansas City grabbed the lead as Roger Espinoza played a fantastic ball from the corner of the box towards the six where Peterson met it with a diving header that beat Bendik to put KC on top. KC held off a late push by Orlando looking to find an equalizing goal and finally got themselves back into the win column.

Wizards Man of the Match - Roger Espinoza - Espinoza was all over the field today both offensively and defensively for Kansas City. He did really good at helping to contain Kaka on the defensive side of the ball and offensively provided the beautiful ball to the back post for Peterson on the winning goal.

Honorable Mention - Jacob Peterson

Player Ratings - Melia 6, Medranda 6, Coelho 6, Besler 6, Abdul-Salaam 7, Mustivar 6, Espinoza 8, Feilhaber 6, Zusi 5, Dwyer 5, Davis 5. Subs Peterson 8, Olum NR, Nagamura NR.

Sporting KC Season Preview - Forwards

Full disclosure, this was written earlier today before the Diego Rubio rumors, please keep that in mind.

To finish out the look at Sporting KC's roster we reach the front line. It's a very winger heavy front line with five of the seven being predominately wingers. The team still has the reported new #9 coming in "in the next few days" according to Peter Vermes, that should add some much needed depth to KC's center forward position. Should make it less likely that Kansas City would be forced to play with a false 9 again this season as they did a couple times last season with Jacob Peterson and Graham Zusi.

Brad Davis - MLS' active leader in assists and second in terms of appearances in MLS play. He's currently 11 appearances behind the active leader, Kyle Beckermann, who is the league's all-time leader in appearances. 10 appearances and he can pass second place, Steve Ralston. He's only 14 behind Landon Donovan for first all time in assists, although that may be a stretch to hit this season. Still KC's pick up of probably one of the more disliked opponents since the rebranding was an interesting pick up. But you can't deny that Davis still have the ability to play at this level last season. He has hit double digits in assists six of the last seven seasons and has scored at least four goals a season in that same span. He's not going to be a like for like replacement of Krisztian Nemeth on that left wing, but he'll certainly fill the gap in a different way.

Dom Dwyer - Most people have said that Dwyer had a "down year" in 2015, and considering his 2014 when he set a club record for goals scored, that's hard to argue, since he only scored 12 goals in league play in 2015. To be fair to Dwyer there though he also had more support in 2015 and didn't "need" to score 20+ goals for KC last year. With help from the likes of Nemeth and Benny Feilhaber both hitting double digits in goals KC got a more balanced attack that made them a better team in 2015. This year though, depending on the new forward brought in, more of the weight is going to fall on Dwyer's shoulders without Nemeth. Davis, Justin Mapp, and Graham Zusi are not going to be double digit goal scorers, and expecting Feilhaber to completely repeat his 2015 performance may be asking too much. With more true "wingers" on the wings though Dwyer should get better service in 2016 which he should be able to get on the end of.

Connor Hallisey - Probably the big winner of preseason this year for Sporting KC, Hallisey scored a couple goals, had a couple assists, and in the games I saw looked much more ready to contribute in 2016. Last year at times Hallisey looked frustrating with his pace and with taking players on. In preseason games this year I thought he looked much better, he'd beat players on the dribble, he was able to get to the end line and send in crosses, he just looked overall more dangerous in those minimal minutes than he did in his time last year. He's gone from a player I thought would spend the entire season with the Swope Park Rangers to one that I think could be a decent contributor to Sporting this year as a spark off the bench.

Justin Mapp - The first free agent signing in MLS history, Mapp missed most of preseason with a turf toe injury. Mapp like Davis will both spend time on the left wing this season. Mapp provides a bit more of the dynamic dribbling that Nemeth brought, but nowhere near the same level. Mapp though is a deceptive player that will provide some creativity in terms of the dribble. He's not a flashy signing, but if he can stay healthy he'll be a solid contributor for KC this year.

Jacob Peterson - If there was a prototypical type of Peter Vermes player, it would probably be pretty close to Jacob Peterson. Peterson isn't a flashy player, he'll play basically anywhere on the field he's asked, for KC he's basically played everywhere but in goal. He has a strong work rate that has seen him continue to get time on the field. The down side is that his hustle, work rate, and willingness only go so far, he's frustrating to many fans with his play and that leads to lots of frustration with Vermes for continuing to give him time. With more depth on the team this year, if they can stay healthy, Peterson should see a decrease in the number of minutes that he's on the field for Sporting.

Daniel Salloi - KC's "work around and within the system" signing, the 19 year old Hungarian homegrown player is KC's only other "true" forward on the roster along with Dwyer. Salloi last year scored seven goals and added four assists across 16 games in all competitions for Ujpest FC in Hungary. Salloi may be a prime candidate to make some back and forth movement between Sporting KC and the Rangers depending on the needs of Sporting at the time.

Graham Zusi - Zusi is coming off the worst year of his career since becoming a starter in 2011 he scored just two goals and added just five assists in league play. Questions of his healthy since the end of the 2014 World Cup have dogged him the entire time. He apparently spent a good portion of the offseason not even putting on soccer cleats. Vermes has talked highly of him being ready to return to form from before the 2014 World Cup and re-establish himself in the lineup. Zusi may be the big recipient of the addition of Davis and Mapp as he has a history of scoring goals by making those back post runs for crosses. With better crosses on the wing opposite him he may be able score a few more of those in 2016.

The big question for the forward line will be the goals, Dwyer will get his fair share of them, but where's the secondary scoring going to come from? None of the other forwards on the roster are big goal scorers, or at least not yet. If there's one need that really still needs to be addressed by Vermes and company, it's the goal scoring. Hopefully whoever the young forward is that Kansas City is close to signing is able to help pick up some of the slack. Compared to last year though I am much more comfortable with the ability of a substitution off the bench to make a difference offensively should KC need it, I feel like KC could at the very least have a spark.

Replacing Nemeth

It's been about a week since Krisztian Nemeth departed Kansas City for the Qatari league, and most of the venom that was being spewed at either Nemeth or the team seems to have died down just a little bit at this point. With the gut reactions out of the way I felt it was time to take a look at what Sporting KC is going to do at this point now that the club's second leading scorer last season has left.

The first part of the replacement is who is going to take his starting spot on KC's left wing. The favorite for that position, at least to start the season will likely be the newly acquired Brad Davis. While Davis played centrally a lot for the Houston Dynamo last season he is still able to play out wide and would be able to provide crosses to not only Dom Dwyer but to Graham Zusi to knock home at the far post similar to goals he's scored in the past. With Davis being 34 years old though he's unlikely going to be expected to start every game for Kansas City, especially with the way that Kansas City plays. That's where the addition of Justin Mapp comes in. Mapp and Davis will likely split duties for the most part out on the left wing for Kansas City throughout the season. Mapp will be able to spell Davis and KC won't see much of any drop off in talent, especially in April and May when the games come very fast for Sporting KC ahead of the summer break.

The next part of replacing him to look at is the goals that he scored. Nemeth scored 10 league goals and 16 in all competitions for KC last season, second on the team behind Dom Dwyer's 12 and 17 respectively. Those are some numbers that will be hard to hit for just one player on the team not named Dom Dwyer or Benny Feilhaber (with help from the penalty spot), so don't expect all those goals to be filled by just one player, expect the scoring slack to be picked up by committee among not just his on field replacements in Davis and Mapp, but also from a healthy Zusi. Davis has scored four goals in each of the last three seasons after a career high of eight in 2012. Mapp hasn't scored a goal in either of the last two seasons (2015 he only played five times due to injury) but over the course of his career has averaged a goal every 925 minutes. If you go off the mindset that he's going to be getting a number of games this season in relief of Davis, expecting at least two goals out of Mapp isn't wholly unexpected. Then you get to Zusi who scored just two goals last year for Kansas City, a career low since becoming a regular starter in 2011. He'd been averaging about five goals a season since 2011 up to last season, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he could return to that level of form, especially with the likes of Davis and Mapp playing balls across the box that Zusi could get on the end of at the back post. So combined the three of them could make up for the loss of Nemeth in terms of goals. In terms of assists I don't think I even need to make a point on that when you consider that Davis and Mapp have a combined 187 assists in MLS play, they'll be able to replace Nemeth's assists without a problem.

To look at it from another angle, KC scored 48 goals in league play last season, the same number that the club scored in 2014 without Nemeth. In fact, in the five seasons since the club rebranded they've averaged 47 goals a season; four of those seasons have been without Nemeth. The counter to that is that KC scored 64 goals across all competitions last season, the second most in club history, only behind the 1996 season when the club scored 71 goals across all competitions.

While KC is able to replace those areas above with some work with the players currently on the roster there are some areas that KC will struggle with the loss of Nemeth. One area is his ability to take players on one-v-one and beat defenders on the dribble. The closest that KC has to that now is Mapp, who can replace it to an extent and has always shown flashes of being able to beat players not like Nemeth did against Portland, but can be players on the dribble. The problem is that while Mapp can do those things the problem for him has always been his ability to do it consistently. Early in the 2015 season Mapp showed that off in Montreal's run to the CONCACAF Champions League final. Many will argue that while Mapp does that, he also will disappear from games quite often, but that is something that Nemeth had issues with as well, especially on the wing for Kansas City. So while Mapp may not be able to score a goal like Nemeth did against Portland, or do it as consistently as Nemeth did, but Mapp does give KC a threat in one-v-one situations.

The one area that this may hurt KC is the most is probably in a position that Nemeth didn't even play much last year, center forward. While Dwyer started 28 games last season, when he didn't start it wasn't Nemeth that played the center forward position for the most part in his absence, it was the likes of Zusi and Jacob Peterson that played that spot. But if Dwyer had gone down for an extended period of time for some reason, you would have to think that Nemeth would have slid centrally to be the center forward on a more regular basis. With him now gone KC is extremely thin at the center forward position. The club has Peterson, who is a prototypical Peter Vermes player with his style of play and his work ethic on the field. But with only one goal last season (coming when he was a center forward) he's not going to strike an imposing presence as a center forward for Kansas City. After him you have the likes of Zusi, playing a false nine or Daniel Salloi, who while he has scored in the top division in Hungary is still just 19 years old. KC's striker depth is probably the largest worry in terms of Nemeth leaving the club.

So overall, while the loss of Nemeth is certainly a big loss for Kansas City the loss is something that KC should be able to survive. In the end I should have put "replacing" in quotes though, because Kansas City really isn't going to be straight replacing him, at least not immediately. The team will need to make adjustments to the playing style that they had at the end of the season to adjust to not having Nemeth on the wing.

Most Appearances

Continuing to update stats for Sporting KC, here's a look at the most appearances in Sporting KC history.

In league play no new players joined the list for Sporting KC in 2015. In the upcoming season though KC could potentially have four players make the century mark. Benny Feilhaber is just 10 appearances from 100, behind him is Jacob Peterson who needs just 13 and Paulo Nagamura needs just 14. Both players played over that number in 2015. The fourth is Dom Dwyer who currently sits 20 away from the century mark. Matt Besler should become the seventh player to reach 200 league appearances and Graham Zusi could easily become number eight this season as well. Here's the list of players over 100 plus all other currently active players.

Davy Arnaud - 240
Kerry Zavagnin - 237
Nick Garcia - 224
Preki - 218
Jimmy Conrad - 204
Chris Klein - 200
Jack Jewsbury - 195
Matt Besler - 182
Graham Zusi - 173
Michael Harrington - 149
Mo Johnston - 149
Josh Wolff - 144
Matt McKeon - 144
Chance Myers - 136
Roger Espinoza - 130
Jimmy Nielsen - 128
Tony Meola - 125
Seth Sinovic - 124
Chris Brown - 123
Diego Gutierrez - 119
Uche Okafor - 119
Jose Burciaga - 115
Francisco Gomez - 114
Kei Kamara - 113
Sean Bowers - 111
CJ Sapong - 110
Aurelien Collin - 107
Sasha Victorine - 106
Digital Takawira - 103
Benny Feilhaber - 90
Jacob Peterson - 87
Paulo Nagamura - 86
Dom Dwyer - 80
Kevin Ellis - 48
Krisztian Nemeth - 28
Ike Opara - 27
Soni Mustivar - 25
Tim Melia - 23
Amadou Dia - 22
Saad Abdul-Salaam - 22
Marcel de Jong - 13
Connor Hallisey - 13
Bernardo Anor - 13
Jimmy Medranda - 13
Erik Palmer-Brown - 10
Jordi Quintilla - 8
Jon Kempin - 7
Amobi Okugo - 3

In all competitions all four of the players that would appear set to make the league list in 2016 made the list in 2015 in all competitions. Feilhaber, Peterson, Nagamura, and Dwyer all made their 100th league appearance. What that means is that it becomes extremely unlikely that anyone joins the list in 2016. The closest active player for KC is Kevin Ellis, who has currently played 64, he'd have to set another career high for games played to join the list in 2016. Higher up the list both Besler and Zusi hit the 200 appearance mark in all competitions for Kansas City. Here's all the players over 100 and the rest of KC's active roster.

Kerry Zavagnin - 291
Davy Arnaud - 273
Nick Garcia - 273
Preki - 254
Chris Klein - 235
Jimmy Conrad - 230
Matt Besler - 219
Jack Jewsbury - 218
Graham Zusi - 204
Matt McKeon - 183
Michael Harrington - 170
Mo Johnston - 169
Josh Wolff -165
Chance Myers - 162
Tony Meola - 156
Seth Sinovic - 154
Roger Espinoza - 150
Chris Brown - 150
Diego Gutierrez - 147
CJ Sapong - 142
Jimmy Nielsen - 142
Francisco Gomez - 141
Aurelien Collin - 133
Jose Burciaga - 130
Uche Okafor - 130
Kei Kamara - 126
Sean Bowers - 120
Sasha Victorine - 114
Benny Feilhaber - 112
Jacob Peterson - 112
Digital Takawira - 111
Bo Oshoniyi - 110
Paulo Nagamura - 106
Dom Dwyer - 105
Teal Bunbury - 105
Mark Chung - 104
Shavar Thomas - 101
Kevin Hartman - 100
Kevin Ellis - 64
Ike Opara - 36
Krisztian Nemeth - 33
Soni Mustivar - 31
Tim Melia - 29
Saad Abdul-Salaam - 28
Amadou Dia - 27
Connor Hallisey - 17
Marcel de Jong - 15
Jimmy Medranda14
Bernardo Anor - 13
Erik Palmer-Brown - 13
Jon Kempin - 10
Jordi Quintilla - 9
Amobi Okugo - 3

Season Review - Forwards - Lack of Depth Hurts KC in 2015

Finishing my move up the field as I do my season review of Sporting Kansas City's 2015 season today we look at the forwards for Kansas City in 2015.

Offensively 2015 was a very successful year for Kansas City, in all competitions KC scored 63 goals, which is one of the highest totals in team history. Last year KC relied too heavily on a single player in Dom Dwyer, and while his 24 goals is an impressive feat, the team's second leading scorer only having five goals in 2014 was not. KC addressed that in 2015 by bringing in Hungarian international, Krisztian Nemeth. Despite missing time while Hungary qualified for the Euros, Nemeth finished second on the team in goals, scoring 10 league goals, adding another five in the Open Cup, and scoring one playoff goal. While Nemeth was scoring 16 across all competitions, Dwyer still had a successful season, scoring 17 goals in all competitions, including the club's first hattrick since 2010, scoring four against Dallas in the fifth round of the Open Cup. While those two had good seasons up top, unfortunately the rest of KC's front line struggled in 2015. The likes of Bernardo Anor, Connor Hallisey, Jacob Peterson, and Graham Zusi combined for just three goals and eight assists in league play. The lack of help on the wing also hurt in terms of service to Dwyer and Nemeth. Designated player, Zusi, has to shoulder most of the blame for that simply because of his contract status. His five league assists are his fewest since he became an every game starter back in 2011.He finished with just one more assist than the likes of Jalil Anibaba and Roger Espinoza who both played at least eight fewer games and are not expected to be one of the main providers of the offense.

The players

Bernardo Anor - The club's first additions of the 2015 season, Anor was acquired from the Columbus Crew for allocation money shortly after the season ended. After scoring six goals in 2014 for the Crew there were hopes that he'd be able to provide some punch for Kansas City's offense. Unfortunately Anor struggled in his first start for the club on opening day against New York. After that he was resigned to substitute appearances until an ankle injury kept him out from early May until September. Upon his return he made a number of substitution appearances and three starts for KC but finished with just 483 minutes played, 0 goals, and 0 assists. At this time Anor will be returning for the 2016 season as he is currently under contract for Kansas City.

Dom Dwyer - As I stated above, Dwyer had a solid, if unspectacular campaign, at least compared to last year, scoring 12 league goals and adding five in the US Open Cup for a total of 17. That's good for a tie for the third most in a single season with Eddie Johnson for Kansas City. Not a bad season but there are a lot of people that still aren't happy with Dwyer and would love to see him shipped to Orlando. Many site the ability for Nemeth to play in the middle as a reason for it, but unless KC has a player that can pick up Nemeth's slack out wide, any sort of movement on Dwyer seems like a net loss at this point for KC. Unless a move is made this offseason, either somewhere within MLS or abroad, Dwyer should easily jump from sixth on KC's goal scoring chart with 36 league goals to second, as he only trails Davy Arnaud and Josh Wolff by seven for that spot.

Connor Hallisey - KC's first pick in the 2015 draft didn't quite have the season that his fellow first round picks, Saad Abdul-Salaam and Amadou Dia had. Hallisey played the fewest minutes of the three, just 516 minutes, recording one assist as KC ran over Dallas 4-0 earlier this season. Late in the season Hallisey struggled to even make the bench, appearing just three times in the game day 18 after September started. Two of those were starts on either side of the US Open Cup final. I don't think KC is going to give up on him after just a season, but he seems a prime candidate to spend next season with the Swope Park Rangers on loan.

Krisztian Nemeth - Announced at the same time that Kansas City signed Luis Marin; Nemeth was considered the less "needed" of the two players as KC desperately needed a goalkeeper. Nemeth was thought by many fans to mainly be a backup for Dwyer and expected a winger signing to come before the season started. Instead Nemeth eventually established himself as the starter on the left wing for Kansas City. His ability to cut in from the left and fire a shot into the far post was on display multiple times this season for KC. He just seemed to have a knack for picking out that far corner. Whether it is in Houston in the 4-4 draw, Philadelphia in the US Open Cup final, or Portland after his dazzling run, Nemeth seemed to be able to pick out the far side of the net with stunning accuracy. KC picked up Nemeth's option, but has apparently attracted interest abroad after his play for both KC and Hungary, while locally Nemeth is apparently looking for a pay raise. Holding onto Nemeth long term is going to be difficult especially if he goes to the Euros next summer and does well there. KC may have helped re-invigorate his career but may need to look for the next one soon.

Jacob Peterson - Peter Vermes' jack of all trades, Peterson has played all over the field for Kansas City during his tenure. This year he was mainly lined up either as a wide forward or occasionally as a center forward. That's where he scored his lone goal this season, as the center forward in KC's 3-1 win on the road in Toronto. Unfortunately while Peterson was a jack of all trades, he's really a master of none. He got a lot of dislike from fans this year, and while some was justified, not all of it was. A lot of the fan vitriol came from the fact that he was the first attacking option off the bench of KC most of the time. I don't think there are many teams worried that the game is going to change a whole lot when they see Peterson standing at midfield. But the fact that he was in that position had more to do with KC not getting a reliable attacking option off the bench.

Graham Zusi - KC's second designated player really didn't live up to the billing in 2015 for KC. He produced just two goals and added only five assists, his lowest output since becoming a regular start for Kansas City in 2011. Added an assist in the playoffs and another goal and assist in the US Open Cup. The question for 2015 with Zusi is can he regain the form he had before the 2014 World Cup. Last year the thought was just exhaustion from the short offseason and World Cup run, but his play never picked up in the 2015 season. He was outshone by Benny Feilhaber on set pieces as Zusi's seemed to always go too long for anyone to get onto or right to the goalkeeper while Feilhaber seemed to be more consistently dangerous with his chances. A number of fans have grown frustrated with Zusi over the course of the season, especially because of his pay, but he gives many other options for KC and I'm not ready to give up on him yet.

Looking Towards 2016

Robb Heineman in a recent interview already stated one of the things the club needs to address in 2016, attacking depth. Heineman mentioned that there was a need for a dynamic sub towards the end of the season that wasn't really there. The inclination there would point to an attacking minded substitute off the bench. That is a very big need for KC up top heading into next season, having someone on the bench that has a better potential to score off the bench than the players that KC had playing that role in 2015. If they wanted to they could look at someone like Chad Barrett, who recently had his option declined by Seattle. While most KC fans I think would loath that move, but he has scored 56 goals in his MLS career, more than anyone else on KC at this point. Although I'm not sure that he would fit Vermes' system. But it's a thought of one player currently available.

The next thing that KC needs to do is make sure they hold onto Nemeth up top. The Hungarian international will miss about a month or so of the season if he is called up by Hungary for the Euros, but KC will likely have to fight a little bit to keep him through this winter after a successful first season in Kansas City. Hanging onto him is important because of the pressure that he took off of Dwyer last season that allowed him to be productive. I'd rather have another season where Nemeth and Dwyer share the load than a season like 2014 where KC was overly dependent on a single player.