Sporting Sign Appiah, Trade Dia for Porter

Sporting Sign Emmanuel Appiah

Sporting Kansas City made a pair of moves today, first they added another player to their roster in the summer transfer window, picking up Emmanuel Appiah up off of waivers today. Appiah was the 15th overall pick in this past January's Superdraft out of Cincinnati where he was for five years by the Colorado Rapids. He'd been loaned to the Rapids' USL affiliate, the Charlotte Independence back in March. While with the Independence, Appiah appeared just twice before he was recalled on June 20th. He appeared on the bench for the Rapids in their 0-0 draw with the LA Galaxy on June 22nd before being waived on June 30th.

On first viewing, this isn't a signing that will get fans that excited; a few have already made comments about still missing Jordi Quintilla. This signing to me is a typical end of the roster summer signing for Peter Vermes. It feels in the same vein that Brendan Ruiz in 2013 and Michael Kafari in 2014 were players who were brought in on a flier because they were young and cheap to see if Vermes could find a diamond. If not the player has been gone before the next preseason.

His signing puts Kansas City with 26 roster spots filled currently, leaving them with two open slots at the moment if they are going to make any further moves this transfer window.

Amadou Dia Traded to Montreal for Cameron Porter

KC also today announced that the club had traded defender and former first round pick, Amadou Dia to the Montreal Impact in exchange for forward, Cameron Porter. This was a move for KC that makes total sense. Amadou Dia had lost his spot at left back for Sporting KC with the emergence of Jimmy Medranda and signing of Ever Alvarado which saw him loaned to the Swope Park Rangers. Add in veteran Seth Sinovic and KC was overloaded at the left back position and you knew a move had to come at some point. Dia likely had the most value to other teams in terms of a trade partner with Sinovic having already said he was ready to retire after being selected by Montreal in their expansion draft.

In exchange Kansas City gets Montreal folk hero, Cameron Porter. Porter became an immediate Impact legend when he scored three minutes into second half stoppage time against Pachuca to send the Impact through to the semifinals of the 2014-2015 CONCACAF Champions League on away goals. Montreal would end up losing in the finals that year, but Porter would play no part in that. Unfortunately a couple weeks after that big goal Porter would tear his ACL in a game against the New England Revolution and be done for the year after having surgery. Porter hasn't played for the Impact since, although he has appeared for the Impact's USL team FC Montreal this season.

Porter gives Kansas City another attacking option and allows them to move some depth at left back, overall a trade that makes sense for both teams.

Dwyer Continues Dominance Over Montreal

Dom Dwyer continues to love his trips north of the border. The Sporting Kansas City forward added two more to his goal total against Canadian sides, his eighth and ninth against the Montreal Impact as KC played to a 2-2 draw against the Canadian side.

The Impact were the more aggressive side early on creating the better chances with a free kick from Didier Drogba dipping just a little late in the 14th minute and then in the 16th Montreal grabbed the lead. After some good skill by Drogba, he crossed the ball to the far side for Hassoun Camara who played the ball back into the middle for Lucas Ontivero whose snap header beat Melia to give the Impact the early lead. Kansas City responded with some good possession of their own and in the 21st were back on level terms. Roger Espinoza played a really nice curled ball into the box that Dwyer was able to get a good header on and push past Evan Bush and into the net to tie the game at 1-1. Kansas City continued to have the beter of possession after the goal but were unable to find much in the way of shooting chances. The inability to create chances came back to bite Kansas City in the 38th minute when a long ball over the top was settled by Drogba and he was able to turn and go to goal. With Jimmy Medranda marking him, Drogba got into the box and appeared to catch Medranda's ankle as he went for a shot and went down leading to a penalty kick. Replays seemed to show very little contact on the part of Medranda on the play, but Ignacio Piatti stepped up and sent Tim Melia the wrong way putting the Impact in front 2-1. If Drogba's play was a foul, almost immediately at the other end of the field KC should have had a penalty of their own as Benny Feilhaber was brought down in the box but no call was made on this attempt and the two teams went into the half with the Impact up 2-1.

Down a goal at the half KC had to absorb some early pressure from the Impact in the second half as Montreal looked to put the game away early. That pressure led to counter attacking chances for Kansas City and in the 59th KC took advantage. After a long ball ahead to Dwyer he laid the ball off the Feilhaber, continuing his run up field. He received the ball back and got himself some space against his defender before firing a shot towards goal from outside the box that hit off the far post and into the net tying the game at 2-2. Back at square one both sides made attempts forward looking for an eventual winner. Ontivero had another chance with a header after a good cross from Drogba, but Melia snagged the effort out of the air. KC had a chance of their own after the Montreal defense made a mess of a cross by Medranda. Bush knocked a ball into the path of Jacob Peterson, but recovered well to deflect Peterson's effort out for a corner in a situation you thought for sure KC would score. Neither side was able to find a winner late on and KC was able to push their unbeaten run to three in league play, although only one is a win.

Wizards Man of the Match - Dom Dwyer - The guy just loves playing against Canadian teams, especially Montreal, he continues to add to his impressive goal scoring total and is now the second leading goal scorer for Kansas City all time.

Honorable Mention - Roger Espinoza

Player Ratings - Melia 6, Medranda 5, Olum 5, Opara 6, Abdul-Salaam 5, Mustivar 5, Espinoza 8, Feilhaber 6, Hallisey 5, Dwyer 8, Peterson 5. Subs Rubio NR, Ellis NR, Davis NR.

Match Day 18: Looking to Continue the Run of Form

After picking up a 2-0 win over FC Dallas on Sunday, Sporting KC will try to continue their recent turn around in form on the road when they take on the Montreal Impact tomorrow evening. The two teams sit in similar position in their respective conferences with Sporting currently in fifth place in the West while Montreal is in fourth in the East.

Montreal was a trendy pick in preseason to be an MLS Cup contender, especially with a full sesaon with Didier Drogba after his decision to play another season. He missed the first few weeks of the season, but since playing the former Ivory Coast international has returned has scored five goals and added four assists for the Impact. His presence on the field is enough to create chances for his teammates because he draws so much attention just being on the field. The Impact though will be missing a big piece of their offense tomorrow though, midfielder, Ignacio Piatti, the team's leading scorer with eight goals on the season, he's still out another week or two after having hand surgery. His absence will be felt quite a bit for the Impact in the midfield. One other familiar face for KC has caused them plenty of issues over the years, Dominic Oduro, the speedy forward always seems to give Kansas City trouble with his pace, Jimmy Medranda, or whoever plays left back for KC will have to be on their game tomorrow to deal with the speedy Oduro.

Kansas City is finally getting some confidence it seems, even if it came in part thanks to a refereeing mistake, some times you need those little mistakes to really help jump start a season. Hopefully the win against Dallas is seen as a kicking off point and not just a small hill in the valley that has been most of KC's season this year. Sporting will have to play without their captain and vice captain as Matt Besler and Graham Zusi are sill with the US team for their third place game against Colombia tomorrow as well. It also looks as those Nuno Coelho will miss another game as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury. With Soni Mustivar also nursing an injury KC will likely be lining up similar to how they did in the second half against FC Dallas on Sunday, although I think a number of KC fans would like to see at Brad Davis get back into the starting 11 ahead of either Jacob Peterson or Connor Hallisey.

Davis - Dwyer - Peterson

Espinoza - Feilhaber

Olum 

Medranda - Opara - Ellis - Abdul-Salaam

Melia

Number to remember - 1 - That's the number of losses that Kansas City has all time in Montreal, that loss came back in 2013, since then KC have won their other two games at Stade Saputo by a combined 5-1 scoreline. KC has also won their last four games overall against the Impact, not losing since that loss on the road in 2013.

Key Match Up - Ike Opara vs Didier Drogba - Opara will have his hands full with Drogba, but Opara's athleticism should make the match up extremely interesting at the same time. The two should have a very good match up tomorrow.

PREDICTION - So far both of these teams haven't fully lived up to expectations this season, but Montreal is certainly a strong team. Kansas City's defense has been playing much better over the last few games, being able to shut down some of the league's more high scoring offenses. They'll face another strong forward in Drogba and shutting him down will be a tough ask. In a hostile environment like Montreal I'm not sure that KC can keep their current run going, although the team will play better I think Montreal will have just enough offense to top them.

SKC - 1 (Dwyer)
MTL - 2 (Drogba, Oduro)

What We Want to Happen 9/23

It's time for the return of the posts that try to give Sporting KC fans an idea of what they want to happen in the other games around MLS. I meant to start this last weekend but ran into other issues. As it turns out, results almost couldn't have gone better for KC this past weekend. The only playoff team in the West to win beside KC was Seattle who took down first place Vancouver. KC also got some help below the line too with San Jose falling to New York City. Along with KC's match up tonight there is one other MLS game along with two CONCACAF Champions League games. I'll only look at the MLS game, but with Seattle hosting the Whitecaps and LA in the Caribbean tonight, KC just wants those teams to tire themselves out heading into the end of the season. Especially Seattle, who travel to KC on Sunday.

Chicago at Montreal

What we want to happen - Chicago win

There's not a lot in this one for KC fans. A Chicago win would keep Montreal from gaining ground on Kansas City as they sit eight points behind KC but have played one less game. The dreaded games in hand. Certainly it's better to have the points, but it's something to keep an eye on, especially with hosting MLS Cup chances on the off chance both teams make it.

On the other hand if you really want to be anti-Chicago and root for them to lose, a loss would leave them on the verge of elimination from playoff contention as they'd be 12 points behind sixth place Montreal with only four games left.

Sporting Top Montreal

Sporting KC continued their strong run of form and started a busy week of play off with a 2-1 win over the Montreal Impact at Sporting Park. Kansas City was able to strike early and then absorb pressure late on while seemingly having an eye towards Tuesday and the US Open Cup against Houston.

Kansas City started the game out very well, scoring in just the fourth minute. Jacob Peterson almost capitalized on a big mistake by Montreal as a throw in went right into the middle of the box, but Peterson couldn't make good contact with the ball to put the shot on goal. Roger Espinoza won the ball just outside the box and played it wide to Krisztian Nemeth who squared a ball into the middle for Benny Feilhaber. The ball bounced up on him, but Feilhaber was able to adjust and fired a ball into the corner to make it 1-0. KC kept up some of the pressure, but really weren't creating much in the way of chances. Montreal had a good opportunity to equalize in the 31st as a through ball found Dominic Oduro behind Matt Besler. Oduro got a touch on it, but so did Tim Melia as the ball went out for a corner. A couple minutes later, KC made it 2-0. Kevin Ellis won the ball for KC near midfield and the ball came to Feilhaber. Feilhaber immediately played a through ball that split Montreal's defense with Dom Dwyer running onto it. Dwyer let the ball do all the work and his first touch came at the top of hte box when he fired the ball past Evan Bush and into the net. KC created a few other chances in the first half, the best coming from Dwyer in the 40th on the counter. Dwyer beat his defender and fired a shot on Bush. The Montreal goalkeeper made the first save, but the rebound fell right to Dwyer who tried to put it away but his second effort was also knocked away. Off the ensuing corner, Peterson had a flick header that went just wide of the far post as the two teams went into half with KC in front 2-0.

The second half saw KC continue to control the play but really not create much in the way of chances, KC seemed content to kill the game off in the heat and with their busy schedule. In the 59th minute though Montreal cut into the lead on the counter. The ball was played out wide for Ignacio Piatti who beat Kevin Ellis as the KC defender dove in for the ball. Piatti dribbled into the box and slotted a ball into the far post past Melia and into the net making it 2-1. The rest of the game saw Montreal trying to apply pressure and create chances but not really able to. KC meanwhile spent time possessing the ball trying to kill the clock off, not really creating anything on their offensive end either. In the end KC did enough to keep Montreal held off and get the win.

Wizards Man of the Match - Benny Feilhaber - A goal and an assist for KC's MVP so far this year, but there are players ahead of him in the national team pecking order. Another solid performance from the midfielder.

Player Rating - Melia 6, Abdul-Salaam 6, Ellis 6, Besler 6, Dia 6, Mustivar 7, Espinoza 7, Feilhaber 8, Peterson 5, Dwyer 6, Nemeth 5. Subs Hallisey 5, Nagamura 6, Myers 6.

Match Day 18: A Busy Week Begins

Sporting KC tomorrow night at Sporting Park starts a very busy stretch of their season. Tomorrow will be the first of three games in seven days for Sporting KC. Two of those games will be at home, starting tomorrow against the Montreal Impact. They'll welcome the Houston Dynamo to KC on Tuesday before a trip on Friday to Salt Lake.

The Impact have played the fewest games in MLS so far this season, tomorrow night is their 17th game. They'd had a couple games earlier this season moved as they made their run to the CONCACAF Champions League final. While the Impact currently sit on 21 points, and are only three points out of a playoff spot with a 6-7-3 record, they are just 1-5-2 on the road this season, with a -10 goal difference. They're a dangerous side with the likes of Dominic Oduro at forward, who has given KC fits in the past. They also have Jack McInerney up top and then Ignacio Piatti, who has had a lot of success in the CCL, but his MLS success hasn't been as successful.

Kansas City is coming into the game after a hard worked 1-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps. While the defense was strong in the result with two rookies and a converted wingback along with Matt Besler, I'd think that Chance Myers will make a return to the lineup at right back. With the heavy schedule, you have to wonder if Peter Vermes will consider some rotation of his roster, although there's very little rotation for the club to do right now with the roster the way it is right now. Paulo Nagamura could come into the lineup, maybe Connor Hallisey, but there really isn't a lot of depth to come into the game right now.

Melia

Myers - Ellis - Besler - Dia

Mustivar

Nagamura - Feilhaber

Peterson - Dwyer - Nemeth

Number to Remember - 8 - KC is going for their eighth straight home win across all competitions. One more win and KC will tie their club record for consecutive wins at home, originally set in 2004.

Key Match Up - Dom Dwyer vs Laurent Ciman - Up top tomorrow, Dwyer will be going up against the former Belgian international. Dwyer last week had a battle against Kendall Waston and it likely won't get much better this week. KC last week played the ball forward to Dwyer even though he wouldn't win it in hopes of winning the second ball.

PREDICTION - Of the three games this week, this one may be the easiest for KC to recover from if they drop points. Montreal is no longer a conference rival like next Friday against Salt Lake, and it's not for the chance to make the semifinals of the US Open Cup. That said this is probably the best chance for a win in the three games with Montreal's poor form on the road. This is a game that KC should be able to win.

SKC - 3 (Dwyer, Nemeth, Feilhaber)
MTL - 1 (McInerney)

Sporting Pass on Re-Entry Draft. Kronberg, Gruenebaum Selected

MLS held the first phase of this year's Re-Entry Draft. And like most years, there was little movement. The prior four drafts had averaged under three picks in the first phase. Today, three players were taken, none of them going to Kansas City, as Sporting passed on making a selection in the draft. Peter Vermes has still yet to pick someone in the first phase.

Of the three players that were taken, two of them were Sporting KC players. With the first pick, Montreal selected KC's former starter, Eric Kronberg. With the Impact having dumped Troy Perkins, Kronberg will likely be battling Evan Bush for the starting job in Montreal. With the second pick in the draft, the San Jose Earthquakes grabbed KC's other available goalkeeper, Andy Gruenebaum. Gruenebaum had played well for Kansas City, but continued to struggle with injuries, missing games at three separate times during the season. He'll likely come in and either compete with or be the back up to David Bingham. The third player taken was Toronto FC grabbing Real Salt Lake's Robbie Findley.

Kansas City Sweep Montreal

Sporting KC allowed a goal against the Montreal Impact for the first time this season, but it wasn't enough to keep Kansas City from sweeping the season series last night in Montreal. Sporting KC got a pair of goals from Dom Dwyer, his fourth and fifth against the Impact this year.

Dwyer got Kansas City going very early. In just the third minute, KC had a throw in deep in Montreal's end. Returning captain, Matt Besler launched a ball into the box. Dwyer got to the ball ahead of Montreal goalkeeper, Troy Perkins and headed the ball into the net to give KC the early lead. Unlike the last time these two teams meant, when KC passed the Impact off the field, this time the game was much closer with the Impact getting chances going forward. KC though still had the better of the early going with Jacob Peterson forcing a save out of Perkins after Benny Feilhaber did a good job of winning the ball at midfield. In the 28th minute though the Impact finally found the back of the net against KC this season. Off a throw-in deep in KC's end, Patrice Bernier received the throw-in and lofted a pass towards the back post. Justin Mapp had gotten some space away from Peterson. Mapp got his head on the ball, knocking it back into the middle for Marco Di Vaio who was completely unmarked. Di Vaio headed the ball back across the face of goal and into the corner past the reach of Andy Gruenebaum to level the score. Shortly after the Impact almost too the lead. A ball was lofted towards Felipe in the box. Both Felipe and KC's Igor Juliao missed the ball but Andres Romero was following up he play. He fired a shot back across goal, but Gruenebaum made the save. The ball continued to the back post where it looked like Di Vaio may get to it and knock it home. Aurelien Collin stepped in just in time though to touch the ball out for a corner kick, saving a goal. Seth Sinovic created a good chance for himself just before half time. A free kick by Graham Zusi was headed to the top of the box where Sinovic took it on the volley but pushed it wide of Perkins' net.

In the second half, KC stepped their game back up and pushed the game. KC found good movement down the wings, with Juliao doing well to create some chances for KC down the right. It was down the left though that KC had a great opportunity in the 59th minute. Peterson was played in behind his defender and played a low cross into the box for Toni Dovale. The ball fell to the Spaniard's favored left foot, but instead of picking a corner, fired the ball right towards the middle of the goal where Perkins made a good save. Both teams had some chances as the game went on, but as the minutes ticked by the game looked more and more like it was headed towards a draw. Then in the 89th minute Lawrence Olum lofted a ball into the attacking half of the field. Heath Pearce let the ball bounce past him and roll towards the box for Perkins. Sporting sub CJ Sapong though raced after the ball trying to chase it down. Neither Pearce nor Perkins took control of the situation allowing Sapong to reach the ball first, getting a touch on it. Sapong knocked the ball off of Perkins and the ball fell into the path of Dwyer. Sporting's leading scorer took a touch and then curled a shot into the net giving KC a 2-1 lead. The effort was enough to see KC take all three points in the win.

Wizards Man of the Match - Dom Dwyer - The KC forward now has the third most goals in KC history in a single season after his two goals last night. He continues to have himself a fantastic season.

Player Ratings - Gruenebaum 6, Juliao 5, Collin 6, Besler 6, Sinovic 5, Olum 5, Zusi 6, Feilhaber 6, Peterson 6, Dwyer 8, Dovale 5. Subs Saad 5, Sapong 6.

Match Day 18 - Sporting Begin the Second Half of the Season

Sporting KC begins the second half of their MLS season tomorrow in Canada when they'll take on the Montreal Impact at Stade Saputo. The Impact has been a welcome opponent for Sporting in the first half of the season. In their two prior meetings his season, Sporting has outscored the Impact 7-0, including a 3-0 win in Montreal earlier this season. That game saw one of the more dominating performances in MLS history in terms of possession and passing. The game tomorrow though likely won't have the same style to it as that one. Gone is one of the main players in that 800 plus pass game as Oriol Rosell has transferred to Sporting Lisbon.

Montreal is still struggling at the bottom of not only the Eastern Conference, but MLS as a whole. They've played one less game than Sporting KC at this point, but has only recorded 14 points in those 16 games. In their five home games since Kansas City's 3-0 win there, Montreal has played quite well at home, going 4-1 in those games, their only loss a 4-2 loss to DC United. Their last time out at home the Impact beat the Houston Dynamo 3-0.

Kansas City dropped more points at home last week with the draw against the Chicago Fire, the team's fifth draw at Sporting Park this season. On the road they've continued to get results that have helped keep KC near the top of the East, even with all their injury issues. A new name joined that list this week, with Eric Kronberg going down with a broken bone in his hand. That injury leaves just Seth Sinovic as the only regular starter for Sporting KC's defense that hasn't miss extended time this year. Andy Gruenebaum will get his first league start of the season tomorrow in place of the injured Kronberg. The good news is that Gruenebaum had been a regular starter for Columbus the last two years, starting 54 of the Crew's 68 games. So KC has plenty of experience behind Kronberg ready to step in. The big big question for KC will likely be whether Sporting's Matt Besler starts tomorrow. Him missing another game would add plenty of speculation to the Besler leaving campaign. He's supposed to be available though along with teammate Graham Zusi who returned last week in the draw with Chicago.

Gruenebaum

Juliao - Collin - Besler - Sinovic

Olum - Nagamura

Feilhaber

Peterson - Dwyer - Zusi

Number to Remember - +1 - That's KC's goal difference this season without the +7 from KC's two games against Montreal. While KC is taking care of this team at the bottom of the league, they're not doing enough against the rest.

Key Match Up - Igor Juliao vs Justin Mapp - Mapp has been the Impact's main set up man, recording five assists for the Impact this season. Matching up against Juliao would seem to give Mapp the advantage. Juliao's defensive positioning was exposed badly against Chicago, especially on the goal when he didn't slide centrally when Aurelien Collin committed to pressure Alex after the Seth Sinovic turn over. Juliao has to read that and slide to the middle. Mapp is going to be a handful for the young Brazilian.

PREDICTION - I expect this game to be much different than the previous two games between these two teams. The Impact have been difficult at home since Sporting took them apart. KC will need to have a quick start like they did in the previous two games between the teams here. The longer that the game remains scoreless, the more confidence that Frank Klopas' team will get. With KC having the closest they've had to their best XI available in a long time, KC needs to get the result tomorrow to keep pace with DC United.

SKC - 2 (Dwyer, Collin)
MTL - 1 (McInerney)

Sporting Put Montreal to the Sword Again

The Montreal Impact are not a good soccer team. Two weeks ago Sporting KC dominated them on their way to a 4-0 win at Sporting Park. This week the two teams met in Montreal for their second meeting of the season. And like the first one, KC dominated the game. This time though KC took it to a different level. KC was helped by an early red card to Impact midfielder, Collen Warner, but they completed over 700 passes, the first team to do so since the league started tracking the stats. The completed 92% of those passes and held possession for over 78% of the game. At one point KC apparently strung 52 passes together. KC was led by Oriol Rosell, who completed 160 of his 166 pases, another record for a single game. Meanwhile, Montreal completed just 173 passes, only 145 when excluding their throw-ins. Just shows how dominating KC and Rosel's performance was.

KC had the better of play from the start of the game, controlling posession, but in the first bit they really didn't create anything in the way of chances. Their first good opportunity came in the 16th minute off a Matt Besler long throw. The ball got redirected on goal by Jacob Peterson, but Troy Perkins made the initial save, the rebound fell to Rosell and Warner in front of the goal. The ball hit off the two players as Warner went to ground. As the ball rolled towards the goal, Warner hit the ball with his arm at least three times as Rosell and then Dom Dwyer tried to turn the ball in. The ball bounced into the air and Perkins tried to grab it but knocked the ball into his own net. Before that happened though referee Jair Marrufo blew the play dead and pointed to the penalty spot. Marrufo also gave Warner a red card, sending the midfielder off and putting the Impact down to 10 men after just 17 minutes. Dwyer stepped up and buried the penalty kick even though Perkins went the right way. With the man advantage KC really picked up the pressure and the possession. In the 27th , Perkins had to be alert to deny Jacob Peterson. Benny Feilhaber again played a fantastic ball into Graham Zusi, splitting two defenders. Zusi then played another nice ball in to Peterson. The forward's first touch nutmegged a defender but before Peterson could get onto the ball, Perkins raced out and covered the ball. In the 30th KC had another good opportunity as Chance Myers almost picked out Dwyer on a cross but Perkins cut the cross out and the rebound was cleared. Although Dwyer turned out to be offside on he play. With all the possession though KC hadn't been able to put the Impact to the sword yet and really open the game up. Finally in the 34th they doubled their advantage. Zusi picked out Myers on the wing where he slid a lot ball into the box that went all the way through to Paulo Nagamura at the far post. He hit a bouncing shot that fooled Perkins and went into the far corner to make it 2-0. The shot ended up being scuffed more than anything and caused Perkins to go the complete wrong direction. Zusi really should have made it 3-0 a short time later after receiving the ball near the top of the box, he got himself some space, but passed up a good shot with his right to try to get a better shot on his left. But before he got the shot off the ball was knocked away for a corner. In the 43rd minute the Impact almost got themselves something against the run of play. It all came from Justin Mapp who received the ball out wide and cut into the middle on Seth Sinovic. He kept going into the middle of the field before firing a shot from outside the box that in the end was very tame for Eric Kronberg.


The second half saw Kansas City continue to pressure the Impact, looking to add to their lead. They almost got help in the 51st. Seth Sinovic was picked out by Zusi on an overlapping run. As Sinovic tried to play the ball into the middle, it took a deflection off an Impact defender and was headed towards goal before Perkins ended up blocking it away with his leg. The best opportunity came in the 55th minute though as Zusi was able to slid into the box unmarked at the back post.  Peterson was able to pick out Zusi with a nice ball, but Zusi got caught between two minds of hitting it first time and bringing the ball down. Zusi ended up bringing it down and by the time he did, Perkins had taken the opportunity away from him. The opportunity kept coming for KC, Dwyer fired a shot just over the bar after a short free kick in the 58th minute. The 63rd minute saw KC finally grab a third. Substitute Toni Dovale received the ball in the middle of the field and played a nice cutting ball behind the Impact back line. Dwyer raced onto the ball as his mark had gone to cut down Dovale. From just inside the box Dwyer fired the ball into the corner to make it 3-0 and really seal the game. From there KC spent more time just possessing the ball and killing the clock. The did have some opportunities though, Claudio Bieler had a volleyed effort blocked shortly after coming on. Then in the 83rd it really should have been 4-0. After some good possession down the right, Soony Saad fired a low cross to the back post where an unmarked Seth Sinovic was. Sinovic though from six yards out fired the ball over the goal from six yards out in an effort that was harder to miss than make. In the 86th the Impact had their one good effort of the second half as Mapp again cut inside his man and let fly from around the top of the box, but the effort was wide of Kronberg's goal. KC was able to kill the game off and walk out of Montreal as the sole leaders of the Eastern Conference.

Wizards Man of the Match - Oriol Rosell - In a game where KC passed the Impact to death, Rosell was the lead in that situation as I mentioned earlier. And Rosell's passing weren't all just square or back passes either. He really took advantage of the space left after Warner's sending off.

Honorable Mention - Dom Dwyer

Player Ratings - Kronberg 7, Sinovic 6, Collin 7, Besler 7, Myers 8, Rosell 8, Nagamura 7, Feilhaber 7, Peterson 7, Dwyer 8, Zusi 6. Subs Dovale 7, Bieler 6, Saad 6.

Match Day 9: The Hectic Schedule Commences

After a quiet April, Sporting really get busy now in the month of May before the World Cup in June. Tomorrow's game in Montreal is the start of a six game stretch in 21 days. Basically the team will play two games a week for the rest of the month. They'll have to do most of that stretch without Matt Besler and Graham Zusi who will both leave after Wednesday's game against Philadelphia to join the US national team.

Montreal is in a bit of a busy stretch themselves on two fronts. This past Wednesday, the Impact began the defense of the Amway Canadian Championship in Edmonton against NASL side, FC Edmonton. The Impact, playing a young lineup with a number of reserves ended up falling tot he lower division side, 2-1 in the first leg. The two teams meet against this coming Wednesday. So if Montreal wants a chance to get back into the Champions League this year, they'll need to overturn that deficit. Meanwhile they're trying to get their league season back on course as they sit in 9th place in the Eastern Conference on six points with a 1-4-3 record. So far they've been lacking production up top from Marco Di Vaio who led the team in scoring last year.

Kansas City on the other hand sits at the other end of the table, currently on 14 points, at the top of the Eastern Conference. The team will welcome back Aurelien Collin after he missed last weekend's win over Columbus due to suspension. While KC has one of the best defensive records in the league so far this season, they've struggled so far on the road. In their last three road games in all competitions, KC's defense has allowed a grand total of nine goals in those games. Of course those games so far have been against better teams than the Impact team that KC is playing tomorrow. This is one of the last times Peter Vermes will have his full roster to choose from, but with the number of games coming there could be some rotation.

Kronberg

Myers - Collin - Besler - Sinovic

Rosell - Nagamura

Feilhaber

Peterson - Dwyer - Zusi

Number to Remember - 1 - Just one win so far this season for the Impact, they and head coach Frank Klopas have to be getting close to desperate times now. There's still plenty of time in the season but they don't want to fall too far behind the chance already. Especially with how their older legs fell off at the end of last season. They'll need to pick it up if they want to get back to the pace they were on last year.

Key Match Up - Aurelien Collin vs Marco Di Vaio - The Italian has scored just one goal so far this season for the Impact. They'll need him to pick up his scoring efforts if they're going to be successful. But Di Vaio has yet to score against KC since he joined the league. Even with him staying right on the last defender, either good recovery defense or good goalkeeping as kept him off the board. Once again, Collin will likely be the man tasked with keeping an eye on him.

PREDICTION - With the way that Montreal played in KC earlier this season, there's certainly the potential for KC to look past this game a bit. But really Sporting can't. The Impact for their troubles are an experienced team that will punish KC multiple times if they come in complacent. Really though this is a game that KC should win, even on the road. They're the better team and should be able to put away the Impact even on their home field.

SKC - 2 (Dwyer, Collin)
MTL - 1 (McInerney)

Sporting Lay Four on the Impact

It took a while to get things going last night for Kansas City, but when they did they were able to sweep aside the Montreal Impact, keeping them winless on the season and picking up their third win of the season themselves.

KC controlled the game early on against the Impact, as they seemed to sit back, playing the style many expected from Frank Klopas' team. Unlike those Fire games though, the Impact looked extremely dangerous on the counter attack. In fact they were the better team in creating chances. With KC putting numbers forward as the Impact allowed it, Felipe broke on a 2v1 break with only Aurelien Collin back for KC. Collin did well cutting off the pass to Marco Di Vaio in the middle until Eric Kronberg committed to Felipe. When Felipe did find Di Vaio, Collin had retreated to cover the goal line and knocked away Di Vaio's effort as Felipe squared the ball to him. The rebound fell to Collen Warner who shot right at Kronberg, who covered the shot up.  KC continued to pressure the Impact, keeping the ball in the Impact's end on their way to 65% possession in the first half. Benny Feilhaber continued his fine run of form and continued to push to try to make the World Cup roster with another good performance. In the 26th minute he played a perfect through ball on the ground behind the Impact defense for Sal Zizzo. Troy Perkins was quick off his line though and blocked Zizzo's effort. The pressure finally paid off with a goal in the 31st minute.  Matt Besler on a long throw in looked to pick out Lawrence Olum or Collin on the play. The ball was just above Olum, but ended up hitting off the head of Impact midfielder, Callum Mallace. His headed looped into the air and dropped into the far corner behind Perkins, giving KC a 1-0 lead. The Impact almost responded immediately down KC's right side, but the pass back to Di Vaio was then fired just wide of the target by the Italian.

The second half saw the Impact make an immediate adjustment, bringing on Andres Romero for Justin Mapp. In the process it looked like Felipe moved up and the Impact started playing with two forwards. Whatever they ended up doing though, it seemed to completely negate what Felipe had done in the first half as he was a none factor in the second. KC continued to pressure early in the second looking for goal number two. In the 67th minute, Feilhaber again played a great through ball, this one to Dom Dwyer. His effort was saved by Perkins' face. The rebound fell to Graham Zusi, but he fired his effort right into Perkins' chest. Shortly after that KC had another opportunity as Zusi got free down the left and played a ball across field to Zizzo, who would have been in alone on goal but Zizzo couldn't catch up with the pass. Finally in the 71st minute KC grabbed a second goal. It again came off of a Besler long through. The ball pinged around the box a little bit, with Dwyer keeping the ball held in. Right when Montreal looked like they'd get it clear, Olum knocked the ball back to Collin who fired a shot that went through a number of players and beat Perkins at his near post to double the advantage. Perkins didn't look good on the replay, but replays after the goal showed just how badly screened he was on the play, making it near impossible to see the ball until it was too late. Just a few minutes later, in the 74th, KC made it 3-0. A long free kick went past every player and into the corner where Jacob Peterson raced it down. He then played a ball on the ground towards the near post where Collin had raced in. Collin though dummied the ball, letting it roll through his legs to Dwyer who slid the ball past Perkins and into the net to make it 3. KC didn't back off and found a fourth in the 86th. Zusi played a nice looping ball to the back post where Dwyer headed it past Perkins for his second of the game and the team's fourth on the night. It was Dwyer's last action of the night as he made way for Claudio Bieler. Bieler almost made it 5-0 seconds after coming on as he received a nice through ball, but his shot went just wide of the far post. KC cruised to victory. Offensively the team didn't look it's best but they controlled possession and limited Montreal throughout.

Wizards Man of the Match - Aurelien Collin - One goal, one dummy to set up another goal, a fantastic recovery run to save a ball off the line. Collin had a superb game for Kansas City. Him and the rest of KC's defense limited the Impact to just three shots, and only two on goal. This from the team that was leading the league in shots averaging 16 per game and six on goal per game. Hopefully the tightness that he experienced that led to his sub

Honorable Mention - Dom Dwyer

Player Ratings - Kronberg 6, Sinovic 7, Besler 7, Collin 8, Myers 7, Olum 7, Nagamura 7, Feilhaber 7, Zusi 7, Dwyer 8, Zizzo 6. Subs Peterson 6, Martinez 6, Bieler NR.

Sporting Welcome the East

Sporting KC has spent the entirety of the early MLS season playing the Western Conference. The team's first five games have all been against the Western Conference, with Sporting earning a 2-1-2 record against the West going 1-1 on the road and 1-0-2 at home. But now Kansas City steps back into conference play as the team's next 10 games are against the Eastern Conference. Every team that KC plays between now and the team's break for the 2014 World Cup will be against a conference rival, starting this Saturday against Montreal.

The Impact come into tomorrow's game winless on the season, with a 0-3-3 record after drawing with the Chicago Fire 1-1 last week in Montreal. The Impact have two dangerous goal scorers now up top as they have Marco Di Vaio who scored 20 goals last year, and the recently acquired Jack McInerney, who scored in the team's draw last weekend. Another new face for the Impact is their coach, Frank Klopas. The former KC player moved to take over the job in Montreal after leaving the Chicago Fire at the end of last season. The big question on Montreal heading into this game is if the team will be adopting Klopas' tactics he's deployed the last few years at Sporting Park. This has involved packing it in, slowing the game down and trying to hit on the counter. This has led to two 0-0 draws and just three goals scored in the last four times these teams have met at Sporting Park. With that strategy picking up a point on the road, I'd expect similar tactics to be deployed by the Impact tomorrow.

And with the way that KC has finished chances at home, it's not overly surprising if they do. Sporting has yet to score from the run of play at home in league play this season. Their last goal at home from the run of play was in the Eastern Conference finals against Houston, a span of 505 minutes since Dom Dwyer beat Tally Hall that KC has gone without a goal in the run of play against MLS competition (their goal against Cruz Azul in the Champions League was a run of play goal though). The team has always struggled a bit offensively to put the ball away while generating a number of chances, but the team can't keep relying on penalty kicks or set pieces, someone needs to start finding goals from the run of play. The big question for Kansas City will be who is going to start up top for KC. Whether it'll be Dwyer or the team's designated player, Claudio Bieler. So far this season Peter Vermes has rotated the two with them alternating starts over the course of the first seven games in all competitions. If Vermes keeps to that pattern, Bieler should start this weekend. But the argument can be made that the lack of consistency is one of the things that is causing problems for the forwards. I think Vermes will try to correct that tomorrow and start Dwyer.

Kronberg

Myers - Collin - Besler - Sinovic

Olum - Nagamura

Feilhaber

Zusi - Dwyer - Zizzo

Number to Remember - 4 - In the theory of win at home, draw on the road, KC has dropped four points so far this season at home after draws with FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake. It goes back to the team's lack of finishing.

Key Match Up - Lawrence Olum vs Felipe - With Oriol Rosell suspended for this game a lot will fall on the shoulders of Olum to fill that gap. Olum has done well in that position when called upon, including coming off the bench after only eight minutes in last year's MLS Cup final. Still Olum will need to be on his game tomorrow, Felipe can cause KC a number of issues in the midfield.

PREDICTION - I expect this game to be like the Fire games the past few years at Sporting Park. Which is to say I expect it to be a fairly ugly game unless KC can score early. In Klopas' tenure as Fire coach, KC's one win at Sporting Park came when they scored in the opening 10 minutes. The longer the game goes scoreless the further back Klopas had his team sit. I expect similar from Montreal. The difference with the Impact is that KC will have to be more mindful of the counter. With the likes of Di Vaio and McInerney, the Impact have more of an ability to hit back at KC when they push numbers forward than the Fire did against KC. The Impact though have been allowing a number of goals so far this year and that is something that will hopefully help KC confidence wise to find the net a couple times tomorrow night. With the extra break and more finishing practice over the past few weeks, I'd expect KC to come out on top of this one though.

SKC - 2 (Dwyer, Zusi)
MTL - 0

Sporting Win Two More Preseason Games - Into Disney Soccer Final

Vince Lombardi said "winning is a habit" and Sporting KC is taking that saying to heart this preseason. KC picked up two more win this preseason to improve their record to 8-0-1 this preseason with wins against Indy Eleven and the Montreal Impact.

In both games Sporting KC was forced to come from behind to win the game. In their first game against the NASL side KC scored the first goal from the penalty spot by Claudio Bieler. Before half time though Indy scored two goals through Pedro Mendes. In the second half KC leveled the game as Bieler got his second off an assist from Adnan Gabeljic. Bieler then finished up his hattrick with another goal from the penalty spot, his fourth goal of the preseason. Bieler then turned provider on the fourth goal, feeding Mikey Lopez who touched the ball past the keeper to score. The assist was Bieler's sixth of the preseason. KC ended up winning 4-2. Here are the highlights.



In the second game, KC twice came from behind to top the Montreal Impact 3-2 and book themselves a spot in the final of the Disney Pro Soccer Classic. KC fell behind in the very first minute of the game as Sanna Nyassi beat Jon Kempin. Only a few minutes later though KC earned a penalty kick. Sal Zizzo crossed the ball into the box for Dom Dwyer. The English forward though ended up getting knocked down in the box and a penalty was called. Dwyer stepped up and buried the PK to level the score at 1-1. Montreal would retake the lead from the penalty spot themselves. After KC failed to clear a corner, the ball was crossed back into the box, over the heads of Aureilen Collin and Matt Besler to Collen Warner. Besler attempted to recover and ended up fouling the Montreal midfielder in the box. Felipe stepped up and buried the PK as Montreal retook the lead.

Up to that point the Impact had been the team that had controlled much of the game keeping KC pinned back in their own end. But before the end of the half KC found themselves level again. Seth Sinovic picked out Graham Zusi running towards the end line. Zusi crossed the ball where Dwyer met it with a great snap header that went into the far corner leveling the game at 2-2.

The second half saw KC come out much better. They pressured the Impact and controlled more of the game. Some good goalkeeping by Evan Bush kept Zusi from getting on the score board after a give and go with Dwyer. The rebound fell to Zizzo but he couldn't get his shot on frame from a tight angle. In the 75th minute though KC took the lead. After some really good ball movement by KC that saw them move the ball from one side of the field to the other, the ball then went back into the middle for Alex Martinez. The draft pick slide a through ball into the box for Sinovic. Sinovic then played the ball across the box to an onrushing Zizzo who fired the ball home to take a 3-2 lead. KC continued to have the better of play for the final 15 minutes, but couldn't add to their lead.

With the win, KC advanced to the championship game of the Pro Soccer Classic on Saturday where they'll face the Columbus Crew.

Disney Pro Soccer Classic Schedule is Out

Preseason for Sporting KC begins next week, it seems like just yesterday Sporting lifted MLS Cup. They report to Tucson a week from this Friday and play their first preseason game two weeks from Saturday. The season is right around the corner. Today came the announcement of more preseason games.

The schedule for the Disney Pro Soccer Classic was released today. Sporting KC will play two Eastern Conference rivals along with a foreign side in the tournament.

The team's first game on February 19th is against the Supporters' Shield winners, New York. They follow that up with a game on the 22nd against Brazilian side Fluminense's U23 team. Their final group game is on the 26th against the Montreal Impact. They'll play one more game as part of the tournament one week before first kick, on March 1.

Has Sporting Clinched a Playoff Birth?

Short answer, yes.

Long answer, on paper it's complicated. The MLS preview ahead of this weekend's games said that Sporting KC needed a Chicago loss or draw OR a Philadelphia loss to clinch a playoff birth. Well today Philadelphia and DC United drew 1-1 at RFK Stadium. After that game, Sporting KC put out a Tweet that they'd clinched a playoff birth.

So where's the disconnect between the MLS preview and Sporting's announcement? It comes in the tie breakers.

Currently there are three teams tied for 4th place in the East. Montreal (currently in 4th), Chicago (in 5th), and Philadelphia (in 6th) are all tied on 48 points currently, six behind Sporting KC. Montreal has three games left while Chicago and Philadelphia have two. So Chicago and Philadelphia can still finish level with KC, Montreal can finish ahead of them. So all three have a chance to tie KC. For that to happen, KC has to lose out, while Chicago and Philadelphia would have to win their final two games, and Montreal needs to win two of their three. Chicago hosts Toronto and plays New York on the road. Philadelphia travels to Montreal and hosts KC. Montreal travels to LA, hosts Philadelphia, and travel to Toronto.

So if results went that way, all four teams would be tied on 52 points. The first tie breaker for MLS is wins. If Chicago and Philadelphia win out while KC loses out and Montreal only loses to Philadelphia., Chicago, KC, and Montreal would all have 15 wins, while Philadelphia would have 14. That would knock Philadelphia out of any playoff discussion and qualify Chicago, Montreal, and KC for the playoffs. So I'm not seeing where MLS' comment about a draw not being enough came from.

A Look Towards the Rest of the Season

With Sporting Kansas City off this weekend from league play, I thought I'd take a look at the rest of the season for Sporting KC and how it looks to shake for KC vs the rest of the team's they're fighting with in the East.

Here is how the East currently stands:

Kansas City currently sits tied for first place in the East on 45 points with Montreal and New York. All three are six points clear of 4th place Philadelphia.

Here's how the East breaks down, starting with Kansas City.

Sporting KC - 45 points - 8 games left (4 home, 4 away)
Home - 9/17 vs Real Esteli (CCL), 9/27 vs Philadelphia, 10/18 vs DC, 10/23 vs Olimpia (CCL)
Away - 9/21 at Toronto, 10/5 at Columbus, 10/9 at Houston, 10/26 at Philadelphia
Average PPG of opponents - 1.11

KC has the fewest home games in league play of any team in the East, with just 2 left. They also have two Champions' League games to worry about. Of the teams in the East though, KC has the easiest schedule, with the teams KC is facing averaging 1.11 points per game. KC also has a little luxury in their CCL group, not only with both games at home but having taken three points in both of their road games puts them in a very good position for advancing.

Montreal - 45 points - 10 games left (5 home, 5 road)
Home - 9/14 vs Columbus, 9/21 vs Vancouver, 9/24 vs Heredia (CCL), 10/12 vs New England, 10/19 vs Philadelphia.
Away - 9/17 at San Jose (CCL), at Chicago 9/28, 10/4 at Houston, 10/16 at LA, 10/26 at Toronto
Average PPG of opponents - 1.3

The Impact have played the few league games of any team in the league, they still have 8 league games left, but they also have two Champions League games left during the final month and a half of the regular season. That will put them in a fairly congested schedule late this season. Starting Saturday, Montreal starts a stretch of 4 games in 11 days. Three of those four games are at home, but they have a cross country flight to play San Jose.

New York - 45 points - 6 games left (4 home, 2 road)
Home - 9/14 vs Toronto, 9/22 vs Dallas, 10/5 vs New England, 10/27 vs Chicago
Away - 9/29 at Seattle, 10/20 at Houston
Average PPG of opponents - 1.35

New York doesn't have the extra league games that Montreal and KC have so their stretch run is less congested. They also have just two away games left. The down side is that they have the second toughest remaining schedule PPG wise of the eight teams I looked at.

Philadelphia - 39 points - 6 games left (3 home, 3 away)
Home - 9/14 vs Houston, 10/5 vs Toronto, 10/26 vs KC
Away - 9/27 at KC, 10/12 at DC, 10/19 at Montreal
Average PPG of opponents - 1.27

Half of Philadelphia's remaining six games are against teams that are currently tied for first place in the East. Two of those three are on the road, traveling to KC and Montreal, while hosting KC to end the season.
Those will be tough match ups for the Union and they'll need to take advantage of their other three games, especially the Houston game especially with the Dynamo only two points back, but currently sitting outside the playoffs.

New England - 37 points - 7 games left (3 home, 4 away)
Home - 9/21 vs DC, 9/28 vs Houston, 10/19 vs Columbus
Away - 9/14 at Chicago, 10/5 at New York, 10/12 at Montreal, 10/27 at Columbus
Average PPG of opponents - 1.26

The Revolution have quietly worked themselves into a playoff position right now. They have more games left to catch and pass Philadelphia, but do have to travel more. Like Philadelphia, they have two trips to teams currently tied for first in the East traveling to New York and Montreal on consecutive weekends.

Houston - 37 points - 9 games left (5 home, 4 away)
Home - 9/21 vs Chivas, 9/25 vs W Connection (CCL), 10/4 vs Montreal, 10/9 vs KC, 10/20 vs New York
Away - 9/14 at Philadelphia, 9/28 at New England, 10/24 at Arabe Unido (CCL), 10/27 at DC
Average PPG of opponents - 1.3

Houston has seven league games and two CCL games left this season. The certainly have the chance to make up plenty of ground in the table, of their seven remaining league games, five of them are against teams ahead of them in the table, including hosting all three teams at the top of the East in consecutive home games from 10/4 through 10/20.

Chicago - 36 points - 7 games left (3 home, 4 away)
Home - 9/14 vs New England, 9/28 vs Montreal, 10/19 vs Toronto
Away - 9/21 at Columbus, 10/4 at DC, 10/12 at Dallas, 10/27 at New York
Average PPG of opponents - 1.24

Chicago has a good chance to make up ground in the race. Not only do they have a few games against the bottom teams in the conference, at DC and vs Toronto, but they also have the chance to catch teams ahead of them with games against New England, Montreal, and New York.

Columbus - 32 points - 6 games left (3 home, 3 away)
Home - 9/21 vs Chicago, 10/5 vs KC, 10/27 vs New England
Away - 9/14 at Montreal, 9/29 at Dallas, 10/19 at New England
Average PPG of opponents - 1.48

The Crew have the toughest stretch of any of the teams I've listed here. Each team that Columbus play for the rest of the season currently have more points than they do. They're really going to need to have a very good run of form if they are going to climb into the playoffs this year.

CONCLUSION - While KC has the fewest home games of any team left, they still have a very good chance of getting a top seed, or finishing in the top two. Montreal is going to have their hands full with eight league games left, plus having two CCL games and needing to probably win both to guarantee their advancement to the knockout stages. New York with their games at home will be tough to keep pace with for KC, even though Sporting has the "easier" schedule. For the other playoff teams, Philadelphia is going to have the hardest time I think, Houston plays all three top teams, but at home, where they've had a fairly decent record, unlike KC handed them their first loss. I rarely ever bet against Dominic Kinnear when it comes to making the playoffs.

Stoppage Time Giveth and Stoppage Time Taketh Away

Last week KC won three points against Salt Lake in stoppage time thanks to a late goal. This week things went the other way for KC. A very late goal by Blake Smith gave Montreal a 1-0 win over KC and made the Eastern Conference as a whole a lot tighter.

Kansas City had the possession in the early going of the game, but were able to create chances from it. It was actually Montreal that probably should have grabbed the lead in the 20th minute through Sanna Nyassi.  Justin Mapp started a very good counter and then found Nyassi wide open on the left.  Nyassi dribbled in alone on Jimmy Nielsen, but Nielsen got an arm up and knocked the ball away from danger. That was the best chance for either side in the first half of action. Sporting's best chances in the firts half came from outside the box.  Kei Kamara fired a shot from distance over the goal while Claudio Bieler fired a shot right at Troy Perkins in the Montreal goal.

Sporting came out in the second half playing better than they had in the first and almost grabbed the lead in the 52nd. A long ball over the top was headed into the middle by Ike Opara towards Bieler.  Bieler hit the shot on the half volley. The ball bounced off the crowd and looked to be headed towards the top corner, but Perkins didd well to get a hand to it and tip it wide for a corner. Off the ensuing corner, the ball got knocked to the back post to an open Opara, but he couldn't strike it first time to knock it in. KC continued to have the better off play in the half.  KC again could have taken the lead in the 63rd.  A cross into the box wasn't dealt with by Perkins and went to Bieler at the back post. The Montreal defense got in the way though blocking the effort. The game looked headed towards a 0-0 draw as the game ticked down.  Late on though, the Impact were the ones controlling the game.  KC was having issues clearing their own end. With two head injuries that had blood, there were 7 minutes of extra time for either side to find a winner. In the 3rd minute of stoppage time Sporting KC partially cleared a cross into the path of Smith who controlled it with his chest than volleyed the ball on net.  Nielsen though made a nice save pushing the ball over the goal for a corner.  The pressure was coming from Montreal though and a goal seemed inevitable. It finally came in the 96th minute.  A low cross to the top of the box was collected by Marco Di Vaio and slid through for Smith who was 1v1 with Nielsen.  Smith slotted the ball between Nielsen's legs for what proved to be the winner.  On the play, Chance Myers had gotten sucked into the middle as a Montreal player ran across the front of goal and Myers followed him.

Wizards Man of the Match - Jimmy Nielsen - He possibly could have done better on the goal, but he did a very good job with keeping the game scoreless coming up with two very big saves.

Player Ratings - Nielsen 6, Myers 3, Olum 4, Opara 5, Sinovic 5, Rosell 4, Joseph 4, Zusi 4, Saad 4, Bieler 5, Kamara 4. Subs Feilhaber 5, Dwyer 4, Sapong NR.

Sporting Look to Remain Hot

Sporting KC have one more game before the all star game in Kansas City next week.  They'll take to the road tomorrow to face off against the Montreal Impact at Stade Saputo in Montreal. While KC's away form as been quite good for most MLS standards, Montreal has been very good at home, going 6-1-3 at home this year. Montreal trails KC in the East, but still has two games in hand on Sporting heading into this weekend's game.

Montreal will welcome back Marco Di Vaio, their leading scorer, who missed last week's draw with Dallas after returning home to Italy. He's not going to cause KC many issues with his pace the way Robbie Findley and Joao Plata did last week for RSL, but he'll cause KC different problems. Di Vaio likes to sit on the shoulder of the last defender and skirt the offside line. KC's back line will have to be mindful of that. KC's done a good job of containing him in the past, but in their last match up it was role players like Sanna Nyassi and Collen Warner who helped give the Impact a win in Kansas City.

The big issue for Kansas City this week is that they're going to be without their two starting center backs for this game. Matt Besler is still with the US national team as they prepare for Sunday's Gold Cup final against Panama.  They will also be without Aurelien Collin, who picked up his 8th yellow card of the season, an automatic one game suspension for the Frenchman. Missing those two means we're likely to see a partnership of Ike Opara and Lawrence Olum in the center of defense for Sporting tomorrow.  Opara has started 8 games this season, filling in for Besler or Collin when they've been called up, suspended, or injured. Olum though has seen most of his time this year in the midfield this year.  Last year though he was KC's 3rd center back behind Besler and Collin, and even started the US Open Cup final against Seattle. There are other options if Peter Vermes wants to spring a surprise on Montreal. Mechack Jerome played center back for Haiti in the Gold Cup and could play there, or Oriol Rosell, who's played midfield since arriving in KC, played center back with Barcelona's B team in Spain. In the end I think it'll be Opara and Olum.

Nielsen

Myers - Olum - Opara - Sinovic

Rosell - Joseph

Zusi

Kamara - Bieler - Saad

Number to Remember - 5 - That's the number of wins that KC has away from home this season.  That's tied for the second most in a non-shootout season in KC history, only topped by last year when KC won 8 games on the road.

Key Match Up - Center backs vs Marco Di Vaio - A make shift center back pairing will be tested heavily by the league's 3rd leading scorer in Di Vaio. As I mentioned earlier, he makes a living on the shoulder of the last defender. Containing him will be key for whoever ends up lining up in the middle of KC's defense.

PREDICTION - Lately it has appeared that Montreal is starting to hit the wall I thought they'd hit due to the age of many of their starters. That said they are still going to be an extremely dangerous team, especially at home. With KC fielding a center back pairing together for the first time, things could be a little rough. A win would negate the Impact's two games in hand as it'd put KC 7 games clear of the second place Impact. KC can win this game, but I think the offense is going to have to carry them in this one and I'm not sure that's going to happen.

SKC - 1 (Saad)
MTL - 2 (Di Vaio, Felipe)

Besler, Zusi Not on Gold Cup Roster and a Look at Who Opponents Lose

Yesterday, Jurgen Klinsmann came out with his roster for the USA for this summer's Gold Cup.  Sporting Kansas City will not be represented on the team, at least in the group stage.  KC's three players on the preliminary roster, Matt Besler, Benny Feilhaber, and Graham Zusi were all left off the final 23 man roster.

That doesn't mean though that they can't be called up later.  In this year's Gold Cup, CONCACAF is allowing team's the ability to replace up to four players on their squad after the group stage.  Those potential four players have to come from the preliminary roster.  So any of KC's 3 players could be called up for the knock out rounds.

So KC will only be down two players during the group stage of the Gold Cup, their two Haitians, Mechack Jerome and Peterson Joseph.

On the other hand, some of the teams that KC will be playing during the Gold Cup stretch will be undermanned. 

While Jairo Arrieta has been called up to the Costa Rican national team for the Gold Cup, he will not be missing this weekend's game against Kansas City.  He'll report after the game at Sporting Park Saturday.

In KC's match on July 3rd vs Vancouver though, the Whitecaps will be missing two players, Simon Thomas and Russell Teibert.  Both have been called up to the Canadian national team.  Thomas isn't one KC would have had to worry about anyway, he is Vancouver's 3rd keeper and wouldn't have played against KC anyway.  Teibert though is a bit of a loss, the 20 year old has played in 10 games, starting nine of them.  He's also scored two goals this season.

KC's next opponent, Chicago could be missing one player for the Gold Cup, Sean Johnson.  Johnson was named to the US roster for the tournament.  As the likely third keeper though I'm not sure if Johnson will miss time.  In the past, Klinsmann has let the team's third keeper remain with his club unless he was needed.  So Johnson may be available.

After Chicago, KC play host to Toronto.  TFC will be missing four players for the match, all of whom were called up by Canada for the tournament.  Defenders Ashtone Morgan and Doneil Henry have both been called in, along with midfielders Kyle Bekker and Jonathan Osorio. Only Osorio though has played the majority of TFC's games so far this season, playing in 14 games, and scoring three goals.  The other three combined have appeared in just 16 games this season for TFC.

Should the US advance to the knock out round (which it'd be shocking if they didn't), KC's opponent on July 20th, Real Salt Lake will be undermanned as well.  Salt Lake could be missing four starters for the match against Sporting. Salt Lake had three players called into the US team.  Goalkeeper Nick Rimando, team captain Kyle Beckerman, and wingback, Tony Beltran.  Those three will be a tough loss to make up for in Salt Lake. The fourth player that will be missing is forward Alvaro Saborio who was called up for Costa Rica for the tournament.

The only opponent KC play during the entire length of the Gold Cup that won't be missing players due to the Gold Cup is their final opponent in the stretch, Montreal.