Playoff Schedule, Palmer-Brown Call Up, and End of Season Voting

Today was the first day that Sporting KC season ticket holders could purchase tickets for this year's playoffs. We'd been waiting for the dates of the playoffs to be announced, and we now have those dates thanks to the Seattle Sounders playoff ticket page.

According to the Sounders, the play-in game between the 4th and 5th seed will take place either on Wednesday, October 30th or Thursday the 31st at the 4th seed. The Conference semifinals kick off that next Saturday, November 2nd or Sunday the 3rd at the home of the lower seed. The second leg of the semifinal will again take place midweek, on Wednesday the 6th or Thursday the 7th. The Conference finals will actually have a week break between the two legs because of a FIFA international break that occurs around the weekend of the 16th.  The first leg of the finals will take place on Saturday the 9th or Sunday the 10th. The second leg will take place either Saturday the 23rd or Sunday the 24th. The MLS Cup finalists will then have two weeks off before the MLS Cup final on December 7th.

Palmer-Brown called up

Sporting KC's youngest player, former academy player, Erik Palmer-Brown has been called up by the US U18 national team for a tournament in France coming up. Palmer-Brown had been training with the US team in preparation for the tournament. Palmer-Brown has made the final roster for the tournament. The tournament kicks off for the US on Wednesday the 9th against hosts France. They'll then play the Czech Republic on Friday the 11th before wrapping up the tournament on the 13th against Poland.

End of Season Awards

Sporting KC has opened up end of year award voting this year to all fans. In the past it's specifically been the media that has voted on the awards.  This year though the fans have a vote, and the winners of the awards will be announced at the club's Pitch Black on October 19th at Sporting Park.

The first category is up for voting now. It is the Newcomer of the Year award. Voting is between Claudio Bieler, Benny Feilhaber, Josh Gardner, Mechack Jerome, and Ike Opara. Offensive and Defense player of the Year voting begins tomorrow, with Goal of the Year voting starting on Friday along with the MVP award. Other awards, like Humanitarian and the Bob Gansler Award (for outstanding academy player) will chosen by the club. And Golden Boot is decided on the field by who finishes with the most goals.

Personally I dislike voting on year end awards until the regular season is over. Once the regular season is over I'll make all my selections know.

Turner Called into US U18 Camp

The future certainly appears to be bright at the goalkeeper position for Sporting KC. Not only is KC's current back up, Jon Kempin, only 19 years old, but on the current Juniors team, Sporting KC also has another keeper that is going to spend time with a US youth national team. U18 goalkeeper, Jacole Turner has been invited to a camp with the US U18 team in Carson, CA. The camp is March 25th through April 1st. Turner is one of four goalkeepers named to the roster, 3 of which are based with MLS teams currently.

Turner will be going to Barton County Community College this coming fall, likely hoping to follow a similar path that saw Kevin Ellis earn a first team contract after a few years at the community college.

It'll be interesting to see how Turner develops. KC would be hard pressed to keep two goalkeepers so close in age to each other, so KC could be placed with a decision of keeping Kempin or Turner and having to let the other go. In the mean time it's at least a good thing to even dream about a competition like that for KC's goalkeeper position. Especially since KC has never been known as a team that has developed their own goalkeeper, usually picking up an older veteran to mind the net for the team (latest examples, Tony Meola, Kevin Hartman, and Jimmy Nielsen).

Kempin and the US Take Third at Milk Cup

After sitting on the bench for the US U18 team's first two games of the Milk Cup, Sporting KC goalkeeper, Jon Kempin got the start today in the third place game today against Georgia today in Northern Ireland. The US pulled out a 2-1 win to finish the competition 2-0-1 in the 3 game competition. Goals by Jordan McCrary and Jerome Kiesewetter led the US attack getting the two goals.

US Women's National Team in KC? No Pompey Move for Thomas. And Kempin News

Word out of New Zealand is that Kansas City will have another international match at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park this year. According to the NZ Herald, if it's finalized, the US Women's National Team will be at LSP on September 17th to take on New Zealand. The game would be part of a two game series between the sides with the other game being in Portland. It'd be the first time in a long time that the US women would be in KC. Probably not since Mia Hamm and friends farewell tour in 2004. The game, if it happens, is the same night as Kansas City's next road game, against Real Salt Lake.

In other news regarding KC, Shavar Thomas' location the past couple weeks is now known. Thomas was on trial with English Championship side Portsmouth. Thomas played in the club's 2-2 draw with the Charleston XI at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, SC. Thomas played 45 minutes, but apparently did not impress enough to be offered a contract with the club, according to Pompey's coach, Thomas "did well in the game the other night but I don't think he would be anything better than what we already have at the football club." Thomas returns to KC and KC is likely still going to look to move him.

Finally, Jon Kempin is in Northern Ireland with the US U18 team for the Milk Cup. Today they opened the competition as they took on Ireland. Kempin was on the bench behind Ispwich Town keeper, Cody Cropper. The US won their opener in the tournament 2-0 over Israel. Their next game is on Wednesday against Mexico.

Kempin Named to US U18 Team

Yesterday, US Soccer named the US U18 roster that will be going to Northern Ireland to compete in this year's Milk Cup. Kempin was one of two keepers called up, along with Cody Cropper from Ipswich Town. The team will play Israel on the 25th, Mexico on the 27th, and then a "placement" game on the 29th depending on how the first two games go. The sad thing in one regard for Kempin is that he will now miss the Newcastle friendly on the 20th most likely. Good luck to Kempin at the tournament.

Kempin Starts Again, US Fall

Jon Kempin started in goal for the second straight game for the US under 18 team today in Portugal when the US took on the hosts in Lisbon. Kempin played the entire game, allowing only 1 goal, but it proved to be one too many as the US lost 1-0 to the hosts on an 83rd minute strike by the Portuguese. The US team finishes the tournament on Saturday when they will take on Finland.

Kempin Starts for US in Draw

Jon Kempin started the US Under 18's first game of the Libson Tournament they are in against the Netherlands yesterday. Kempin went the full 90 minutes as the United States drew 1-1 with the Dutch. The US goal was scored by Victor Peneda of the Chicago Fire in the 37th minute. The Dutch equalized in the second half. The US will play Portugal today and finish with a game on Saturday against Finland.

Kempin Called Up to US U-18 Tournament

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper, Jon Kempin will travel with the US U-18 team to Portugal for the Lisbon International Tournament later this month. The team departs on May 19th before their tournament opener on the 25th against the Netherlands. The next day the 18's take on the hosts Portugal before finishing the tournament against Finland on the 28th. Kempin and Jeff Gal of the Sockers FC are the two goalkeepers that will travel to Portugal. With the two keepers Kempin is sure to get at least one game and the best performer in the first two is likely to get the start in the third game.

Kempin Called Up to US U18 Team

Today US Soccer announced the roster for the US U-18 game that will take place at the Nike Campus in Portland. Jon Kempin, KC's third goalkeeper and first academy signing has been named as one of two goalkeepers to the roster for the camp. The camp takes place April 16th through the 24th. During that time the US team will play games against the Portland Timbers, the University of Portland, and the University of Washington.

Also congrats to three local girls who have been called up the US women's U-20 camp in Californina at the Home Depot Center. Kaysie Clark and Shea Groom from Liberty, and Mandy Laddish of Notre Dame via Lee's Summit. The camp for the women goes from April 23rd through the 30th.

Well Today was Just Wonderful Wasn't It?

So today turned out to be a fantastic day for the SKC Wizards didn't it? It was a virtual turd sundae for Sporting KC. Two loses in preseason games today to Houston and the US Under 18 team. In the Dynamo game, KC lost 3-1, falling behind 3-1 before a late consolation from Chance Myers. The first goal was an own goal by Daneil Cyrus. This was followed by Shavar Thomas giving up a penalty kick that the Dynamo converted to make it 2-0. Then Roger Espinoza picked up a red card. As it was preseason KC just replaced him with Scott Lorenz. KC fell behind 3-0 before Myers brought it back to 3-1.

In the second game with some but not all the expected "first teamers," the Wizards lost to the US under 18 team 1-0 in the second game of the day in another disappointing result. Yeah it's preseason, but losing still hurts, especially if one of those losses is to a team of kids that have only been driving for about a year. Certainly some work that the team will have to do after they return to Arizona. The team is headed back to KC for 5 days before returning to Arizona next Monday.

The cherry on top of today's turd sundae was the injury to Wizards forward, Teal Bunbury. During the game against the Dynamo, Bunbury picked up the injury as he fell to the ground after trying to hold off Dynamo defender, Andrew Hainault and hit the ground awkwardly. Word from those in attendance was that Bunbury immediately screamed after the incident. Bunbury was on the ground for 20 minutes or so before taken to the hospital for testing. The good news, if there is good news in this injury, is that Bunbury's injury will only take 2-4 weeks to recover instead of the 4-5 months it could have taken if he had broken something of if he had done nerve damage. This does rule Bunbury out for the rest of the preseason and likely rules him out for at least the season opener against Chivas USA, and potentially another couple game. Certainly news that Peter Vermes won't want to hear when he returns from Hungary where he's tending to family matters.

This does pose and interesting question for KC now at the striker position. Other people have taken a deeper look at how KC could line up with Bunbury out including lineups of Ryan Smith, Kei Kamara, and Omar Bravo, to a lineup including current trialist, Adda Djeziri depending on how Smith is recovering from his injury. Certainly there are no shortages of options right now and the CJ Sapong draft pick could be bigger for KC than most of us realized when the pick was made.

Kempin Set to Train with US U-18 Team

The US Under 18 team has set their roster for their upcoming training camp that will take place in Arizona. While Wizards goalkeeper, Jon Kempin is not listed on the roster, according to the player's Twitter posts, Kempin will be training with the US team. Kempin's likely inclusion is to give the team a fourth keeper. The US U-18 team is set to play the SKC Wizards on Tuesday this week as part of their continued preseason training. It will be interesting to see if Kempin plays with the US or the Wizards for that game.

More Preseason

Late last night, Thad at The Back Post got an interview with Peter Vermes up on his blog where he discusses a lot of things involving the preseason. So far Vermes seems to be pretty high on all of the team's draft picks, including supplemental draft pick, Mike Jones. Vermes (and people at training) confirmed that the Julio Cesar Santos is the same one that was guessed by people, the one that's played in England, Mexico, Spain, and multiple other places around the world. He'll bring plenty of experience to the position should KC choose to sign him. He also mentions that 3 of the team's trialists, Omar Colley, Sheldon Bateau, and Daneil Cyrus will join the team in Arizona due to visa issues.

In part two of the interview, Vermes discusses more about the players, he discusses the Sunil Chhetri situation, saying that the team is still looking at keeping him, but is looking at potentially loaning him out so he doesn't take up a roster spot, cap space, or more importantly it seems, an international spot. Vermes also discusses the two other trialists that Robb Heineman tweeted, Calum Butcher and Adda Djeziri, giving both of them praise, including comparing Djeziri to Robin van Persie. Overall a very good interview with Vermes that you should really check out.

Also, the team has announced two more preseason games to their schedule, both making games split squad games. On February 15th the same day they take on the Dynamo they'll also play the US U-18 team. Then on the 26th when they're scheduled to take on the Timbers, they'll now also play the Montreal Impact.

Kempin and US Team Fall to Germany

Jon Kempin got another start for the US U18 team in Israel in the team's final game, against Germany. All the scoring came in the second half, after the hour mark. The US opened the scoring through Cooper Vandermaas-Peeler before Germany equalized and then grabbed a winner in the 89th minute as the US fell 2-1. Judging by only the stats, it looks like Kempin may have had himself a good game even in the loss as Germany out shot the US 20-3 and 12-1 in shots on goal. Kempin made 9 saves in the game for the US. Kempin now gets to return to the US and the Juniors team to prepare for the rest of the USSF Developmental Academy season.

Kempin, USA Draw with Israel

The US played their second game of their friendly tournament in Israel today as they took on the hosts in Tel Aviv. After sitting out the USA's first game, Jon Kempin started in goal for the US in the second game and picked up the shutout. The US though couldn't find the net as the two teams finished in a 0-0 draw. The US have one more game against Germany coming up on Saturday.

US U18 Team Loses in Israel

Jon Kempin and the US U18 team lost their first game of the four game tournament in Tel Aviv today 3-0 to the French U18 team. SKC Wizards goalkeeper, Kempin, did not play in the game, instead Andrew Wolverton of the Concorde Fire out of Georgia started in net. The US team fell behind in the 20th minute as a cross was volleyed into the net. In the 55th the lead was doubled as another cross was slotted home at the back post. A deflected shot in the 88th minute gave the French the 3-0 win.

Juniors Player, Eduardo Moreno Invited to US U17 Camp

SKC Wizards' Juniors' player, Eduardo Moreno has been invited down to Bradenton, FL for a US U-17 camp this week. The camp is designed for players to experience the environment that comes along with the residency academy in Bradenton. Moreno is from Liberal, KS, which is down in the southwest corner of the state, just north of the Oklahoma border. This is a fantastic opportunity for Moreno to get some great training with some of the best young players in the US and bring that back to the Juniors.

In other Juniors news today, Jonathan Kempin and the US U-18 team was supposed to play Germany today in Israel. The game though was postponed to Friday because Germany had been unable to land in Israel due to weather. The US team takes on France tomorrow.

Kempin to Play with US U-18 Team

Today on Twitter, Jon Kempin said that he'd be heading to Israel on the 10th to play with the US U-18 team in a set of friendlies. The US team is set to play Israel, France, and Germany while in Israel. First though, Kempin is going to be in Arizona this weekend as part of the Juniors in the US Soccer Developmental Academy Winter Showcase in Arizona. Both the U16 and the U18 Juniors teams will be competing in the tournament. Both teams start the weekend against the New York Cosmos East Academy tomorrow. Saturday they both play South Central Premier of Connecticut and finish their weekend on Monday against the New England Revolution's academy team.

Kempin Called into US Camp

The US U-18 National team started a camp out in Los Angeles and one of the Wizards' Juniors players and a former Wizard were among those invited. Jon Kempin, goalkeeper for the Wizards' Juniors' U-16 team is one of two goalkeepers invited to the camp, along with Keith Cardona of the Red Bulls' academy. Also invited was former Wizard, Luis Gil, who is currently with Salt Lake. The camp started on Sunday and will continue through Sunday May 2nd out at the Home Depot Center. The team will also attend the LA Galaxy vs Philadelphia Union game on Saturday night.