During MLS media day today, Dom Dwyer let it be known that he is closing in on US citizenship. Having had his green card, making him a permanent resident in the United States since 2012. Dwyer has had his green card for five years next month, making him eligible to become a US citizen. Dwyer confirmed today that his paper work is ready to be filed in February to apply for citizenship. He also confirmed that he has been in contact with US Soccer and is working with the federation on his FIFA paperwork that would allow him to represent the United States at the international level. FIFA rules require him also to be a permanent residence in the country for five years after he turns 18, which he will meet in the next month.
So the question becomes is he good enough to represent the United States at the international level? If he'd been a US citizen last year, he would have been the highest scoring American player in MLS with his 16 goals, four better than Chris Pontius, who was the highest scoring American last season. He's scored 52 goals in his MLS career, 50 in the last three seasons, the only player with more goals in that stretch is Bradley Wright-Phillips who has scored 68.
He may not be among the top tier of talent for Bruce Arena with the likes of Jozy Altidore, Bobby Wood, and a healthy Clint Dempsey, but you'd have to think he'd immediately be able to slot in that second tier with the likes of Gyasi Zardes, Jordan Morris, and Chris Wondolowski. Surely Dwyer could step in and keep Wondolowski from continuing to get call ups, or keep Alan Gordon, who received a call up for the last set of World Cup qualifiers as an injury replacement, from being called up again. Dwyer's draw back is that he's not as versatile in his positioning for the US team as some other players are. Dwyer's not shown himself to be adapt at playing the outside forward position, at least in Peter Vermes' system. Maybe in the US system he could, but he's mainly a center forward. He's shown to be a guy that will fight and scrap with the center backs for other teams usually a head taller than him.
The worry that this will bring for KC fans with his potential citizenship is another player lost to international duty. With the Gold Cup this summer, KC could be decimated by call ups, potentially losing over half of a potential starting 11. KC could lose two-thirds of their attack (Dwyer and Graham Zusi), potentially their entire starting midfield (Roger Espinoza, Benny Feilhaber, and Soni Mustivar, and potentially a center back (Matt Besler) all for the Gold Cup. It'd be a move that would certainly test Sporting KC's depth for their game against the Philadelphia Union on July 6th, two days before the US kick off in the Gold Cup.
Dwyer though certainly deserves at least a look at the national team level once his citizenship is finalized, even if it means KC has to rely on someone other than Dwyer to play center forward for a game or two as he's on national team duty.
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Thursday, January 05, 2017
Feilhaber and Zusi Called Up to US National Team
Bruce Arena and US Soccer today announced the roster for this year's January camp that will culminate with friendlies against Serbia and Jamaica. Two Sporting KC players were named to Arena's squad, with Benny Feilhaber finally making his return to the international stage after being frozen out by Jurgen Klinsmann, and Graham Zusi being brought back in a new position at the international level.
Feilhaber received his first international call up since 2014's January camp, where Feilhaber made his last international appearance against South Korea. Despite having an MVP caliber season in 2015 and a solid season in 2016, Feilhaber was not called in by Klinsmann with the former US coach saying there were "others ahead of him." There was obviously not a good relationship between the two, with comments about Feilhaber's work rate being made. Feilhaber though deserved a return to the US team after his play the last two years and will now get the chance to prove it under Arena.
Zusi is listed as a defender on the roster announcement for the camp, something that was hinted at yesterday before the roster came out. He does have experience playing in the right back position for Kansas City, playing there a few times last year, including a performance against Arena's LA Galaxy that earned him a team of the week nod. With the talent coming through in the attack for the US, Zusi's international career as a winger looks like it is coming to an end, but he provides good leadership and is good as a defender on the wing in KC's system. Arena is possibly hoping that Zusi can get a career renaissance at right back, similar to what DeMarcus Beasley has experienced at left back after transitioning from the wing position.
One name not on the roster was Matt Besler, who has been a staple of Klinsmann's US sides since he earned his place in the team. Besler though is still recovering from offseason ankle surgery that kept him from being part of the camp.
Sunday, January 01, 2017
2017 Wants and Wishes
A new year means that it's time to reset and look towards the future. With that said, here are my wants and wishes for 2017.
1. Silverware - Always the number one priority, winning trophies, painting the wall. Kansas City has made a habit of winning trophies over the last few years, hopefully KC's teams can return to that in 2017.
2. Secure a home playoff game - Children's Mercy Park hasn't hosted a home playoff game for Sporting Kansas City since the 2013 MLS Cup final against Real Salt Lake. In the three seasons since, Sporting KC has qualified for the playoffs each year, but as the fifth or sixth seed an been required to play the first round on the road. KC has lost all three of those games to New York, Portland, and Seattle. CMP hasn't been a complete fortress for Sporting KC like people would like it to be, but playing a playoff game at home is a distinct advantage for Sporting. That means the club's regular season for has to improve in 2017.
3. Find a secondary goal scorer - Dom Dwyer had his second best goal scoring season of his career, scoring 16 goals for KC in 2016, none of them from the penalty spot. KC's second leading scorers last year were Jacob Peterson and Benny Feilhaber, both scoring six goals, one of those players is gone, and the other had five of his six goals come from the penalty spot. Teams were able to key in specifically on Dwyer most of the time, and while he rose to the occasion, varying KC's attack is going to be better overall for the team. Only three teams scored fewer goals than the 42 that Sporting KC scored in 2016, Sporting is going to have to find a secondary goal threat to not only take some pressure off of Dwyer, but to create a duel threat that will keep other teams more honest, and probably open up more chances for Dwyer. It could be one of the two guys that KC is reportedly set to sign, Gerso Fernandes or Latif Blessing, although I have worries about both being able to do it, or it could be someone new that KC brings in. Either way, KC can't rely on 16 goals from Dwyer and the next highest scorer having 10 fewer and hope to do much next season.
4. A consistent center back pairing - Sporting KC's defense was strong last season, allowing just 41 goals, good for sixth in the league, but as I mentioned in my review of my 2016 wishes, the club had a lot of rotation at the center back position, with seven different pairings being used throughout the season due to injuries, form and national team call ups. Of all the pairings, the Matt Besler/Nuno Coelho was the most used, and that was only used about 11 times all of last season. KC managed with the shuffling of players last season, but really need to have a consistent center back pairing going forward. If you look at the better teams in the league, they all have a consistent pairing that starts the majority of the games, with a third and maybe fourth option available should they be needed. KC used this strategy to great success in 2012 through 2014 with the pairing of Besler and Aurelien Collin. Right now the first team pairing would appear to be Besler and Ike Opara, although Kevin Ellis being preferred to Opara late last season could be seen as a sign for the season. There are also still the questions about Opara's ability to stay healthy over the course of an entire season, as 2016 was the first time Opara has played more than 1,500 minutes in a single season in his seven year MLS career.
The other possibility is a returning Erik Palmer-Brown, who played consistently for Porto's reserve team while on loan. If he returns though, Palmer-Brown looks set to miss a good portion of preseason and a chunk of the regular season with the US U20 national team for World Cup qualifying and the World Cup this summer, which would obviously limit his time and ability to play for Sporting.
5. Quick decision on EPB - Before people can begin to dream about Palmer-Brown having a big impact on Sporting KC this season, his future with the team needs to be decided. With Palmer-Brown's loan to Porto now being up, it's down to negotiations between the two sides on whether Palmer-Brown will return to Kansas City or whether he'll be making a permanent move to the Portuguese power house. Palmer-Brown is reportedly in the last year of his contract, which Porto will use as an argument to get a lower price on the defender as he'd be available on a free next winter, but they also run the risk of Palmer-Brown having a breakout performance with the U20 team and being outbid by other clubs if they go that route. Either way, KC needs to resolve it quickly as selling Palmer-Brown leaves KC again a little thin along the back line in terms of depth.
6. Swope Park Rangers continues to play the "kids" and develop the likes of Amer Didic and Kevin Oliveira - Marc Dos Santos is off to San Francisco and the Rangers have a new coach this year. Taking over for him is Nikola Popovic, an assistant with the Rangers' last year, he came to SPR from Benfica B, where he was an assistant coach. Popovic having that experience with the Portuguese reserve side should bode well for the continued youth mindset the Rangers had last season. That should mean players like Amer Didic, Mark Anthony Gonzalez, Nansel Selbol, and Kevin Oliveira (when he returns), all under the age of 23 should continue to get time to prove themselves and use SPR as a stepping stone to reach Sporting KC. Hopefully SPR also continue to bring in young players to develop them, along with a few players that are maybe a step away from the jump up to help Sporting. Also hopefully the Rangers' players that are signed to academy contracts get more time in 2017.
7. US qualify for Russia 2018 - Well, I (and many other anti-Klinsmann fans) got their wish, Jurgen Klinsmann was fired as head coach of the US national team after the US started the "Hex" 0-2 losing at home to Mexico and in Costa Rica. With qualification for the World Cup important, the US went with the "safe" pick for a new head coach in Bruce Arena. He's not a head turning signing, but the expectation is to get things straightened out and get the US to the World Cup. The route back to the World Cup will start in March when the US will host Honduras in San Jose before traveling to Panama in a pair of games that the US really need to get six points out of to get qualification back on track.
8. Comets start run in second half of season - The Kansas City Comets have been one of the dominate forces in the MASL since it was founded, losing just three times in the regular season in their first two seasons in the league. Through 10 games this season they've already surpassed that loss total, having lost four times, and currently sit in third place in the five team Central division behind both Cedar Rapids and Chicago, the later of which still has two games in hand. The swagger that the team had the last two seasons doesn't seem to be there, they've lost talented players like Max Touloute and Coady Andrews, and the players that they've replaced them with haven't hit the same stride. At the same time, teams like Cedar Rapids and Chicago have really stepped up their game and brought in good talent to compete with the Comets in the Central division. Both of those teams have done so well that it appears like one of the Comets or the Milwaukee Wave are likely going to miss out on the playoffs for the first time in a long time this season. Something that most indoor fans would have thought next to impossible a couple years ago.
9. FCKC return to playoffs in 2017 - The Blues missed the playoffs for the first time in their history last season after losing five expected starters before the season to retirement or pregnancy and then lost a sixth early in the 2016 season. FCKC's defense stepped up big time last season to be one of the best in the league, but the offense struggled greatly. In 2017 the offense looks set to get a big boost as both forwards Amy Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux will be returning to the team after both giving birth in 2016. The pair will join with last season's leading scorer, Shea Groom to give the Blues some more offense. In fact, as long as the Blues can stay healthy, they should be in great shape in 2017, with the three previously mentioned players up top and a defense that includes Becky Sauerbrunn and Desiree Scott along with goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart. The Blues should be able to get themselves back into the playoffs in 2017.
1. Silverware - Always the number one priority, winning trophies, painting the wall. Kansas City has made a habit of winning trophies over the last few years, hopefully KC's teams can return to that in 2017.
2. Secure a home playoff game - Children's Mercy Park hasn't hosted a home playoff game for Sporting Kansas City since the 2013 MLS Cup final against Real Salt Lake. In the three seasons since, Sporting KC has qualified for the playoffs each year, but as the fifth or sixth seed an been required to play the first round on the road. KC has lost all three of those games to New York, Portland, and Seattle. CMP hasn't been a complete fortress for Sporting KC like people would like it to be, but playing a playoff game at home is a distinct advantage for Sporting. That means the club's regular season for has to improve in 2017.
3. Find a secondary goal scorer - Dom Dwyer had his second best goal scoring season of his career, scoring 16 goals for KC in 2016, none of them from the penalty spot. KC's second leading scorers last year were Jacob Peterson and Benny Feilhaber, both scoring six goals, one of those players is gone, and the other had five of his six goals come from the penalty spot. Teams were able to key in specifically on Dwyer most of the time, and while he rose to the occasion, varying KC's attack is going to be better overall for the team. Only three teams scored fewer goals than the 42 that Sporting KC scored in 2016, Sporting is going to have to find a secondary goal threat to not only take some pressure off of Dwyer, but to create a duel threat that will keep other teams more honest, and probably open up more chances for Dwyer. It could be one of the two guys that KC is reportedly set to sign, Gerso Fernandes or Latif Blessing, although I have worries about both being able to do it, or it could be someone new that KC brings in. Either way, KC can't rely on 16 goals from Dwyer and the next highest scorer having 10 fewer and hope to do much next season.
4. A consistent center back pairing - Sporting KC's defense was strong last season, allowing just 41 goals, good for sixth in the league, but as I mentioned in my review of my 2016 wishes, the club had a lot of rotation at the center back position, with seven different pairings being used throughout the season due to injuries, form and national team call ups. Of all the pairings, the Matt Besler/Nuno Coelho was the most used, and that was only used about 11 times all of last season. KC managed with the shuffling of players last season, but really need to have a consistent center back pairing going forward. If you look at the better teams in the league, they all have a consistent pairing that starts the majority of the games, with a third and maybe fourth option available should they be needed. KC used this strategy to great success in 2012 through 2014 with the pairing of Besler and Aurelien Collin. Right now the first team pairing would appear to be Besler and Ike Opara, although Kevin Ellis being preferred to Opara late last season could be seen as a sign for the season. There are also still the questions about Opara's ability to stay healthy over the course of an entire season, as 2016 was the first time Opara has played more than 1,500 minutes in a single season in his seven year MLS career.
The other possibility is a returning Erik Palmer-Brown, who played consistently for Porto's reserve team while on loan. If he returns though, Palmer-Brown looks set to miss a good portion of preseason and a chunk of the regular season with the US U20 national team for World Cup qualifying and the World Cup this summer, which would obviously limit his time and ability to play for Sporting.
5. Quick decision on EPB - Before people can begin to dream about Palmer-Brown having a big impact on Sporting KC this season, his future with the team needs to be decided. With Palmer-Brown's loan to Porto now being up, it's down to negotiations between the two sides on whether Palmer-Brown will return to Kansas City or whether he'll be making a permanent move to the Portuguese power house. Palmer-Brown is reportedly in the last year of his contract, which Porto will use as an argument to get a lower price on the defender as he'd be available on a free next winter, but they also run the risk of Palmer-Brown having a breakout performance with the U20 team and being outbid by other clubs if they go that route. Either way, KC needs to resolve it quickly as selling Palmer-Brown leaves KC again a little thin along the back line in terms of depth.
6. Swope Park Rangers continues to play the "kids" and develop the likes of Amer Didic and Kevin Oliveira - Marc Dos Santos is off to San Francisco and the Rangers have a new coach this year. Taking over for him is Nikola Popovic, an assistant with the Rangers' last year, he came to SPR from Benfica B, where he was an assistant coach. Popovic having that experience with the Portuguese reserve side should bode well for the continued youth mindset the Rangers had last season. That should mean players like Amer Didic, Mark Anthony Gonzalez, Nansel Selbol, and Kevin Oliveira (when he returns), all under the age of 23 should continue to get time to prove themselves and use SPR as a stepping stone to reach Sporting KC. Hopefully SPR also continue to bring in young players to develop them, along with a few players that are maybe a step away from the jump up to help Sporting. Also hopefully the Rangers' players that are signed to academy contracts get more time in 2017.
7. US qualify for Russia 2018 - Well, I (and many other anti-Klinsmann fans) got their wish, Jurgen Klinsmann was fired as head coach of the US national team after the US started the "Hex" 0-2 losing at home to Mexico and in Costa Rica. With qualification for the World Cup important, the US went with the "safe" pick for a new head coach in Bruce Arena. He's not a head turning signing, but the expectation is to get things straightened out and get the US to the World Cup. The route back to the World Cup will start in March when the US will host Honduras in San Jose before traveling to Panama in a pair of games that the US really need to get six points out of to get qualification back on track.
8. Comets start run in second half of season - The Kansas City Comets have been one of the dominate forces in the MASL since it was founded, losing just three times in the regular season in their first two seasons in the league. Through 10 games this season they've already surpassed that loss total, having lost four times, and currently sit in third place in the five team Central division behind both Cedar Rapids and Chicago, the later of which still has two games in hand. The swagger that the team had the last two seasons doesn't seem to be there, they've lost talented players like Max Touloute and Coady Andrews, and the players that they've replaced them with haven't hit the same stride. At the same time, teams like Cedar Rapids and Chicago have really stepped up their game and brought in good talent to compete with the Comets in the Central division. Both of those teams have done so well that it appears like one of the Comets or the Milwaukee Wave are likely going to miss out on the playoffs for the first time in a long time this season. Something that most indoor fans would have thought next to impossible a couple years ago.
9. FCKC return to playoffs in 2017 - The Blues missed the playoffs for the first time in their history last season after losing five expected starters before the season to retirement or pregnancy and then lost a sixth early in the 2016 season. FCKC's defense stepped up big time last season to be one of the best in the league, but the offense struggled greatly. In 2017 the offense looks set to get a big boost as both forwards Amy Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux will be returning to the team after both giving birth in 2016. The pair will join with last season's leading scorer, Shea Groom to give the Blues some more offense. In fact, as long as the Blues can stay healthy, they should be in great shape in 2017, with the three previously mentioned players up top and a defense that includes Becky Sauerbrunn and Desiree Scott along with goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart. The Blues should be able to get themselves back into the playoffs in 2017.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
A Look Back on my 2016 Wants and Wishes
On New Year's Eve, before we ring in the New Year, here's a look back at my 2016 wants and wishes and how each one turned out.
1. Silverware - I'm not counting the Swope Park Rangers' Western Conference championship unfortunately (more on that later), so this wasn't a wish that was met this year by any of KC's four teams. Three of the four made the playoffs, but none of them were able to come home with a championship in 2016.
2. Sorting KC address center back issues - This is an area that overall was probably addressed, but at the same time probably wasn't. Sporting KC was in the top half of the table in terms of fewest goals allowed, finishing sixth in that category allowing 41 goals. So on that stat alone it would seem that KC addressed their center back issues. But the issue for the center back situation was the inability to have a consistent starting pairing at center back whether it be form, injuries, or national team call ups, KC started five different players at center back in seven different combinations over the 34 game season. Nuno Coelho and Matt Besler started the season as the number one center back pairing and looked to be pretty good for KC in that situation, raising hopes for the season. Then Coelho got hurt in mid-May and made just one 90 minute appearance the entire rest of the season for KC, with his high salary Sporting passed on retaining the Portuguese center back. For a stretch in the middle of the season, Peter Vermes favorite pairing was Ike Opara and the returning Lawrence Olum as Besler was with the national team and struggling with his club form. Besler eventually won his spot back with Opara for a stretch before injuries brought down Opara again this season, although not long term like prior years). This allowed Kevin Ellis to step up and take the job next to Besler, which he didn't relinquish the rest of the season. The Besler/Ellis pairing KC through the end of the season and into the playoffs in 2016. Hopefully a more consistent pairing can work in 2017.
3. Keep Krisztian Nemeth in Sporting blue - This one went out the window in late January as Sporting KC sold Nemeth to Al Gharafa SC in Qatar. Much has been made about how the move came about, whether Nemeth forced it, or whether KC did. KC reportedly went to Nemeth in good faith to offer him a new contract because of his performance in the 2015 season, but a deal couldn't be worked out. Nemeth (or his agent) posted a Facebook message saying that he wanted to stay but that the contract he was offered still wouldn't have made him one of the club's highest paid players. At the same times there were comments that Nemeth wanted to be released early to join the Hungarian team for camp ahead of the Euros. We never got the full story and likely never will, what we know for sure is that Nemeth left and his departure left a big hole in KC's right wing that the club never successfully filled in 2016.
4. Sporting advance from their CCL group - Another one that didn't come true, Sporting got off to a poor start with their two road games, drawing 2-2 in Trinidad and then were taken apart 3-0 in Vancouver to put themselves firmly behind the eight ball. Needing a result at home against Vancouver to keep their faint hopes of advancing alive. Falling behind, clawing back to equalize, Sporting gave up a very late winner to Alphonso Davies to put the Whitecaps through. KC won their final group game, a meaningless encounter between Sporting and Central FC 3-1, playing a number of Swope Park Rangers.
5. Jon Kempin and Erik Palmer-Brown both play 15 plus games - Almost, but not quite on this one, and certainly not in the way I expected with Palmer-Brown going on loan to Porto in 2016. Kempin started the season as the Rangers' starting goalkeeper, lost the job, won it back, then lost it again and never gained it back after an injury to Tim Melia forced him to be recalled from his loan. Combined between the Rangers and a couple of appearances for Sporting KC in the CCL, Kempin made 14 appearances in 2016, going 5-6-3 (5-4-3 for SPR, 0-2 for Sporting) and allowing 18 goals in those 14 games.
Palmer-Brown made 17 league appearances across two seasons for Porto's reserve team in the Portuguese second division, becoming a regular at center back for the club in their run to the Portuguese second division championship in the 2015-2016 season. After recovering from an injury early in the 2016-2017 season, Palmer-Brown again took his place in the center of defense and even earned a call up to the first team.
6. Swope Park Rangers have successful first season - I'd say a trip to the USL championship was a successful season, even if it didn't end in a trophy there was a lot of good that came out of the first season. For me, SPR's success had more to do with the players than the results on the field. SPR made a priority of getting a younger roster and really did, with only a handful of players over the age of 25 on the team. It also was able to shine the light on a number of players who could produce for Sporting KC in the years to come. From the likes of Tyler Pasher and Adrian Zendejas, who have both already signed with the first team to the likes of Amer Didic, Ualefi, and Nansel Selbol who all made appearances for the first team in the Champions League. Arguably the player I'm most excited about didn't even play for the first team though, Kevin Oliveira, tore his ACL near the midpoint of the season and missed out on the second half of the season. If he'd been healthy I have no doubts he'd have also appeared for Sporting KC this past season. Hopefully a swift return from his ACL tear will see him getting time with Sporting in 2017.
7. US national team has a respectable performance in the Copa America Centenario - I'd classify a fourth place finish as respectable, at least from looking at it from the outside it certainly was. Advancing to the semifinals before losing to world power Argentina is certainly a good run. Arguments can be made about the USA's performance in that 4-0 loss to Argentina as well as the two losses to Colombia (2-0 in group play and 1-0 in third place game), and how they were some of the final moments of Jurgen Klinsmann's time in charge of the US team, but in the end even someone anti-Klinsmann like myself, has to admit fourth was respectable, especially given the draw.
8. Missouri Comets get past Baltimore Blast - Unfortunately another Comets season ended with a loss to the Baltimore Blast. The Missouri (now Kansas City) Comets won the Central Division last year with a 17-3 record, four games ahead of second and third place Chicago and Milwaukee. After the Milwaukee Wave topped the Chicago Mustangs in a three game series, the Comets swept the Wave aside 2-0 winning 10-5 on the road and 8-2 at home to set up a match up with the Baltimore Blast for the fourth straight season. Unfortunately just like two of the previous three, the Blast topped the Comets, this time with a pair of overtime victories both by a 4-3 score line for the Blast.
9. FCKC recover from losing four regulars - Unfortunately the Blues couldn't overcome the loss of so many important pieces. FC Kansas City even lost a fifth likely regular as the club acquired Sydney Leroux in January last year, from the Western New York Flash, to replace Amy Rodriguez, but later in January she too announced that she would miss the 2016 season as she was pregnant. They also lost midfielder, Jen Buczkowski, who retired five games into the season to return to school. The Blues finished outside the playoffs for the first time in their history, finishing in sixth place with 26 points, six points behind fourth place Western New York. In the absence of both Rodriguez and Leroux, Shea Groom stepped up, scoring eight of FCKC's 18 goals on the season to lead the Blues in scoring. The return of Desiree Scott helped to ease some of the defensive losses in the offseason, as the Blues' defense allowed the second fewest goals in the league in 2016. Unfortunately the loss of Rodriguez, Leroux, and Lauren Holiday couldn't be overcome on the offensive end.
Overall, it wasn't a great year for my wants and wishes with only one, the Swope Park Rangers having a successful first season being my one real win out of all of them.
1. Silverware - I'm not counting the Swope Park Rangers' Western Conference championship unfortunately (more on that later), so this wasn't a wish that was met this year by any of KC's four teams. Three of the four made the playoffs, but none of them were able to come home with a championship in 2016.
2. Sorting KC address center back issues - This is an area that overall was probably addressed, but at the same time probably wasn't. Sporting KC was in the top half of the table in terms of fewest goals allowed, finishing sixth in that category allowing 41 goals. So on that stat alone it would seem that KC addressed their center back issues. But the issue for the center back situation was the inability to have a consistent starting pairing at center back whether it be form, injuries, or national team call ups, KC started five different players at center back in seven different combinations over the 34 game season. Nuno Coelho and Matt Besler started the season as the number one center back pairing and looked to be pretty good for KC in that situation, raising hopes for the season. Then Coelho got hurt in mid-May and made just one 90 minute appearance the entire rest of the season for KC, with his high salary Sporting passed on retaining the Portuguese center back. For a stretch in the middle of the season, Peter Vermes favorite pairing was Ike Opara and the returning Lawrence Olum as Besler was with the national team and struggling with his club form. Besler eventually won his spot back with Opara for a stretch before injuries brought down Opara again this season, although not long term like prior years). This allowed Kevin Ellis to step up and take the job next to Besler, which he didn't relinquish the rest of the season. The Besler/Ellis pairing KC through the end of the season and into the playoffs in 2016. Hopefully a more consistent pairing can work in 2017.
3. Keep Krisztian Nemeth in Sporting blue - This one went out the window in late January as Sporting KC sold Nemeth to Al Gharafa SC in Qatar. Much has been made about how the move came about, whether Nemeth forced it, or whether KC did. KC reportedly went to Nemeth in good faith to offer him a new contract because of his performance in the 2015 season, but a deal couldn't be worked out. Nemeth (or his agent) posted a Facebook message saying that he wanted to stay but that the contract he was offered still wouldn't have made him one of the club's highest paid players. At the same times there were comments that Nemeth wanted to be released early to join the Hungarian team for camp ahead of the Euros. We never got the full story and likely never will, what we know for sure is that Nemeth left and his departure left a big hole in KC's right wing that the club never successfully filled in 2016.
4. Sporting advance from their CCL group - Another one that didn't come true, Sporting got off to a poor start with their two road games, drawing 2-2 in Trinidad and then were taken apart 3-0 in Vancouver to put themselves firmly behind the eight ball. Needing a result at home against Vancouver to keep their faint hopes of advancing alive. Falling behind, clawing back to equalize, Sporting gave up a very late winner to Alphonso Davies to put the Whitecaps through. KC won their final group game, a meaningless encounter between Sporting and Central FC 3-1, playing a number of Swope Park Rangers.
5. Jon Kempin and Erik Palmer-Brown both play 15 plus games - Almost, but not quite on this one, and certainly not in the way I expected with Palmer-Brown going on loan to Porto in 2016. Kempin started the season as the Rangers' starting goalkeeper, lost the job, won it back, then lost it again and never gained it back after an injury to Tim Melia forced him to be recalled from his loan. Combined between the Rangers and a couple of appearances for Sporting KC in the CCL, Kempin made 14 appearances in 2016, going 5-6-3 (5-4-3 for SPR, 0-2 for Sporting) and allowing 18 goals in those 14 games.
Palmer-Brown made 17 league appearances across two seasons for Porto's reserve team in the Portuguese second division, becoming a regular at center back for the club in their run to the Portuguese second division championship in the 2015-2016 season. After recovering from an injury early in the 2016-2017 season, Palmer-Brown again took his place in the center of defense and even earned a call up to the first team.
6. Swope Park Rangers have successful first season - I'd say a trip to the USL championship was a successful season, even if it didn't end in a trophy there was a lot of good that came out of the first season. For me, SPR's success had more to do with the players than the results on the field. SPR made a priority of getting a younger roster and really did, with only a handful of players over the age of 25 on the team. It also was able to shine the light on a number of players who could produce for Sporting KC in the years to come. From the likes of Tyler Pasher and Adrian Zendejas, who have both already signed with the first team to the likes of Amer Didic, Ualefi, and Nansel Selbol who all made appearances for the first team in the Champions League. Arguably the player I'm most excited about didn't even play for the first team though, Kevin Oliveira, tore his ACL near the midpoint of the season and missed out on the second half of the season. If he'd been healthy I have no doubts he'd have also appeared for Sporting KC this past season. Hopefully a swift return from his ACL tear will see him getting time with Sporting in 2017.
7. US national team has a respectable performance in the Copa America Centenario - I'd classify a fourth place finish as respectable, at least from looking at it from the outside it certainly was. Advancing to the semifinals before losing to world power Argentina is certainly a good run. Arguments can be made about the USA's performance in that 4-0 loss to Argentina as well as the two losses to Colombia (2-0 in group play and 1-0 in third place game), and how they were some of the final moments of Jurgen Klinsmann's time in charge of the US team, but in the end even someone anti-Klinsmann like myself, has to admit fourth was respectable, especially given the draw.
8. Missouri Comets get past Baltimore Blast - Unfortunately another Comets season ended with a loss to the Baltimore Blast. The Missouri (now Kansas City) Comets won the Central Division last year with a 17-3 record, four games ahead of second and third place Chicago and Milwaukee. After the Milwaukee Wave topped the Chicago Mustangs in a three game series, the Comets swept the Wave aside 2-0 winning 10-5 on the road and 8-2 at home to set up a match up with the Baltimore Blast for the fourth straight season. Unfortunately just like two of the previous three, the Blast topped the Comets, this time with a pair of overtime victories both by a 4-3 score line for the Blast.
9. FCKC recover from losing four regulars - Unfortunately the Blues couldn't overcome the loss of so many important pieces. FC Kansas City even lost a fifth likely regular as the club acquired Sydney Leroux in January last year, from the Western New York Flash, to replace Amy Rodriguez, but later in January she too announced that she would miss the 2016 season as she was pregnant. They also lost midfielder, Jen Buczkowski, who retired five games into the season to return to school. The Blues finished outside the playoffs for the first time in their history, finishing in sixth place with 26 points, six points behind fourth place Western New York. In the absence of both Rodriguez and Leroux, Shea Groom stepped up, scoring eight of FCKC's 18 goals on the season to lead the Blues in scoring. The return of Desiree Scott helped to ease some of the defensive losses in the offseason, as the Blues' defense allowed the second fewest goals in the league in 2016. Unfortunately the loss of Rodriguez, Leroux, and Lauren Holiday couldn't be overcome on the offensive end.
Overall, it wasn't a great year for my wants and wishes with only one, the Swope Park Rangers having a successful first season being my one real win out of all of them.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Besler, Zusi Called Up, Espinoza Turns Down Call
Sporting Kansas City has a pair of players called up for national team duty in the upcoming international break, Matt Besler and Graham Zusi were both called into the US team that will finish out the fourth round of World Cup qualifying with games at St. Vincent and the Grenadines and home against Trinidad and Tobago. The US currently sit second in their group on seven points through the first four games having last split their two games against Guatemala with a win and a loss. The US can clinch advancement to the next round of qualifying with a win on Friday if Trinidad also beats Guatemala in Port of Spain. If those results occur it would make the USA's game in Jacksonville on Tuesday September 6th meaningless as both teams would be through to the "Hex".
One name not going to World Cup qualifiers that had been expected to was Roger Espinoza. Espinoza was originally on the list of players called up by Honduras for their World Cup qualifiers against Canada and Mexico. Reports stated that he had turn downed the call for personal problems and Sporting KC later confirmed that while Espinoza was called up he was not going to be going. Honduras are currently in second place in their group, tied with Canada on four points. The two teams face off Friday in Honduras, a location where Canada lost 8-1 to see their 2014 World Cup qualifying hopes end. Honduras will want to get a win, and pile on to advance because goal difference is the first tiebreaker. Currently Honduras sits on minus 1 with Canada on minus 4. With Honduras closing out on the road in Mexico and Canada hosting El Salvador, padding their goal difference heading into that file game will be important for Honduras, but they'll be doing it without Espinoza.
One name not going to World Cup qualifiers that had been expected to was Roger Espinoza. Espinoza was originally on the list of players called up by Honduras for their World Cup qualifiers against Canada and Mexico. Reports stated that he had turn downed the call for personal problems and Sporting KC later confirmed that while Espinoza was called up he was not going to be going. Honduras are currently in second place in their group, tied with Canada on four points. The two teams face off Friday in Honduras, a location where Canada lost 8-1 to see their 2014 World Cup qualifying hopes end. Honduras will want to get a win, and pile on to advance because goal difference is the first tiebreaker. Currently Honduras sits on minus 1 with Canada on minus 4. With Honduras closing out on the road in Mexico and Canada hosting El Salvador, padding their goal difference heading into that file game will be important for Honduras, but they'll be doing it without Espinoza.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Children's Mercy Park to Host Final Olympic Tune Up for US Women
The US women's national team will be making a return to Kansas City and Children's Mercy Park this year for their final friendly ahead of this summer's Olympics in Brazil. The women will be taking on Costa Rica at Children's Mercy Park on Friday, July 22nd at 8pm. It'll be the women's first trip to Kansas City since October of 2014 when the US women defeated Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 on a goal by Abby Wambach.
Like the men, the US women are undefeated when playing in Kansas City, holding a 3-0-3 record against opponents. They're 1-0-1 at Children's Mercy Park, a 1-1 draw against Canada back in 2011 being the other result for the women in Kansas City.
The interesting thing to watch with this game will be the price of tickets as well as attendance for the game. The reason for this is because of the similarities between this game and the last time the US men played in KC in late May in the build up to the Copa America Centenario. Like that game, this will be the final tune up for the US women before departing for the tournament, but I don't think I'll be going out on much of a limb to say that tickets for the US women probably won't be the same price as that for the US men. I'd been unable to attend the US game against Bolivia, but reports from fans who did attend were that the cheapest ticket available for purchase was over $50 after all the fees; season ticket holders in the East Stand were saying that their tickets were $70+ after fees. Even though the US women are world champions, I would still expect lower prices for the tickets for this game compared to what fans got for the men.
Like the men, the US women are undefeated when playing in Kansas City, holding a 3-0-3 record against opponents. They're 1-0-1 at Children's Mercy Park, a 1-1 draw against Canada back in 2011 being the other result for the women in Kansas City.
The interesting thing to watch with this game will be the price of tickets as well as attendance for the game. The reason for this is because of the similarities between this game and the last time the US men played in KC in late May in the build up to the Copa America Centenario. Like that game, this will be the final tune up for the US women before departing for the tournament, but I don't think I'll be going out on much of a limb to say that tickets for the US women probably won't be the same price as that for the US men. I'd been unable to attend the US game against Bolivia, but reports from fans who did attend were that the cheapest ticket available for purchase was over $50 after all the fees; season ticket holders in the East Stand were saying that their tickets were $70+ after fees. Even though the US women are world champions, I would still expect lower prices for the tickets for this game compared to what fans got for the men.
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Besler and Zusi Called Up for Copa America
Two of Sporting Kansas City's designated players are heading out on national team duty after tonight's game against Salt Lake. Matt Besler and Graham Zusi were called up by the US Men's National team for this summer's Copa America Centenario.
With MLS taking a break for much of the tournament, Besler and Zusi will only miss two games during the group stage. They'll miss next Friday's game against DC United as well as a game on June 2nd against the LA Galaxy. Should the US advance, they're also likely to miss the US Open Cup game on the 15th and could miss the game against Dallas on the 19th.
The good news for KC is they do have players that can step up in Besler's and Zusi's absence. Ike Opara can easily slot in at center back while Jimmy Medranda, Justin Mapp, or Connor Hallisey could all step in at Zusi' wing position.
With MLS taking a break for much of the tournament, Besler and Zusi will only miss two games during the group stage. They'll miss next Friday's game against DC United as well as a game on June 2nd against the LA Galaxy. Should the US advance, they're also likely to miss the US Open Cup game on the 15th and could miss the game against Dallas on the 19th.
The good news for KC is they do have players that can step up in Besler's and Zusi's absence. Ike Opara can easily slot in at center back while Jimmy Medranda, Justin Mapp, or Connor Hallisey could all step in at Zusi' wing position.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
US Friendly Confirmed for Children's Mercy Park
Back at the beginning of this month reports started to come out that Children's Mercy Park would be hosting a US men's national team friendly in their tune up for the Copa America. Reports out of Bolivia were confirmed when looking at FIFA's site that the US team would be hosting Bolivia in Kansas City. Today, US Soccer confirmed the friendly at Children's Mercy Park, the first US friendly to take place in Kansas City.
Children's Mercy Park will host the US vs Bolivia on Saturday, May 28th one day after Sporting KC will take the same field in a league game against DC United. The US has enjoyed plenty of success in their history in Kansas City, not just at Children's Mercy Park. The US team is unbeaten with a 5-0-1 record all time in Kansas City, 4-0 in World Cup qualifiers and 1-0-1 in Gold Cup games. Now Kansas City will get to host their second international friendly in a little over a year. Last year Mexico and Paraguay played an international friendly at Arrowhead that Mexico won 1-0. The game will serve as the USA's final tune up before kicking off the tournament in Santa Clara against Colombia.
The US has never beaten Bolivia, currently with a 0-2-4 record against the South American side. The two last met in 1999 when the two sides drew 0-0 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It'll be just under 20 years since the two met on US soil when they play at CMP; the last time was a 2-0 win for Bolivia on June 12, 1996 in Washington DC.
Children's Mercy Park will host the US vs Bolivia on Saturday, May 28th one day after Sporting KC will take the same field in a league game against DC United. The US has enjoyed plenty of success in their history in Kansas City, not just at Children's Mercy Park. The US team is unbeaten with a 5-0-1 record all time in Kansas City, 4-0 in World Cup qualifiers and 1-0-1 in Gold Cup games. Now Kansas City will get to host their second international friendly in a little over a year. Last year Mexico and Paraguay played an international friendly at Arrowhead that Mexico won 1-0. The game will serve as the USA's final tune up before kicking off the tournament in Santa Clara against Colombia.
The US has never beaten Bolivia, currently with a 0-2-4 record against the South American side. The two last met in 1999 when the two sides drew 0-0 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It'll be just under 20 years since the two met on US soil when they play at CMP; the last time was a 2-0 win for Bolivia on June 12, 1996 in Washington DC.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Zusi Called Up, Besler Returns to KC
US men's national team coach, Jurgen Klinsmann has made some changes to his roster ahead of what has become a must win game for the US to really control their own destiny in qualifying for the next round of World Cup qualifying. The US sit third in the group with four points and three games remaining, but less than full points Tuesday will leave them still in third place and needing assistance to advance ahead of Guatemala or Trinidad and Tobago.
As part of those changes, Klinsmann has called in Sporting KC's Graham Zusi. The KC winger hasn't been with the national team since last summer's Gold Cup where the US team finished in fourth place. Zusi will provide more offense for the US team that couldn't find the back of the net in Guatemala City on Friday.
Returning to Kansas City is Matt Besler, Sporting KC's captain suffered a concussion while training with the US team ahead of the qualifiers. US Soccer said that Besler would be monitored for his availability for Tuesday, but it appears that they made the decision to send him back to his club. Now Besler will continue his rehabilitation from the concussion with Kansas City. There will still be the question of his availability for Saturday against Real Salt Lake and whether he's recovered from the concussion to play. Based on history I won't be surprised if Besler is rested on the second if for no other reason than as a precaution.
As part of those changes, Klinsmann has called in Sporting KC's Graham Zusi. The KC winger hasn't been with the national team since last summer's Gold Cup where the US team finished in fourth place. Zusi will provide more offense for the US team that couldn't find the back of the net in Guatemala City on Friday.
Returning to Kansas City is Matt Besler, Sporting KC's captain suffered a concussion while training with the US team ahead of the qualifiers. US Soccer said that Besler would be monitored for his availability for Tuesday, but it appears that they made the decision to send him back to his club. Now Besler will continue his rehabilitation from the concussion with Kansas City. There will still be the question of his availability for Saturday against Real Salt Lake and whether he's recovered from the concussion to play. Based on history I won't be surprised if Besler is rested on the second if for no other reason than as a precaution.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Besler Misses World Cup Qualifier Due to Reported Concussion
The US Men's national team limped to a 2-0 loss in Guatemala tonight with a lackadaisical performance that saw them completely out coached and played off the field. One of the big things before the game even started was the reports that two of the team's center backs, John Brooks and Matt Besler would miss the game due to injury. Brooks left camp and returned to Germany to rehab after suffering a knee injury.
Meanwhile, Besler, Sporting KC's captain suffered a concussion in training on Tuesday. Besler is currently going through US Soccer's concussion protocols to determine if he'll be able to go in this coming Tuesday's qualifier which is also against Guatemala. The protocol saw Besler pulled from practice and underwent an evaluation that included a standardized acute concussion evaluation using a SCAT3. Besler must now return to his base level of testing before he will be allowed to return to undergo further post-injury neurocognitive testing to confirm that he is indeed back to his full level neurologically.
With concussions though it is not something that you rush back from or else you risk further concussions and injuries. Besler returning by Tuesday for the game against Guatemala in Columbus would be a surprise. In fact at this point I think you have to think that Besler is a serious doubt to play next weekend for Sporting Kansas City when they host Real Salt Lake at Sporting Park. Last year when Graham Zusi and Seth Sinovic both suffered concussions against DC United, Zusi missed 11 days before returning to the bench for Kansas City and 14 days before he returned to action. Sinovic meanwhile missed a lot more time, missing three and a half months of the season for KC before making his return on August 29th.
What that means for Sporting is that I wouldn't expect Besler in uniform on the second against RSL. Based on today's story from the KC Star, I'd probably be getting ready for a center back partnership of Nuno Coelho and Kevin Ellis.
Meanwhile, Besler, Sporting KC's captain suffered a concussion in training on Tuesday. Besler is currently going through US Soccer's concussion protocols to determine if he'll be able to go in this coming Tuesday's qualifier which is also against Guatemala. The protocol saw Besler pulled from practice and underwent an evaluation that included a standardized acute concussion evaluation using a SCAT3. Besler must now return to his base level of testing before he will be allowed to return to undergo further post-injury neurocognitive testing to confirm that he is indeed back to his full level neurologically.
With concussions though it is not something that you rush back from or else you risk further concussions and injuries. Besler returning by Tuesday for the game against Guatemala in Columbus would be a surprise. In fact at this point I think you have to think that Besler is a serious doubt to play next weekend for Sporting Kansas City when they host Real Salt Lake at Sporting Park. Last year when Graham Zusi and Seth Sinovic both suffered concussions against DC United, Zusi missed 11 days before returning to the bench for Kansas City and 14 days before he returned to action. Sinovic meanwhile missed a lot more time, missing three and a half months of the season for KC before making his return on August 29th.
What that means for Sporting is that I wouldn't expect Besler in uniform on the second against RSL. Based on today's story from the KC Star, I'd probably be getting ready for a center back partnership of Nuno Coelho and Kevin Ellis.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Besler Called Up for US
Sporting Kansas City captain, Matt Besler will be joining the US men's national team for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Besler will be joining Roger Espinoza and Soni Mustivar on international duty this next week. The US team currently sit in first place in their group in qualifying with four points from their first two games. They now play a pair of games against Guatemala. First on Friday they'll be playing in Guatemala City before a return leg next week in Columbus. Besler won't miss any time for Sporting as the club is off from league play this next week, returning to action on April 2nd against Real Salt Lake.
Wednesday, March 02, 2016
Kansas City to Host Copa America Tune Up Friendly for US?
Reports out of Bolivia and FIFA are that the US men's national team will be returning to Kansas City in 2016. Facetas Deportivas in Bolivia is reporting that the Bolivian national team in preparation for the 2016 Copa America in the United States will play a friendly in Kansas City on May 29th against the United States. The match is also currently listed on FIFA's site, although it lists the date as the 28th. Steven Goff with the Washington Post confirmed that the two sides are apparently working towards a deal but said that it wasn't finalized as yet.
While the US has previously played four World Cup qualifiers and two Gold Cup group phase games in Kansas City in their history, going 5-0-1, the only draw coming in last year's Gold Cup against Panama, this would be the first friendly the men's team has played in Kansas City. The assumption is that the game would take place at Children's Mercy Park, the site of the last four games the US has played in Kansas City. This would also be the second international friendly in as many years hosted in Kansas City as Mexico defeated Paraguay at Arrowhead Stadium 1-0 in 2015.
No matter the date, the game would likely serve as the last tune up for the US team before they kick off the Copa America tournament on June 3rd in Santa Clara against Colombia. It would also come a day or two (depending on if the game is officially on the 28th as FIFA has it or the 29th as Bolivia announced it) after Sporting KC is scheduled to take on DC United at home.
No matter the date, the game would likely serve as the last tune up for the US team before they kick off the Copa America tournament on June 3rd in Santa Clara against Colombia. It would also come a day or two (depending on if the game is officially on the 28th as FIFA has it or the 29th as Bolivia announced it) after Sporting KC is scheduled to take on DC United at home.
Wednesday, January 06, 2016
Besler Called Up for January US Camp
Jurgen Klinsmann today announced the US roster for this year's January camp in Carson, California that will finish with games against Iceland on January 31st and Canada on February 5th. Sporting KC will once again be represented at the camp as the club's captain; Matt Besler was selected for the list. Besler is the lone Sporting KC representative as reports yesterday that Graham Zusi and Benny Feilhaber were not called in were correct. With the call up, Besler will miss the beginning of preseason with Sporting Kansas City, not joining up with the team until after they return from their first leg in Tucson on February 8th most likely.
Besler is easily the most experienced defender on the roster at the international level, his 29 caps leads the way among defenders, with only one other player, Matt Miazga (1 cap), having a senior national team appearance. In fact, it's a very young roster top to bottom as Besler is the fifth most capped player on the whole roster behind Michael Bradley (109), Jozy Altidore (89), Jermaine Jones (56), and Mix Diskerud (36).
As a whole the roster is made up of players that are eligible for the US U23 team. They have a home and home qualifier against Colombia coming up for the final spot in the 2016 Olympics in Rio. So Klinsmann will use this camp to get a look at a number of those players ahead of the playoff.
Tuesday, January 05, 2016
REPORT: Feilhaber and Zusi Not on January US Camp Roster
The US men's national team was originally supposed to start their January training camp, aka Camp Cupcake, yesterday in California ahead of friendlies against Iceland and Canada. Last week though it was announced without reason that the camp would start a week later. Today a report from Grant Wahl came out with the reason for the delay. Apparently a number of veterans expressed concern over the camp, specifically that the first week of camp would be focused entirely on fitness to both US Soccer and coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
Klinsmann and the federation listened pushing the start of camp back a week, but at the same time mentioned how the USA's first opponent, Iceland is already training in preparation for the game. The article implies that a number of veterans on the original 36 man preliminary roster were not included on the final roster because of their speaking up to the federation and Klinsmann. The list includes World Cup veterans like Nick Rimando, Chris Wondolowski, Clint Dempsey, and Sporting Kansas City's Graham Zusi.
Zusi's absence from the roster while a little surprising based on the history that he has had with the US team and Klinsmann regularly calling him up isn't fully surprising. Based on his form this past season Zusi really didn't deserve a call up to the national team right now, he finished the 2015 season with just two league goals and five assists, both career lows since gaining a regular starting spot for Sporting. As a whole this may be the best thing possible for Zusi, it'd mean he'd be with Sporting KC throughout all of preseason this year and be able to focus solely on that and improving his performance in 2016.
One player that should have been called up based solely on form is Kansas City's Benny Feilhaber. The 30 year old finished the 2015 season with 10 goals and 15 assists, numbers that saw him named to MLS's Best XI and a finalist for the Landon Donovan MVP award.
As has become the expected outcome when it comes to Feilhaber and the US national team, Feilhaber though will not be included in the roster for Camp Cupcake according to Wahl's report. Considering nothing has likely changed since this article that mentions Feilhaber having not heard from the national team since 2014. While it's great for Sporting that Feilhaber will be available to Sporting KC instead of splitting time between club and country, it speaks poorly from the aspect of being able to "earn" a call up to the national team by playing well for your club team.
That likely leaves Kansas City with just a single call up to this January's camp, Sporting's captain, Matt Besler.
Klinsmann and the federation listened pushing the start of camp back a week, but at the same time mentioned how the USA's first opponent, Iceland is already training in preparation for the game. The article implies that a number of veterans on the original 36 man preliminary roster were not included on the final roster because of their speaking up to the federation and Klinsmann. The list includes World Cup veterans like Nick Rimando, Chris Wondolowski, Clint Dempsey, and Sporting Kansas City's Graham Zusi.
Zusi's absence from the roster while a little surprising based on the history that he has had with the US team and Klinsmann regularly calling him up isn't fully surprising. Based on his form this past season Zusi really didn't deserve a call up to the national team right now, he finished the 2015 season with just two league goals and five assists, both career lows since gaining a regular starting spot for Sporting. As a whole this may be the best thing possible for Zusi, it'd mean he'd be with Sporting KC throughout all of preseason this year and be able to focus solely on that and improving his performance in 2016.
One player that should have been called up based solely on form is Kansas City's Benny Feilhaber. The 30 year old finished the 2015 season with 10 goals and 15 assists, numbers that saw him named to MLS's Best XI and a finalist for the Landon Donovan MVP award.
As has become the expected outcome when it comes to Feilhaber and the US national team, Feilhaber though will not be included in the roster for Camp Cupcake according to Wahl's report. Considering nothing has likely changed since this article that mentions Feilhaber having not heard from the national team since 2014. While it's great for Sporting that Feilhaber will be available to Sporting KC instead of splitting time between club and country, it speaks poorly from the aspect of being able to "earn" a call up to the national team by playing well for your club team.
That likely leaves Kansas City with just a single call up to this January's camp, Sporting's captain, Matt Besler.
Saturday, January 02, 2016
2016 Wants and Wishes
The new year has started and with the new year come new wants and wishes for the year. With that in mind here are my wants and wishes for 2016.
1. Silverware - Always the main goal, more trophies, more painting the wall for Sporting Kansas City. In the past two years all three professional soccer teams in KC have won at least one trophy, fans have been a little spoiled lately, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't want more of them.
2. Sporting KC address center back issues - I like Ike Opara, I think he's a very good and capable center back when he's healthy. But that is the main problem, since coming into the league in 2010 he's made it through exactly one season without it ending early due to injury. And that one season was 2013 when he wasn't even the primary starter for Sporting KC. His replacement last year, Kevin Ellis performed admirably, but he's not a starter full time at this level for me.Erik Palmer-Brown could be the future at that position, but I'm not sure he's ready to be the starter there at 18, although I'd love for him to have a Matt Miazga type season. The team's other two potential center backs currently, Lawrence Olum and Amobi Okugo both seem likely to stay in midfield, although I feel Okugo's best games with the Philadelphia Union were at center back. Whether it's within MLS or elsewhere, KC needs to find someone that can consistently be the starter next to Besler at the MLS level.
3. Keep Krisztian Nemeth in Sporting blue - This is going to be a two part wish, the first part is going to be going on now as the transfer window has reopened in Europe. There's been talk that Nemeth had some interest from teams in Europe after a season that saw him score 16 goals across all competitions for Kansas City. While Robb Heineman has said he expects Nemeth to be back in KC this year things could change if a team that really needs goal scoring comes calling. The second part of this will come this summer, which is usually a more active window for European teams when it comes to buy. Combine that with this summer's European Championships that Nemeth is likely to play in with Hungary, more offers could come in at that time. But keeping Nemeth in Sporting blue has to be a priority. Last year he took a lot of pressure off of Dom Dwyer, allowing both to play better.
4. Sporting advance from their CCL group - Sporting KC is back into the CONCACAF Champions League in 2016 and after their last trip in 2014 ended with an elimination by Saprissa at the group stage I'd like to see Sporting get into the knock out phase this year. In the 2015 group stage ended with either an MLS team or a Mexican team on top of their group, I'd hate for KC to be the one that potentially breaks that streak.
5. Jon Kempin and Erik Palmer-Brown both play 15 plus games - I wanted to make this 20 plus games but I'm going to make this a little lower. I don't mean that they play 15 plus games for Sporting KC this year, although that would speak wonders to what Peter Vermes sees in them, but I mean 15 plus games either for Sporting or for the new Swope Park Rangers. The key thing for both Kempin and Palmer-Brown at this point is to get them games. Kempin's games last year were cut after KC cut Luis Marin loose and recalled Kempin. And with Palmer-Brown being a teenager it's not surprising that Vermes wanted him closer to home where he could be more in control of his development. With the Rangers now in town and Vermes able to work directly with Marco dos Santos and observe practice more easily, there's no reason that these two should not be getting a lot more games now.
6. Swope Park Rangers have successful first season - Sporting KC's USL affiliate is set to debut in the USL this season playing at the Swope Soccer Village. While the team will certainly have some focus on winning considering who is in charge of the team, the main focus of their success should be on developing players for the first team. So far of the five players that the Rangers have signed, the oldest is 26 year old goalkeeper Zac Lubin, and the average age of he five is 23.8. Developing the younger talent like Kris Tyrpak and Johnny Grant could be a big boost to the first team.
7. US national team has a respectable performance in the Copa America Centenario - My interest in the US men's national team over the last two years plus has really started to wane. Last year's Gold Cup was a big let down as was the loss to Mexico in LA for the chance to make the Confederations Cup in 2017. At this point plenty of fans are frustrated with the performance that the team has put out under head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. I'm not stupid enough to think that a poor performance here would get Klinsmann fired, and I'm not one to completely turn on the US hoping they fall flat on their face in the hopes that Klinsmann is fired. That said I want a respectable performance out of the US. For me that means at least making it out of their group, meaning finishing in the top two. They'll avoid Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina in group play which will help, but CONMEBOL is full of strong teams that will cause the US plenty of problems.
8. Missouri Comets get past Baltimore Blast - Last year the Blast ended the Comets season in the MASL semifinals falling in both games and losing their headers at home in the final game. This year the two teams again appear to be on a collision course to meet in the playoffs. The two will get a chance to see each other before the playoffs though as the teams meet three times in the final month or so of the season, with two of those games taking place at the Silverstein Eye Centers Arena.
9. FCKC recover from losing four regulars - The Blues are going to have some rebuilding to do after winning back to back NWSL titles. FC Kansas City has lost a number of their starters from this past season and will have a number of holes to fill. The team is losing US women's national teamer, Lauren Holiday, and defenders Amy LePeilbet and Leigh Ann Brown to retirement . They'll also be losing Amy Rodriguez at least for the 2016 season as it was announced that Rodriguez will miss the 2016 season as she is pregnant with her second child. The team still has the likes of Becky Sauerbrunn, Heather O'Reilly, and Nicole Barnhart which will certainly help FCKC, but Vlatko Andonovski will have his work cut out for him as FCKC looks to go for the three peat.
1. Silverware - Always the main goal, more trophies, more painting the wall for Sporting Kansas City. In the past two years all three professional soccer teams in KC have won at least one trophy, fans have been a little spoiled lately, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't want more of them.
2. Sporting KC address center back issues - I like Ike Opara, I think he's a very good and capable center back when he's healthy. But that is the main problem, since coming into the league in 2010 he's made it through exactly one season without it ending early due to injury. And that one season was 2013 when he wasn't even the primary starter for Sporting KC. His replacement last year, Kevin Ellis performed admirably, but he's not a starter full time at this level for me.Erik Palmer-Brown could be the future at that position, but I'm not sure he's ready to be the starter there at 18, although I'd love for him to have a Matt Miazga type season. The team's other two potential center backs currently, Lawrence Olum and Amobi Okugo both seem likely to stay in midfield, although I feel Okugo's best games with the Philadelphia Union were at center back. Whether it's within MLS or elsewhere, KC needs to find someone that can consistently be the starter next to Besler at the MLS level.
3. Keep Krisztian Nemeth in Sporting blue - This is going to be a two part wish, the first part is going to be going on now as the transfer window has reopened in Europe. There's been talk that Nemeth had some interest from teams in Europe after a season that saw him score 16 goals across all competitions for Kansas City. While Robb Heineman has said he expects Nemeth to be back in KC this year things could change if a team that really needs goal scoring comes calling. The second part of this will come this summer, which is usually a more active window for European teams when it comes to buy. Combine that with this summer's European Championships that Nemeth is likely to play in with Hungary, more offers could come in at that time. But keeping Nemeth in Sporting blue has to be a priority. Last year he took a lot of pressure off of Dom Dwyer, allowing both to play better.
4. Sporting advance from their CCL group - Sporting KC is back into the CONCACAF Champions League in 2016 and after their last trip in 2014 ended with an elimination by Saprissa at the group stage I'd like to see Sporting get into the knock out phase this year. In the 2015 group stage ended with either an MLS team or a Mexican team on top of their group, I'd hate for KC to be the one that potentially breaks that streak.
5. Jon Kempin and Erik Palmer-Brown both play 15 plus games - I wanted to make this 20 plus games but I'm going to make this a little lower. I don't mean that they play 15 plus games for Sporting KC this year, although that would speak wonders to what Peter Vermes sees in them, but I mean 15 plus games either for Sporting or for the new Swope Park Rangers. The key thing for both Kempin and Palmer-Brown at this point is to get them games. Kempin's games last year were cut after KC cut Luis Marin loose and recalled Kempin. And with Palmer-Brown being a teenager it's not surprising that Vermes wanted him closer to home where he could be more in control of his development. With the Rangers now in town and Vermes able to work directly with Marco dos Santos and observe practice more easily, there's no reason that these two should not be getting a lot more games now.
6. Swope Park Rangers have successful first season - Sporting KC's USL affiliate is set to debut in the USL this season playing at the Swope Soccer Village. While the team will certainly have some focus on winning considering who is in charge of the team, the main focus of their success should be on developing players for the first team. So far of the five players that the Rangers have signed, the oldest is 26 year old goalkeeper Zac Lubin, and the average age of he five is 23.8. Developing the younger talent like Kris Tyrpak and Johnny Grant could be a big boost to the first team.
7. US national team has a respectable performance in the Copa America Centenario - My interest in the US men's national team over the last two years plus has really started to wane. Last year's Gold Cup was a big let down as was the loss to Mexico in LA for the chance to make the Confederations Cup in 2017. At this point plenty of fans are frustrated with the performance that the team has put out under head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. I'm not stupid enough to think that a poor performance here would get Klinsmann fired, and I'm not one to completely turn on the US hoping they fall flat on their face in the hopes that Klinsmann is fired. That said I want a respectable performance out of the US. For me that means at least making it out of their group, meaning finishing in the top two. They'll avoid Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina in group play which will help, but CONMEBOL is full of strong teams that will cause the US plenty of problems.
8. Missouri Comets get past Baltimore Blast - Last year the Blast ended the Comets season in the MASL semifinals falling in both games and losing their headers at home in the final game. This year the two teams again appear to be on a collision course to meet in the playoffs. The two will get a chance to see each other before the playoffs though as the teams meet three times in the final month or so of the season, with two of those games taking place at the Silverstein Eye Centers Arena.
9. FCKC recover from losing four regulars - The Blues are going to have some rebuilding to do after winning back to back NWSL titles. FC Kansas City has lost a number of their starters from this past season and will have a number of holes to fill. The team is losing US women's national teamer, Lauren Holiday, and defenders Amy LePeilbet and Leigh Ann Brown to retirement . They'll also be losing Amy Rodriguez at least for the 2016 season as it was announced that Rodriguez will miss the 2016 season as she is pregnant with her second child. The team still has the likes of Becky Sauerbrunn, Heather O'Reilly, and Nicole Barnhart which will certainly help FCKC, but Vlatko Andonovski will have his work cut out for him as FCKC looks to go for the three peat.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
A Look Back at my 2015 Wants and Wishes
With 2015 about to end, here's a look at my 2015 wants and wishes and how they turned out ahead of the calendar switch to 2016.
1. Silverware - Silverware is always fun and this year Kansas City soccer teams brought home two trophies. Sporting KC started the season off strong and for a period of time looked to be one of the favorites to win MLS Cup. Injuries though played a role in their downfall, but in the end were able to finish the season with their third trophy in four years, the US Open Cup. It was the club's third US Open Cup trophy to go with the 2004 and 2012 trophies, and as expected, came in a penalty kick shootout. Also this year FC Kansas City brought home their second straight NWSL title repeating as champions with a 1-0 win over Seattle thanks to an Amy Rodriguez goal.
2. Sporting KC improve their home form - I'd say this was a successful wish for 2015, Sporting KC. After going 6-5-6 in 2014, and losing 10 over the last two years, Kansas City lost just twice at home in 2015. Sporting finished with a 10-2-5 record, an 11 point positive swing in Kansas City's favor from their 2014 form. Add in their four US Open Cup wins at home and KC went 14-2-5 in 2015, tying a club record for home wins.
3. A little more balanced scoring - Overall scoring was much better for Kansas City in 2015. The club didn't have to rely solely on Dom Dwyer and ended up scoring 64 goals in all competitions, the second most in club history. Leading the way was Dwyer, Krisztian Nemeth, and Benny Feilhaber who all scored 10 goals or more in league play, becoming the first trio to accomplish that feat in one season for Kansas City. While Dwyer's scoring was down, he still led the team with 12 league goals, added another five in the US Open Cup, and one in the playoffs to finish the season with 16. Nemeth to go along with his 10 league goals scored five in the Open Cup for 15, while Feilhaber added two in the Open cup to finish with 12 on the season.
4. Finally defeat the Seattle Sounders at home - Sporting finally got their first home win against the Sounders thanks to a late Benny Feilhaber penalty kick back on June 6th. KC actually was unbeaten against the Sounders this year, going 1-0-2, drawing 0-0 in Seattle on May 23rd and earning a 1-1 draw at home on September 27th with a mostly reserve lineup three days before the US Open Cup final.
5. Ike Opara (or whoever partners Matt Besler) is fully recovered and starts 25-30 games - I guess I can't technically call this one a failure as Kevin Ellis started 26 games paired with Matt Besler in central defense for Sporting during the regular season, but the spirit of this wish didn't come true, especially after the way Ike Opara started the season. Opara had been Sporting's best player over the first month of the season, but another injury in early May put him out for the rest of the season leaving KC to lean heavily on homegrown player Kevin Ellis again. Ellis performed better than I think anyone expected, but was still prone to mistakes that a player with more size or experience at center back wouldn't make.
6. Luis Marin is available for all 34 league games, allowing Jon Kempin to start all but a game or two with Oklahoma City - Well this is another one that didn't come to be at all. We'll ignore the fact that Jon Kempin didn't go on loan at all to the Energy and instead focus on the fact that Luis Marin played just eight games for Kansas City before being benched in favor of Tim Melia. Marin just never seemed to adjust to the style of play of MLS very well. He did pick up three shutouts in his eight games, but two of those were at home against teams that seemed to have little to no interest in attacking on the road (Portland and Salt Lake) and the third came against New York City. The last straw for Marin came in the club's 4-4 draw with Houston where Marin was at least partially responsible for a few of the Dynamo goals. Marin though has rebounded well in Chile where he helped lead Palestino to the Apertura finals there.
And while Melia turned out to be a diamond in the rough as a starter for Kansas City, Kempin only appeared in three games for KC after being recalled from his loan to San Antonio. Peter Vermes says Kempin will challenge Melia for the starting job in 2016 preseason. If Kempin doesn't beat Melia out I hope he can spend quite a bit of time with the Swope Park Rangers getting plenty of minutes.
7. US Men's national team says perfect in Kansas City - Unfortunately the perfect run in Kansas City ended at five as the US national team drew with Panama 1-1 at Sporting Park in the final group play game of the 2015 Gold Cup. Falling behind on a first half goal by Blas Perez the US equalized early in the second half on a goal by Michael Bradley. The entire group stage of the Gold Cup didn't go that well for the US, and the problems were only compounded in the knock out round, but I'll get to that next.
8. US win the Gold Cup - I almost want to laugh at this wish now, after seeing how the 2015 Gold Cup played out. After getting out of Group A as the top seed going 2-0-1 but looking less than impressive in their wins against Honduras and Haiti, and draw against Panama, the US took Cuba behind the woodshed, winning 6-0 in the quarterfinals. This set up a semifinal match against Jamaica. The Jamaicans came out on the front foot and really pushed the game against the United States and were rewarded for it with goals from Darren Mattocks and Giles Barnes putting them up 2-0 at half time. Michael Bradley scored very early in the second half to give the US hope, but they were unable to break down the Jamaican defense and missed the finals for the first time since 2003. Things got even worse for the US as they lost the third place game on penalty kicks to Panama after drawing 1-1 with Fabian Johnson, Bradley, and DeMarcus Beasley all missing.
9. Missouri Comets return to championship game - Unfortunately the Comets didn't make it back to the finals. After going undefeated in the regular season and defeating Milwaukee 8-2 in the Central Division final, the Comets met up with the Baltimore Blast, losing 6-4 in Baltimore then coming home and having the wheels completely come off their season with red cards and suspensions being issued to Brian Harris and John Sosa and then the headbutt incident involving Andre Braithwaite and Pat Healey after the game. Not the way you want to end your season with so much of a sour taste in the team's and fans' mouths.
10. FC Kansas City improve attendance - FC Kansas City played in their third stadium in three years as they moved from Durwood on UMKC's campus down the road to the newly completed Swope Soccer Village and played at the Championship field there. The move bumped the available capacity to 3,557 for the Blues in their third season. The move, coming off a championship, and a boost from the Women's World Cup helped FCKC up their average attendance by over 1,000, going from 2,018 to 3,091 in 2015.
11. US women's team wins World Cup - The United States made it through their group as the winners picking up wins over Australia and Nigeria with a draw against Sweden in between to finish with 7 points. They met the upstart Colombians in the round of 16 and needed two second half goals after Colombia's starting goalkeeper was sent off to see them through. The quarterfinals saw a rematch of the 1999 final against China with Carli Lloyd scoring the lone goal to send the US through to the semifinals. There they met two time winners, Germany. The US though played their best game of the tournament up to that point though and scored twice in the second half from a Lloyd penalty and a Kelley O'Hara goal to make the finals. There they met Japan, who had beaten them in the finals of the last World Cup in Germany. The knockout rounds though had become the Carli Lloyd show and she continued in the finals. Lloyd had had two goals in the first five minutes as the US jumped on Japan early. Lauren Holiday scored in the 14th to make it 3-0 and in the 16th Lloyd finished her hattrick with an outlandish shot from midfield that went over goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori and into the net to make it 4-0 to the US before Japan even knew what happened. Japan got a goal back on each side of halftime before Tobin Heath finished the scoring in the 54th to give the US the 5-2 win.
1. Silverware - Silverware is always fun and this year Kansas City soccer teams brought home two trophies. Sporting KC started the season off strong and for a period of time looked to be one of the favorites to win MLS Cup. Injuries though played a role in their downfall, but in the end were able to finish the season with their third trophy in four years, the US Open Cup. It was the club's third US Open Cup trophy to go with the 2004 and 2012 trophies, and as expected, came in a penalty kick shootout. Also this year FC Kansas City brought home their second straight NWSL title repeating as champions with a 1-0 win over Seattle thanks to an Amy Rodriguez goal.
2. Sporting KC improve their home form - I'd say this was a successful wish for 2015, Sporting KC. After going 6-5-6 in 2014, and losing 10 over the last two years, Kansas City lost just twice at home in 2015. Sporting finished with a 10-2-5 record, an 11 point positive swing in Kansas City's favor from their 2014 form. Add in their four US Open Cup wins at home and KC went 14-2-5 in 2015, tying a club record for home wins.
3. A little more balanced scoring - Overall scoring was much better for Kansas City in 2015. The club didn't have to rely solely on Dom Dwyer and ended up scoring 64 goals in all competitions, the second most in club history. Leading the way was Dwyer, Krisztian Nemeth, and Benny Feilhaber who all scored 10 goals or more in league play, becoming the first trio to accomplish that feat in one season for Kansas City. While Dwyer's scoring was down, he still led the team with 12 league goals, added another five in the US Open Cup, and one in the playoffs to finish the season with 16. Nemeth to go along with his 10 league goals scored five in the Open Cup for 15, while Feilhaber added two in the Open cup to finish with 12 on the season.
4. Finally defeat the Seattle Sounders at home - Sporting finally got their first home win against the Sounders thanks to a late Benny Feilhaber penalty kick back on June 6th. KC actually was unbeaten against the Sounders this year, going 1-0-2, drawing 0-0 in Seattle on May 23rd and earning a 1-1 draw at home on September 27th with a mostly reserve lineup three days before the US Open Cup final.
5. Ike Opara (or whoever partners Matt Besler) is fully recovered and starts 25-30 games - I guess I can't technically call this one a failure as Kevin Ellis started 26 games paired with Matt Besler in central defense for Sporting during the regular season, but the spirit of this wish didn't come true, especially after the way Ike Opara started the season. Opara had been Sporting's best player over the first month of the season, but another injury in early May put him out for the rest of the season leaving KC to lean heavily on homegrown player Kevin Ellis again. Ellis performed better than I think anyone expected, but was still prone to mistakes that a player with more size or experience at center back wouldn't make.
6. Luis Marin is available for all 34 league games, allowing Jon Kempin to start all but a game or two with Oklahoma City - Well this is another one that didn't come to be at all. We'll ignore the fact that Jon Kempin didn't go on loan at all to the Energy and instead focus on the fact that Luis Marin played just eight games for Kansas City before being benched in favor of Tim Melia. Marin just never seemed to adjust to the style of play of MLS very well. He did pick up three shutouts in his eight games, but two of those were at home against teams that seemed to have little to no interest in attacking on the road (Portland and Salt Lake) and the third came against New York City. The last straw for Marin came in the club's 4-4 draw with Houston where Marin was at least partially responsible for a few of the Dynamo goals. Marin though has rebounded well in Chile where he helped lead Palestino to the Apertura finals there.
And while Melia turned out to be a diamond in the rough as a starter for Kansas City, Kempin only appeared in three games for KC after being recalled from his loan to San Antonio. Peter Vermes says Kempin will challenge Melia for the starting job in 2016 preseason. If Kempin doesn't beat Melia out I hope he can spend quite a bit of time with the Swope Park Rangers getting plenty of minutes.
7. US Men's national team says perfect in Kansas City - Unfortunately the perfect run in Kansas City ended at five as the US national team drew with Panama 1-1 at Sporting Park in the final group play game of the 2015 Gold Cup. Falling behind on a first half goal by Blas Perez the US equalized early in the second half on a goal by Michael Bradley. The entire group stage of the Gold Cup didn't go that well for the US, and the problems were only compounded in the knock out round, but I'll get to that next.
8. US win the Gold Cup - I almost want to laugh at this wish now, after seeing how the 2015 Gold Cup played out. After getting out of Group A as the top seed going 2-0-1 but looking less than impressive in their wins against Honduras and Haiti, and draw against Panama, the US took Cuba behind the woodshed, winning 6-0 in the quarterfinals. This set up a semifinal match against Jamaica. The Jamaicans came out on the front foot and really pushed the game against the United States and were rewarded for it with goals from Darren Mattocks and Giles Barnes putting them up 2-0 at half time. Michael Bradley scored very early in the second half to give the US hope, but they were unable to break down the Jamaican defense and missed the finals for the first time since 2003. Things got even worse for the US as they lost the third place game on penalty kicks to Panama after drawing 1-1 with Fabian Johnson, Bradley, and DeMarcus Beasley all missing.
9. Missouri Comets return to championship game - Unfortunately the Comets didn't make it back to the finals. After going undefeated in the regular season and defeating Milwaukee 8-2 in the Central Division final, the Comets met up with the Baltimore Blast, losing 6-4 in Baltimore then coming home and having the wheels completely come off their season with red cards and suspensions being issued to Brian Harris and John Sosa and then the headbutt incident involving Andre Braithwaite and Pat Healey after the game. Not the way you want to end your season with so much of a sour taste in the team's and fans' mouths.
10. FC Kansas City improve attendance - FC Kansas City played in their third stadium in three years as they moved from Durwood on UMKC's campus down the road to the newly completed Swope Soccer Village and played at the Championship field there. The move bumped the available capacity to 3,557 for the Blues in their third season. The move, coming off a championship, and a boost from the Women's World Cup helped FCKC up their average attendance by over 1,000, going from 2,018 to 3,091 in 2015.
11. US women's team wins World Cup - The United States made it through their group as the winners picking up wins over Australia and Nigeria with a draw against Sweden in between to finish with 7 points. They met the upstart Colombians in the round of 16 and needed two second half goals after Colombia's starting goalkeeper was sent off to see them through. The quarterfinals saw a rematch of the 1999 final against China with Carli Lloyd scoring the lone goal to send the US through to the semifinals. There they met two time winners, Germany. The US though played their best game of the tournament up to that point though and scored twice in the second half from a Lloyd penalty and a Kelley O'Hara goal to make the finals. There they met Japan, who had beaten them in the finals of the last World Cup in Germany. The knockout rounds though had become the Carli Lloyd show and she continued in the finals. Lloyd had had two goals in the first five minutes as the US jumped on Japan early. Lauren Holiday scored in the 14th to make it 3-0 and in the 16th Lloyd finished her hattrick with an outlandish shot from midfield that went over goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori and into the net to make it 4-0 to the US before Japan even knew what happened. Japan got a goal back on each side of halftime before Tobin Heath finished the scoring in the 54th to give the US the 5-2 win.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Sporting's CONCACAF Internationals Go Winless
Sporting KC's three CONCACAF internationals all started last night for their countries in World Cup qualifiers, unfortunately though none of them were able to pick up a win. Matt Besler, Marcel de Jong, and Soni Mustivar all started for the US, Canada, and Haiti in the second match of the fourth round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. The US and Canada had both picked up wins in their first game while Haiti had lost on the road to Costa Rica in their first game.
Last night it was the first road game for both the US and Canada. The US took on Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain. Besler started for the US again, partnering Geoff Cameron in the middle of the USA's defense. The pair was solid for the US all night working to keep Trinidad striker Kenwyne Jones in check. At the other end of the field though the USA struggled offensively. It certainly wasn't a pretty game for the US and ended 0-0, but they'll take the point on the road and will remain strong favorites to advance out of the group.
Canada's first road trip was in San Salvador where they played an El Salvador team that has players on strike. De Jong once again started at left back for Canada as they too escaped with a road point. Like the US, Canada now has four points from their first two games. They now sit second in their group behind Mexico, who has six points.
Mustivar and Haiti weren't as lucky at home against Jamaica. After a strong Gold Cup it was thought that Haiti could make Group B a real group of death in CONCACAF that could see Costa Rica or Panama upset and not make the Hex. Haiti though suffered a 1-0 loss at home last night in Port-au-Prince to Jamaica which now leaves them rooted at the foot of the group after two games. Mustivar started for the Haitians in his traditional midfield position.
Qualifying is now done until March when the US will take on Guatemala in a pair of games, Canada will play Mexico, and Haiti will play Panama.
Friday, November 13, 2015
Sporting Internationals Go 3-1 in First Games of Break
Sporting Kansas City's four internationals on duty with their national team went 3-1 over the last two days as the international break kicked off.
The first game occurred yesterday when Kristian Nemeth and Hungary kicked off their European Championship playoff in Oslo, Norway against the Norwegians. Norway controlled the game at home, but a goalkeeping error by Orjan Nyland allowed Laszlo Kleinheisler to score on his debut with the senior national team. The Hungarian defense held out and Hungary took a 1-0 lead back to Budapest for their game on Sunday. A win, a draw, or a one goal loss when Hungary scores will see them through to next summer's Euros. Nemeth went 90 minutes for Hungary in the win.
The other three games all occurred tonight. Sporting's captain, Matt Besler started the game for the US national team in St. Louis against St. Vincent and Grenadines. Things didn't start well as the US fell behind 1-0 early, but the US came back though and scored six unanswered to win 6-1. Besler had a couple chances himself to score his first international goal, including a flick on header that hit the cross bar. Late on Besler actually moved up into the midfield and played much more advanced than any KC fan has seen him play after Jermaine Jones picked up an injury after the US had used all three substitutions. The US will now travel to Trinidad for a game early next week against Trinidad and Tobago.
Up in Vancouver, Marcel de Jong started for the Canadian national team as they were able to exercise some of their demons from last cycle against Honduras. The last time the two teams had met in World Cup qualifiers Canada just needed a draw to advance to the "Hex" but ended up getting destroyed 8-1 and were eliminated from the World Cup. Canada though got a deflected goal by Cyle Larin and the Canadian defense shut down Honduras to pick up a 1-0 win. Canada now gets to travel to El Salvador for their second game.
The lone loss from the first set of internationals came from Soni Mustivar and Haiti as they played on the road against Costa Rica. Mustivar started the game on the bench for Haiti. Costa Rica scored in the 29th minute to take a 1-0 lead. On the hour mark Mustivar was inserted into the game for Haiti for they were unable to find an equalizer and fell 1-0 on the road. Haiti will now get to host Jamaica in their second game in the group.
The first game occurred yesterday when Kristian Nemeth and Hungary kicked off their European Championship playoff in Oslo, Norway against the Norwegians. Norway controlled the game at home, but a goalkeeping error by Orjan Nyland allowed Laszlo Kleinheisler to score on his debut with the senior national team. The Hungarian defense held out and Hungary took a 1-0 lead back to Budapest for their game on Sunday. A win, a draw, or a one goal loss when Hungary scores will see them through to next summer's Euros. Nemeth went 90 minutes for Hungary in the win.
The other three games all occurred tonight. Sporting's captain, Matt Besler started the game for the US national team in St. Louis against St. Vincent and Grenadines. Things didn't start well as the US fell behind 1-0 early, but the US came back though and scored six unanswered to win 6-1. Besler had a couple chances himself to score his first international goal, including a flick on header that hit the cross bar. Late on Besler actually moved up into the midfield and played much more advanced than any KC fan has seen him play after Jermaine Jones picked up an injury after the US had used all three substitutions. The US will now travel to Trinidad for a game early next week against Trinidad and Tobago.
Up in Vancouver, Marcel de Jong started for the Canadian national team as they were able to exercise some of their demons from last cycle against Honduras. The last time the two teams had met in World Cup qualifiers Canada just needed a draw to advance to the "Hex" but ended up getting destroyed 8-1 and were eliminated from the World Cup. Canada though got a deflected goal by Cyle Larin and the Canadian defense shut down Honduras to pick up a 1-0 win. Canada now gets to travel to El Salvador for their second game.
The lone loss from the first set of internationals came from Soni Mustivar and Haiti as they played on the road against Costa Rica. Mustivar started the game on the bench for Haiti. Costa Rica scored in the 29th minute to take a 1-0 lead. On the hour mark Mustivar was inserted into the game for Haiti for they were unable to find an equalizer and fell 1-0 on the road. Haiti will now get to host Jamaica in their second game in the group.
Friday, November 06, 2015
Trio of Sporting Players Called Up
A couple days ago it was announced that Sporting KC midfielder, Soni Mustivar would be joining up with the Haitian national team ahead of their upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Today it was announced that three more Sporting KC players will be representing their country next week during the international break.
Sporting KC's captain, Matt Besler is back with the US national team for the beginning of their World Cup qualifying campaign next week. The US will begin play in Group 3 on Friday the 13th in St. Louis at Busch Stadium when they take on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the second game will occur four days later on the 17th in Port of Spain as the US take on Trinidad and Tobago. The last team in the USA's group is Central American side, Guatemala. Besler will look to add to his total of 27 caps, which is currently second on the team among active players for caps behind teammate Graham Zusi.
Also in World Cup qualifying, Marcel de Jong will be joining back up with Canada as they continue their World Cup qualifying campaign. Canada begins play hosting Honduras on November 13th in Vancouver before traveling to San Salvador to take on El Salvador. The final team in Canada's Group 1 is Mexico.
The final call up for Kansas City is Krisztian Nemeth who has been called up by Hungary for their UEFA Euro 2016 playoff against Norway. After finishing third in Group F in qualifying, Hungary just missed out on qualifying automatically as the best third place team. Unfortunately since they finished one point behind Turkey in that regard, Hungary now go into the playoffs. Hungary will play the first leg, in Oslo, Norway on Thursday, November 12th and then host the return leg in Budapest on Sunday the 15th. The winner of the head to head series will qualify for the Euros. Hungary is looking to qualify for their first major tournament since the 1986 World Cup.
Sporting KC's captain, Matt Besler is back with the US national team for the beginning of their World Cup qualifying campaign next week. The US will begin play in Group 3 on Friday the 13th in St. Louis at Busch Stadium when they take on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the second game will occur four days later on the 17th in Port of Spain as the US take on Trinidad and Tobago. The last team in the USA's group is Central American side, Guatemala. Besler will look to add to his total of 27 caps, which is currently second on the team among active players for caps behind teammate Graham Zusi.
Also in World Cup qualifying, Marcel de Jong will be joining back up with Canada as they continue their World Cup qualifying campaign. Canada begins play hosting Honduras on November 13th in Vancouver before traveling to San Salvador to take on El Salvador. The final team in Canada's Group 1 is Mexico.
The final call up for Kansas City is Krisztian Nemeth who has been called up by Hungary for their UEFA Euro 2016 playoff against Norway. After finishing third in Group F in qualifying, Hungary just missed out on qualifying automatically as the best third place team. Unfortunately since they finished one point behind Turkey in that regard, Hungary now go into the playoffs. Hungary will play the first leg, in Oslo, Norway on Thursday, November 12th and then host the return leg in Budapest on Sunday the 15th. The winner of the head to head series will qualify for the Euros. Hungary is looking to qualify for their first major tournament since the 1986 World Cup.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Ups and Downs for Sporting Internationals
Four Sporting KC players were on national team duty this week. The three important games have all taken place with only one game left.Krisztian Nemeth and Hungary had their European Cup qualifiers against the Faroe Islands and Greece, and Matt Besler, Graham Zusi, and the US had the CONCACAF Cup against Mexico. The one game left is Marcel de Jong and Canada's friendly against Ghana. Besler and Zusi will be returning to KC ahead of their game on Friday against San Jose and will not be participating in the USA's friendly against Costa Rica on Tuesday.
For Nemeth and Hungary it was a big week with a pair of European qualifiers. In their first game against the Faroe's, Nemeth started on the bench for Hungary in Budapest. An early goal by the Faroe's put Hungary in the whole early. When they were still trailing at half time Nemeth and Daniel Bode were both inserted into the game. The moves paid off as Bode scored twice to help Hungary to a 2-1 win. The win combined with Romania's draw with Finland saw Hungary clinch at least second place.
Today Nemeth started for Hungary in their final group game in Greece. With Greece guaranteed to finish last in the group, this game only mattered for Hungary if Romania fell on the road against the Faroe Islands. Unfortunately for Hungary around the same time they fell behind 1-0 to Greece Romania was grabbing a lead themselves. Romania ended up rolling to a 3-0 win clinching second place in the group. Hungary and Greece put on a good show. Before half time Hungary was level off a header. In the second half Hungary took the lead as Nemeth scored his second career international goal. Unfortunately minutes later Greece equalized to level the game at 2-2. Nemeth though again found the back of the net for his second goal of the game to again give Hungary the lead. Getting to three goals seemed a safe bet for Hungary grabbing all three points as they'd only allowed five goals in the previous nine games. But the Greeks again equalized shortly after Nemeth had put Hungary up 3-2. The Greeks continued to search for a winner and with less than five minutes left scored to make it 4-3 to the Greeks. While the loss doesn't hurt Hungary in terms of the standings it is still a disappointing result.
Now Hungary plays the waiting game to see if they qualify automatically as the best third place team or have to go through another stage of qualifiers. Currently Hungary sits at the top of the standings but only two teams can surpass them for points. The Ukraine who host Spain on Monday are one of them. If Spain can keep Ukraine from winning, Hungary will finish ahead of them.
The other result that Hungary needs in group A. Here there are a few results that could go Hungary's way. Turkey could lose to Iceland at home which would mean that they'd finish with with either nine or 13 points against the top five teams in the group. The other result is if Turkey ends up beating Iceland. If that happens, Hungary needs Latvia to not lose at home to Kazakhstan. A loss would see Kazakhstan jump above Latvia and into fifth place in the group. That would give Turkey four extra points as Turkey had two draws against Latvia and two wins vs Kazakhstan and bump them to 16 points against the top five teams in their group.
For the US things were a lot worse. Besler started in central defense against Mexico at the Rose Bowl in the CONCACAF Cup. The KC captain got pulled out of position on Mexico's opener, but had a solid game after that. The US tied the game through Geoff Cameron in the first half. The two teams went to extra time where Mexico again scored early to take a 2-1 lead. The US fought back a second time with Bobby Wood finding the back of the net again. Unfortunately Mexico found a third goal late in extra time to give them a 3-2 win and a ticket to the 2017 Confederations Cup. Zusi was an unused substitute for the US.
For Nemeth and Hungary it was a big week with a pair of European qualifiers. In their first game against the Faroe's, Nemeth started on the bench for Hungary in Budapest. An early goal by the Faroe's put Hungary in the whole early. When they were still trailing at half time Nemeth and Daniel Bode were both inserted into the game. The moves paid off as Bode scored twice to help Hungary to a 2-1 win. The win combined with Romania's draw with Finland saw Hungary clinch at least second place.
Today Nemeth started for Hungary in their final group game in Greece. With Greece guaranteed to finish last in the group, this game only mattered for Hungary if Romania fell on the road against the Faroe Islands. Unfortunately for Hungary around the same time they fell behind 1-0 to Greece Romania was grabbing a lead themselves. Romania ended up rolling to a 3-0 win clinching second place in the group. Hungary and Greece put on a good show. Before half time Hungary was level off a header. In the second half Hungary took the lead as Nemeth scored his second career international goal. Unfortunately minutes later Greece equalized to level the game at 2-2. Nemeth though again found the back of the net for his second goal of the game to again give Hungary the lead. Getting to three goals seemed a safe bet for Hungary grabbing all three points as they'd only allowed five goals in the previous nine games. But the Greeks again equalized shortly after Nemeth had put Hungary up 3-2. The Greeks continued to search for a winner and with less than five minutes left scored to make it 4-3 to the Greeks. While the loss doesn't hurt Hungary in terms of the standings it is still a disappointing result.
Now Hungary plays the waiting game to see if they qualify automatically as the best third place team or have to go through another stage of qualifiers. Currently Hungary sits at the top of the standings but only two teams can surpass them for points. The Ukraine who host Spain on Monday are one of them. If Spain can keep Ukraine from winning, Hungary will finish ahead of them.
The other result that Hungary needs in group A. Here there are a few results that could go Hungary's way. Turkey could lose to Iceland at home which would mean that they'd finish with with either nine or 13 points against the top five teams in the group. The other result is if Turkey ends up beating Iceland. If that happens, Hungary needs Latvia to not lose at home to Kazakhstan. A loss would see Kazakhstan jump above Latvia and into fifth place in the group. That would give Turkey four extra points as Turkey had two draws against Latvia and two wins vs Kazakhstan and bump them to 16 points against the top five teams in their group.
For the US things were a lot worse. Besler started in central defense against Mexico at the Rose Bowl in the CONCACAF Cup. The KC captain got pulled out of position on Mexico's opener, but had a solid game after that. The US tied the game through Geoff Cameron in the first half. The two teams went to extra time where Mexico again scored early to take a 2-1 lead. The US fought back a second time with Bobby Wood finding the back of the net again. Unfortunately Mexico found a third goal late in extra time to give them a 3-2 win and a ticket to the 2017 Confederations Cup. Zusi was an unused substitute for the US.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
