Sporting KC only had 1 Superdraft pick, but they certainly made the most of it. Sporting selected Generation Adidas midfielder, Mikey Lopez from the University of North Carolina.
This in my opinion is a great pick for KC. Lopez wasn't really expected to fall anywhere close to KC at the 14th spot. He's a central midfielder that fits a need that I felt KC needed to fill this offseason adding depth there, so from that regard it's very good. Lopez is 19 years old currently, turning 20 next month. He's also a member of the US U-20 team and is currently part of the same camp that Jon Kempin is currently attending down in Mexico. He's a defensive minded midfielder that may in the long run be able to help fill the void left by Roger Espinoza and Julio Cesar.
With Lopez being a Generation Adidas player he won't count against the salary cap for Sporting KC which is a big bonus for KC this season. And while he might miss time while being with the U20's he'll be competitive games that way which will be a bonus for KC.
Last weekend at the Combine, Lopez had said that he wanted to go to Chivas, because "from what I have heard of Chivas USA, I like what they want to do."
But I really don't think he'll hate the idea of coming to KC, with the style of play that Peter Vermes employees.
Here's a video of his goal at the Combine.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
New Byline to Back Post
Episode 2 of 2013 of From the Byline to the Back Post is up for listening. Thad and I discuss Livestrong/Sporting KC, Ivy Funds jersey sponsorship coming, the all star game, the draft and more in the first half. In the second we go indepth about FC Kansas City and their player allocation and also discuss the Missouri Comets and former Wizards. Check it out on Posterous and iTunes.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Draft Day Tomorrow
Tomorrow is the 2013 MLS Superdraft. This year the draft takes place in Indianapolis. Sporting will have a quiet day overall though. KC just has one pick in the Superdraft after trading both of their second round picks, for Josh Garnder (a pick acquired from New York originally) and Ike Opara. Earlier this month, I took a look at how the 14th draft pick has worked out for teams over the years.
So what does KC need? KC doesn't have a pressing need, they're looking for depth most likely and a player that can contribute some, especially during KC's busy summer. Sporting appears to have the luxury of being able to just pick the "best available player" instead of drafting for a specific need tomorrow.
That said, there is one area that I would like to see KC improve their depth, and that's in central midfield. Two players that I've seen on some mock drafts that I think could fit that are Dillon Powers of Notre Dame and John Stertzer of Maryland. Both players I feel would slot in well to KC's midfield.
I've also seen some left sided midfielders thrown out there as potential picks for depth, names like Donnie Smith and Blake Smith. Blake Smith even spent time with KC training which may tip him to be the pick. I'm not sure I agree with that, KC at the moment would seem to have some left winger depth. CJ Sapong, Jacob Peterson, and Graham Zusi all have played the left wing position along with Bobby Convey. KC's fluid lineup transition forces players to play multiple positions throughout the game.
Personally I think getting a central midfielder is the priority. That said, the past 2 years or so I've said we needed a center back to help depth wise, and KC's drafted CJ Sapong and Dom Dwyer with their first round picks. So I expect KC to go a different route than I expect them to go. They'll probably draft a center back this year.
So what does KC need? KC doesn't have a pressing need, they're looking for depth most likely and a player that can contribute some, especially during KC's busy summer. Sporting appears to have the luxury of being able to just pick the "best available player" instead of drafting for a specific need tomorrow.
That said, there is one area that I would like to see KC improve their depth, and that's in central midfield. Two players that I've seen on some mock drafts that I think could fit that are Dillon Powers of Notre Dame and John Stertzer of Maryland. Both players I feel would slot in well to KC's midfield.
I've also seen some left sided midfielders thrown out there as potential picks for depth, names like Donnie Smith and Blake Smith. Blake Smith even spent time with KC training which may tip him to be the pick. I'm not sure I agree with that, KC at the moment would seem to have some left winger depth. CJ Sapong, Jacob Peterson, and Graham Zusi all have played the left wing position along with Bobby Convey. KC's fluid lineup transition forces players to play multiple positions throughout the game.
Personally I think getting a central midfielder is the priority. That said, the past 2 years or so I've said we needed a center back to help depth wise, and KC's drafted CJ Sapong and Dom Dwyer with their first round picks. So I expect KC to go a different route than I expect them to go. They'll probably draft a center back this year.
Former SKC Wizards Update
Another week of former SKC Wizards updates. Roger Espinoza made his first appearance for Wigan this past week, starting and playing 90 minutes in Wigan's FA Cup win over Bournemouth. Also, Julio Cesar has a new club, signing with Toronto FC for the 2013 season. Here's the rest of this week's update.
Active without a club or unknown
Korede Aiyegbusi
Doug DeMartin
Birahim Diop
Mauro Fuzetti
Willy Guadarrama
Kevin Hartman
Cyprian Hedrick
Aaron Hohlbein
Will John
Mike Jones
Neal Kitson
Jonathan Leathers
Neven Markovic
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Khari Stephenson
Shavar Thomas
Konrad Warzycha
MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Offseason.
Julio Cesar - Toronto - Offseason.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Offseason.
Michael Harrington - Portland - Offseason.
Will Hesmer - Los Angeles - Offseason.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Offseason.
Eddie Johnson - Seattle - Offseason.
Chris Konopka - Philadelphia - Offseason.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Chivas - Offseason.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Offseason
NASL
Jose Burciaga - Atlanta - Offseason
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Offseason
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Offseason
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Offseason
Luke Sassano - Carolina - Offseason
USL
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Offseason
Akeem Priestley - Dayton - Offseason
Yomby William - Richmond - Offseason
John Wilson - Charleston - Offseason
PDL
Michael Kraus - FC Tucson - Offseason
NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Offseason
Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Syracuse Silver Knights - Scored a goal in Syracuse's 15-14 win over Rochester.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Scored a goal in Baltimore's 13-8 loss to Chicago. Had an assist in Baltimore's 10-8 loss to Milwaukee.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not play in Missouri's 18-6 loss to Milwaukee. Played in Missouri's 12-11 loss to Wichita.
Craig Rocastle - Comets - Out injured
Paul Wright - San Diego - No game this week.
International
Stephane Auvray - DPMM FC - Brunei (Singapore League) - Offseason.
Vicente Arze - Esteghlal - Iran - Did not play in Esteghlal's 2-1 win over Mes Kerman.
Omar Bravo - Atlas - Mexico - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Atlas' 2-0 win over Pachuca. Play Irapuato in the Copa Mexico tonight.
Sunil Chhetri - Sporting Clube de Portugal B - Portugal - Did not dress in Sporting's 1-1 draw with Oliveirense.
Eloy Colombano - UAI Urquiza - Argentina - Off until February.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Trinidad - Started and played 90 minutes in W Connection's 0-0 draw with Caledonia.
Pablo Escobar - Atletico Huila - Colombia - Offseason.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - Did not dress in Wigna's 1-1 draw with Fulham. Started and played 90 minutes in Wigan's 1-0 win over Bournemouth in the FA Cup.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Did not play in the Stars' 1-0 loss to Defence Force.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Started and played 88 minutes in Santos' 2-0 win over Chivas.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Beat Sporting Central 2-0.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - No game until January 19th.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - On winter break until March.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Offseason.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - On winter break until March.
Michal Mravec - FC Emmen - Netherlands - No game this week.
Pablo Punyed - Fjolnir - Iceland - Offseason
Ryan Smith - Skoda Xanthi - Greece - Came off the bench and played 27 minutes in Xanthi's 1-0 loss to AEK Athens.
Milos Stojcev - FC Akzhayik - Kazakhstan - Offseason.
Matt Taylor - Preußen Münster - Germany - No game until January 26th.
Ivan Trujillo - America de Cali - Colombia - Offseason.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Offseason.
Active without a club or unknown
Korede Aiyegbusi
Doug DeMartin
Birahim Diop
Mauro Fuzetti
Willy Guadarrama
Kevin Hartman
Cyprian Hedrick
Aaron Hohlbein
Will John
Mike Jones
Neal Kitson
Jonathan Leathers
Neven Markovic
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Khari Stephenson
Shavar Thomas
Konrad Warzycha
MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Offseason.
Julio Cesar - Toronto - Offseason.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Offseason.
Michael Harrington - Portland - Offseason.
Will Hesmer - Los Angeles - Offseason.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Offseason.
Eddie Johnson - Seattle - Offseason.
Chris Konopka - Philadelphia - Offseason.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Chivas - Offseason.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Offseason
NASL
Jose Burciaga - Atlanta - Offseason
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Offseason
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Offseason
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Offseason
Luke Sassano - Carolina - Offseason
USL
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Offseason
Akeem Priestley - Dayton - Offseason
Yomby William - Richmond - Offseason
John Wilson - Charleston - Offseason
PDL
Michael Kraus - FC Tucson - Offseason
NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Offseason
Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Syracuse Silver Knights - Scored a goal in Syracuse's 15-14 win over Rochester.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Scored a goal in Baltimore's 13-8 loss to Chicago. Had an assist in Baltimore's 10-8 loss to Milwaukee.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not play in Missouri's 18-6 loss to Milwaukee. Played in Missouri's 12-11 loss to Wichita.
Craig Rocastle - Comets - Out injured
Paul Wright - San Diego - No game this week.
International
Stephane Auvray - DPMM FC - Brunei (Singapore League) - Offseason.
Vicente Arze - Esteghlal - Iran - Did not play in Esteghlal's 2-1 win over Mes Kerman.
Omar Bravo - Atlas - Mexico - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Atlas' 2-0 win over Pachuca. Play Irapuato in the Copa Mexico tonight.
Sunil Chhetri - Sporting Clube de Portugal B - Portugal - Did not dress in Sporting's 1-1 draw with Oliveirense.
Eloy Colombano - UAI Urquiza - Argentina - Off until February.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Trinidad - Started and played 90 minutes in W Connection's 0-0 draw with Caledonia.
Pablo Escobar - Atletico Huila - Colombia - Offseason.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - Did not dress in Wigna's 1-1 draw with Fulham. Started and played 90 minutes in Wigan's 1-0 win over Bournemouth in the FA Cup.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Did not play in the Stars' 1-0 loss to Defence Force.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Started and played 88 minutes in Santos' 2-0 win over Chivas.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Beat Sporting Central 2-0.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - No game until January 19th.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - On winter break until March.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Offseason.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - On winter break until March.
Michal Mravec - FC Emmen - Netherlands - No game this week.
Pablo Punyed - Fjolnir - Iceland - Offseason
Ryan Smith - Skoda Xanthi - Greece - Came off the bench and played 27 minutes in Xanthi's 1-0 loss to AEK Athens.
Milos Stojcev - FC Akzhayik - Kazakhstan - Offseason.
Matt Taylor - Preußen Münster - Germany - No game until January 26th.
Ivan Trujillo - America de Cali - Colombia - Offseason.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Offseason.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Sporting KC and Livestrong End Relationship in Messy Fashion
We all probably saw this coming in one way or another after all the news this week regarding Lance Armstrong and his apparent confession to Oprah in regards to doping. I'm not sure that we expected the ending of the relationship to end quite like this. Tonight, Darren Rovell broke the news on ESPN that Sporting and Livestrong had severed their relationship with both sides laying the blame on the other.
Things got messy really quickly between the two as just last week, Robb Heineman said that they were still reviewing the situation. And then tonight the shit hit the fan. First with the article from Rovell that stated Livestrong was the one that was ending the deal, telling the team this week that they had not paid the $1 million that was owed to the foundation, stating that Sporting had only paid $250,000 of it. Sporting has refuted this claim. One would assume if money is owed, then we can probably expect some sort of legal action to take place between the two.
Sporting fired back in the same ESPN article with Heineman stating that the Livestrong Foundation forced Sporting into an "unacceptable arrangement" and that due to the faith and trust in the partnership had been damaged, Sporting was ending the partnership.
Heineman elaborated on the comments in the ESPN article in a statement on Sporting's website. Heineman explained how since the announcement off the name of the stadium, the organization has taken a bit of a beating publicly over getting into a relationship with the Livestrong organization considering the problems it was facing with it's founder, Armstrong. He also discussed how Livestrong's "spirit" for the partnership had changed and wasn't the same as Sporting. It's certainly easy to argue that Sporting had done more to push the Livestrong brand than the other way around. The statement is fairly well crafted and and makes no mention of Armstrong himself, only that the actions of Livestrong were surprising considering they were "in the midst of a significant transitional phase for their organization."
Things have moved very quickly since the announcement, the stadium portion of the Sporting KC site has been changed to reference the "new" name of the stadium, Sporting Park, with no mention to the previous name. The website for the stadium, www.livestrongsportingpark.com is offline. And out at the stadium, the big signage that says Livestrong is no longer lit up. I'd expect that signage to come down over the next few days/weeks.
I'm still amazed at how quickly this whole thing has gone down. Sure there had been the rumors that changes were coming to the name of the stadium because of the issues that were going on with Armstrong, but I'm not sure anyone expected it to come this quickly. The way it's gone down has also been surprising. . The messy "divorce" looks likely to turn into a big he said/she said situation. I've seen lots of people taking both sides of the situation tonight. People believing the comments made by Greg Lee that Sporting hasn't paid. When seeing Heineman's comments, people are responding by asking if people are surprised someone associated with an organization founded by a "lying cheat" would say something like that.
Overall I seriously doubt we'll ever hear the full story on this situation. At least not on the record. I'm sure there is some truth to what both sides are saying. The search for a new stadium sponsor will begin though. Either way, this is a very messy end to the sponsorship. Hopefully Sporting will go the route of a sponsor that will pay this time. Like the jersey sponsor, this is a revenue stream that Sporting has missed out on.
Things got messy really quickly between the two as just last week, Robb Heineman said that they were still reviewing the situation. And then tonight the shit hit the fan. First with the article from Rovell that stated Livestrong was the one that was ending the deal, telling the team this week that they had not paid the $1 million that was owed to the foundation, stating that Sporting had only paid $250,000 of it. Sporting has refuted this claim. One would assume if money is owed, then we can probably expect some sort of legal action to take place between the two.
Sporting fired back in the same ESPN article with Heineman stating that the Livestrong Foundation forced Sporting into an "unacceptable arrangement" and that due to the faith and trust in the partnership had been damaged, Sporting was ending the partnership.
Heineman elaborated on the comments in the ESPN article in a statement on Sporting's website. Heineman explained how since the announcement off the name of the stadium, the organization has taken a bit of a beating publicly over getting into a relationship with the Livestrong organization considering the problems it was facing with it's founder, Armstrong. He also discussed how Livestrong's "spirit" for the partnership had changed and wasn't the same as Sporting. It's certainly easy to argue that Sporting had done more to push the Livestrong brand than the other way around. The statement is fairly well crafted and and makes no mention of Armstrong himself, only that the actions of Livestrong were surprising considering they were "in the midst of a significant transitional phase for their organization."
Things have moved very quickly since the announcement, the stadium portion of the Sporting KC site has been changed to reference the "new" name of the stadium, Sporting Park, with no mention to the previous name. The website for the stadium, www.livestrongsportingpark.com is offline. And out at the stadium, the big signage that says Livestrong is no longer lit up. I'd expect that signage to come down over the next few days/weeks.
I'm still amazed at how quickly this whole thing has gone down. Sure there had been the rumors that changes were coming to the name of the stadium because of the issues that were going on with Armstrong, but I'm not sure anyone expected it to come this quickly. The way it's gone down has also been surprising. . The messy "divorce" looks likely to turn into a big he said/she said situation. I've seen lots of people taking both sides of the situation tonight. People believing the comments made by Greg Lee that Sporting hasn't paid. When seeing Heineman's comments, people are responding by asking if people are surprised someone associated with an organization founded by a "lying cheat" would say something like that.
Overall I seriously doubt we'll ever hear the full story on this situation. At least not on the record. I'm sure there is some truth to what both sides are saying. The search for a new stadium sponsor will begin though. Either way, this is a very messy end to the sponsorship. Hopefully Sporting will go the route of a sponsor that will pay this time. Like the jersey sponsor, this is a revenue stream that Sporting has missed out on.
Landmark Goals
Another stat for you, Sporting's landmark goals. This year KC hit two marks, Aurelien Collin got the 700th league goal for KC, scoring in first half stoppage time against FC Dallas in March. Then in June, CJ Sapong scored KC's 500th goal in all competitions at home with his goal against Toronto. Next year KC should get their 300th league away goal and their 900th in all competitions.
League play - currently 737 goals
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Mark Chung - 7/19/1997 - 15th - DC United
200. Preki - 3/25/2000 - 63rd - Chicago Fire
300. Chris Klein - 7/13/2002 - 64th - New England Revolution
400. Josh Wolff - 4/2/2005 - 34th - Colorado Rapids
500. Eddie Johnson - 4/25/2007 - 5th - Toronto FC
600. Josh Wolff - 9/5/2009 - 91st+ - New England Revolution
700. Aurelien Collin - 3/25/2012 - 49th+ - FC Dallas
League play home - currently 439
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Paul Wright - 9/5/1998 - 59th - San Jose Clash
200. Eric Quill - 5/3/2003 - 89th - Columbus Crew
300. Dave van den Bergh - 10/7/2006 - 50th - Chivas USA
400. Teal Bunbury - 8/3/2011 - 34th - Real Salt Lake
League play away - currently 298
1. Uche Okafor - 4/21/1996 - 16th - San Jose Clash
100. Roy Lassiter - 6/2/2001 - 52nd - Tampa Bay Mutiny
200. Davy Arnaud - 5/19/2007 - 58th minute - Colorado Rapids
Competitive play - currently 872
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Edmundo Rodriguez - 6/21/1997 - 87th - DC United
200. Preki - 7/31/1999 - 35th - San Jose Clash
300. Roy Lassister - 8/12/2001 - 90th - Colorado Rapids
400. Stephen Armstrong - 7/4/2003 - 90th - Colorado Rapids
500. own goal - 5/21/2005 - 62th - DC United
600. Jose Burciaga Jr. - 5/5/2007 - 90th - Columbus Crew
700. own goal - 6/24/2009 - 85th - New England Revolution
800. Kei Kamara - 8/21/2011 - 19th - DC United
Competitive home - currently 517
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Preki - 8/26/1998 - 21th - DC United
200. Preki - 5/4/2002 - 29th - LA Galaxy
300. Davy Arnaud - 6/25/2005 - 70th - Chivas USA
400. Herculez Gomez - 10/18/2008 - 93rd+ - San Jose
500. CJ Sapong - 6/17/2012 - 18th - Toronto
Competitive away - currently 352
1. Uche Okafor - 4/21/1996 - 16th - San Jose Clash
100. Matt McKeon - 10/3/2000 - 29th - LA Galaxy
200. Josh Wolff - 5/14/2005 - 89th - Columbus Crew
300. Davy Arnaud - 8/28/2010 - 1212 - LA Galaxy
League play - currently 737 goals
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Mark Chung - 7/19/1997 - 15th - DC United
200. Preki - 3/25/2000 - 63rd - Chicago Fire
300. Chris Klein - 7/13/2002 - 64th - New England Revolution
400. Josh Wolff - 4/2/2005 - 34th - Colorado Rapids
500. Eddie Johnson - 4/25/2007 - 5th - Toronto FC
600. Josh Wolff - 9/5/2009 - 91st+ - New England Revolution
700. Aurelien Collin - 3/25/2012 - 49th+ - FC Dallas
League play home - currently 439
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Paul Wright - 9/5/1998 - 59th - San Jose Clash
200. Eric Quill - 5/3/2003 - 89th - Columbus Crew
300. Dave van den Bergh - 10/7/2006 - 50th - Chivas USA
400. Teal Bunbury - 8/3/2011 - 34th - Real Salt Lake
League play away - currently 298
1. Uche Okafor - 4/21/1996 - 16th - San Jose Clash
100. Roy Lassiter - 6/2/2001 - 52nd - Tampa Bay Mutiny
200. Davy Arnaud - 5/19/2007 - 58th minute - Colorado Rapids
Competitive play - currently 872
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Edmundo Rodriguez - 6/21/1997 - 87th - DC United
200. Preki - 7/31/1999 - 35th - San Jose Clash
300. Roy Lassister - 8/12/2001 - 90th - Colorado Rapids
400. Stephen Armstrong - 7/4/2003 - 90th - Colorado Rapids
500. own goal - 5/21/2005 - 62th - DC United
600. Jose Burciaga Jr. - 5/5/2007 - 90th - Columbus Crew
700. own goal - 6/24/2009 - 85th - New England Revolution
800. Kei Kamara - 8/21/2011 - 19th - DC United
Competitive home - currently 517
1. Digital Takawira - 4/13/1996 - 71st - Colorado Rapids
100. Preki - 8/26/1998 - 21th - DC United
200. Preki - 5/4/2002 - 29th - LA Galaxy
300. Davy Arnaud - 6/25/2005 - 70th - Chivas USA
400. Herculez Gomez - 10/18/2008 - 93rd+ - San Jose
500. CJ Sapong - 6/17/2012 - 18th - Toronto
Competitive away - currently 352
1. Uche Okafor - 4/21/1996 - 16th - San Jose Clash
100. Matt McKeon - 10/3/2000 - 29th - LA Galaxy
200. Josh Wolff - 5/14/2005 - 89th - Columbus Crew
300. Davy Arnaud - 8/28/2010 - 1212 - LA Galaxy
Monday, January 14, 2013
Capped KC Players
Last week I'd posted a list of the players who had been capped as members of Sporting KC. Today here's the list of all players who have been capped by their national team, whether it was while they were with KC or not.
USA
Tony Meola - 100
Alexi Lalas - 96 - 9
Chris Henderson - 79 - 3
Mike Burns - 75
Peter Vermes - 67 - 11
Mike Sorber - 67 - 2
Josh Wolff - 52 - 9
Bobby Convey - 46 - 1
Eddie Johnson - 44 - 14
Brian Bliss - 44 - 2
Frank Klopas - 40 - 12
Benny Feilhaber - 39 - 2
Roy Lassister - 30 - 4
Eric Eichman - 29 - 4
Preki - 28 - 4
Jimmy Conrad - 28 - 1
Mark Chung - 24 - 2
Chris Klein - 22 - 5
Kerry Zavagnin - 21
Herculez Gomez - 19 - 5
Mark Santel - 8 - 1
Davy Arnaud - 7 - 1
John Diffley - 7
Graham Zusi - 6 - 1
John DeBrito - 6
Nick Garcia - 6
Yari Allnut - 5 - 2
Kevin Hartman - 5
Teal Bunbury - 4 - 1
Sasha Victorine - 4 - 1
Steve Pittman - 3
Matt McKeon - 2
Alan Prampin - 2
Ken Snow - 2
CJ Sapong - 2
Diego Gutierrez - 1
Curt Onalfo - 1
Argentina
Claudio Lopez - 58 - 10
Armenia
Yura Movsisyan - 18 - 5
Cameroon
Samuel Ekeme - 32
Canada
Alex Bunbury - 64 - 16
Pat Harrington - 1
Denmark
Miklos Molnar - 18 - 2
Finland
Antti Sumiala - 36 - 9
Grenada
Craig Rocastle - 12 - 1
Guadeloupe
Stephane Auvray - 23 - 2
Haiti
Josué Mayard - 17 - 2
Peterson Joseph - 11
Holland
Dave van den Bergh - 2
Honduras
Roger Espinoza - 25 - 3
Hungary
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - 3
India
Sunil Chhetri - 63 - 36
Jamaica
Onandi Lowe - 65 - 27
Shavar Thomas - 49
Jermaine Hue - 35 - 12
Wolde Harris - 28 - 7
Khari Stephenson - 28 - 3
Peter Isaacs - 15 - 4
Akeem Priestley - 6 - 2
Liberia
Dionysius Sebwe - 7
Mexico
Omar Bravo - 63 - 15
Nigeria
Uche Okafor - 34 - 1
Puerto Rico
Taylor Graham - 3 - 1
Russia
Igor Simutenkov - 20 - 9
Scotland
Richard Gough - 61 - 6
Mo Johnston - 38 - 14
Serbia and Montenegro
Vuk Rasovic - 5
Sierra Leone
Kei Kamara - 14 - 2
Trinidad and Tobago
Gary Glasgow - 53 -11
Scott Sealy - 25 - 2
Daneil Cyrus - 13
Anthony Noriega - 5
Yugoslavia
Refik Sabanadzovic - 8
Zimbabwe
Vitalis Takawira - 26 - 12
USA
Tony Meola - 100
Alexi Lalas - 96 - 9
Chris Henderson - 79 - 3
Mike Burns - 75
Peter Vermes - 67 - 11
Mike Sorber - 67 - 2
Josh Wolff - 52 - 9
Bobby Convey - 46 - 1
Eddie Johnson - 44 - 14
Brian Bliss - 44 - 2
Frank Klopas - 40 - 12
Benny Feilhaber - 39 - 2
Roy Lassister - 30 - 4
Eric Eichman - 29 - 4
Preki - 28 - 4
Jimmy Conrad - 28 - 1
Mark Chung - 24 - 2
Chris Klein - 22 - 5
Kerry Zavagnin - 21
Herculez Gomez - 19 - 5
Mark Santel - 8 - 1
Davy Arnaud - 7 - 1
John Diffley - 7
Graham Zusi - 6 - 1
John DeBrito - 6
Nick Garcia - 6
Yari Allnut - 5 - 2
Kevin Hartman - 5
Teal Bunbury - 4 - 1
Sasha Victorine - 4 - 1
Steve Pittman - 3
Matt McKeon - 2
Alan Prampin - 2
Ken Snow - 2
CJ Sapong - 2
Diego Gutierrez - 1
Curt Onalfo - 1
Argentina
Claudio Lopez - 58 - 10
Armenia
Yura Movsisyan - 18 - 5
Cameroon
Samuel Ekeme - 32
Canada
Alex Bunbury - 64 - 16
Pat Harrington - 1
Denmark
Miklos Molnar - 18 - 2
Finland
Antti Sumiala - 36 - 9
Grenada
Craig Rocastle - 12 - 1
Guadeloupe
Stephane Auvray - 23 - 2
Haiti
Josué Mayard - 17 - 2
Peterson Joseph - 11
Holland
Dave van den Bergh - 2
Honduras
Roger Espinoza - 25 - 3
Hungary
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - 3
India
Sunil Chhetri - 63 - 36
Jamaica
Onandi Lowe - 65 - 27
Shavar Thomas - 49
Jermaine Hue - 35 - 12
Wolde Harris - 28 - 7
Khari Stephenson - 28 - 3
Peter Isaacs - 15 - 4
Akeem Priestley - 6 - 2
Liberia
Dionysius Sebwe - 7
Mexico
Omar Bravo - 63 - 15
Nigeria
Uche Okafor - 34 - 1
Puerto Rico
Taylor Graham - 3 - 1
Russia
Igor Simutenkov - 20 - 9
Scotland
Richard Gough - 61 - 6
Mo Johnston - 38 - 14
Serbia and Montenegro
Vuk Rasovic - 5
Sierra Leone
Kei Kamara - 14 - 2
Trinidad and Tobago
Gary Glasgow - 53 -11
Scott Sealy - 25 - 2
Daneil Cyrus - 13
Anthony Noriega - 5
Yugoslavia
Refik Sabanadzovic - 8
Zimbabwe
Vitalis Takawira - 26 - 12
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Jersey Sponsor Coming Thursday?
KC is one of only two teams in MLS to never had a jersey sponsor, along with the Colorado Rapids. The question with Sporting KC has usually been why they're waiting. The team has one of the best stadiums in the country and a team that is doing extremely well, one would assume that KC should be able to get a jersey sponsor. But KC has been selective as they've looked for a deal that they feel works for them.
That selective process sounds like it's coming to an end. Rumors over the past few weeks have really picked up on KC adding a jersey sponsor to the front of their jersey. Back on January 4th, Robb Heineman added to the rumor by saying "I think you'll like the draft." With KC only having the one pick in the draft it seems unlikely that the statement would be in regards to the draft itself. The assumption is that liking the draft will come from something else.
The assumption has grown into it being related to a jersey sponsor. The past few weeks one name has leaked out a few times, Ivy Funds. I've seen the mutual funds company mentioned by a few different people as a potential sponsor in the last week or two.
The rumors of Ivy Funds have grown to the point that national soccer media is starting to pick up on it as well, with Jeff Carlisle from ESPN saying that an announcement of the sponsorship is expected on Thursday, draft day.
That selective process sounds like it's coming to an end. Rumors over the past few weeks have really picked up on KC adding a jersey sponsor to the front of their jersey. Back on January 4th, Robb Heineman added to the rumor by saying "I think you'll like the draft." With KC only having the one pick in the draft it seems unlikely that the statement would be in regards to the draft itself. The assumption is that liking the draft will come from something else.
The assumption has grown into it being related to a jersey sponsor. The past few weeks one name has leaked out a few times, Ivy Funds. I've seen the mutual funds company mentioned by a few different people as a potential sponsor in the last week or two.
The rumors of Ivy Funds have grown to the point that national soccer media is starting to pick up on it as well, with Jeff Carlisle from ESPN saying that an announcement of the sponsorship is expected on Thursday, draft day.
Comets Fall in Wichita
The Missouri Comets suffered a
heartbreaking loss on Saturday evening to their rival, the Wichita
Wings. Leo Gibson scored three goals, John Sosa had three assists, but
they were ultimately done in by the Wings 12-11 in a game that was in
doubt until the final buzzer sounded.
Missouri returns home next Saturday, January 19th
in the annual Retro Game. The players will be wearing jerseys inspired
by the 1992-93 NPSL Champion Kansas City Attack. Fans can take these
jerseys home with them in a LIVE auction immediately following the
game. At halftime Comets and Attack alumni will play a spirited
exhibition game. Kickoff is at 7:35pm and fans can get tickets by
calling 855.KC.ARENA or going to CometsIndoorSoccer.com.
The
Comets started the game extremely aggressively, winning nearly every
50/50 ball and getting off several shots. In the first quarter they
outshot the Wings 12-5, with Leo Gibson getting his first goal on the
night with four seconds left in the quarter.
The
Wings turned the momentum around in the second quarter. Kevin Ten Eyck
and Frederico Moojen each scored to take over the lead five minutes
into the second quarter. Seven minutes later, Edvin Worley took
advantage of the open space after Comets’ defender, Cristiano, was
shoved off the ball. He was able to come in one-on-one against Comets’
goalkeeper Boris Pardo and increased the Wings lead to 6-2. Leo Gibson
got his second goal of the night from John Sosa a minute later to get
within two points of the tie and the teams went into halftime with a
Wings 6-4 lead.
Shortly
before the half ended, Wichita’s Moojen was sent to the penalty box for
accumulating four fouls in the half. The Comets started the second
half with a one man advantage for one and half minutes, but they only
needed 15 seconds as the Sosa to Gibson connection once again connected
for a goal and evened up the score. The Wings went ahead again shortly
after that, but a Vahid Assadpour rocket from beyond the arc gave the
Comets their second lead of the night (9-8) with eight minutes left in
the quarter. They were not able to hold on to the lead, though as Andre
Berenzon scored his first goal in a Wings uniform shortly before the
quarter ended and regained the lead 10-9.
Victor
Quiroz opened up the fourth quarter scoring for the Wichita Wings,
despite the efforts of the Comets attack. Now needing to come back from
a 12-9 deficit, they team pushed hard into their attacking third of the
field, but were unable to get open looks as the Wings collapsed their
defense in front of their goalkeeper. It didn’t make matters easier
when forward Byron Alvarez was sent off for accumulating three cards in
the game. Despite being down a man, the Comets continued to pressure
and forward Ramone Palmer was able to get the Comets to within one,
12-11. With only ten seconds remaining the Comets thought they had a
chance, getting a restart at the top of the arc. Kevin Ten Eyck threw
himself in front of the last second shot and preserved the victory for
the Wings. Comets fall 12-11 tonight, but still lead the I-35 series
three games to two.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Kempin and All Star Game Update
Kempin Called into U20 Camp
The US U-20 team is preparing for qualifying for the 2013 U-20 World Cup. The CONCACAF qualifying tournament takes place February 18th through March 3rd in Mexico. The US will be holding it's last camp with domestic players starting on the 14th in Puebla, Mexico, where the CONCACAF tournament is being held. Sporting KC goalkeeper, Jon Kempin is one of two goalkeepers called up for the camp. During the camp the US will play two closed door games against Panama, on the 19th and the 21st.
Kempin will miss the beginning of preseason with the call up, not joining Sporting until January 23rd in Tucson, Arizona. Kempin will be hoping to impress enough to earn his way onto the US roster for the CONCACAF tournament.
All-Star Game Selling Well Early
Without an opponent known and only a presale for season ticket holders having taken place, KC has apparently sold 50% of the tickets for the game. That's the word today from Robb Heineman about 6 hours after tickets went on sale for the game.
It certainly hasn't been the most well run situation for season ticket holders though. This morning at 10am the tickets went on sale to season ticket holders. Unlike what occurs for most Sporting run events, where STH can only purchase the number of tickets they have on their account, STH were able to purchase up to 4 tickets to the game. Needless to say this has caused problems, especially in the "hot ticket" section of the Cauldron. The Cauldron has sold out of it's season ticket holder allotment for the game. Word is that the Cauldron will get some tickets to sell themselves, but a number of season ticket holders, especially long term ones are being left without Cauldron tickets.
It's a frustrating thing for those people, especially when given only a 1 day heads up of the presale (3 if you read this blog) to make sure they had the funds and set aside time to purchase the tickets. I've seen a lot of the frustration on the Cauldron Facebook page. Plenty of it though seems to be directed towards the team which is a little unfair. The All Star game is basically run by the league, which means they're controlling much of what will go on with the venue for that date, including the ticket process. Hopefully those people that couldn't get tickets through the presale can get them another way and enjoy the game.
The US U-20 team is preparing for qualifying for the 2013 U-20 World Cup. The CONCACAF qualifying tournament takes place February 18th through March 3rd in Mexico. The US will be holding it's last camp with domestic players starting on the 14th in Puebla, Mexico, where the CONCACAF tournament is being held. Sporting KC goalkeeper, Jon Kempin is one of two goalkeepers called up for the camp. During the camp the US will play two closed door games against Panama, on the 19th and the 21st.
Kempin will miss the beginning of preseason with the call up, not joining Sporting until January 23rd in Tucson, Arizona. Kempin will be hoping to impress enough to earn his way onto the US roster for the CONCACAF tournament.
All-Star Game Selling Well Early
Without an opponent known and only a presale for season ticket holders having taken place, KC has apparently sold 50% of the tickets for the game. That's the word today from Robb Heineman about 6 hours after tickets went on sale for the game.
It certainly hasn't been the most well run situation for season ticket holders though. This morning at 10am the tickets went on sale to season ticket holders. Unlike what occurs for most Sporting run events, where STH can only purchase the number of tickets they have on their account, STH were able to purchase up to 4 tickets to the game. Needless to say this has caused problems, especially in the "hot ticket" section of the Cauldron. The Cauldron has sold out of it's season ticket holder allotment for the game. Word is that the Cauldron will get some tickets to sell themselves, but a number of season ticket holders, especially long term ones are being left without Cauldron tickets.
It's a frustrating thing for those people, especially when given only a 1 day heads up of the presale (3 if you read this blog) to make sure they had the funds and set aside time to purchase the tickets. I've seen a lot of the frustration on the Cauldron Facebook page. Plenty of it though seems to be directed towards the team which is a little unfair. The All Star game is basically run by the league, which means they're controlling much of what will go on with the venue for that date, including the ticket process. Hopefully those people that couldn't get tickets through the presale can get them another way and enjoy the game.
FC Kansas City Allocated First Players
FC Kansas City has some players. Today the NWSL released the locations where the 55 national team pool players would be allocated. And while they didn't have the "best" allocation at least from initially eye-balling the list (that award goes to Portland which lands both Alex Morgan and Christine Sinclair), the Blues picked up a decent core of players.
FCKC got the US number two goalkeeper, Nicole Barnhart. The 31 year old Barnhart has been a regular with the US national team, usually as a back up to starter, Hope Solo. But Barnhart does have 46 national team caps, and should give KC a good strong start in the back. In Lauren Cheney they got a midfielder who should be able to do a decent job of pulling the strings in the midfield for the Blues and has already appeared 82 times, scoring 18 goals for the US team. The final US player allocated to KC was defender Becky Sauerbrunn. This move made sense in the fact that Sauerbrunn is from St. Louis so this is a short trip from home for her. Sauerbrunn has 37 caps currently for the US national team.
From Canada, KC picked up midfielder Desiree Scott. Scott was on the Canadian team that took the bronze medal in London and has appeared for Canada 53 times. The other Canadian on the roster is defender Lauren Sesselmann. The 29 year old is actually from Wisconsin but has appeared 26 times for the Canadian team.
KC's two Mexican players are also US citizens. Renae Nicole Cuellar is a forward who actually just finished her senior year at Oklahoma and has participated in the FIFA U20 World Cup with Mexico. She was an alternate for the 2011 World Cup. Marylin Diaz is a 21 year old defender who played for Mexico in the Women's World Cup.
On first glance, KC has the beginnings of a good defense with Barnhart, Sauerbrunn, and Sesselmann to anchor the defense. With Cheney in the midfield, KC will have some attack from the midfield, while Scott, "The Destroyer" will probably cover more of the defensive duties. Cuellar though is the only forward on the roster now. So expect that to be a place for Vlatko Andonovski to look to improve immediately either through free agency or the draft next week (or both). Definitely a good start and "back bone" for the team.
FCKC got the US number two goalkeeper, Nicole Barnhart. The 31 year old Barnhart has been a regular with the US national team, usually as a back up to starter, Hope Solo. But Barnhart does have 46 national team caps, and should give KC a good strong start in the back. In Lauren Cheney they got a midfielder who should be able to do a decent job of pulling the strings in the midfield for the Blues and has already appeared 82 times, scoring 18 goals for the US team. The final US player allocated to KC was defender Becky Sauerbrunn. This move made sense in the fact that Sauerbrunn is from St. Louis so this is a short trip from home for her. Sauerbrunn has 37 caps currently for the US national team.
From Canada, KC picked up midfielder Desiree Scott. Scott was on the Canadian team that took the bronze medal in London and has appeared for Canada 53 times. The other Canadian on the roster is defender Lauren Sesselmann. The 29 year old is actually from Wisconsin but has appeared 26 times for the Canadian team.
KC's two Mexican players are also US citizens. Renae Nicole Cuellar is a forward who actually just finished her senior year at Oklahoma and has participated in the FIFA U20 World Cup with Mexico. She was an alternate for the 2011 World Cup. Marylin Diaz is a 21 year old defender who played for Mexico in the Women's World Cup.
On first glance, KC has the beginnings of a good defense with Barnhart, Sauerbrunn, and Sesselmann to anchor the defense. With Cheney in the midfield, KC will have some attack from the midfield, while Scott, "The Destroyer" will probably cover more of the defensive duties. Cuellar though is the only forward on the roster now. So expect that to be a place for Vlatko Andonovski to look to improve immediately either through free agency or the draft next week (or both). Definitely a good start and "back bone" for the team.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Comets Handled by Wave
The Milwaukee Wave came into the game as
the MISL’s hottest team, winning eight straight games. The Comets were
unable to slow down their momentum. Milwaukee’s Luan Oliveira and Josh
Rife each scored two goals while goalkeeper Nick Vorberg tallied 23
saves to hand the Comets their second home loss of the season, 18-6.
The Comets are back in action at Wichita’s Hartman Arena on Saturday night, 7:35pm. They return home next Saturday, January 19th
in the annual Retro Game. The players will be wearing jerseys inspired
by the 1992-93 NPSL Champion Kansas City Attack. Fans can take these
jerseys home with them in a LIVE auction immediately following the
game. At halftime Comets and Attack alumni will play a spirited
exhibition game. Kickoff is at 7:35pm and fans can get tickets by
calling 855.KC.ARENA or going to CometsIndoorSoccer.com.
Against
Wichita last week, the Comets worked the ball out of their defensive
zone extremely fast, catching their opponent off guard several times.
Milwaukee was ready for this strategy and made the Comets work to get
the ball out of their end. Anytime a Comets defender received a ball he
was immediately met by a Wave player trying to push him off the ball.
Though the Comets tried to battle back, their efforts were usually
rewarded with a whistle and a foul.
Coady
Andrews’ trip in the first quarter put the Comets down a man early and
led to the Wave’s first goal, only three minutes into the game. Marcelo
Fontana snuck behind the defense and tucked a ball inside the post two
minutes later to give the Wave a 4-0 lead.
Neither
team added to the score the remainder of the half. The Comets had
chances, but anytime their shot made it past the Wave’s goalkeeper, his
defense was there to keep the ball off the line.
The
second half was filled with Wave goals and more penalties. Missouri’s
Vahid Assadpour and Milwaukee’s Hewerton tangled early in the third
quarter, leading to a two minute penalty for each of them. Byron
Alvarez joined him shortly after that as he got called for Striking.
Before he made it out, Leo Gibson was thrown in the box for tripping.
Josh Rife finally capitalized on all these penalties just as Alvarez
made it back onto the field.
Back
at full strength, the Comets were able to get on the board with two
goals from Alvarez and one from John Sosa. Unfortunately, that was not
enough as the Wave scored three times against the Comets’ sixth attacker
and win 18-6. With two goals, Alvarez takes over the league lead in
goals scored and points.
New Byline to Back Post
A new episode of From the Byline to the Back Post is posted for your listening pleasure. Thad and I discuss the release of the MLS schedule, the All Star game coming to Kansas City. We also discuss the national team call ups for Sporting KC, news on players going/training abroad, LSP hosting a World Cup qualifier, and some news on Sporting Juniors players. In part 2 we talk about the Comets, FC Kansas City, and former Wizards updates. Listen on Posterous or iTunes.
FC Kansas City's New Logo
When FC Kansas City unveiled their new logo back in late November, the response to the logo was fairly underwhelming. I called the logo generic, and I was probably one of the kinder comments in response to the logo. It reminded me of a rec league logo, not one of a professional sports team. The logo as a whole probably hurt them with it's generic, and overall poor look.
FC KC though listened to the comments that were made regarding their logo and today they remedied it in a very big way. Today they showed off a new logo that looks much better. It has a much more professional feel and look to it. Plenty of the comments that I saw today were much more complimentary of the logo. I really like it, it has a bit of a ying and yang look too it.
MLS Announce All Star Game in KC
Don Garber made the announcement official today at Livestrong Sporting Park. LSP will be hosting the 2013 MLS All Star Game. The game will take place on Wednesday, July 31, 2013 airing on ESPN and Univision.
The opponent for the game will be announced at a later time, but will follow the same format the All Star game for the past few years, featuring the all stars against an international club. Plenty of fun names are being thrown around, the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid would be fun, or the likes of Juventus, Roma, or Bayern Munich.
For KC purposes, the All Star game will come between a trip to Montreal on July 27th and hosting New York on August 3rd. (So Vermes playing Thierry Henry the full game in response to Hans Backe doing it to Omar Bravo in 2011 would actually be a good touch).
Tickets for the game will go on sale to season ticket holders on Friday at 10am. They'll go on sale to the general public on Friday February 8th.
The All Star game is one of those odd things. As a whole I watch it, but I haven't really enjoyed it or been excited about it. I've seen it as more of a distraction to KC's players than anything, and championed campaigns to NOT vote for KC players to avoid tired legs. I'm still going to probably champion those campaigns, because KC is going to be very busy this year. But I'm actually excited about this game, and it has to do with the fact that the game is in KC. That makes all the difference in the world. I'm looking forward to see who it is the all stars face.
Wednesday, January 09, 2013
NWSL Announce 55 National Teamers to be Allocated
The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has announced the list of 55 U.S., Canadian and Mexican National Team players that will be allocated to the eight clubs.
All 18 U.S. players on the gold medal-winning 2012 Olympic team are included in the allocation, while 13 of the Canadian players were part of the bronze medal-winning team.
Once the allocation process is completed, the club location for all 55 players will be announced on Friday, Jan. 11.
The allocation process will be conducted with assistance from a panel of experts familiar with the player pool, including individuals from the collegiate level, recent professional and semi-professional clubs, and the youth and senior national team level in North America.
Along with the panel’s collective input on the technical ability of the players, in preparation for the allocation, players have selected their preferred destinations and the clubs have provided their preference with regard to specific players and qualities of players desired. Based on the input from the panel of experts and teams, players will be assigned numerical values on quality and desirability.
“The allocation will provide each club with a foundation of talent to build a competitive roster,” said NWSL Executive Director Cheryl Bailey. “Ultimately, the goal is to pair the teams and players in such a way that we achieve a fair distribution of talent across all eight teams. This is another important step as we continue to build towards the inaugural season of the National Women’s Soccer League. We are looking forward to sharing this news with our fans in the coming days.”
U.S. Soccer is subsidizing the salaries of 23 players, while the Canadian Soccer Association and the Federation of Mexican Football will each do the same for 16 players. With 23 U.S. players available for the allocation, all but one of the eight teams will receive three U.S. Women’s National Team players. Each club will also be assigned two Canadian National Team and two Mexican National Team players.
The NWSL is an eight-team league organized and administered by the U.S. Soccer Federation that will begin play in the spring of 2013. The eight founding clubs are the Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Sky Blue FC (New York/New Jersey), Seattle Reign FC, the Washington Spirit and the Western New York Flash.
USA PLAYERS
Pos., Player Name
GK, Nicole Barnhart
M, Shannon Boxx
D, Rachel Buehler
M, Lauren Cheney
GK, Ashlyn Harris
M, Tobin Heath
D, Ali Krieger
D, Amy LePeilbet
F, Sydney Leroux
M, Lori Lindsey
M, Carli Lloyd
GK, Jill Loyden
D, Heather Mitts
F, Alex Morgan
D, Kelley O'Hara
M, Heather O'Reilly
D, Christie Rampone
M, Megan Rapinoe
F, Amy Rodriguez
D, Becky Sauerbrunn
GK, Hope Solo
F, Abby Wambach
M, Keelin Winters
MEXICO PLAYERS
Pos., Player Name
D, Alina Lisi Garciamendez Rowold
M, Veronica Raquel Perez Murillo
M, Teresa Noyola Bayardo
F, Maribel Dominguez Castelan
F, Monica Ocampo Medina
GK, Aurora Cecilia Santiago Cisneros
M, Lydia Nayeli Rangel Hernandez
F, Renae Nicole Cuellar Cuellar
M, Teresa Guadalupe Worbis Aguilar
F, Anisa Raquel Guajardo Braff
M, Dinora Lizeth Garza Rodriguez
D, Jennifer Marie Ruiz Brown
D, Luz del Rosario Saucedo Soto
D, Rubi Marlene Sandoval Nungaray
GK, Pamela Tajonar Alonso
D, Marylin Viridiana Diaz Ramirez
CANADA PLAYERS
Pos., Player Name
D, Melanie Booth
D, Robyn Gayle
M, Kaylyn Kyle
GK, Karina LeBlanc
M/F, Adriana Leon
M, Diana Matheson
D/M, Bryana McCarthy
GK, Erin McLeod
D, Carmelina Moscato
M/F, Jodi-Ann Robinson
M, Sophie Schmidt
M, Desiree Scott
D, Lauren Sesselmann
F, Christine Sinclair
D, Rhian Wilkinson
D, Emily Zurrer
All 18 U.S. players on the gold medal-winning 2012 Olympic team are included in the allocation, while 13 of the Canadian players were part of the bronze medal-winning team.
Once the allocation process is completed, the club location for all 55 players will be announced on Friday, Jan. 11.
The allocation process will be conducted with assistance from a panel of experts familiar with the player pool, including individuals from the collegiate level, recent professional and semi-professional clubs, and the youth and senior national team level in North America.
Along with the panel’s collective input on the technical ability of the players, in preparation for the allocation, players have selected their preferred destinations and the clubs have provided their preference with regard to specific players and qualities of players desired. Based on the input from the panel of experts and teams, players will be assigned numerical values on quality and desirability.
“The allocation will provide each club with a foundation of talent to build a competitive roster,” said NWSL Executive Director Cheryl Bailey. “Ultimately, the goal is to pair the teams and players in such a way that we achieve a fair distribution of talent across all eight teams. This is another important step as we continue to build towards the inaugural season of the National Women’s Soccer League. We are looking forward to sharing this news with our fans in the coming days.”
U.S. Soccer is subsidizing the salaries of 23 players, while the Canadian Soccer Association and the Federation of Mexican Football will each do the same for 16 players. With 23 U.S. players available for the allocation, all but one of the eight teams will receive three U.S. Women’s National Team players. Each club will also be assigned two Canadian National Team and two Mexican National Team players.
The NWSL is an eight-team league organized and administered by the U.S. Soccer Federation that will begin play in the spring of 2013. The eight founding clubs are the Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Sky Blue FC (New York/New Jersey), Seattle Reign FC, the Washington Spirit and the Western New York Flash.
USA PLAYERS
Pos., Player Name
GK, Nicole Barnhart
M, Shannon Boxx
D, Rachel Buehler
M, Lauren Cheney
GK, Ashlyn Harris
M, Tobin Heath
D, Ali Krieger
D, Amy LePeilbet
F, Sydney Leroux
M, Lori Lindsey
M, Carli Lloyd
GK, Jill Loyden
D, Heather Mitts
F, Alex Morgan
D, Kelley O'Hara
M, Heather O'Reilly
D, Christie Rampone
M, Megan Rapinoe
F, Amy Rodriguez
D, Becky Sauerbrunn
GK, Hope Solo
F, Abby Wambach
M, Keelin Winters
MEXICO PLAYERS
Pos., Player Name
D, Alina Lisi Garciamendez Rowold
M, Veronica Raquel Perez Murillo
M, Teresa Noyola Bayardo
F, Maribel Dominguez Castelan
F, Monica Ocampo Medina
GK, Aurora Cecilia Santiago Cisneros
M, Lydia Nayeli Rangel Hernandez
F, Renae Nicole Cuellar Cuellar
M, Teresa Guadalupe Worbis Aguilar
F, Anisa Raquel Guajardo Braff
M, Dinora Lizeth Garza Rodriguez
D, Jennifer Marie Ruiz Brown
D, Luz del Rosario Saucedo Soto
D, Rubi Marlene Sandoval Nungaray
GK, Pamela Tajonar Alonso
D, Marylin Viridiana Diaz Ramirez
CANADA PLAYERS
Pos., Player Name
D, Melanie Booth
D, Robyn Gayle
M, Kaylyn Kyle
GK, Karina LeBlanc
M/F, Adriana Leon
M, Diana Matheson
D/M, Bryana McCarthy
GK, Erin McLeod
D, Carmelina Moscato
M/F, Jodi-Ann Robinson
M, Sophie Schmidt
M, Desiree Scott
D, Lauren Sesselmann
F, Christine Sinclair
D, Rhian Wilkinson
D, Emily Zurrer
Former SKC Wizards Update
Another week of former SKC Wizards updates. I got some updated information on Zoltan Hercegfalvi, who is apparently playing in an Austrian amateur league at this point. And congratulations to Boris Pardo, who has become a nesting doll thanks to the give away at the Comets game on Sunday.
Active without a club or unknown
Korede Aiyegbusi
Julio Cesar
Doug DeMartin
Birahim Diop
Pablo Escobar
Mauro Fuzetti
Willy Guadarrama
Kevin Hartman
Cyprian Hedrick
Aaron Hohlbein
Will John
Mike Jones
Neal Kitson
Jonathan Leathers
Neven Markovic
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Khari Stephenson
Shavar Thomas
Konrad Warzycha
MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Offseason.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Offseason.
Michael Harrington - Portland - Offseason.
Will Hesmer - Los Angeles - Offseason.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Offseason.
Eddie Johnson - Seattle - Offseason.
Chris Konopka - Philadelphia - Offseason.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Chivas - Offseason.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Offseason
NASL
Jose Burciaga - Atlanta - Offseason
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Offseason
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Offseason
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Offseason
Luke Sassano - Carolina - Offseason
USL
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Offseason
Akeem Priestley - Dayton - Offseason
Yomby William - Richmond - Offseason
John Wilson - Charleston - Offseason
PDL
Michael Kraus - FC Tucson - Offseason
NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Offseason
Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Syracuse Silver Knights - Played in Syracuse's 13-10 loss to Milwaukee.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Played in Baltimore's 23-12 win over Rochester. Played in Rochester's 15-5 win over Rochester.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not play in Missouri's 24-11 win over Wichita (but did become a nesting doll, see above).
Craig Rocastle - Comets - Out injured
Paul Wright - San Diego - Played in San Diego's 11-7 win over Turlock.
International
Stephane Auvray - DPMM FC - Brunei (Singapore League) - Offseason.
Vicente Arze - Esteghlal - Iran - Came off the bench and played 9 minutes in Esteghlal's 0-0 draw with Zob Ahan. Beat Aboomoslem 5-0 in the Cup.
Omar Bravo - Atlas - Mexico - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Atlas' 1-1 draw with Pumas.
Sunil Chhetri - Sporting Clube de Portugal B - Portugal - Did not dress in Sporting's 2-2 draw with Penafiel. Lost 2-1 to Belenenses.
Eloy Colombano - UAI Urquiza - Argentina - Off until February.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Trinidad - Started and played 90 minutes in W Connection's 3-0 win over Central FC.
Pablo Escobar - Atletico Huila - Colombia - No game this week.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - Dressed but did not play in Wigan's 1-1 draw with AFC Bournemouth in the FA Cup.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Did not play in the Stars' 1-0 loss to Caledonia.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Started and played 74 minutes, scoring a goal in Santos' 1-1 draw with San Luis.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Drew 0-0 with Waterhouse.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - No game until January.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - On winter break until March.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Offseason.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - On winter break until March.
Michal Mravec - FC Emmen - Netherlands - No game this week.
Pablo Punyed - Fjolnir - Iceland - Offseason
Ryan Smith - Skoda Xanthi - Greece - Came off the bench and played 16 minutes in Xanthi's 3-0 win over OFI.
Milos Stojcev - FC Akzhayik - Kazakhstan - Offseason.
Matt Taylor - Preußen Münster - Germany - On winter break until January.
Ivan Trujillo - America de Cali - Colombia - Offseason.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Offseason.
Sporting KC Release Schedule
Today the MLS schedule was released, which means it's time to plan the rest of the year. The entire schedule is below, but here are some highlights for you.
In regards to home games, KC has 9 Saturday night games, 1 Saturday afternoon game, 2 Sunday afternoon games, 2 Wednesday night games, and 3 Friday night games. On the road, KC have 3 Saturday night games, 2 Saturday afternoon games, 2 Saturday games that are TBD right now (both of KC's trips to Canada due to Canadian television), 1 Friday night game, 3 Sunday afternoon games, 1 Sunday night game, and 1 Wednesday night game.
The US Open Cup will kick off around June most likely and the CONCACAF Champions' League will kick off in August. With the Open Cup running through July that could make for a busy stretch for KC. And while September is a little lighter, August could be rough with the Champions League.
Some other rough patches from eyeballing KC's schedule is on April 17th through the 20th where they play in New York on a Wednesday and then play in LA on that Saturday. The other rough stretch will be in October when KC plays 3 of their 4 on the road against Eastern Conference opposition, at Columbus and Houston before closing out their home schedule against DC and closing the regular season on the road at Philadelphia.
After early June, KC was done with Western Conference opposition, this year not so much, KC have 4 games against Western Conference teams after June. But the last 2 months of the season see them playing strictly Eastern Conference teams.
National broadcast wise, KC will be on national TV 13 times between ESPN, NBC Sports, and Unimas. Both of KC's ESPN appearances will see them on the road. 6 of KC's 8 appearances on NBC Sports will be from the friendly confines of Livestrong Sporting Park. On UniMas, KC will only have 1 home game broadcasted there, the Cinco de Mayo game vs Chivas USA, the other 2 will be on the road.
This year we get the reverse of many of the games from last year. While Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Chivas, and Colorado travel to KC, Sporting get to make trips to San Jose, LA, Salt Lake, and Dallas this year. In the East, KC flops their 3 game schedule with Chicago, Houston and Toronto, traveling to those 3 cities twice this year instead of once, while Columbus and Montreal are the opposite, visiting Kansas City 2 times this year after only 1 trip last year. KC will play DC 3 times this year, twice at home after only playing them twice last year. They're travel to Philadelphia twice and once at home after only having 2 games against them last year. Meanwhile, KC will only have two games, one home, one away against both New England and New York
One worry that I mentioned earlier this week, was the potential for conflicts with national team duty, with it being a busy qualifying year. And sure enough there are conflicts. The first is the March 23rd game at New England. The USA play the day before against Costa Rica, while Sierra Leone play Tunisia. That could potentially see the likes of Graham Zusi (and potentially Matt Besler and Benny Feilhaber) and Kei Kamara miss the match up against the Revolution. The US also has a game in Mexico on the 26th that could potentially cause problems for the 30th against Montreal.
Another conflict could come on June 2nd when the US will host Germany in a friendly. The day before, Kansas City is set to host the Impact so another potential call up for Zusi and other KC players. The next potential conflict is in July when the CONCACAF Gold Cup takes place. The tournament takes place form July 7th through the 28th. Sporting have 4 games during that stretch, including at Chicago, home vs Toronto, at Salt Lake, and at Montreal. Add in a short camp before hand and players could miss the July 3rd home game vs Vancouver. This list for the Gold Cup could include Peterson Joseph (Haiti) and a few US players depending on how Jurgen Klinsmann plays the tournament (Besler, Feilhaber possibilities, also CJ Sapong and Chance Myers).
September brings more conflicts, as the day before Kansas City hosts Columbus on September 7th, the US travels to Costa Rica for a World Cup qualifier and Sierra Leone play Equatorial Guinea so another potential chance to lose Zusi and Kamara, along with others. That could be the end of the conflicts, although the US does play in Panama 3 days before the home finale against DC on the 18th. There is also a potential conflict in November with the playoffs. The 15th through the 19th is set aside for international matches and the intercontinental playoff that the US COULD be playing in if they finish 4th in the Hex.
Here's the entire schedule.
March
Saturday, March 2 at Philadelphia 3:00pm
Saturday, March 9 at Toronto 12:30pm
Saturday, March 16 vs Chicago 2:00pm NBC Sports
Saturday, March 23 at New England 3:00pm
Saturday, March 30 vs Montreal 7:30pm
April
Friday, April 5 vs DC 7:30pm
Wednesday, April 17 at New York 6:30pm
Saturday, April 20 at Los Angeles 9:30 NBC Sports
Saturday, April 27 vs Portland 7:30
May
Sunday, May 5 vs Chivas USA 4:00pm UniMas
Wednesday, May 8 vs Seattle 7:30pm
Sunday, May 12 at Houston 3:00 ESPN
Sunday, May 19 at DC 4:00pm UniMas
Sunday, May 26 vs Houston 2:30 NBC Sports
June
Saturday, June 1 vs Montreal 7:30pm
Saturday, June 22 at Dallas 7:30pm
Saturday, June 29 vs Columbus 7:30pm
July
Wednesday, July 3 vs Vancouver 7:30pm
Sunday, July 7 at Chicago 2:00pm ESPN
Saturday, July 13 vs Toronto 7:30pm
Saturday, July 20 at Salt Lake
Saturday, July 27 at Montreal TBD
August
Saturday, August 3 vs New York 7:00pm NBC Sports
Saturday, August 10 vs New England 7:30pm
Sunday, August 18 at San Jose 10:00pm UniMas
Friday, August 23 at Chicago 7:30pm NBC Sports
Saturday, August 31 vs Colorado 7:30pm
September
Saturday, September 7 vs Columbus 7:30pm
Saturday, September 21 at Toronto TBD
Friday, September 27 vs Philadelphia 7:00pm NBC Sports
October
Saturday, October 5 at Columbus 6:30pm
Wednesday, October 9 at Houston 7:30pm
Friday, October 18 vs DC 7:00pm NBC Sports
Saturday, October 26 at Philadelphia 2:00pm NBC Sports
In regards to home games, KC has 9 Saturday night games, 1 Saturday afternoon game, 2 Sunday afternoon games, 2 Wednesday night games, and 3 Friday night games. On the road, KC have 3 Saturday night games, 2 Saturday afternoon games, 2 Saturday games that are TBD right now (both of KC's trips to Canada due to Canadian television), 1 Friday night game, 3 Sunday afternoon games, 1 Sunday night game, and 1 Wednesday night game.
The US Open Cup will kick off around June most likely and the CONCACAF Champions' League will kick off in August. With the Open Cup running through July that could make for a busy stretch for KC. And while September is a little lighter, August could be rough with the Champions League.
Some other rough patches from eyeballing KC's schedule is on April 17th through the 20th where they play in New York on a Wednesday and then play in LA on that Saturday. The other rough stretch will be in October when KC plays 3 of their 4 on the road against Eastern Conference opposition, at Columbus and Houston before closing out their home schedule against DC and closing the regular season on the road at Philadelphia.
After early June, KC was done with Western Conference opposition, this year not so much, KC have 4 games against Western Conference teams after June. But the last 2 months of the season see them playing strictly Eastern Conference teams.
National broadcast wise, KC will be on national TV 13 times between ESPN, NBC Sports, and Unimas. Both of KC's ESPN appearances will see them on the road. 6 of KC's 8 appearances on NBC Sports will be from the friendly confines of Livestrong Sporting Park. On UniMas, KC will only have 1 home game broadcasted there, the Cinco de Mayo game vs Chivas USA, the other 2 will be on the road.
This year we get the reverse of many of the games from last year. While Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Chivas, and Colorado travel to KC, Sporting get to make trips to San Jose, LA, Salt Lake, and Dallas this year. In the East, KC flops their 3 game schedule with Chicago, Houston and Toronto, traveling to those 3 cities twice this year instead of once, while Columbus and Montreal are the opposite, visiting Kansas City 2 times this year after only 1 trip last year. KC will play DC 3 times this year, twice at home after only playing them twice last year. They're travel to Philadelphia twice and once at home after only having 2 games against them last year. Meanwhile, KC will only have two games, one home, one away against both New England and New York
One worry that I mentioned earlier this week, was the potential for conflicts with national team duty, with it being a busy qualifying year. And sure enough there are conflicts. The first is the March 23rd game at New England. The USA play the day before against Costa Rica, while Sierra Leone play Tunisia. That could potentially see the likes of Graham Zusi (and potentially Matt Besler and Benny Feilhaber) and Kei Kamara miss the match up against the Revolution. The US also has a game in Mexico on the 26th that could potentially cause problems for the 30th against Montreal.
Another conflict could come on June 2nd when the US will host Germany in a friendly. The day before, Kansas City is set to host the Impact so another potential call up for Zusi and other KC players. The next potential conflict is in July when the CONCACAF Gold Cup takes place. The tournament takes place form July 7th through the 28th. Sporting have 4 games during that stretch, including at Chicago, home vs Toronto, at Salt Lake, and at Montreal. Add in a short camp before hand and players could miss the July 3rd home game vs Vancouver. This list for the Gold Cup could include Peterson Joseph (Haiti) and a few US players depending on how Jurgen Klinsmann plays the tournament (Besler, Feilhaber possibilities, also CJ Sapong and Chance Myers).
September brings more conflicts, as the day before Kansas City hosts Columbus on September 7th, the US travels to Costa Rica for a World Cup qualifier and Sierra Leone play Equatorial Guinea so another potential chance to lose Zusi and Kamara, along with others. That could be the end of the conflicts, although the US does play in Panama 3 days before the home finale against DC on the 18th. There is also a potential conflict in November with the playoffs. The 15th through the 19th is set aside for international matches and the intercontinental playoff that the US COULD be playing in if they finish 4th in the Hex.
Here's the entire schedule.
March
Saturday, March 2 at Philadelphia 3:00pm
Saturday, March 9 at Toronto 12:30pm
Saturday, March 16 vs Chicago 2:00pm NBC Sports
Saturday, March 23 at New England 3:00pm
Saturday, March 30 vs Montreal 7:30pm
April
Friday, April 5 vs DC 7:30pm
Wednesday, April 17 at New York 6:30pm
Saturday, April 20 at Los Angeles 9:30 NBC Sports
Saturday, April 27 vs Portland 7:30
May
Sunday, May 5 vs Chivas USA 4:00pm UniMas
Wednesday, May 8 vs Seattle 7:30pm
Sunday, May 12 at Houston 3:00 ESPN
Sunday, May 19 at DC 4:00pm UniMas
Sunday, May 26 vs Houston 2:30 NBC Sports
June
Saturday, June 1 vs Montreal 7:30pm
Saturday, June 22 at Dallas 7:30pm
Saturday, June 29 vs Columbus 7:30pm
July
Wednesday, July 3 vs Vancouver 7:30pm
Sunday, July 7 at Chicago 2:00pm ESPN
Saturday, July 13 vs Toronto 7:30pm
Saturday, July 20 at Salt Lake
Saturday, July 27 at Montreal TBD
August
Saturday, August 3 vs New York 7:00pm NBC Sports
Saturday, August 10 vs New England 7:30pm
Sunday, August 18 at San Jose 10:00pm UniMas
Friday, August 23 at Chicago 7:30pm NBC Sports
Saturday, August 31 vs Colorado 7:30pm
September
Saturday, September 7 vs Columbus 7:30pm
Saturday, September 21 at Toronto TBD
Friday, September 27 vs Philadelphia 7:00pm NBC Sports
October
Saturday, October 5 at Columbus 6:30pm
Wednesday, October 9 at Houston 7:30pm
Friday, October 18 vs DC 7:00pm NBC Sports
Saturday, October 26 at Philadelphia 2:00pm NBC Sports
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
All Star Game Coming to KC
Look what I found on Ticketmaster tonight.
Once again it looks like Ticketmaster has let an announcement out of the bag early that the MLS All Star game is coming to Kansas City this year.
Last year it was rumored that Kansas City was a finalist for the All-Star Game, but lost out to Philadelphia. This year though it appears that Kansas City will be hosting the event. This will be the second straight year that KC would host a summer all star game after the city hosted last year's MLB All-Star Game.
Since last year there'd been rumors that KC would get to host the event this year. Then today the rumor came back up. It really picked up when it was announced by the team that Don Garber would be doing a Q&A with media at Livestrong Sporting Park on Thursday. The assumption was that the All Star game would be announced at that time as well.
But with it already being posted on Ticketmaster it would appear that the game will take place on July 31st of this year. If the information there is to be believed, then the tickets will go on sale in a pre-sale to Season Ticket Holders on Friday the 11th through the end of January. And tickets would go on sale to the general public on February 8th. Ticket prices look like they'll be priced between $30.00 and $350.00 before you factor in the Ticketmaster fees.
I doubt we'll see an announcement on the opponent on Thursday, I figure that will come a little bit later, but let the grand speculation begin on the foreign team that will be coming to KC to play the MLS All Stars.
UPDATE: Ticketmaster has pulled the game from the site at this time. Thank God for screen shots.
Most Capped as Sporting KC/KC Wizards Players
Continuing my updating of stats this offseason, tonight we're going to look at the players who have been capped for their national teams as a member of Kansas City. The first number is their caps while appearing for KC, the second is goals.
Josh Wolff - USA - 38 - 6
Jimmy Conrad - USA - 28 - 1
Preki - USA - 26 - 4
Roger Espinoza - Honduras - 25 - 3
Kerry Zavagnin - USA - 21 - 0
Eddie Johnson - USA - 20 - 3
Shavar Thomas - Jamaica - 19 - 0
Chris Klein - USA - 17 - 3
Gary Glasgow - Trinidad & Tobago - 16 - 1
Khari Stephenson - Jamaica - 15 - 3
Scott Sealy - Trinidad & Tobago - 14 - 1
Tony Meola - USA - 12 - 0
Kei Kamara - Sierra Leone - 11 - 2
Craig Rocastle - Grenada - 9 - 0
Sunil Chhetri - India - 9 - 5
Stephane Auvray - Guadeloupe - 8 - 1
Davy Arnaud - USA - 7 - 1
Graham Zusi - USA - 6 - 1
Peterson Joseph - Haiti - 6 - 0
Nick Garcia - USA - 6 - 0
Uche Okafor - Nigeria - 6 - 0
Teal Bunbury - USA - 4 - 1
Onandi Lowe - Jamaica - 3 - 2
Mike Sorber - USA - 3 - 0
Miklos Molnar - Denmark - 3 - 0
CJ Sapong - USA - 2 - 0
Mark Chung - USA - 2 - 0
Jermaine Hue - Jamaica - 2 - 0
Chris Henderson - USA - 1 - 0
Steve Pittman - USA - 1 - 0
Digital Takawira - Zimbabwe - Unknown
I've still been unable to find cap numbers for Digitial Takawira while he playing for KC unfortunately. Hopefully later this month, two more players will be joining the list for Sporting KC with both Matt Besler and Benny Feilhaber being called into US camp each could get their first cap as a member of Sporting KC (and Besler's first period) later this month when the US plays Canada in Houston.
Josh Wolff - USA - 38 - 6
Jimmy Conrad - USA - 28 - 1
Preki - USA - 26 - 4
Roger Espinoza - Honduras - 25 - 3
Kerry Zavagnin - USA - 21 - 0
Eddie Johnson - USA - 20 - 3
Shavar Thomas - Jamaica - 19 - 0
Chris Klein - USA - 17 - 3
Gary Glasgow - Trinidad & Tobago - 16 - 1
Khari Stephenson - Jamaica - 15 - 3
Scott Sealy - Trinidad & Tobago - 14 - 1
Tony Meola - USA - 12 - 0
Kei Kamara - Sierra Leone - 11 - 2
Craig Rocastle - Grenada - 9 - 0
Sunil Chhetri - India - 9 - 5
Stephane Auvray - Guadeloupe - 8 - 1
Davy Arnaud - USA - 7 - 1
Graham Zusi - USA - 6 - 1
Peterson Joseph - Haiti - 6 - 0
Nick Garcia - USA - 6 - 0
Uche Okafor - Nigeria - 6 - 0
Teal Bunbury - USA - 4 - 1
Onandi Lowe - Jamaica - 3 - 2
Mike Sorber - USA - 3 - 0
Miklos Molnar - Denmark - 3 - 0
CJ Sapong - USA - 2 - 0
Mark Chung - USA - 2 - 0
Jermaine Hue - Jamaica - 2 - 0
Chris Henderson - USA - 1 - 0
Steve Pittman - USA - 1 - 0
Digital Takawira - Zimbabwe - Unknown
I've still been unable to find cap numbers for Digitial Takawira while he playing for KC unfortunately. Hopefully later this month, two more players will be joining the list for Sporting KC with both Matt Besler and Benny Feilhaber being called into US camp each could get their first cap as a member of Sporting KC (and Besler's first period) later this month when the US plays Canada in Houston.
Monday, January 07, 2013
Schedule Coming Wednesday and an Eye on International Dates
MLS fans will be able to plan the rest of their year come Wednesday. The league is set to release the rest of the 2013 schedule on Wednesday at 11am Central time. KC already knows their first three games on the season, playing at Philadelphia, at Toronto, and then opening Livestrong for the season against Chicago.
Outside MLS play, it's going to be a busy year, the year before the World Cup, there's going to be a lot of international soccer going on. Not just that, but there's also the Gold Cup this summer that will be taking up time. With players like Matt Besler, Benny Feilhaber, and Graham Zusi being in camp for the US right now and potentially being called in later this summer as well. Along with that that, there's still other US players on Sporting KC's roster that could be called up, like CJ Sapong. Then you have Peterson Joseph whose national team of Haiti has qualified for the Gold Cup as well. You also have Kei Kamara, the Sierra Leone player of the year, will likely have trips to Africa for Sierra Leone's World Cup qualifying campaign. Finally in probably the least likely of the call ups, Lawrence Olum spent time with the Kenya national team this offseason and they too have World Cup qualifiers this year. So before the schedule comes out, here are a couple of dates to keep in mind while looking at the schedule and KC's potential players that could miss time.
March 22nd
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Costa Rica
Sierra Leone vs Tunisia
Kenya vs Nigeria
March 26th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Mexico
June 4th
International match date
June 7th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Jamaica
Sierra Leone vs Tunisia
Kenya vs Nigeria
June 11th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Panama
June 14th
World Cup qualifiers
Sierra Leone vs Cape Verde
Kenya vs Malawi
June 18th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Honduras
July 7th through July 28th
CONCACAF Gold Cup
August 14th
International match date
September 6th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Costa Rica
Sierra Leone vs Equatorial Guinea
Kenya vs Namibia
September 10th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Mexico
Octobere 11th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Jamaica
October 15th
USA vs Panama
November 15th through November 19th
International match date
Intercontinental playoff between CONCACAF and Oceania
Outside MLS play, it's going to be a busy year, the year before the World Cup, there's going to be a lot of international soccer going on. Not just that, but there's also the Gold Cup this summer that will be taking up time. With players like Matt Besler, Benny Feilhaber, and Graham Zusi being in camp for the US right now and potentially being called in later this summer as well. Along with that that, there's still other US players on Sporting KC's roster that could be called up, like CJ Sapong. Then you have Peterson Joseph whose national team of Haiti has qualified for the Gold Cup as well. You also have Kei Kamara, the Sierra Leone player of the year, will likely have trips to Africa for Sierra Leone's World Cup qualifying campaign. Finally in probably the least likely of the call ups, Lawrence Olum spent time with the Kenya national team this offseason and they too have World Cup qualifiers this year. So before the schedule comes out, here are a couple of dates to keep in mind while looking at the schedule and KC's potential players that could miss time.
March 22nd
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Costa Rica
Sierra Leone vs Tunisia
Kenya vs Nigeria
March 26th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Mexico
June 4th
International match date
June 7th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Jamaica
Sierra Leone vs Tunisia
Kenya vs Nigeria
June 11th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Panama
June 14th
World Cup qualifiers
Sierra Leone vs Cape Verde
Kenya vs Malawi
June 18th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Honduras
July 7th through July 28th
CONCACAF Gold Cup
August 14th
International match date
September 6th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Costa Rica
Sierra Leone vs Equatorial Guinea
Kenya vs Namibia
September 10th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Mexico
Octobere 11th
World Cup qualifiers
USA vs Jamaica
October 15th
USA vs Panama
November 15th through November 19th
International match date
Intercontinental playoff between CONCACAF and Oceania
Zusi on "Full Trial"
Last Friday we'd heard that Sporting KC midfielder, Graham Zusi would be heading to England to train with West Ham United before joining the US national team for "Camp Cupcake." At the time I stated that there is no "training session" that all the training session are also trials, that West Ham wouldn't have brought Zusi in unless they were interested at least a little bit.
Today according to Greg Seltzer, he confirms that Zusi's time in London is in fact a trial. It's one thing with me saying that all training sessions are trials. It's another thing when a well respected journalist like Seltzer calls it a "full trial."
That said, I'd ask Sporting KC fans to take a step back from the ledge. While Zusi's time with West Ham may be a full trial, I don't see Zusi leaving. The reason is that Zusi just signed a new contract with Kansas City before the beginning of last season. That new contract gave Zusi a nice raise and also prolonged his stay in KC. Now if a team like West Ham wants to come in and get Zusi, they're going to have to pay KC a transfer fee to get him. And with KC already having lost Roger Espinoza this offseason, it's going to have to be an extremely good offer for KC to part with the US national teamer.
OnGoal has also shown a commitment to winning and selling Zusi would, on the surface, appear to be counter productive to that commitment. On the other side of things though,while KC would suffer from the loss of Zusi, they do have a player that offers many of the same things that Zusi brings. Benny Feilhaber could step in and offer many of the same things that Zusi brings. Although I think at this point Zusi is the more polished player than Feilhaber, should Zusi leave, I think Peter Vermes could get some of the same things that Zusi brings. Not all of them but some.
Like I said though, I don't expect Zusi to leave, I expect he'll have a decent trial there, Sam Allardyce will say some nice words about him, talk him up, but he'll return to the States, head to Carson, CA, then Houston for the Canada friendly (and then hopefully to Honduras for the World Cup qualifier). He'll then return to KC to prepare for the 2013 season with Sporting KC.
Today according to Greg Seltzer, he confirms that Zusi's time in London is in fact a trial. It's one thing with me saying that all training sessions are trials. It's another thing when a well respected journalist like Seltzer calls it a "full trial."
That said, I'd ask Sporting KC fans to take a step back from the ledge. While Zusi's time with West Ham may be a full trial, I don't see Zusi leaving. The reason is that Zusi just signed a new contract with Kansas City before the beginning of last season. That new contract gave Zusi a nice raise and also prolonged his stay in KC. Now if a team like West Ham wants to come in and get Zusi, they're going to have to pay KC a transfer fee to get him. And with KC already having lost Roger Espinoza this offseason, it's going to have to be an extremely good offer for KC to part with the US national teamer.
OnGoal has also shown a commitment to winning and selling Zusi would, on the surface, appear to be counter productive to that commitment. On the other side of things though,while KC would suffer from the loss of Zusi, they do have a player that offers many of the same things that Zusi brings. Benny Feilhaber could step in and offer many of the same things that Zusi brings. Although I think at this point Zusi is the more polished player than Feilhaber, should Zusi leave, I think Peter Vermes could get some of the same things that Zusi brings. Not all of them but some.
Like I said though, I don't expect Zusi to leave, I expect he'll have a decent trial there, Sam Allardyce will say some nice words about him, talk him up, but he'll return to the States, head to Carson, CA, then Houston for the Canada friendly (and then hopefully to Honduras for the World Cup qualifier). He'll then return to KC to prepare for the 2013 season with Sporting KC.
10,000 Minute Club
To start off my look at player stats for the offseason. First a look at the 10,000 minute club.
In league play, no new players joined the club this year. Like last year, Matt Besler is the closest one to join this list, just over 1,000 minutes away from the mark. Jimmy Nielsen at 8,437 also has a very good shot at making the mark in the 2013 season. Depending on playing time, Kei Kamara also stands a good shot, currently sitting on 7,887 minutes for KC. Michael Harrington jumped up the list in his last season in KC despite playing limited minutes. He went from 12th to 9th. Here's the 12 players currently in the club.
1. Kerry Zavagnin - 20,516
2. Nick Garcia - 20,158
3 Davy Arnaud - 19, 399
4. Jimmy Conrad - 18,194
5. Preki - 17,818
6. Chris Klein - 16,381
7. Jack Jewsbury - 13,275
8. Mo Johnston - 12,600
9. Michael Harrington - 11,633
10. Matt McKeon - 11,584
11. Josh Wolff - 11,467
12. Tony Meola - 11,331
In all competitions, there was one addition to the list, as Besler made his way onto the list joining the club. There are four players that could also potentially join the list in the 2013 season. Jimmy Nielsen is less than 1,000 minutes from joining the club at 9,277. Kei Kamara is just over 1,000 minutes at 8,875 minutes played. The other two, Chance Myers (7,469) and Graham Zusi (7,299) would need to play the majority of minutes next year for them to get into the club. Besler joins the list with 10,377 minutes for KC while the departing Harrington finished his career in 11th with 13,276 minutes played. Here's the full 16 player list.
1. Kerry Zavagnin - 25,290
2. Nick Garcia - 24,650
3. Davy Arnaud - 21,607
4. Preki - 20,647
5. Jimmy Conrad - 20,551
6. Chris Klein - 19,437
7. Jack Jewsbury - 14,973
8. Matt McKeon - 14,602
9. Tony Meola - 14,205
10. Mo Johnston - 14,182
11. Michael Harrington - 13,276
12. Josh Wolff - 12,939
13. Diego Gutierrez - 12,246
14. Jose Burciaga - 10,624
15. Matt Besler - 10,377
16. Uche Okafor - 10,281
In league play, no new players joined the club this year. Like last year, Matt Besler is the closest one to join this list, just over 1,000 minutes away from the mark. Jimmy Nielsen at 8,437 also has a very good shot at making the mark in the 2013 season. Depending on playing time, Kei Kamara also stands a good shot, currently sitting on 7,887 minutes for KC. Michael Harrington jumped up the list in his last season in KC despite playing limited minutes. He went from 12th to 9th. Here's the 12 players currently in the club.
1. Kerry Zavagnin - 20,516
2. Nick Garcia - 20,158
3 Davy Arnaud - 19, 399
4. Jimmy Conrad - 18,194
5. Preki - 17,818
6. Chris Klein - 16,381
7. Jack Jewsbury - 13,275
8. Mo Johnston - 12,600
9. Michael Harrington - 11,633
10. Matt McKeon - 11,584
11. Josh Wolff - 11,467
12. Tony Meola - 11,331
In all competitions, there was one addition to the list, as Besler made his way onto the list joining the club. There are four players that could also potentially join the list in the 2013 season. Jimmy Nielsen is less than 1,000 minutes from joining the club at 9,277. Kei Kamara is just over 1,000 minutes at 8,875 minutes played. The other two, Chance Myers (7,469) and Graham Zusi (7,299) would need to play the majority of minutes next year for them to get into the club. Besler joins the list with 10,377 minutes for KC while the departing Harrington finished his career in 11th with 13,276 minutes played. Here's the full 16 player list.
1. Kerry Zavagnin - 25,290
2. Nick Garcia - 24,650
3. Davy Arnaud - 21,607
4. Preki - 20,647
5. Jimmy Conrad - 20,551
6. Chris Klein - 19,437
7. Jack Jewsbury - 14,973
8. Matt McKeon - 14,602
9. Tony Meola - 14,205
10. Mo Johnston - 14,182
11. Michael Harrington - 13,276
12. Josh Wolff - 12,939
13. Diego Gutierrez - 12,246
14. Jose Burciaga - 10,624
15. Matt Besler - 10,377
16. Uche Okafor - 10,281
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Comets Clip Wings
The Missouri Comets took care of business today at the Independence Events Center and moved won step closer to winning the I-35 Series with their rivals the Wichita Wings. With their 24-11 win today, the Comets now lead the series this year 3-1 with two games left, one in Wichita and one more at the IEC. The Comets are also ahead on points 65-46. That means that Wings have to win their last two games vs Missouri by a combined 20 points to take the trophy away from the Comets this year.
The first quarter was rough for the Comets though. It started off well though. Just over a minute into the game the Comets won a free kick in the corner just outside the 3 point arc. John Sosa ran over the ball leaving it for Brian Harris. Harris' shot took a couple deflections as it went through and went through the legs of the Wings keeper Sanaldo to make it 3-0 Comets. Almost immediately after the goal the Comets were on the back foot. Twenty seconds after the goal, Stefan Stokic got sent to the box for tripping. On the power play the Wings took advantage as Omar Quiroz picked Geison at the back post and he tapped it home. Only a few minutes later the Comets again found themselves a man down as Stefan St. Louis was sent to the box. The Wings didn't capitalize on that power play, but right around the midpoint of the half Coady Andrews got sent to the box for tripping. It was definitely a foul, but I struggled to see how it was a blue card. The Comets were trying to strike on the counter while short handed but couldn't find a goal. Then late in penalty Quiroz played a ball to the back post where Geison had a turning volley putting it past Danny Waltman and into the net giving the Wings the lead. With the penalties, the Comets were never able to get in a rhythm in the first quarter and they paid for it throughout the quarter. Late in the quarter, the Wings got a turnover in the Comets end and former Comet Tiguinho fired a shot from outside the 3 point line that hit Leo Gibson who had dove to block the shot. The shot though deflected off Gibson and over Waltman and into the net to give the Wings a 7-3 lead. The lead held up through the end of the quarter.
The Comets pressured out of the gates in the second quarter. Inside the first minute the Comets created a few chances. One of the attempted clearances came to Sosa, who on the volley beat Sanaldo and got the Comets within 2, making it 7-5. The Comets continued to pressure and down in the corner before the 3rd minute of the quarter Andrews was fouled in the corner. Sosa stepped up to take the free kick and played the ball into the middle where Stokic turned the ball into the net to tie the game at 7-7. Less than a minute after the Comets tied the game they were down again. Quiroz played a long ball over the top to Moura. The ball bounced around the edge of the box where Waltman had started to come out. Waltman though didn't commit to grab it or head it away. Moura collected the ball, dribbled around Waltman and put the ball into the net to make it 9-7 restoring their lead. Just before the midpoint of the quarter, the Comets were again able to equalize. Sosa won the ball around midfield and started a 2v3 opportunity with St. Louis. The Comets big forward was able to get all 3 to commit to him allowing Sosa to cut to his left and then fire a shot past Sanaldo and into the net making it 9-9. The Comets continued to push the game looking to retake the lead. With just over 4 minutes left in the quarter the Comets got another 3 pointer to restore their lead. Andrews received the ball at the yellow line. He fed the ball wide to Byron Alvarez who attempted to collect the ball at the same time as a wings defender slid in. The ball went into the air. Alvarez jumped for the ball, coming down on the Wings player. No call was made, Alvarez collected and fired from 3 point range getting the ball past Sanaldo and into the net. The Wings protested the goal saying it was a foul but no foul was called.
The Comets continued to push and less than a minute after retaking the lead, the Comets scored again. Vahid Assadpour played a ball from deep in the Comets end up towards St. Louis. St. Louis' defender had over committed and St. Louis turned and went in on goal and fired a shot into the far corner for his first MISL goal. St. Louis has done a lot of the dirty work for the Comets it was good to see him get a goal. The Comets went into the half up 14-9.
The Comets came out pressuring again in the 3rd quarter and just over 2 minutes into the quarter, Gibson played a good ball over the top to Alvarez. With a defender on his back, Alvarez held him off turned and hit a volley that went into the far corner making it 16-9. Only 20 seconds later the Comets got another goal. Harris won the ball in the Comets end and played a long ball down the line for Assadpour. Harris continued his run and Assadpour paid off his run by laying a ball into the middle for Harris who one timed his shot off the underside of the bar off the ground and into the net making it 18-9. Less than a minute later things got even worse for the Wings. Around midfield, Geison and Sosa tangled for a ball. Geison elbowed Sosa in the face. Sosa went down and the referee pulled out first a blue card, then a red, sending Geison to the locker room and Frederico Moojen to the box to serve Geison's blue card. Geison will now miss the game next weekend between the two teams. The Comets couldn't take advantage of the man advantage and shortly after the Wings got their man back on the Comets went down a man as Lucas Rodriguez was sent to the box for holding. This penalty though saw the Comets as the aggressors as they took the game to the Wings while they were a man up but couldn't capitalize. They successfully killed the penalty and shortly after that Rodriguez collected a loose ball, dribbled around Sanaldo slotted the ball calmly into the empty net to make it 20-9.
Early on in the fourth quarter the Comets again got to go on the power play as Tiguinho got sent to the box for tripping. The Comets were able to take advantage of this power play as Rodriguez off a restart found Alvarez in the corner. Alvarez fired a shot from the corner that squeezed between Sanaldo and the post to make it 22-9. Shortly after the goal the Wings started to really push the game. Moojen set up Kevin Ten Eyck with a pass off the wall to get the Wings back within 11. The Comets though were able to restore the 13 point lead with just over 5 minutes left in the game. Assadpour fed the ball to Alvarez who beat Sanaldo for the 4th time tonight to make it 24-11. The Wings pushed the game, never putting on the 6th attacker but weren't able to get another goal. Late in the game St. Louis got into it again with some Wings defenders and got another blue card and spent the rest of the game in the box. The Wings couldn't find anything in the last 2 minutes on the power play and the Comets held on a made it a mountain for the Wings to climb in the season series.
The first quarter was rough for the Comets though. It started off well though. Just over a minute into the game the Comets won a free kick in the corner just outside the 3 point arc. John Sosa ran over the ball leaving it for Brian Harris. Harris' shot took a couple deflections as it went through and went through the legs of the Wings keeper Sanaldo to make it 3-0 Comets. Almost immediately after the goal the Comets were on the back foot. Twenty seconds after the goal, Stefan Stokic got sent to the box for tripping. On the power play the Wings took advantage as Omar Quiroz picked Geison at the back post and he tapped it home. Only a few minutes later the Comets again found themselves a man down as Stefan St. Louis was sent to the box. The Wings didn't capitalize on that power play, but right around the midpoint of the half Coady Andrews got sent to the box for tripping. It was definitely a foul, but I struggled to see how it was a blue card. The Comets were trying to strike on the counter while short handed but couldn't find a goal. Then late in penalty Quiroz played a ball to the back post where Geison had a turning volley putting it past Danny Waltman and into the net giving the Wings the lead. With the penalties, the Comets were never able to get in a rhythm in the first quarter and they paid for it throughout the quarter. Late in the quarter, the Wings got a turnover in the Comets end and former Comet Tiguinho fired a shot from outside the 3 point line that hit Leo Gibson who had dove to block the shot. The shot though deflected off Gibson and over Waltman and into the net to give the Wings a 7-3 lead. The lead held up through the end of the quarter.
The Comets pressured out of the gates in the second quarter. Inside the first minute the Comets created a few chances. One of the attempted clearances came to Sosa, who on the volley beat Sanaldo and got the Comets within 2, making it 7-5. The Comets continued to pressure and down in the corner before the 3rd minute of the quarter Andrews was fouled in the corner. Sosa stepped up to take the free kick and played the ball into the middle where Stokic turned the ball into the net to tie the game at 7-7. Less than a minute after the Comets tied the game they were down again. Quiroz played a long ball over the top to Moura. The ball bounced around the edge of the box where Waltman had started to come out. Waltman though didn't commit to grab it or head it away. Moura collected the ball, dribbled around Waltman and put the ball into the net to make it 9-7 restoring their lead. Just before the midpoint of the quarter, the Comets were again able to equalize. Sosa won the ball around midfield and started a 2v3 opportunity with St. Louis. The Comets big forward was able to get all 3 to commit to him allowing Sosa to cut to his left and then fire a shot past Sanaldo and into the net making it 9-9. The Comets continued to push the game looking to retake the lead. With just over 4 minutes left in the quarter the Comets got another 3 pointer to restore their lead. Andrews received the ball at the yellow line. He fed the ball wide to Byron Alvarez who attempted to collect the ball at the same time as a wings defender slid in. The ball went into the air. Alvarez jumped for the ball, coming down on the Wings player. No call was made, Alvarez collected and fired from 3 point range getting the ball past Sanaldo and into the net. The Wings protested the goal saying it was a foul but no foul was called.
The Comets continued to push and less than a minute after retaking the lead, the Comets scored again. Vahid Assadpour played a ball from deep in the Comets end up towards St. Louis. St. Louis' defender had over committed and St. Louis turned and went in on goal and fired a shot into the far corner for his first MISL goal. St. Louis has done a lot of the dirty work for the Comets it was good to see him get a goal. The Comets went into the half up 14-9.
The Comets came out pressuring again in the 3rd quarter and just over 2 minutes into the quarter, Gibson played a good ball over the top to Alvarez. With a defender on his back, Alvarez held him off turned and hit a volley that went into the far corner making it 16-9. Only 20 seconds later the Comets got another goal. Harris won the ball in the Comets end and played a long ball down the line for Assadpour. Harris continued his run and Assadpour paid off his run by laying a ball into the middle for Harris who one timed his shot off the underside of the bar off the ground and into the net making it 18-9. Less than a minute later things got even worse for the Wings. Around midfield, Geison and Sosa tangled for a ball. Geison elbowed Sosa in the face. Sosa went down and the referee pulled out first a blue card, then a red, sending Geison to the locker room and Frederico Moojen to the box to serve Geison's blue card. Geison will now miss the game next weekend between the two teams. The Comets couldn't take advantage of the man advantage and shortly after the Wings got their man back on the Comets went down a man as Lucas Rodriguez was sent to the box for holding. This penalty though saw the Comets as the aggressors as they took the game to the Wings while they were a man up but couldn't capitalize. They successfully killed the penalty and shortly after that Rodriguez collected a loose ball, dribbled around Sanaldo slotted the ball calmly into the empty net to make it 20-9.
Early on in the fourth quarter the Comets again got to go on the power play as Tiguinho got sent to the box for tripping. The Comets were able to take advantage of this power play as Rodriguez off a restart found Alvarez in the corner. Alvarez fired a shot from the corner that squeezed between Sanaldo and the post to make it 22-9. Shortly after the goal the Wings started to really push the game. Moojen set up Kevin Ten Eyck with a pass off the wall to get the Wings back within 11. The Comets though were able to restore the 13 point lead with just over 5 minutes left in the game. Assadpour fed the ball to Alvarez who beat Sanaldo for the 4th time tonight to make it 24-11. The Wings pushed the game, never putting on the 6th attacker but weren't able to get another goal. Late in the game St. Louis got into it again with some Wings defenders and got another blue card and spent the rest of the game in the box. The Wings couldn't find anything in the last 2 minutes on the power play and the Comets held on a made it a mountain for the Wings to climb in the season series.
Livestrong Finalist for Costa Rica Qualifier
Reports out of Costa Rica in early December were that Livestrong Sporting Park would be hosting the upcoming World Cup qualifier against the Ticos. After that came further reports that it wouldn't be LSP, but instead Colorado or Salt Lake that would be hosting the game in an attempt to help acclimate players to higher altitudes ahead of the qualifier a few days later in Mexico City.
Today on Goals on Sunday on Fox Soccer Channel, Grant Wahl said that those are the final 3 sites that are being decided upon and that a decision should be coming some time this week.
Putting the game in Salt Lake or Colorado makes sense from the altitude standpoint. Salt Lake hosted the US qualifier against Costa Rica in the 2006 cycle and provided a very good home atmosphere. The last qualifier held in Colorado at Dick's Sporting Goods Park was the qualifier against Guatemala in the 2010 cycle. That game wasn't that well attended overall, but the game also meant nothing, and since then games for qualifiers have changed and qualifiers aren't going to have attendance like that any more I don't think.
KC provides a good home atmosphere and a place where the US will have a home field advantage, as shown in the Gold Cup and World Cup qualifier vs Guatemala. In fact you can go back to the 2002 cycle when KC hosted the Costa Rica qualifier and over 30,000 showed up for that game. All 3 provide very good choices for US Soccer.
If the qualifier doesn't come to KC, I still expect KC to get one of the qualifiers, whether it be Honduras, Mexico, Panama, or Jamaica. Even with the rumors of the two summer home qualifiers vs Honduras and Panama going to the Pacific Northwest, I'd still figure on KC getting one of the final two. My opinion then would be Jamaica as I wouldn't take the US-Mexico game out of Columbus. The Jamaica game may not be glamorous, but if the US needs a result, there aren't many places where the US would probably want to come for a must win than Kansas City.
Today on Goals on Sunday on Fox Soccer Channel, Grant Wahl said that those are the final 3 sites that are being decided upon and that a decision should be coming some time this week.
Putting the game in Salt Lake or Colorado makes sense from the altitude standpoint. Salt Lake hosted the US qualifier against Costa Rica in the 2006 cycle and provided a very good home atmosphere. The last qualifier held in Colorado at Dick's Sporting Goods Park was the qualifier against Guatemala in the 2010 cycle. That game wasn't that well attended overall, but the game also meant nothing, and since then games for qualifiers have changed and qualifiers aren't going to have attendance like that any more I don't think.
KC provides a good home atmosphere and a place where the US will have a home field advantage, as shown in the Gold Cup and World Cup qualifier vs Guatemala. In fact you can go back to the 2002 cycle when KC hosted the Costa Rica qualifier and over 30,000 showed up for that game. All 3 provide very good choices for US Soccer.
If the qualifier doesn't come to KC, I still expect KC to get one of the qualifiers, whether it be Honduras, Mexico, Panama, or Jamaica. Even with the rumors of the two summer home qualifiers vs Honduras and Panama going to the Pacific Northwest, I'd still figure on KC getting one of the final two. My opinion then would be Jamaica as I wouldn't take the US-Mexico game out of Columbus. The Jamaica game may not be glamorous, but if the US needs a result, there aren't many places where the US would probably want to come for a must win than Kansas City.
Besler, Feilhaber, and Zusi Called into US Camp
Jurgen Klinsmann announced his call ups for the January "Camp Cupcake" beginning Monday in Carson, California. Three Sporting KC players were named to the roster, Matt Besler, Benny Feilhaber, and Graham Zusi.
Zusi was already expected to be there after the announcement that he'd be joining the camp late due to his training session with West Ham that he is doing this week. Of the three, Zusi looks the most established for a potential call up for the February World Cup qualifier against Honduras. In the second half of World Cup qualifiers last year, Zusi established himself as a consistent performer on the wing for Klinsmann.
MLS Defender of the Year, Besler, is earning his second call up and hoping for his first cap. He'd been called in for the friendly against Mexico last year, but did not get on the field. With the USA's struggles at center back, Besler, certainly has a chance to break into the team and make a case for call ups in the future. He'll have LA Galaxy defenders Omar Gonzalez and AJ De La Garza and Philadelphia defender Jeff Parke to battle to win a spot over.
KC's newest national team player, is Feilhaber. He didn't have the greatest 2012 but his experience in the World Cup is going to be a help in the midfield for the US. His 39 caps are the most of KC's representatives and also one of the most experienced on the roster as a whole.
While KC has the most representatives on the roster with 3, along with San Jose and Houston, a case could be made for another 1-2 KC players called in, especially with the players that were called in. First was the inclusion of New York defender, Connor Lade over Chance Myers. Lade had a good rookie year, but from everything I saw of him, he offers less than Myers has and has been doing it for less time than the KC right back who has enjoyed two very good years the last two years. The other KC player that got a snub was CJ Sapong. Specifically because of the call up of Edson Buddle and a lesser extent Juan Agudelo. The 31 year old Buddle played in only 19 games last season, starting 10 and scored 3 goals. Sapong brings much of the same skill set, younger, a higher ceiling, and scored 9 goals last year for KC.
Congrats to those 3 though and good luck to them. Hopefully we'll see them on the field in Houston against Canada/
Zusi was already expected to be there after the announcement that he'd be joining the camp late due to his training session with West Ham that he is doing this week. Of the three, Zusi looks the most established for a potential call up for the February World Cup qualifier against Honduras. In the second half of World Cup qualifiers last year, Zusi established himself as a consistent performer on the wing for Klinsmann.
MLS Defender of the Year, Besler, is earning his second call up and hoping for his first cap. He'd been called in for the friendly against Mexico last year, but did not get on the field. With the USA's struggles at center back, Besler, certainly has a chance to break into the team and make a case for call ups in the future. He'll have LA Galaxy defenders Omar Gonzalez and AJ De La Garza and Philadelphia defender Jeff Parke to battle to win a spot over.
KC's newest national team player, is Feilhaber. He didn't have the greatest 2012 but his experience in the World Cup is going to be a help in the midfield for the US. His 39 caps are the most of KC's representatives and also one of the most experienced on the roster as a whole.
While KC has the most representatives on the roster with 3, along with San Jose and Houston, a case could be made for another 1-2 KC players called in, especially with the players that were called in. First was the inclusion of New York defender, Connor Lade over Chance Myers. Lade had a good rookie year, but from everything I saw of him, he offers less than Myers has and has been doing it for less time than the KC right back who has enjoyed two very good years the last two years. The other KC player that got a snub was CJ Sapong. Specifically because of the call up of Edson Buddle and a lesser extent Juan Agudelo. The 31 year old Buddle played in only 19 games last season, starting 10 and scored 3 goals. Sapong brings much of the same skill set, younger, a higher ceiling, and scored 9 goals last year for KC.
Congrats to those 3 though and good luck to them. Hopefully we'll see them on the field in Houston against Canada/
Saturday, January 05, 2013
Zusi Training Abroad, Ellis Going to CT, and a Rumor
Some news for you on this Friday regarding Sporting KC.
Zusi Training with West Ham
Reports from Yanks Abroad are that Graham Zusi is heading abroad for a training stint. Zusi is apparently on his way to train with EPL side, West Ham United. Zusi is leaving tomorrow for London and will spend a week with the Hammers before returning to the US for came with the US national team.
It's a great opportunity for one of the finalists for league MVP award. And while it's classified as only a training stint, as James put it nicely earlier today, all training stints are trials in a way. A team isn't going to bring a player in to train with them unless they see something in that player as a potential signing. Not that I expect West Ham to sign Zusi. But to think that West Ham aren't at least taking a look at Zusi as a potential player is foolish.
Sporting has apparently declined to comment on the training.
Ellis to Participate in Soccer Night in Newtown
After the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Houston Dynamo president, Chris Canetti set up "Soccer Night in Newtown." In an effort to "do something" and provide some sort of a distraction, Canetti set up an evening to try to give the people and families something to distract them from the tragedy. He's been able to bring in players from 14 MLS teams as well as US greats and hall of famers.
I was disappointed when the initial list came out and there were no Sporting KC players heading out to be a part of this even. Today came the announcement that home grown player, Kevin Ellis would be heading out to be part of the group that will sign autographs, take photos, and play soccer. Most people wanted to do something about the situation and I'm happy that Canetti set this up and that Ellis is participating in this event.
Rumors
Gotta love this time of year. There are some crazy rumors going around right now. This one made me just laugh at it's hilarity. CJ Sapong linked with a move to Arsenal. That just makes me laugh. Not that I don't think Sapong is a bad player, or that he can't reach great heights. But at this time I don't think he's at that level. This just illustrates some of the crazy rumors that are out there.
Zusi Training with West Ham
Reports from Yanks Abroad are that Graham Zusi is heading abroad for a training stint. Zusi is apparently on his way to train with EPL side, West Ham United. Zusi is leaving tomorrow for London and will spend a week with the Hammers before returning to the US for came with the US national team.
It's a great opportunity for one of the finalists for league MVP award. And while it's classified as only a training stint, as James put it nicely earlier today, all training stints are trials in a way. A team isn't going to bring a player in to train with them unless they see something in that player as a potential signing. Not that I expect West Ham to sign Zusi. But to think that West Ham aren't at least taking a look at Zusi as a potential player is foolish.
Sporting has apparently declined to comment on the training.
Ellis to Participate in Soccer Night in Newtown
After the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Houston Dynamo president, Chris Canetti set up "Soccer Night in Newtown." In an effort to "do something" and provide some sort of a distraction, Canetti set up an evening to try to give the people and families something to distract them from the tragedy. He's been able to bring in players from 14 MLS teams as well as US greats and hall of famers.
I was disappointed when the initial list came out and there were no Sporting KC players heading out to be a part of this even. Today came the announcement that home grown player, Kevin Ellis would be heading out to be part of the group that will sign autographs, take photos, and play soccer. Most people wanted to do something about the situation and I'm happy that Canetti set this up and that Ellis is participating in this event.
Rumors
Gotta love this time of year. There are some crazy rumors going around right now. This one made me just laugh at it's hilarity. CJ Sapong linked with a move to Arsenal. That just makes me laugh. Not that I don't think Sapong is a bad player, or that he can't reach great heights. But at this time I don't think he's at that level. This just illustrates some of the crazy rumors that are out there.
Friday, January 04, 2013
Espinoza Officially a Latic
Wigan Athletic today officially announced the signing of Sporting KC midfielder Roger Espinoza. The move that had been rumored since the summer, and really picked up steam after the season ended is official and Espinoza's time in Kansas City is over.
Espinoza flew to the greater Manchester area yesterday after securing a visa for the UK in New York. Based on the comments about his signing, it would appear that Wigan are set to give him his debut tomorrow against AFC Bournemouth in the FA Cup. A bit surprising that Espinoza would be given his debut so soon after arriving, but it's also a good opportunity to do it against a team in the English 3rd division.
We all knew that the move was coming, but that doesn't make it any less disappointing when it's officially announced and his name is removed from the Sporting KC roster on the team's site. But Wigan probably has a few new fans in the KC metro area who will be following their attempts to avoid relegation.
Good luck to Roger in England, he took a while to prove himself here in KC, but he's done a good job of proving just how good he is. I hope to never see him back in MLS, I hope he's successful enough abroad that he doesn't return.
Espinoza flew to the greater Manchester area yesterday after securing a visa for the UK in New York. Based on the comments about his signing, it would appear that Wigan are set to give him his debut tomorrow against AFC Bournemouth in the FA Cup. A bit surprising that Espinoza would be given his debut so soon after arriving, but it's also a good opportunity to do it against a team in the English 3rd division.
We all knew that the move was coming, but that doesn't make it any less disappointing when it's officially announced and his name is removed from the Sporting KC roster on the team's site. But Wigan probably has a few new fans in the KC metro area who will be following their attempts to avoid relegation.
Good luck to Roger in England, he took a while to prove himself here in KC, but he's done a good job of proving just how good he is. I hope to never see him back in MLS, I hope he's successful enough abroad that he doesn't return.
Thursday, January 03, 2013
Former SKC Wizards Update
A quiet weekend for former SKC Wizards. Not many games this week with plenty of teams on winter break or with time off for the holidays. Tyson Wahl has a new club, signing with the Columbus Crew today. Ryan Smith also looks like he has a new club, moving to the Greek league.
Active without a club or unknown
Korede Aiyegbusi
Julio Cesar
Doug DeMartin
Birahim Diop
Pablo Escobar
Mauro Fuzetti
Willy Guadarrama
Kevin Hartman
Cyprian Hedrick
Zoltan Hercegfalvi
Santiago Hirsig
Aaron Hohlbein
Will John
Mike Jones
Neal Kitson
Jonathan Leathers
Neven Markovic
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Khari Stephenson
Shavar Thomas
Konrad Warzycha
MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Offseason.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Offseason.
Michael Harrington - Portland - Offseason.
Will Hesmer - Los Angeles - Offseason.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Offseason.
Eddie Johnson - Seattle - Offseason.
Chris Konopka - Philadelphia - Offseason.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Chivas - Offseason.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Offseason
NASL
Jose Burciaga - Atlanta - Offseason
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Offseason
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Offseason
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Offseason
Luke Sassano - Carolina - Offseason
USL
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Offseason
Akeem Priestley - Dayton - Offseason
Yomby William - Richmond - Offseason
John Wilson - Charleston - Offseason
PDL
Michael Kraus - FC Tucson - Offseason
NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Offseason
Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Syracuse Silver Knights - Played in Syracuse's 14-8 loss to Wichita. Scored 2 goals in the Knights' 17-9 loss to Missouri.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Had an assist in Baltimore's 17-4 win over Rochester.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not play in either of the Comets games.
Craig Rocastle - Comets - Out injured
Paul Wright - San Diego - No game this week.
International
Stephane Auvray - DPMM FC - Brunei (Singapore League) - Offseason.
Vicente Arze - Esteghlal - Iran - Did not play in Esteghlal's 1-0 win over Saipa.
Omar Bravo - Atlas - Mexico - Clausura starts this weekend.
Sunil Chhetri - Sporting Clube de Portugal B - Portugal - Dressed but did not play in Sporting's 1-0 loss to Portimonense.
Eloy Colombano - UAI Urquiza - Argentina - Off until February.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Trinidad - No game this week.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - Was not eligible to play in Wigan's 3-0 win over Aston Villa or their 4-0 loss to Manchester United
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - No game this week.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Clausura starts this weekend.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - No game this week.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - No game until January.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - On winter break until March.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Offseason.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - On winter break until March.
Michal Mravec - FC Emmen - Netherlands - No game this week.
Pablo Punyed - Fjolnir - Iceland - Offseason
Ryan Smith - Skoda Xanthi - Greece - No game thsi week.
Milos Stojcev - FC Akzhayik - Kazakhstan - Offseason.
Matt Taylor - Preußen Münster - Germany - On winter break until January.
Ivan Trujillo - America de Cali - Colombia - Offseason.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Offseason.
Active without a club or unknown
Korede Aiyegbusi
Julio Cesar
Doug DeMartin
Birahim Diop
Pablo Escobar
Mauro Fuzetti
Willy Guadarrama
Kevin Hartman
Cyprian Hedrick
Zoltan Hercegfalvi
Santiago Hirsig
Aaron Hohlbein
Will John
Mike Jones
Neal Kitson
Jonathan Leathers
Neven Markovic
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Khari Stephenson
Shavar Thomas
Konrad Warzycha
MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Offseason.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Offseason.
Michael Harrington - Portland - Offseason.
Will Hesmer - Los Angeles - Offseason.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Offseason.
Eddie Johnson - Seattle - Offseason.
Chris Konopka - Philadelphia - Offseason.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Chivas - Offseason.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Offseason
NASL
Jose Burciaga - Atlanta - Offseason
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Offseason
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Offseason
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Offseason
Luke Sassano - Carolina - Offseason
USL
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Offseason
Akeem Priestley - Dayton - Offseason
Yomby William - Richmond - Offseason
John Wilson - Charleston - Offseason
PDL
Michael Kraus - FC Tucson - Offseason
NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Offseason
Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Syracuse Silver Knights - Played in Syracuse's 14-8 loss to Wichita. Scored 2 goals in the Knights' 17-9 loss to Missouri.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Had an assist in Baltimore's 17-4 win over Rochester.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not play in either of the Comets games.
Craig Rocastle - Comets - Out injured
Paul Wright - San Diego - No game this week.
International
Stephane Auvray - DPMM FC - Brunei (Singapore League) - Offseason.
Vicente Arze - Esteghlal - Iran - Did not play in Esteghlal's 1-0 win over Saipa.
Omar Bravo - Atlas - Mexico - Clausura starts this weekend.
Sunil Chhetri - Sporting Clube de Portugal B - Portugal - Dressed but did not play in Sporting's 1-0 loss to Portimonense.
Eloy Colombano - UAI Urquiza - Argentina - Off until February.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Trinidad - No game this week.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - Was not eligible to play in Wigan's 3-0 win over Aston Villa or their 4-0 loss to Manchester United
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - No game this week.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Clausura starts this weekend.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - No game this week.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - No game until January.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - On winter break until March.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Offseason.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - On winter break until March.
Michal Mravec - FC Emmen - Netherlands - No game this week.
Pablo Punyed - Fjolnir - Iceland - Offseason
Ryan Smith - Skoda Xanthi - Greece - No game thsi week.
Milos Stojcev - FC Akzhayik - Kazakhstan - Offseason.
Matt Taylor - Preußen Münster - Germany - On winter break until January.
Ivan Trujillo - America de Cali - Colombia - Offseason.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Offseason.
Dwyer Loan Off
Reports out of the UK today are that Dom Dwyer will not be going on the rumored loan to St. Mirren in the Scottish Premier League. Today on Twitter Dwyer posted "To everyone at St. Mirren, thank you. Unfortunately, a loan could not be completed, not at any fault of St. Mirren. Enjoyed it."
Later in a response, Dwyer said it was on the US side. According to St. Mirren manager, Danny Lennon, the deal fell through. "MLS and his club have put a stop to the move. It's a little bit strange after his club initially wanted him to go out on loan but we will move and focus our attention elsewhere."
The circumstances of this move are odd, especially if KC were the ones that wanted the loan. You got to wonder what the sticking point was that caused the pull out. Was it the length of the loan? Did St. Mirren want him through the end of the Scottish season and KC/MLS weren't wanting a loan that long? Was it a matter of compensation for the move from St. Mirren? It just doesn't make a lot of sense. There are certainly quite a few questions from this situation.
This loan would have been a good thing for Dwyer in my opinion. After only playing 3 competitive games his rookie year (45 minutes vs Orlando in the Open Cup, 4 minutes vs Toronto in league play, and 10 vs Houston in the playoffs), getting game action and giving him the opportunity to play more would have been a good thing for the 22 year old.
Based on Dwyer's comments on Twitter he's also disappointed in the lack of a move. He certainly seems to be interested in getting time somewhere if not in KC.
Combine this situation with the last two loans KC has had, Scott Lorenz to Minnesota in 2011 and Konrad Warzycha to Carolina in 2012 and KC hasn't exactly had much success in the business of loaning players out.
Later in a response, Dwyer said it was on the US side. According to St. Mirren manager, Danny Lennon, the deal fell through. "MLS and his club have put a stop to the move. It's a little bit strange after his club initially wanted him to go out on loan but we will move and focus our attention elsewhere."
The circumstances of this move are odd, especially if KC were the ones that wanted the loan. You got to wonder what the sticking point was that caused the pull out. Was it the length of the loan? Did St. Mirren want him through the end of the Scottish season and KC/MLS weren't wanting a loan that long? Was it a matter of compensation for the move from St. Mirren? It just doesn't make a lot of sense. There are certainly quite a few questions from this situation.
This loan would have been a good thing for Dwyer in my opinion. After only playing 3 competitive games his rookie year (45 minutes vs Orlando in the Open Cup, 4 minutes vs Toronto in league play, and 10 vs Houston in the playoffs), getting game action and giving him the opportunity to play more would have been a good thing for the 22 year old.
Based on Dwyer's comments on Twitter he's also disappointed in the lack of a move. He certainly seems to be interested in getting time somewhere if not in KC.
Combine this situation with the last two loans KC has had, Scott Lorenz to Minnesota in 2011 and Konrad Warzycha to Carolina in 2012 and KC hasn't exactly had much success in the business of loaning players out.
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Historic Look at Sporting KC's Draft Picks
The MLS Superdraft is 2 weeks away from tomorrow, but Sporting KC isn't going to be very busy on that date. The team has traded both of their second round picks, leaving them with only the 14th pick in the Superdraft. The team's natural selection in the second round, the 33rd overall was traded to San Jose as part of the trade that brought Ike Opara to Kansas City. The team also had received the 32nd pick in the draft from New York in the trade that sent Stephane Auvray to the Red Bulls. Kansas City sent that pick to Montreal earlier this offseason that brought Josh Gardner to KC. In the Supplemental draft, Sporting have all four of their natural selections, the 14th (52nd overall), 33rd (71st overall), 52nd (90th overall), and 71st (109th overall).
Here's historically how the picks have gone.
FOURTEENTH PICK
1996 - Casey Sweeney - Tampa Bay
1997 - Jason Annichero - San Jose
1998 - Carey Talley - DC
1999 - John Wilson - DC
2000 - Rusty Pierce - New England
2001 - Devin Barclay - Tampa Bay
2002 - Sharlie Joseph - New England
2003 - Doug Warren - DC
2004 - Ned Grabavoy - Los Angeles
2005 - Christian Jimenez - Chivas USA
2006 - Jeff Curtin - Chicago
2007 - Abdus Ibrahim - Dallas
2008 - David Horst - Salt Lake
2009 - George John - Dallas
2010 - Austin da Luz - New York
2011 - Victor Estupinan - Chivas USA
2012 - Tony Cascio - Colorado
There's some talent here, there's also been some misses too. Sharlie Joseph has had a good long career with New England before being traded to Chivas USA and is probably the class of this pick. A few other players has had successful careers, Carey Talley, Rusty Pierce, and Ned Grabavoy have been solid MLS squad players throughout their career. George John and Tony Cascio have both been recent successes in that spot, with John seemingly continually being linked with a move abroad, and having a failed loan move to West Ham. On the other hand you have John Wilson who had a decent career in the minor leagues but not so much in MLS, and Victor "I'm going to score 30 goals" Estupinan who was 1 season and done.
FIFTY-SECOND PICK
2000 - Ian Russell - San Jose
2001 - Teofilo Cubillas Jr - Miami
2002 - PASS - New England
2003 - Andy Rosenband - Dallas
2004 - Matthew Haefner - Columbus
2005 - Kevin Wilson -Dallas
2006 - Anthony Noriega - Kansas City
2007 - Eric Ebert - Houston
2008 - Tony Schmitz - DC
2009 - Jokull Elisabetarson - Chicago
2010 - Ofori Sarkodie - Kansas City
2011 - Jarad Van Schaik - Salt Lake
2012 - Nick Blake - Toronto
Really not much here at all. Ian Russell easily had the most successful MLS career, appearing over 100 times for San Jose. Other than that, there's not much. Noriega spent some time playing professionally in Trinidad but that's about it for this pick.
SEVENTY-FIRST PICK
2000 - Ali John Utush - Los Angeles
2001 - Roberto Navarro - Dallas
2005 - Aaron Pitchkolan - Dallas
2006 - John Queeley - New England
2007 - Sal Caccavale - New York
2008 - Tim Bohnenkamp - San Jose
2011 - Paul Ogunyemi - Dallas
2012 - Tim Pontius - Seattle
Easily the best pick here was Pitchkolan. He played a number of games for both Dallas and San Jose and is still playing professionally in the NASL with San Antonio. Other than there there's little to the pick.
NINETIETH PICK
2005 - Usiel Vasquez - New York
2006 - Idris Ughiovhe - Chicago
2007 - Chris Loftus - New England
2008 - Lukasz Tumicz - Columbus
2011 - Phil Bannister - Colorado
2012 - Kohei Yamada - Colorado
None of these guys really got much time in MLS. Loftus spent a year with the Revolution and spent time abroad. Tumicz also spent time playing abroad with a Polish team. But not much at all here.
ONE HUNDRED AND NINTH PICK
2009 - Andrew Kartunen - Kansas City
2012 - Joel Helmick - Colorado
Kartunen spent a season training with KC and as a league keeper, but that's it from this pick.
Overall KC has an okay chance of getting someone that can contribute with the 14th pick, and someone to develop. With the rest of their picks KC will do well to get a guy that can make the roster and potentially contribute a little.
Here's historically how the picks have gone.
FOURTEENTH PICK
1996 - Casey Sweeney - Tampa Bay
1997 - Jason Annichero - San Jose
1998 - Carey Talley - DC
1999 - John Wilson - DC
2000 - Rusty Pierce - New England
2001 - Devin Barclay - Tampa Bay
2002 - Sharlie Joseph - New England
2003 - Doug Warren - DC
2004 - Ned Grabavoy - Los Angeles
2005 - Christian Jimenez - Chivas USA
2006 - Jeff Curtin - Chicago
2007 - Abdus Ibrahim - Dallas
2008 - David Horst - Salt Lake
2009 - George John - Dallas
2010 - Austin da Luz - New York
2011 - Victor Estupinan - Chivas USA
2012 - Tony Cascio - Colorado
There's some talent here, there's also been some misses too. Sharlie Joseph has had a good long career with New England before being traded to Chivas USA and is probably the class of this pick. A few other players has had successful careers, Carey Talley, Rusty Pierce, and Ned Grabavoy have been solid MLS squad players throughout their career. George John and Tony Cascio have both been recent successes in that spot, with John seemingly continually being linked with a move abroad, and having a failed loan move to West Ham. On the other hand you have John Wilson who had a decent career in the minor leagues but not so much in MLS, and Victor "I'm going to score 30 goals" Estupinan who was 1 season and done.
FIFTY-SECOND PICK
2000 - Ian Russell - San Jose
2001 - Teofilo Cubillas Jr - Miami
2002 - PASS - New England
2003 - Andy Rosenband - Dallas
2004 - Matthew Haefner - Columbus
2005 - Kevin Wilson -Dallas
2006 - Anthony Noriega - Kansas City
2007 - Eric Ebert - Houston
2008 - Tony Schmitz - DC
2009 - Jokull Elisabetarson - Chicago
2010 - Ofori Sarkodie - Kansas City
2011 - Jarad Van Schaik - Salt Lake
2012 - Nick Blake - Toronto
Really not much here at all. Ian Russell easily had the most successful MLS career, appearing over 100 times for San Jose. Other than that, there's not much. Noriega spent some time playing professionally in Trinidad but that's about it for this pick.
SEVENTY-FIRST PICK
2000 - Ali John Utush - Los Angeles
2001 - Roberto Navarro - Dallas
2005 - Aaron Pitchkolan - Dallas
2006 - John Queeley - New England
2007 - Sal Caccavale - New York
2008 - Tim Bohnenkamp - San Jose
2011 - Paul Ogunyemi - Dallas
2012 - Tim Pontius - Seattle
Easily the best pick here was Pitchkolan. He played a number of games for both Dallas and San Jose and is still playing professionally in the NASL with San Antonio. Other than there there's little to the pick.
NINETIETH PICK
2005 - Usiel Vasquez - New York
2006 - Idris Ughiovhe - Chicago
2007 - Chris Loftus - New England
2008 - Lukasz Tumicz - Columbus
2011 - Phil Bannister - Colorado
2012 - Kohei Yamada - Colorado
None of these guys really got much time in MLS. Loftus spent a year with the Revolution and spent time abroad. Tumicz also spent time playing abroad with a Polish team. But not much at all here.
ONE HUNDRED AND NINTH PICK
2009 - Andrew Kartunen - Kansas City
2012 - Joel Helmick - Colorado
Kartunen spent a season training with KC and as a league keeper, but that's it from this pick.
Overall KC has an okay chance of getting someone that can contribute with the 14th pick, and someone to develop. With the rest of their picks KC will do well to get a guy that can make the roster and potentially contribute a little.
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
2013 Wishes
The calender has switched over to 2013. And with the change it's time to look towards the year and soccer in Kansas City, specifically Sporting KC, who will start the season in about 2 months. Here are my wishes for the year 2013.
1. Silverware - This is what I always want. Last year KC grabbed the US Open Cup and I'd love to repeat that or grab the Supporters' Shield, or the big one, MLS Cup.
2. 15 goals from Claudio Bieler - Bieler has been brought in for one thing, to score goals. For KC to be successful next season, he's going to need to find success and put the ball in the net. Fifteen goals would be the most for a KC player since Eddie Johnson in 2007 and tied for the second most all time for Kansas City.
3. A second double digit goal scorer - Finishing needs to improve next season. Hopefully Bieler helps with that, but hopefully KC doesn't lose too much from other goal scorers. KC almost had two double digit goal scorers last year, next year getting a second player over 10 goals would be good.
4. A game in the Hex at Livestrong Sporting Park - KC has proven the last 2 years that they'll bring it to support the US national team in games at LSP. From the Gold Cup two years ago to the qualifier vs Guatemala. There were reports out of Costa Rica that KC would get that game in March, but later rumors have that game going to Colorado or Salt Lake for altitude preparations for Mexico City. I'm not sure that KC will get the high profile US-Mexico game, but I wouldn't be surprised to see US-Honduras played at LSP.
5. No more than 1 home loss - KC had a 10-3-4 record at home this past year and a 8-4-5 record on the road. If KC wants to go to the next level it's going to have to be their home record that improves. KC's never been a traditionally good road team so if they can improve their home form and try to keep a similar road record they'll be in the race for the Supporters' Shield.
6. Comets break the Big 2 - Since the MISL returned in it's 3rd form in the 2008-2009 season (then the NISL) either the Baltimore Blast or Milwaukee Wave have made the final. The last two year's the finals have been between those two teams. The Comets initial hope this year had been to finally break up those two. Currently though they're well behind those two in the standings this year. While they may not catch the Wave or Blast in league play, hopefully at least in the playoffs they can break up the finals being these two teams.
7. Successful launch of FC Kansas City and the NWSL - It's been a whirlwind month plus so far for the new women's team and the new women's league. From not publicly existing to the point of starting play in 2013. On the surface the league looks like it may be in a good position from the start with the backing of 3 federations and more interested in how the league does in it's first season. Right now FCKC is one of only two teams that have yet to announce where they'll be playing in the 2013 season. Getting everything squared away for the 2013 season and a successful launch to the new league.
8. Advancement from the group phase of the Champions League - KC's first trip into the CONCACAF Champions League since it referred to as the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2005. At this point for an MLS team anything other than advancement is a major disappointment.
9. No friendlies - With MLS play, the US Open Cup, and the CCL, there's really no reason for KC to congest their schedule any more with meaningless friendlies. Last year KC pulled in French champion Montpellier, which was a fun game for what it was considering it's a team most teams had never seen before and looked to be entertaining. The other game was against EPL side Stoke who while a top half of the table side this season doesn't exactly scream high profile. Avoiding these games with the busy schedule during the summer is something that I think needs to be done.
1. Silverware - This is what I always want. Last year KC grabbed the US Open Cup and I'd love to repeat that or grab the Supporters' Shield, or the big one, MLS Cup.
2. 15 goals from Claudio Bieler - Bieler has been brought in for one thing, to score goals. For KC to be successful next season, he's going to need to find success and put the ball in the net. Fifteen goals would be the most for a KC player since Eddie Johnson in 2007 and tied for the second most all time for Kansas City.
3. A second double digit goal scorer - Finishing needs to improve next season. Hopefully Bieler helps with that, but hopefully KC doesn't lose too much from other goal scorers. KC almost had two double digit goal scorers last year, next year getting a second player over 10 goals would be good.
4. A game in the Hex at Livestrong Sporting Park - KC has proven the last 2 years that they'll bring it to support the US national team in games at LSP. From the Gold Cup two years ago to the qualifier vs Guatemala. There were reports out of Costa Rica that KC would get that game in March, but later rumors have that game going to Colorado or Salt Lake for altitude preparations for Mexico City. I'm not sure that KC will get the high profile US-Mexico game, but I wouldn't be surprised to see US-Honduras played at LSP.
5. No more than 1 home loss - KC had a 10-3-4 record at home this past year and a 8-4-5 record on the road. If KC wants to go to the next level it's going to have to be their home record that improves. KC's never been a traditionally good road team so if they can improve their home form and try to keep a similar road record they'll be in the race for the Supporters' Shield.
6. Comets break the Big 2 - Since the MISL returned in it's 3rd form in the 2008-2009 season (then the NISL) either the Baltimore Blast or Milwaukee Wave have made the final. The last two year's the finals have been between those two teams. The Comets initial hope this year had been to finally break up those two. Currently though they're well behind those two in the standings this year. While they may not catch the Wave or Blast in league play, hopefully at least in the playoffs they can break up the finals being these two teams.
7. Successful launch of FC Kansas City and the NWSL - It's been a whirlwind month plus so far for the new women's team and the new women's league. From not publicly existing to the point of starting play in 2013. On the surface the league looks like it may be in a good position from the start with the backing of 3 federations and more interested in how the league does in it's first season. Right now FCKC is one of only two teams that have yet to announce where they'll be playing in the 2013 season. Getting everything squared away for the 2013 season and a successful launch to the new league.
8. Advancement from the group phase of the Champions League - KC's first trip into the CONCACAF Champions League since it referred to as the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2005. At this point for an MLS team anything other than advancement is a major disappointment.
9. No friendlies - With MLS play, the US Open Cup, and the CCL, there's really no reason for KC to congest their schedule any more with meaningless friendlies. Last year KC pulled in French champion Montpellier, which was a fun game for what it was considering it's a team most teams had never seen before and looked to be entertaining. The other game was against EPL side Stoke who while a top half of the table side this season doesn't exactly scream high profile. Avoiding these games with the busy schedule during the summer is something that I think needs to be done.
Review of 2012 Wishes
With the calender now switched over to 2012, let's take a look at my 2012 wishes and how they were fulfilled.
1. Silverware - Your 2012 US Open Cup Champions, Sporting Kansas City has a nice ring to it. While Sporting fell 3 points (and goal difference) short of the Supporters' Shield and fell at the first hurdle in the playoffs, they brought home their first silverware since 2004.
2. A double digit goal scorer - This was also a success. While KC as a whole struggled to take advantage of all their shots, Kei Kamara did hit double digits for goals scored this year. CJ Sapong almost made it there as well, finishing with 9 goals.
3. A designated player who scores double digit goals - This one didn't happen, KC actually didn't bring in a designated player for the 2012 MLS season.
4. Equal or better last year's attendance mark - With all but 1 game sold out, and the majority of those games "over capacity" Sporting topped the 2011 average attendance of 17,810 with a 19,404 mark in 2012, 105% capacity of Livestrong Sporting Park.
5. One home loss at most - This one didn't come true, Sporting ended the 2012 season 10-3-4 in league at Livestrong Sporting Park. Not a bad record at all, but the 3 losses, especially the one to Montreal really hurt KC last year.
6. Lock up Matt Besler, Graham Zusi, and Chance Myers long term - Zusi was locked up before the season started. Besler, there were a few worrying nights after the season ended and rumors of trials abroad for the MLS Defender of the Year, but Besler too re-signed. Myers is the only one on the list who hasn't been locked up long term.
7. A World Cup Qualifier at Livestrong Sporting Park - The USA clinched a spot in the Hex with their 3-1 win over Guatemala at LSP. An electric atmosphere in a game that the US needed to win to assure advancement. KC set itself up as a site that can provide the US a home field advantage and has set itself up as a favorite to host a game in the Hex.
8. Get OUR MLS Cup back from Hunt Sports Group - Kind of but not really. The fact that HSG still had the trophy got publicity this year and led to the issue actually being addressed publicly. It came out that part of the deal to sell the team involved HSG keeping the trophy. HSG did "loan" the trophy to OnGoal to display during the 2012 season. After that Sporting is going to get a replica for the team. At least this issue was brought out and something ended up being done about it.
Not bad on the wishes overall many of them came true and those that didn't weren't the biggest of the issues.
1. Silverware - Your 2012 US Open Cup Champions, Sporting Kansas City has a nice ring to it. While Sporting fell 3 points (and goal difference) short of the Supporters' Shield and fell at the first hurdle in the playoffs, they brought home their first silverware since 2004.
2. A double digit goal scorer - This was also a success. While KC as a whole struggled to take advantage of all their shots, Kei Kamara did hit double digits for goals scored this year. CJ Sapong almost made it there as well, finishing with 9 goals.
3. A designated player who scores double digit goals - This one didn't happen, KC actually didn't bring in a designated player for the 2012 MLS season.
4. Equal or better last year's attendance mark - With all but 1 game sold out, and the majority of those games "over capacity" Sporting topped the 2011 average attendance of 17,810 with a 19,404 mark in 2012, 105% capacity of Livestrong Sporting Park.
5. One home loss at most - This one didn't come true, Sporting ended the 2012 season 10-3-4 in league at Livestrong Sporting Park. Not a bad record at all, but the 3 losses, especially the one to Montreal really hurt KC last year.
6. Lock up Matt Besler, Graham Zusi, and Chance Myers long term - Zusi was locked up before the season started. Besler, there were a few worrying nights after the season ended and rumors of trials abroad for the MLS Defender of the Year, but Besler too re-signed. Myers is the only one on the list who hasn't been locked up long term.
7. A World Cup Qualifier at Livestrong Sporting Park - The USA clinched a spot in the Hex with their 3-1 win over Guatemala at LSP. An electric atmosphere in a game that the US needed to win to assure advancement. KC set itself up as a site that can provide the US a home field advantage and has set itself up as a favorite to host a game in the Hex.
8. Get OUR MLS Cup back from Hunt Sports Group - Kind of but not really. The fact that HSG still had the trophy got publicity this year and led to the issue actually being addressed publicly. It came out that part of the deal to sell the team involved HSG keeping the trophy. HSG did "loan" the trophy to OnGoal to display during the 2012 season. After that Sporting is going to get a replica for the team. At least this issue was brought out and something ended up being done about it.
Not bad on the wishes overall many of them came true and those that didn't weren't the biggest of the issues.
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