Major League Soccer
It's a strange thought to think that one of Sporting Kansas City's charter academy teams has almost come full circle and completed the youth program cycle. What's stranger is that most of them will be heading off to a Division 1 school this fall after the last little bit of the 2012 spring season. The academy's success can be seen as a testament to youth coaches Paul Rideout's and John Parry's vision for the future - Sporting KC's future that is.
Another testament to that same vision could possibly be seen in youth academy player Eric DeJulio. DeJulio has been one of the ever-present players in that same U15 charter team I was referring to earlier. DeJulio started and appeared in all 6 games played by Sporting KC in the 2011 fall season - the only player to do so. The 6'2 center back has come a long way in his development as a footballer and signed for Creighton University a couple of days ago.
I recently had the pleasure of asking this exciting prospect a few questions, here is what he had to say...
How did you get involved into Sporting KC's youth system and how old were you when you first joined?
Before I was able to join Sporting KC Juniors I played for Peter Vermes and Jon Parry at the Blue Valley Soccer Club on the Newcastle Team where we were KS State Champs. When I was old enough, age 14 and a freshman in High school I tried out for the U16 team and was one of the youngest players on the team. Jon Parry was the then Wizards Juniors Coach and I have been playing ever since. How would you describe your game-play and what's the best thing you can bring to a team?
I am a strong central defender who is very good in the air and commands our defense out of the back. In addition I am confident on the ball. The best thing I bring to the team is leadership, a desire to win and to push my teammates.
Some people have described you as one of the most promising prospects to ever emerge from Sporting KC's youth academy, what's been the key to your success?
My huge passion for the game, desire to succeed and my competitiveness have been my ultimate keys for success. Evertime I put my cleats on and my Sporting KC Jersey I give everthing I have to win and get better as a player.
I think some people are a little in the dark of what the junior's actually do, can you give us a basic run down of your week (in terms of practices and games and such)?
During the season for the U16's & 18's, we practice four times per weak with one of these days just doing strength and conditioning. In season, we practice 3 times per week and then typically travel on Friday to wherever, we play a game on Saturday and then travel back home on Sunday night.When we are on the road we bring our school work with us.
Did you ever play in reserve league games for Sporting KC?
I was a sub in 4 reserve games this past year while playing the entire second half in a game against the Chicago Fire.
Youth academies are something relatively new in the MLS, how do you think Sporting Kc's stacks up against other ones around the league?
I think Sporting KC is right up there at the top compared to the other academies. I think our performance on the field and the way our academy team is run is superior to alot of the other academy teams.
Obviously we all know you had verbally committed to Creighton but what was it like on National Signing Day?
My signing day was awesome! It was something that I dreamed of every day for the past 4 years ever since I saw my older brother sign to play American "Football" for the United States Air Force Academy.
Were there any other schools you were looking at?
I looked at a number of schools but it came down to Creighton, Michigan, and St. Louis University
What will you be majoring in at Creighton, or if you're not certain, what field do you want to go into if soccer doesn't work out?
I will be majoring in Business at Creighton.
What made Creighton stand out from the rest of them?
Everything about Creighton stood out to me but most importantly it was their ability to develop players that can play professionally. A good example of that is Seth Sinovic and the 4 players this year taken in the draft.
In 4 years time you will have the chance to be drafted to a MLS club, what would it mean to you to be drafted by Sporting Kansas City?
It would mean everything in the world to me to be drafted by Sporting KC. I have a great love and a sense of pride for the club and everything the club stands for. What are your other hobbies when you're not playing soccer?
Outside of soccer I love to spend time with my family and friends, and relaxing whenever I have time to.
Another testament to that same vision could possibly be seen in youth academy player Eric DeJulio. DeJulio has been one of the ever-present players in that same U15 charter team I was referring to earlier. DeJulio started and appeared in all 6 games played by Sporting KC in the 2011 fall season - the only player to do so. The 6'2 center back has come a long way in his development as a footballer and signed for Creighton University a couple of days ago.
I recently had the pleasure of asking this exciting prospect a few questions, here is what he had to say...
How did you get involved into Sporting KC's youth system and how old were you when you first joined?
Before I was able to join Sporting KC Juniors I played for Peter Vermes and Jon Parry at the Blue Valley Soccer Club on the Newcastle Team where we were KS State Champs. When I was old enough, age 14 and a freshman in High school I tried out for the U16 team and was one of the youngest players on the team. Jon Parry was the then Wizards Juniors Coach and I have been playing ever since. How would you describe your game-play and what's the best thing you can bring to a team?
I am a strong central defender who is very good in the air and commands our defense out of the back. In addition I am confident on the ball. The best thing I bring to the team is leadership, a desire to win and to push my teammates.
Some people have described you as one of the most promising prospects to ever emerge from Sporting KC's youth academy, what's been the key to your success?
My huge passion for the game, desire to succeed and my competitiveness have been my ultimate keys for success. Evertime I put my cleats on and my Sporting KC Jersey I give everthing I have to win and get better as a player.
I think some people are a little in the dark of what the junior's actually do, can you give us a basic run down of your week (in terms of practices and games and such)?
During the season for the U16's & 18's, we practice four times per weak with one of these days just doing strength and conditioning. In season, we practice 3 times per week and then typically travel on Friday to wherever, we play a game on Saturday and then travel back home on Sunday night.When we are on the road we bring our school work with us.
Did you ever play in reserve league games for Sporting KC?
I was a sub in 4 reserve games this past year while playing the entire second half in a game against the Chicago Fire.
Youth academies are something relatively new in the MLS, how do you think Sporting Kc's stacks up against other ones around the league?
I think Sporting KC is right up there at the top compared to the other academies. I think our performance on the field and the way our academy team is run is superior to alot of the other academy teams.
Obviously we all know you had verbally committed to Creighton but what was it like on National Signing Day?
My signing day was awesome! It was something that I dreamed of every day for the past 4 years ever since I saw my older brother sign to play American "Football" for the United States Air Force Academy.
Were there any other schools you were looking at?
I looked at a number of schools but it came down to Creighton, Michigan, and St. Louis University
What will you be majoring in at Creighton, or if you're not certain, what field do you want to go into if soccer doesn't work out?
I will be majoring in Business at Creighton.
What made Creighton stand out from the rest of them?
Everything about Creighton stood out to me but most importantly it was their ability to develop players that can play professionally. A good example of that is Seth Sinovic and the 4 players this year taken in the draft.
In 4 years time you will have the chance to be drafted to a MLS club, what would it mean to you to be drafted by Sporting Kansas City?
It would mean everything in the world to me to be drafted by Sporting KC. I have a great love and a sense of pride for the club and everything the club stands for. What are your other hobbies when you're not playing soccer?
Outside of soccer I love to spend time with my family and friends, and relaxing whenever I have time to.
Seems like it's been a slow news week in regards to Sporting Kansas City, however, the team did play their first preseason match of 2012, a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes. San Jose forward Chris Wondolowski scored in the third minute of action to put the 'Quakes up 1-0 early. Kei Kamara (4'), and Konrad Warzycha (81') scored for Sporting.
Great way to start the season, even if it's a meaningless preseason match. Without being able to watch the match, all we are left with are these nifty highlights.
Speaking of Sporting, ESPN's Leander Schaerlaeckens (can someone pronounce that for me?) has a great piece on Kansas City forward CJ Sapong.
Anyone that knows me is well aware that CJ is my favorite Sporting player, and Schaerlaeckens highlights one of the very reasons Sapong is near and dear to my heart; the guy's been playing the role of the underdog his entire life. From Schaerlaeckens article:
It's kind of been the story of my life," Sapong said. "In northern Virginia there were a lot of top-class players, and I grew up trying out for [the Olympic Development Program] every year and never made it, never made the state team. I never got that look. It's funny, because as I got older, it kind of became something I expected and didn't pay too much attention to it and figured it was the way it was going to be."
How can you not root for the guy?
Looks like the dust is starting to settle a bit on the Sebastien Le Toux trade. For his part, it appears Le Toux is embracing his new team in Vancouver , and is softening his stance somewhat since he gave a blistering interview to The Times Herald last week. Philadelphia Union head coach Peter Nowak hasn't had much to say in regards to the trade that sent the team's MVP up north for allocation money.
I'm still not grasping what Nowak is trying to accomplish by trading his best player (ESPN's Jeff Carlisle appears equally dumbfounded) but at the end of the day, I'll have to agree with the fellas over at SI.com; Nowak has turned the Union into one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference in only two years; the guy probably deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Speaking of SI, Grant Wahl wrote an interesting piece about Seattle Sounder's forward Steve Zakuani, and his recovery from a horrific leg injury last April after a wreckless sliding tackle from Colorado Rapids midfielder, Brian Mullan.
The great news is that it appears the soon-to-be 24 year old is on the path to a full recovery, although at this point in time, Zakuani says he's not 100% just yet.
"The sprinting and some of the movements still aren't there, but the basic touches and awareness on the pitch are coming back. The hardest thing is going to be getting back to not just playing, but playing at a good level."
Zakuani, who Seattle selected with the first overall pick of the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, was well on his way to becoming one of Major League Soccer's brightest young stars before his injury.
Here's to hoping Steve can finish his come back, and continue the form he had in 2010 when he scored 10 goals and added six assists.
Over at No Short Corners, Greg Seltzer takes a look at all of the new MLS team jerseys that will be debuting in 2012, and gives his thoughts on each one. For the record, I tend to agree with Greg's assessments.. Real Salt Lake, and LA definitely get passing grades. Seattle, and Columbus... eh..... back to the drawing board. Have to wonder what they were thinking.
So Edson Buddle is back with the LA Galaxy. The 30 year old striker scored 42 goals for LA from 2007-2010 before leaving to play abroad with German side, FC Ingolstadt. While in Germany, Buddle never found the form that put him in the middle of the 2010 MLS MVP race.
I've always been a Buddle fan, and I have to say I'm pretty excited that he's back in MLS. Hopefully his return proves that sometimes the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Over at MLSsoccer.com we have the first edition of "Power Rankings." I can't really say that I have too much beef with their top four, although I am wondering where did the Chicago Fire come from?
My personal Top Five Power Rankings at the moment?
1. LA Galaxy 2. Seattle Sounders 3. Sporting Kansas City 4. Real Salt Lake 5. I suppose begrudgingly, I'll put the Houston Dynamo here, even though they lost hero Brian Ching to Montreal in the expansion draft.
By the way, can you tell I'm still just a little bitter?
Clip of the Day
Last night I was surfing the tube with the girlfriend when we stumbled upon "The Best of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon." Basically, they were showing a bunch of skits where Jimmy would do parodies of famous singers, like Neil Young, David Bowie, or in this case, Bob Dylan.
I spent my younger years ( I say that like I'm a 60 year old man or something) playing in various bands, and one of the biggest inspirations I ever had musically was Dylan. Actually, there was a point in time where I would venture to guess that I was borderline obsessed with the guy.
I didn't care that he wasn't the best singer. Lyrically the guy was on another level, and I think that's what really drew me to his work. I'd put his three albums "Bringing It All Back Home," "Highway 61 Revisited," and "Blonde on Blonde" against almost any other bands top three records, save for probably The Beatles.
Anyway, I've scoured YouTube previously for Dylan impressions, and honestly, most of them are horrible, and over the top. Dylan has a "unique" singing voice, but almost all of the impressions I've ever seen or heard over emphasize his quirks.
I hate to say it, but Jimmy Fallon (who I've never really thought of as funny.. I used to think the funniest thing he ever did on SNL was that he couldn't stay in character) nails this impression.
It's strange. Fallon is dressed like Dylan circa 1964/65, but he's singing like Dylan many years later. For those who don't know, Dylan has transformed his voice about a billion or so times during the course of his career. The Bob Dylan of today sounds a little bit like what I imagine a 100 year old snake would sound like.
Great way to start the season, even if it's a meaningless preseason match. Without being able to watch the match, all we are left with are these nifty highlights.
Speaking of Sporting, ESPN's Leander Schaerlaeckens (can someone pronounce that for me?) has a great piece on Kansas City forward CJ Sapong.
Anyone that knows me is well aware that CJ is my favorite Sporting player, and Schaerlaeckens highlights one of the very reasons Sapong is near and dear to my heart; the guy's been playing the role of the underdog his entire life. From Schaerlaeckens article:
It's kind of been the story of my life," Sapong said. "In northern Virginia there were a lot of top-class players, and I grew up trying out for [the Olympic Development Program] every year and never made it, never made the state team. I never got that look. It's funny, because as I got older, it kind of became something I expected and didn't pay too much attention to it and figured it was the way it was going to be."
How can you not root for the guy?
Looks like the dust is starting to settle a bit on the Sebastien Le Toux trade. For his part, it appears Le Toux is embracing his new team in Vancouver , and is softening his stance somewhat since he gave a blistering interview to The Times Herald last week. Philadelphia Union head coach Peter Nowak hasn't had much to say in regards to the trade that sent the team's MVP up north for allocation money.
I'm still not grasping what Nowak is trying to accomplish by trading his best player (ESPN's Jeff Carlisle appears equally dumbfounded) but at the end of the day, I'll have to agree with the fellas over at SI.com; Nowak has turned the Union into one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference in only two years; the guy probably deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Speaking of SI, Grant Wahl wrote an interesting piece about Seattle Sounder's forward Steve Zakuani, and his recovery from a horrific leg injury last April after a wreckless sliding tackle from Colorado Rapids midfielder, Brian Mullan.
The great news is that it appears the soon-to-be 24 year old is on the path to a full recovery, although at this point in time, Zakuani says he's not 100% just yet.
"The sprinting and some of the movements still aren't there, but the basic touches and awareness on the pitch are coming back. The hardest thing is going to be getting back to not just playing, but playing at a good level."
Zakuani, who Seattle selected with the first overall pick of the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, was well on his way to becoming one of Major League Soccer's brightest young stars before his injury.
Here's to hoping Steve can finish his come back, and continue the form he had in 2010 when he scored 10 goals and added six assists.
Over at No Short Corners, Greg Seltzer takes a look at all of the new MLS team jerseys that will be debuting in 2012, and gives his thoughts on each one. For the record, I tend to agree with Greg's assessments.. Real Salt Lake, and LA definitely get passing grades. Seattle, and Columbus... eh..... back to the drawing board. Have to wonder what they were thinking.
So Edson Buddle is back with the LA Galaxy. The 30 year old striker scored 42 goals for LA from 2007-2010 before leaving to play abroad with German side, FC Ingolstadt. While in Germany, Buddle never found the form that put him in the middle of the 2010 MLS MVP race.
I've always been a Buddle fan, and I have to say I'm pretty excited that he's back in MLS. Hopefully his return proves that sometimes the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Over at MLSsoccer.com we have the first edition of "Power Rankings." I can't really say that I have too much beef with their top four, although I am wondering where did the Chicago Fire come from?
My personal Top Five Power Rankings at the moment?
1. LA Galaxy 2. Seattle Sounders 3. Sporting Kansas City 4. Real Salt Lake 5. I suppose begrudgingly, I'll put the Houston Dynamo here, even though they lost hero Brian Ching to Montreal in the expansion draft.
By the way, can you tell I'm still just a little bitter?
Clip of the Day
Last night I was surfing the tube with the girlfriend when we stumbled upon "The Best of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon." Basically, they were showing a bunch of skits where Jimmy would do parodies of famous singers, like Neil Young, David Bowie, or in this case, Bob Dylan.
I spent my younger years ( I say that like I'm a 60 year old man or something) playing in various bands, and one of the biggest inspirations I ever had musically was Dylan. Actually, there was a point in time where I would venture to guess that I was borderline obsessed with the guy.
I didn't care that he wasn't the best singer. Lyrically the guy was on another level, and I think that's what really drew me to his work. I'd put his three albums "Bringing It All Back Home," "Highway 61 Revisited," and "Blonde on Blonde" against almost any other bands top three records, save for probably The Beatles.
Anyway, I've scoured YouTube previously for Dylan impressions, and honestly, most of them are horrible, and over the top. Dylan has a "unique" singing voice, but almost all of the impressions I've ever seen or heard over emphasize his quirks.
I hate to say it, but Jimmy Fallon (who I've never really thought of as funny.. I used to think the funniest thing he ever did on SNL was that he couldn't stay in character) nails this impression.
It's strange. Fallon is dressed like Dylan circa 1964/65, but he's singing like Dylan many years later. For those who don't know, Dylan has transformed his voice about a billion or so times during the course of his career. The Bob Dylan of today sounds a little bit like what I imagine a 100 year old snake would sound like.
This weeks update is a little more eventful than the one I posted last week. Some soon to be Former Sporting Kc Junior's like Nate Opperman and Eric DeJulio participated in National Signing Day last week and both look to have promising careers ahead of them. Hopefully we see them in Sporting Blue further down the road. On the same note, I should have a Q&A with the Sporting Kc U-18 captain Eric DeJulio up tomorrow. Also added to the list is former junior Tyler Nichol. Here's the rest of this week's update:
Kevin Ellis - Currently with Sporting KC in Tuscon, Arizona preparing for the upcoming 2012 MLS campaign.
Jon Kempin - Kempin is also with the team in Arizona.
Kyle Miller - With Sporting KC as well as a Supplemental Draft Pick
Matt Kuhn - Scored 3 goals on his debut for the Kansas Magic who ended up losing 6-10 to the Louisville Lightning
Tyler Nichol - Also played in the Kansas Magic's loss to Louisville, earned an assist
Kevin Ellis - Currently with Sporting KC in Tuscon, Arizona preparing for the upcoming 2012 MLS campaign.
Jon Kempin - Kempin is also with the team in Arizona.
Kyle Miller - With Sporting KC as well as a Supplemental Draft Pick
Matt Kuhn - Scored 3 goals on his debut for the Kansas Magic who ended up losing 6-10 to the Louisville Lightning
Tyler Nichol - Also played in the Kansas Magic's loss to Louisville, earned an assist
News broke today that Sporting Kansas City center back Daneil Cyrus will be part of the 24 man training camp set to participate in Trinidad and Tobago's upcoming friendlies on February 14th and 16th. Cyrus did not participate in Tobago's previous games against Finland in T&T a couple of weeks ago.
Now, Cyrus finds himself as one of about 30 players currently under U-23 coach Angus Eve's radar trying to get picked to go to the US this spring to compete in the 2012 Olympic qualifying tournament. The number of players that are allowed to compete in the tournament will be cut to just 20 by then so Cyrus will have to work hard to get a place. Cyrus' whereabouts over the past couple of weeks were unknown seeing as he did not show up at the beginning of Sporting KC's preseason back in January. The official word from Sporting KC that I received was that he had been given time off for "personal reasons".
A Tobago Representative team will play Guyana on February the 14th, followed by Angus Eve's U23's match against Guyana on the 16th. Eve also mentioned that he will be looking forward to the training camp in Costa Rica following the two match-ups. This does however clash with Sporting KC's pre-season schedule as they will be in Florida from February 20th to March 3rd.
This means that Cyrus will have to choose either club or country unless there is something else in the works for him. But does FC Santa Rosa - the club he is being loaned from - really need him back? They recently won the Eastern FA Title in Tobago.
Now, Cyrus finds himself as one of about 30 players currently under U-23 coach Angus Eve's radar trying to get picked to go to the US this spring to compete in the 2012 Olympic qualifying tournament. The number of players that are allowed to compete in the tournament will be cut to just 20 by then so Cyrus will have to work hard to get a place. Cyrus' whereabouts over the past couple of weeks were unknown seeing as he did not show up at the beginning of Sporting KC's preseason back in January. The official word from Sporting KC that I received was that he had been given time off for "personal reasons".
A Tobago Representative team will play Guyana on February the 14th, followed by Angus Eve's U23's match against Guyana on the 16th. Eve also mentioned that he will be looking forward to the training camp in Costa Rica following the two match-ups. This does however clash with Sporting KC's pre-season schedule as they will be in Florida from February 20th to March 3rd.
This means that Cyrus will have to choose either club or country unless there is something else in the works for him. But does FC Santa Rosa - the club he is being loaned from - really need him back? They recently won the Eastern FA Title in Tobago.
For the first time since Norwood's wide-right, I did not watch the Super Bowl last night. To say that is a reflection of my support for the NFL, would be a complete falsehood. With the exception of college football and soccer, it is my third favorite sport and I read more about it and watch more of it than any healthy adult should. Therefore, I find it healthier to limit my teams down to the Chiefs, and barring the Chiefs making it, one team in the playoffs and then stop caring about the other 30 teams. From what I heard, it was another amazing comeback by the Giants and the Patriots still haven't crossed that threshold into greatness that only the 1970's Steelers and 1980's 49ers have.
However, I am by no means the average American, and the Super Bowl had an overnight rating of 47.8 or about 55 million households. That does not even mention the rest of the world and people watching from bars. Whether or not you like the NFL, one has to realize that it is the prime example of a sports league. The problems the NFL has are unique, because almost every one is the result of being too successful. Labor disputes come because more money is there than expected. Injuries come because the players are bigger, stronger, and faster and the game hasn't changed much in the Super Bowl era (save for much more passing). The athletes turn to steroids not to fight off age like baseball players, but rather just to get that one paycheck that comes in handy when your body has been beaten down and the doctors bills start rolling in. They want to play more games to make more money, thus enlarging all of the problems I just mentioned.
Major League Soccer has no such worries. They are a single-entity league with an unprecedented labor agreement that really ties the players hands, but also rewards those who perform, either with a ticket overseas or higher salaries here. Their injury debate is much less public, although not lacking in debate. As the players get faster, more skilled on the ball, and simply more talented, the old physical MLS is slowly making it's way out, but rough tackles on skilled players are going to continue to happen. The league is not starving for money, but is not the cash cow of the NFL. The Galaxy were worth $100 million midway through the Beckham experiment; the Dallas Cowboys are worth $1.85 Billion.
To say the two leagues have nothing in common except a few owners is a fair statement. However, they do share another trait in common, they have a championship game. Admittedly, I am a "euro-snob" at times when it comes to soccer. In my defense, anyone whose first televised European match was AC Milan-Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League Final would be as well. Nevertheless, I will argue forever that the MLS never adopt any of the policies that are suggested to bring them in line with Europe, most notably the calendar, relegation and promotion, and lastly the playoffs.
The reality is that in the current world and even more in the future, people do not watch television live. For this reason, many horrible things have happened to network television that I could list and make myself visibly angry, but sports leagues and universities (and ESPN) have benefited substantially from that. People still watch sports live and they don't even mess around with DVR as much. In this climate, there are three sporting events which have the most to gain from this. The first two are the aforementioned Super Bowl which is watched by almost everyone and the NCAA basketball tournament is watched by as many people but spread out over 67 games. All of the other major sports play long series, and interest waxes and wanes depending on the teams playing and the sport itself. The BCS Championship could be like the Super Bowl except it is on a Monday and has so many alienating factors that it will always rub someone wrong.
Then, there is the MLS Cup. The MLS Cup is an infant compared to any high-profile sporting event in the United States. While this carries the downside of anonymity, it allows the MLS to tweak its format constantly. This years iteration will be the first played in the home stadium of the team with the better record as opposed to a per-determined site. The idea for the MLS should be: how can we make our final like the Super Bowl? In reality, they can't. Soccer with it's lack of stoppages doesn't have commercial value of the same amount, and 55 million households wouldn't watch if the United States was in the World Cup Final. However, the idea of having the country view the MLS Cup as an event to be watched is the ultimate goal, and without it the MLS would have one less bargaining chip in the long game of relevancy that they have been fighting.
For this the MLS needs to realize two things, they can't go head to head with the NFL and they need to respect their clientele. The problem, even more so since NBC has the rights, is there will always be Sunday Night Football. Going up against college football, where the late November rivalry games are almost all played mid-day, and the late games are middling teams rather than the higher echelon, should be an idea. The downside is that MLS has finally realized that young people get more excited about soccer than families, and young people aren't easy to tear away from college sports and Saturday nights. However, that must be the way forward, because eventually these young people will be those old people sitting at home on the couch watching Sunday night football with their families, and by then you should have convinced the nation that the MLS Cup is more important than the 6-5 Chiefs battling the 5-6 Chargers for first place in the AFC West or Georgia-Georgia Tech.
However, I am by no means the average American, and the Super Bowl had an overnight rating of 47.8 or about 55 million households. That does not even mention the rest of the world and people watching from bars. Whether or not you like the NFL, one has to realize that it is the prime example of a sports league. The problems the NFL has are unique, because almost every one is the result of being too successful. Labor disputes come because more money is there than expected. Injuries come because the players are bigger, stronger, and faster and the game hasn't changed much in the Super Bowl era (save for much more passing). The athletes turn to steroids not to fight off age like baseball players, but rather just to get that one paycheck that comes in handy when your body has been beaten down and the doctors bills start rolling in. They want to play more games to make more money, thus enlarging all of the problems I just mentioned.
Major League Soccer has no such worries. They are a single-entity league with an unprecedented labor agreement that really ties the players hands, but also rewards those who perform, either with a ticket overseas or higher salaries here. Their injury debate is much less public, although not lacking in debate. As the players get faster, more skilled on the ball, and simply more talented, the old physical MLS is slowly making it's way out, but rough tackles on skilled players are going to continue to happen. The league is not starving for money, but is not the cash cow of the NFL. The Galaxy were worth $100 million midway through the Beckham experiment; the Dallas Cowboys are worth $1.85 Billion.
To say the two leagues have nothing in common except a few owners is a fair statement. However, they do share another trait in common, they have a championship game. Admittedly, I am a "euro-snob" at times when it comes to soccer. In my defense, anyone whose first televised European match was AC Milan-Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League Final would be as well. Nevertheless, I will argue forever that the MLS never adopt any of the policies that are suggested to bring them in line with Europe, most notably the calendar, relegation and promotion, and lastly the playoffs.
The reality is that in the current world and even more in the future, people do not watch television live. For this reason, many horrible things have happened to network television that I could list and make myself visibly angry, but sports leagues and universities (and ESPN) have benefited substantially from that. People still watch sports live and they don't even mess around with DVR as much. In this climate, there are three sporting events which have the most to gain from this. The first two are the aforementioned Super Bowl which is watched by almost everyone and the NCAA basketball tournament is watched by as many people but spread out over 67 games. All of the other major sports play long series, and interest waxes and wanes depending on the teams playing and the sport itself. The BCS Championship could be like the Super Bowl except it is on a Monday and has so many alienating factors that it will always rub someone wrong.
Then, there is the MLS Cup. The MLS Cup is an infant compared to any high-profile sporting event in the United States. While this carries the downside of anonymity, it allows the MLS to tweak its format constantly. This years iteration will be the first played in the home stadium of the team with the better record as opposed to a per-determined site. The idea for the MLS should be: how can we make our final like the Super Bowl? In reality, they can't. Soccer with it's lack of stoppages doesn't have commercial value of the same amount, and 55 million households wouldn't watch if the United States was in the World Cup Final. However, the idea of having the country view the MLS Cup as an event to be watched is the ultimate goal, and without it the MLS would have one less bargaining chip in the long game of relevancy that they have been fighting.
For this the MLS needs to realize two things, they can't go head to head with the NFL and they need to respect their clientele. The problem, even more so since NBC has the rights, is there will always be Sunday Night Football. Going up against college football, where the late November rivalry games are almost all played mid-day, and the late games are middling teams rather than the higher echelon, should be an idea. The downside is that MLS has finally realized that young people get more excited about soccer than families, and young people aren't easy to tear away from college sports and Saturday nights. However, that must be the way forward, because eventually these young people will be those old people sitting at home on the couch watching Sunday night football with their families, and by then you should have convinced the nation that the MLS Cup is more important than the 6-5 Chiefs battling the 5-6 Chargers for first place in the AFC West or Georgia-Georgia Tech.
The emergence of CJ Sapong
Via ESPN's Leander Schaerlaeckens
Via ESPN's Leander Schaerlaeckens
Sporting opens preseason with 2-1 win over San Jose
Kei Kamara and Konrad Warzycha score goals for Kansas City.
Kei Kamara and Konrad Warzycha score goals for Kansas City.
A couple of weeks back we took a look at Sporting Kansas City's International roster situation. Things haven't changed since then, but it appears the club is working on freeing up as many as four slots, some of them within the next month or so.
In Steve Brisendine's article on MLSsoccer.com, four players on Kansas City's current roster are listed as actively seeking permanent resident status, allowing the club more international roster flexibility in the future. Those four players are Julio Cesar (Brazil), Aurelien Collin (France), Jimmy Nielsen (Denmark), and first round draft pick, Dom Dwyer (England).
The three other players currently occupying international roster slots on the team are Daneil Cyrus (Trinidad & Tobago), Korede Aiyegbusi (England), and Peterson Joseph (Haiti).
Sporting sent one of their international roster slots to the San Jose Earthquakes in the trade to acquire midfielder Bobby Convey.
Each MLS club is currently allowed 8 international roster slots. Clubs are allowed to trade slots to other clubs, but all traded slots return back to their original team once the MLS season ends. The rest of a club's roster must be made up of domestic players.
For the 16 US-based clubs in Major League Soccer, a domestic player is a player that is one of the following:
a U.S. citizen
a permanent resident (green card holder)
the holder of a special status (refugee or asylum status)
For the three Canadian clubs in MLS, the following rules apply:
Each club must have at least three Canadian domestic players on their roster
Any player with the legal right to work in Canada is considered a domestic player (Canadian citizen, permanent resident, part of protected class)
In Steve Brisendine's article on MLSsoccer.com, four players on Kansas City's current roster are listed as actively seeking permanent resident status, allowing the club more international roster flexibility in the future. Those four players are Julio Cesar (Brazil), Aurelien Collin (France), Jimmy Nielsen (Denmark), and first round draft pick, Dom Dwyer (England).
The three other players currently occupying international roster slots on the team are Daneil Cyrus (Trinidad & Tobago), Korede Aiyegbusi (England), and Peterson Joseph (Haiti).
Sporting sent one of their international roster slots to the San Jose Earthquakes in the trade to acquire midfielder Bobby Convey.
Each MLS club is currently allowed 8 international roster slots. Clubs are allowed to trade slots to other clubs, but all traded slots return back to their original team once the MLS season ends. The rest of a club's roster must be made up of domestic players.
For the 16 US-based clubs in Major League Soccer, a domestic player is a player that is one of the following:
a U.S. citizen
a permanent resident (green card holder)
the holder of a special status (refugee or asylum status)
For the three Canadian clubs in MLS, the following rules apply:
Each club must have at least three Canadian domestic players on their roster
Any player with the legal right to work in Canada is considered a domestic player (Canadian citizen, permanent resident, part of protected class)
The other day a El Salvadoran football site claimed on it's Facebook page that Sporting Kc's supplemental draft pick Pablo Punyed was in Iceland. Roughly translate from Spanish it come out to this:
"Yesterday at midnight Pablo Punyed was reported from Iceland"
I've tried to find more info on the situation but it seems as if this is the only source that states this claim. However, it does back what Kansas City Star writer Tod Palmer said a week ago when he said on his twitter that Pablo Punyed was weighing his European options.
While I'm glad that Pablo is ambitious I would hope that Sporting Kc's staff would have done a little more to keep him in the states and take him down to Arizona with the rest of the players for the pre-season. I mean with all due respect, surely Pablo does not think that Iceland's league as a whole is better than the MLS?
This whole situation is oddly similar to Michael Thomas' story of how he was drafted by San Jose in the SuperDraft but then subsequently left to go play in Sweden for a couple of years. Also akin to Thomas' story, if Pablo were ever to come back to the U.S. Sporting Kc would still own his rights. Meaning that if another MLS club wanted him, they would have to go through us to sign Pablo.
"Yesterday at midnight Pablo Punyed was reported from Iceland"
I've tried to find more info on the situation but it seems as if this is the only source that states this claim. However, it does back what Kansas City Star writer Tod Palmer said a week ago when he said on his twitter that Pablo Punyed was weighing his European options.
While I'm glad that Pablo is ambitious I would hope that Sporting Kc's staff would have done a little more to keep him in the states and take him down to Arizona with the rest of the players for the pre-season. I mean with all due respect, surely Pablo does not think that Iceland's league as a whole is better than the MLS?
This whole situation is oddly similar to Michael Thomas' story of how he was drafted by San Jose in the SuperDraft but then subsequently left to go play in Sweden for a couple of years. Also akin to Thomas' story, if Pablo were ever to come back to the U.S. Sporting Kc would still own his rights. Meaning that if another MLS club wanted him, they would have to go through us to sign Pablo.
Julio Cesar Talks About Time With Tigres
Current Sporting KC midfielder and former Tigres defender talks a little bit about his time with the Mexican champions.
Current Sporting KC midfielder and former Tigres defender talks a little bit about his time with the Mexican champions.
Sporting Kc and San Jose Earthquakes talk about pre-season
Vitalis Takawira, in pre Digital Crawl mode. Photo courtesy of Life.com
We here at The Daily Wiz have been doing quite a bit of brainstorming lately, trying to shape this thing into a more consistent blog. One of the many things Joe, Alex, and myself discussed was what to do with The Daily Links. I initially would have liked to do them every day, but over time I realized two things: 1. It's extremely time consuming, and 2. I feel like they aren't as effective when I do them everyday. Basically, writing The Daily Links every day was becoming monotonousness. However, I knew I still liked the idea, so I didn't want to totally stop doing them.
Thus, we've decided to continue our links post on The Daily Wiz, but we will only be posting them twice a week, which means the quality should be better, seeing as I will only be focusing in on two of these a week. Since these collection of links won't be posted every day like they used to be, changing the name from The Daily Links to something else was a must. Joe initially brought up the idea of calling these posts "The Digital Crawl," as a way to pay homage to everyone's favorite Zimbabwean striker, Vitalis "Digital" Takawira.
For those that aren't familiar with Takawira's famous goal celebration from his Kansas City Wizards hey day, it was called "The Digital Crawl," and it was simply amazing. After scoring a goal, Takawira would get down on all fours and crawl on the field. His team mates would then join in. One of the real tragedies in this world is the fact that The Digital Crawl is no where to be found on YouTube, essentially robbing the younger generations of experiencing all that was Vitalis' claim to fame.
So we pay homage here on our blog, with the hope that one of Sporting Kansas City's current players will bring the Crawl back to Kansas City (CJ & Kei, I'm looking at you).
Anyway, seeing as there's lots to talk about, on to the links:
First things first, the talk this past week was the Landon Donovan / Clint Dempsey "show down" when Everton took on Fulham in the Barclay's Premier League. Donovan's Toffees defeated Dempsey's Cottagers 2-1. Luke Lohr over at MLSReserves.com takes a look at the "Who's better, Donovan or Dempsey?" debate, and I have to say that I totally agree with Luke's piece.
Why do we always feel the need to debate who's the better player? We do this with every sport. Who's better, Kobe or Lebron? Brady or Manning? Crosby or Ovechkin? And in American soccer, it's Donovan or Dempsey.
The truth is that they are two completely different players, and therefore, it's impossible to really say just who is better. Sometimes I wish we would just enjoy watching these guys play, without feeling the need to try and get to the bottom of who's better. The answer is that we'll never know. It's like comparing Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain. They're too different of players to even try.
Looks like things are going to hell in a hand-basket over in Philly. First goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon left the Union to join Deportivo Cali, the club where he began his career. And now, star forward Sebastien Le Toux has been traded to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
While I don't see the Mondragon transfer as a deal breaker (I think Zac MacMath will get the job done), I'm totally lost about the Le Toux deal. Think about this fact: only Dwayne De Rosario combined for more goals and assists over the past two seasons than Le Toux in all of Major League Soccer, 46 to 45. In short, Le Toux is a beast. And it's not like the guy is old. He's only 28, and in the physical prime of his playing career. I just don't see any one on Philly's roster that can even come close to what Sebastien brought to the table.
Le Toux shares his side of the story here, where he claims that Philadelphia pushed him towards Bolton, because they wanted the money a Le Toux transfer would bring.
At least Philadelphia ended up keeping Roger Torres. Still, it's stories like the Le Toux saga that make me glad to be a Sporting fan.
I don't know why I'm complaining in the least bit. I should be elated. It means Sporting will only have to face Le Toux once this season, and it means in all likelihood that the Union won't be nearly as good in 2012.
So the "Kris Boyd" to MLS rumors were true. The Scottish striker signed with the Portland Timbers as a designated player a couple of days ago. SKY Sports was reporting that Kansas City was interested in the 28 year old's services as well. One interesting aspect of this whole deal, which Mike Kuhn from Down The Byline nailed, was that Portland DID have to send a 2013 first round pick to the Houston Dynamo, as they held Boyd's Discovery rights. As always, a nice call from Mike.
In Sporting related news, midfielder Luke Sassano signed a new deal with the club a few days ago. You have to be happy for Luke for a couple of reasons; 1, he seems like a great guy, and 2. it pretty much means the Sassano sandwich will still be around at Pandolphi's Deli.
All joking aside, I think Luke is a solid depth player for Sporting, so hearing that he'll be around for a while longer is good news.
Sporting beat writer Steve Brisendine has a good article over at MLSsoccer.com about Kansas City's three USMNT players. After watching Teal, CJ, and Graham in the two friendlies, I have to say I came away most impressed with Sapong, even though he didn't have a chance to feature much coming in as a sub in both games.
Finally, here's a good interview with Takawira from a couple of years ago, where he describes how he was given the nickname, "Digital."
It came from my first club team, Dynamos, in Zimbabwe. When you graduate to the first team, the supporters give you a nickname. It was they who gave me that name. Perhaps because they thought I was so quick and controlled on the ball, like something digital, like a computer or camera.
We here at The Daily Wiz have been doing quite a bit of brainstorming lately, trying to shape this thing into a more consistent blog. One of the many things Joe, Alex, and myself discussed was what to do with The Daily Links. I initially would have liked to do them every day, but over time I realized two things: 1. It's extremely time consuming, and 2. I feel like they aren't as effective when I do them everyday. Basically, writing The Daily Links every day was becoming monotonousness. However, I knew I still liked the idea, so I didn't want to totally stop doing them.
Thus, we've decided to continue our links post on The Daily Wiz, but we will only be posting them twice a week, which means the quality should be better, seeing as I will only be focusing in on two of these a week. Since these collection of links won't be posted every day like they used to be, changing the name from The Daily Links to something else was a must. Joe initially brought up the idea of calling these posts "The Digital Crawl," as a way to pay homage to everyone's favorite Zimbabwean striker, Vitalis "Digital" Takawira.
For those that aren't familiar with Takawira's famous goal celebration from his Kansas City Wizards hey day, it was called "The Digital Crawl," and it was simply amazing. After scoring a goal, Takawira would get down on all fours and crawl on the field. His team mates would then join in. One of the real tragedies in this world is the fact that The Digital Crawl is no where to be found on YouTube, essentially robbing the younger generations of experiencing all that was Vitalis' claim to fame.
So we pay homage here on our blog, with the hope that one of Sporting Kansas City's current players will bring the Crawl back to Kansas City (CJ & Kei, I'm looking at you).
Anyway, seeing as there's lots to talk about, on to the links:
First things first, the talk this past week was the Landon Donovan / Clint Dempsey "show down" when Everton took on Fulham in the Barclay's Premier League. Donovan's Toffees defeated Dempsey's Cottagers 2-1. Luke Lohr over at MLSReserves.com takes a look at the "Who's better, Donovan or Dempsey?" debate, and I have to say that I totally agree with Luke's piece.
Why do we always feel the need to debate who's the better player? We do this with every sport. Who's better, Kobe or Lebron? Brady or Manning? Crosby or Ovechkin? And in American soccer, it's Donovan or Dempsey.
The truth is that they are two completely different players, and therefore, it's impossible to really say just who is better. Sometimes I wish we would just enjoy watching these guys play, without feeling the need to try and get to the bottom of who's better. The answer is that we'll never know. It's like comparing Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain. They're too different of players to even try.
Looks like things are going to hell in a hand-basket over in Philly. First goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon left the Union to join Deportivo Cali, the club where he began his career. And now, star forward Sebastien Le Toux has been traded to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
While I don't see the Mondragon transfer as a deal breaker (I think Zac MacMath will get the job done), I'm totally lost about the Le Toux deal. Think about this fact: only Dwayne De Rosario combined for more goals and assists over the past two seasons than Le Toux in all of Major League Soccer, 46 to 45. In short, Le Toux is a beast. And it's not like the guy is old. He's only 28, and in the physical prime of his playing career. I just don't see any one on Philly's roster that can even come close to what Sebastien brought to the table.
Le Toux shares his side of the story here, where he claims that Philadelphia pushed him towards Bolton, because they wanted the money a Le Toux transfer would bring.
At least Philadelphia ended up keeping Roger Torres. Still, it's stories like the Le Toux saga that make me glad to be a Sporting fan.
I don't know why I'm complaining in the least bit. I should be elated. It means Sporting will only have to face Le Toux once this season, and it means in all likelihood that the Union won't be nearly as good in 2012.
So the "Kris Boyd" to MLS rumors were true. The Scottish striker signed with the Portland Timbers as a designated player a couple of days ago. SKY Sports was reporting that Kansas City was interested in the 28 year old's services as well. One interesting aspect of this whole deal, which Mike Kuhn from Down The Byline nailed, was that Portland DID have to send a 2013 first round pick to the Houston Dynamo, as they held Boyd's Discovery rights. As always, a nice call from Mike.
In Sporting related news, midfielder Luke Sassano signed a new deal with the club a few days ago. You have to be happy for Luke for a couple of reasons; 1, he seems like a great guy, and 2. it pretty much means the Sassano sandwich will still be around at Pandolphi's Deli.
All joking aside, I think Luke is a solid depth player for Sporting, so hearing that he'll be around for a while longer is good news.
Sporting beat writer Steve Brisendine has a good article over at MLSsoccer.com about Kansas City's three USMNT players. After watching Teal, CJ, and Graham in the two friendlies, I have to say I came away most impressed with Sapong, even though he didn't have a chance to feature much coming in as a sub in both games.
Finally, here's a good interview with Takawira from a couple of years ago, where he describes how he was given the nickname, "Digital."
It came from my first club team, Dynamos, in Zimbabwe. When you graduate to the first team, the supporters give you a nickname. It was they who gave me that name. Perhaps because they thought I was so quick and controlled on the ball, like something digital, like a computer or camera.
Sebastien Le Toux Sounds Off About Vancouver Trade
Some real interesting stuff here, as Le Toux takes aim at Peter Nowak after being traded to the Whitecaps.
""The only thing they wanted is the money," Le Toux said. "Being with this team and being a guy, not to build around, but to help this team, was what I wanted. ... They must have wanted to sell me for money because they needed money. We don't have a nice practice facility and that is something they promised since I am here. It's terrible. "That's why they pushed me to Bolton — money."
Some real interesting stuff here, as Le Toux takes aim at Peter Nowak after being traded to the Whitecaps.
""The only thing they wanted is the money," Le Toux said. "Being with this team and being a guy, not to build around, but to help this team, was what I wanted. ... They must have wanted to sell me for money because they needed money. We don't have a nice practice facility and that is something they promised since I am here. It's terrible. "That's why they pushed me to Bolton — money."
Portland Timbers Sign Kris Boyd
Sporting Kansas City were rumored to have shown interest in the Scottish striker.
Sporting Kansas City were rumored to have shown interest in the Scottish striker.
As ever the former junior's were very active this past week. In-fact, all the former junior's that turned pro or were chosen in the supplemental draft were active this week. Here's the latest update:
Kyle Miller - Currently with Sporting Kc as they start their pre-season in Arizona. Looking for that elusive contract. Assistant coach Jon Parry recently gave his thoughts on the former Rockhurst University defender.
Matt Kuhn - Was recently cut from Sporting Kc's pre-season group after being cut by DC United after being selected in the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft. All this in a matter of days.
Jon Kempin - Sporting Kc's first ever homegrown player currently with the team in Arizona as they begin their pre-season.
Kevin Ellis - Sporting Kc's second ever homegrown player also with Sporting Kc in Arizona.
I am currently trying to get my hands on a full list of all the former junior's. The one currently on Sporting Kc's site was missing some people. For instance it did not have Matt Kuhn listed.
Kyle Miller - Currently with Sporting Kc as they start their pre-season in Arizona. Looking for that elusive contract. Assistant coach Jon Parry recently gave his thoughts on the former Rockhurst University defender.
Matt Kuhn - Was recently cut from Sporting Kc's pre-season group after being cut by DC United after being selected in the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft. All this in a matter of days.
Jon Kempin - Sporting Kc's first ever homegrown player currently with the team in Arizona as they begin their pre-season.
Kevin Ellis - Sporting Kc's second ever homegrown player also with Sporting Kc in Arizona.
I am currently trying to get my hands on a full list of all the former junior's. The one currently on Sporting Kc's site was missing some people. For instance it did not have Matt Kuhn listed.
Sporting Kansas City have announced they have resigned Luke Sassano.
The 26 year old midfielder played in nine matches, five of those in the starting line up, for Kansas City. Sassano scored one goal during the 2011 campaign.
2012 will be Sassano's fifth in Major League Soccer. He spent the first three seasons of his MLS career playing for the New York Red Bulls, where he made 42 total appearances for the Red Bulls during his time there. Sassano suffered a right ankle injury that required season ending surgery his last season with New York (2010). He was then selected by the Galaxy in the Re-Entry Draft Process.
Sporting acquired Sassano in 2010 in a trade with the LA Galaxy in exchange for the rights to Frankie Hejduk.
Per club policy, terms of Sassano's deal are not disclosed.
The 26 year old midfielder played in nine matches, five of those in the starting line up, for Kansas City. Sassano scored one goal during the 2011 campaign.
2012 will be Sassano's fifth in Major League Soccer. He spent the first three seasons of his MLS career playing for the New York Red Bulls, where he made 42 total appearances for the Red Bulls during his time there. Sassano suffered a right ankle injury that required season ending surgery his last season with New York (2010). He was then selected by the Galaxy in the Re-Entry Draft Process.
Sporting acquired Sassano in 2010 in a trade with the LA Galaxy in exchange for the rights to Frankie Hejduk.
Per club policy, terms of Sassano's deal are not disclosed.
Welcome back to the Debate of the Week. Today, we're going to focus on something that has been in the forefront of Sporting fans' minds since the offseason started. That topic has been jersey sponsors.
The question is pretty straight forward. Who is going to be Sporting Kansas City's jersey Sponser?
Let the debate begin! Don't forget to suggest future topics!
The question is pretty straight forward. Who is going to be Sporting Kansas City's jersey Sponser?
Let the debate begin! Don't forget to suggest future topics!
One of the big talking points for Sporting Kansas City during the off season has been the possibility of the club bringing in a designated player to help bolster their chances in 2012. It appeared a couple of months ago that the club would sign at least one designated player in the current transfer window. However, expectations for a DP signing have been tempered as of late, with Sporting Kansas City CEO Robb Heineman noting that the chances of signing a designated player in this window are slim at this point.
On the surface, the idea of signing a higher profile player from overseas would appear to make sense for an organization that is in "MLS Cup or Bust" mode. However, the history of the designated player in Major League Soccer suggests that perhaps Kansas City would be better served passing on a potential DP.
Even with the Galaxy's successful DP trio (Donovan, Beckham, Keane) in 2011, one has to wonder if the amount of money being invested in some of these players is actually worth the results on the pitch. For every successful DP signing, there have been a number of designated players that never lived up to their status as game changers in MLS. The 2011 Galaxy were actually the first team to win an MLS Cup with a designated player on their roster, which is somewhat surprising, given the fact that rule has been in place since 2006.
If anything, that last sentence should be enough comfort to Sporting fans that Kansas City doesn't need a DP to bring the MLS Cup to Kansas City in 2012.
Designated Players have been a mixed bag for the franchise in the past. Kansas City has only signed three DP's since the rule was implemented; Argentinean striker Claudio Lopez in 2008, Mexican forward Omar Bravo in 2010, and Brazilian midfielder Jeferson in the summer of 2011.
Lopez would have to be considered the best signing out of the three. El Piojo played for the Wizards for two seasons, scoring 13 goals and 15 assists during his time with the club.
Bravo had a solid season for Kansas City his one year with the team in 2011, scoring 9 goals and adding 3 assists before transferring to Mexican side, Cruz Azul, after the 2011 MLS playoffs.
Jeferson was brought into the team during the summer of 2011, with the hope that he could become the number 10 that the club was lacking. However, injuries derailed Jeferson's stay with the club and Sporting ended up waiving the midfielder at the end of the season. Jeferson finished with one assist in nine regular season matches in 2011.
While both Lopez and Bravo were solid contributors during their short stays in Kansas City, the impact both players had probably didn't warrant the price tag of a designated player. In the case of Jeferson, it's safe to say the experiment was a complete failure.
And that's the thing about designated players. Very rarely do these players live up to the money, and the expectations of the designated tag. Since the implementation of the DP rule in Major League Soccer, only a handful of designated players have actually had a major impact for their clubs. David Beckham, Thierry Henry... of course, Landon Donovan. All three have been worth their weight in gold on and off the field for their respective clubs.
Juan Pablo Angel was worth the price tag when he played with the Red Bulls from 2007-2010. Luciano Emilio was a force for DC United from 2007-2009. FC Dallas' David Ferreira won the MLS MVP Award in 2010, helping lead Dallas to the MLS Cup Final, but he spent the majority of this past season on the sidelines with an injury.
On the other side of the coin, there's a laundry list of players who ended up failing to deliver the goods. Mista (Toronto FC) appeared in only nine matches for the club in 2010, failing to score a single goal in regular season play. Midfielder Claudio Reyna's two years ( 2007-2008) with the New York Red Bulls was mired with injuries. Former FC Dallas winger Denilson managed only one goal during his one year with the club.
Branko Boskovic (DC United), Rafael Marquez (New York), Mustapha Jarju (Vancouver), Marcelo Gallardo (DC United), Giovanni Deiberson (San Jose Earthquakes)........ the list can go on for quite a while in regards to players that haven't panned out under the DP tag.
Which is why Sporting Kansas City should probably be content with where they are at the moment. With the season quickly approaching, how many attainable players from overseas would realistically be able to come in to this Sporting squad and have a major impact for the team? My guess is not many.
Sporting have brought in depth on the wings (Bobby Convey, Dom Dwyer, Jacob Peterson), midfield (Paulo Nagamura, Michael Thomas), and center back (Cyprian Hedrick, although I still believe some more depth would still be nice, but nothing that would warrant a designated player).
I know as fans we are almost always looking for our teams to make the big, flashy signings. It's just the way we are. And most of the time I would be right on that bandwagon. But, I keep looking back at what Sporting was able to do in 2011, and I think about how this year's squad should legitimately be better than the one that reached the Eastern Conference Final just a few months ago, and for once I find myself hoping that Sporting will stand pat.
On the surface, the idea of signing a higher profile player from overseas would appear to make sense for an organization that is in "MLS Cup or Bust" mode. However, the history of the designated player in Major League Soccer suggests that perhaps Kansas City would be better served passing on a potential DP.
Even with the Galaxy's successful DP trio (Donovan, Beckham, Keane) in 2011, one has to wonder if the amount of money being invested in some of these players is actually worth the results on the pitch. For every successful DP signing, there have been a number of designated players that never lived up to their status as game changers in MLS. The 2011 Galaxy were actually the first team to win an MLS Cup with a designated player on their roster, which is somewhat surprising, given the fact that rule has been in place since 2006.
If anything, that last sentence should be enough comfort to Sporting fans that Kansas City doesn't need a DP to bring the MLS Cup to Kansas City in 2012.
Designated Players have been a mixed bag for the franchise in the past. Kansas City has only signed three DP's since the rule was implemented; Argentinean striker Claudio Lopez in 2008, Mexican forward Omar Bravo in 2010, and Brazilian midfielder Jeferson in the summer of 2011.
Lopez would have to be considered the best signing out of the three. El Piojo played for the Wizards for two seasons, scoring 13 goals and 15 assists during his time with the club.
Bravo had a solid season for Kansas City his one year with the team in 2011, scoring 9 goals and adding 3 assists before transferring to Mexican side, Cruz Azul, after the 2011 MLS playoffs.
Jeferson was brought into the team during the summer of 2011, with the hope that he could become the number 10 that the club was lacking. However, injuries derailed Jeferson's stay with the club and Sporting ended up waiving the midfielder at the end of the season. Jeferson finished with one assist in nine regular season matches in 2011.
While both Lopez and Bravo were solid contributors during their short stays in Kansas City, the impact both players had probably didn't warrant the price tag of a designated player. In the case of Jeferson, it's safe to say the experiment was a complete failure.
And that's the thing about designated players. Very rarely do these players live up to the money, and the expectations of the designated tag. Since the implementation of the DP rule in Major League Soccer, only a handful of designated players have actually had a major impact for their clubs. David Beckham, Thierry Henry... of course, Landon Donovan. All three have been worth their weight in gold on and off the field for their respective clubs.
Juan Pablo Angel was worth the price tag when he played with the Red Bulls from 2007-2010. Luciano Emilio was a force for DC United from 2007-2009. FC Dallas' David Ferreira won the MLS MVP Award in 2010, helping lead Dallas to the MLS Cup Final, but he spent the majority of this past season on the sidelines with an injury.
On the other side of the coin, there's a laundry list of players who ended up failing to deliver the goods. Mista (Toronto FC) appeared in only nine matches for the club in 2010, failing to score a single goal in regular season play. Midfielder Claudio Reyna's two years ( 2007-2008) with the New York Red Bulls was mired with injuries. Former FC Dallas winger Denilson managed only one goal during his one year with the club.
Branko Boskovic (DC United), Rafael Marquez (New York), Mustapha Jarju (Vancouver), Marcelo Gallardo (DC United), Giovanni Deiberson (San Jose Earthquakes)........ the list can go on for quite a while in regards to players that haven't panned out under the DP tag.
Which is why Sporting Kansas City should probably be content with where they are at the moment. With the season quickly approaching, how many attainable players from overseas would realistically be able to come in to this Sporting squad and have a major impact for the team? My guess is not many.
Sporting have brought in depth on the wings (Bobby Convey, Dom Dwyer, Jacob Peterson), midfield (Paulo Nagamura, Michael Thomas), and center back (Cyprian Hedrick, although I still believe some more depth would still be nice, but nothing that would warrant a designated player).
I know as fans we are almost always looking for our teams to make the big, flashy signings. It's just the way we are. And most of the time I would be right on that bandwagon. But, I keep looking back at what Sporting was able to do in 2011, and I think about how this year's squad should legitimately be better than the one that reached the Eastern Conference Final just a few months ago, and for once I find myself hoping that Sporting will stand pat.
Sporting Kansas City has announced that three trialists from this week's training camp will travel with the team to Tuscon, Arizona.
Goalkeepers Scott Spangler, and Scott Angevine, as well as midfielder Cyrus Sadee will make the trip with Sporting Kansas City as the club continues preparing for the 2012 MLS season.
The announcement means that the following trialists have been cut by Kansas City: midfielders Irving Garcia, and Matt Kuhn, and defender Kevin Strunk.
Another trialist, Myron Samuel, left earlier this week for undisclosed reasons.
Sporting departs for Tuscon tomorrow, where the club will train at the Kino Sports Complex until February 14th.
Goalkeepers Scott Spangler, and Scott Angevine, as well as midfielder Cyrus Sadee will make the trip with Sporting Kansas City as the club continues preparing for the 2012 MLS season.
The announcement means that the following trialists have been cut by Kansas City: midfielders Irving Garcia, and Matt Kuhn, and defender Kevin Strunk.
Another trialist, Myron Samuel, left earlier this week for undisclosed reasons.
Sporting departs for Tuscon tomorrow, where the club will train at the Kino Sports Complex until February 14th.
United States Women Qualify for Olympics
You guys know my affinity for women's soccer and Grant Wahl does a great write-up here. Most notably, Carli Lloyd becoming a scorer as opposed to "that woman who crushes soccer balls (nowhere near target)".
You guys know my affinity for women's soccer and Grant Wahl does a great write-up here. Most notably, Carli Lloyd becoming a scorer as opposed to "that woman who crushes soccer balls (nowhere near target)".
According to my source in Kenya Sporting Kansas City defender Lawrence Olum will return to Kenya in February. The only logical explanation as to why Olum will be returning to Kenya in February just a month before Sporting Kc's season starts is that he will be playing with the Kenyan national team.
The other option is that Olum could be leaving Sporting Kc in February to go to a club in Kenya but I threw that out of the window almost immediately. It wouldn't make any sense for Olum to be here for the pre-season if he was just going to leave in the middle of it.
Like I had said in my earlier story about Olum's international situation with Kenya, the center back had talked to Kenya's new national team coach when he was over there for the holidays. According to FIFA.com Kenya's next 2 matches will be on the 23rd and 29th of February against Egypt and Togo, in that order. So hopefully we will see yet another Sporting Kc player represent the club on the international level in February.
For those of you doubting the legitimacy of this article and my claim I have video evidence of Lawrence Olum confirming he will be going to Kenya in February. It's on Youtube , right here:
Soony Saad: Wide Right (via jrwhisen)
The other option is that Olum could be leaving Sporting Kc in February to go to a club in Kenya but I threw that out of the window almost immediately. It wouldn't make any sense for Olum to be here for the pre-season if he was just going to leave in the middle of it.
Like I had said in my earlier story about Olum's international situation with Kenya, the center back had talked to Kenya's new national team coach when he was over there for the holidays. According to FIFA.com Kenya's next 2 matches will be on the 23rd and 29th of February against Egypt and Togo, in that order. So hopefully we will see yet another Sporting Kc player represent the club on the international level in February.
For those of you doubting the legitimacy of this article and my claim I have video evidence of Lawrence Olum confirming he will be going to Kenya in February. It's on Youtube , right here:
Soony Saad: Wide Right (via jrwhisen)
I know he hasn't even been signed yet but word from El Salvador is that Sporting Kansas City trialist and Supplemental Draft Pick Pablo Punyed could be playing with the under 23 Salvadorian national football team soon. Finding some real background info on these supplemental draft picks is hard so I thought I'd share.
According to the article, when Pablo was in El Salvador late last month for the holidays he had a series of tryouts for the Salvadoran national team coaches. Based off those tryouts the coaches will determine if he makes the U-23 team for El Salvador or not.
Should Pablo Punyed play for La Selecta he would join two other Sporting Kc players in other Olympic qualifying teams this spring. Teal Bunbury will play with the USA and Daneil Cyrus will play with Trinidad and Tobago in the tournament.
According to the article, when Pablo was in El Salvador late last month for the holidays he had a series of tryouts for the Salvadoran national team coaches. Based off those tryouts the coaches will determine if he makes the U-23 team for El Salvador or not.
Should Pablo Punyed play for La Selecta he would join two other Sporting Kc players in other Olympic qualifying teams this spring. Teal Bunbury will play with the USA and Daneil Cyrus will play with Trinidad and Tobago in the tournament.
A Day with Sporting Kansas City
Sky Sports have published a report claiming that Sporting Kansas City may be after the signature of Scotsman, Kris Boyd.
Boyd, a 28 year old striker, most recently played with Turkish side, Eskisehirspor, but he terminated his contract with the club in mid-December, and is currently without a club team.
Boyd spent a number of years playing with Scottish Premier League side, Rangers F.C, scoring 101 goals in 143 appearances during his five years with the club. He also spent time with Kilmarnock FC, Middlesbrough, and Nottingham Forest, before joining Eskisehirspor.
The Houston Dynamo were after Boyd just a few days ago, and a deal looked imminent, but it appears those plans have fallen through.
The Sky article also sites the Portland Timbers as a club interested in Boyd.
I'd honestly be surprised if Kansas City really are after Boyd, but as most of you know, I've been wrong before.
Boyd, a 28 year old striker, most recently played with Turkish side, Eskisehirspor, but he terminated his contract with the club in mid-December, and is currently without a club team.
Boyd spent a number of years playing with Scottish Premier League side, Rangers F.C, scoring 101 goals in 143 appearances during his five years with the club. He also spent time with Kilmarnock FC, Middlesbrough, and Nottingham Forest, before joining Eskisehirspor.
The Houston Dynamo were after Boyd just a few days ago, and a deal looked imminent, but it appears those plans have fallen through.
The Sky article also sites the Portland Timbers as a club interested in Boyd.
I'd honestly be surprised if Kansas City really are after Boyd, but as most of you know, I've been wrong before.
If anyone scoffs at the difficulty of CONCACAF qualifying, just look at friendlies like this. Often the United States slips up in games away to Central American countries, so coming away with a 1-0 victory in Panama is far more impressive than at first glance. Don't be surprised if the United States has to return to this stadium next year in the Hexagonal, because right now Panama is playing and preparing better than anyone outside of Mexico and the US. Two wins is better than anything so far under Klinsmann no matter the competition. So I'll take an ugly win, and even better an ugly win with Graham Zusi scoring the winner.
Two striker system paid off, but only once
Sure, it didn't pay off in a goal from the strikers themselves, but if you are going to play with width, you must have targets in the box. Teal Bunbury and Chris Wondolowski occupied the back four leaving Zusi wide open at the far post. While Shea looked tired at times, he did a good job of supplying Zach Loyd for overlapping runs. Wondolowski again was the victim of fabulous goalkeeping. Much like another older super-sub Hercules Gomez; he has a knack for being in the right place. Bunbury's feet often failed him and his touch was heavy.
The United States didn't pose much of a threat after Wondolowski's attempt off a rebounded Jones strike. Some of that can be laid on the midfield and being down to ten men for the last forty minutes, but the strikers never teamed up in a meaningful way. At some point, the two strikers should be able to link up together.
Backline gets tested
Panama isn't going to be a pushover anymore. Their coaching again was excellent and in this game they pressed up higher than I expected. By outnumbering the center backs, often playing a three on two, they played several through balls and Parkhurst was beaten over the top occasionally. The red on Geoff Cameron was tough, it's certainly a yellow, but again the United States was beat over the top. I don't think Cameron did anything to condemn himself, but this wasn't a great showing for any of the back four. Jeff Parke actually looked the best, and he isn't in our future plans. A.J. DeLaGarza looked out of place, shockingly because he was out of place and Panama knew that.
Nick Rimando can be our third goalkeeper forever. Like his Real Salt Lake teammate Kyle Beckerman, I have no problem with his known qualities, I just don't like him starting for our team. I didn't expect him to start, but if a game needed a known quality at keeper, it was this one. Outside a ridiculous challenge at the top of the 18 in the 32nd minute, he was solid and most of all kept a clean sheet. Johnson wasn't tested as much, but did make the saves when needed.
The United States needs a creator
Games like this is why I miss Clint Dempsey. The midfield had too many problems from the start. If Ricardo Clark and Jermaine Jones are starting, Jones needs to get forward. Clark actually had the better forward runs outside of Jones long shot in the first half. I would have preferred having Zusi in the middle and playing someone more comfortable on the wing. Benny Feilhaber probably would have enjoyed more space as the strikers pulled the defenders off of him and then we cold have created some offense. This was an awkward throwback to the Bradley era without the quality of Donovan and Dempsey coming off the wings or the combination play of Altidore and Davies up top. When you aren't controlling the game, you need to counter and the United States struggled with that as well.
I complain too much because after all this was a road win, and I should be more pleased. Let's see the full team beat Italy and I'll be ecstatic again.
Two striker system paid off, but only once
Sure, it didn't pay off in a goal from the strikers themselves, but if you are going to play with width, you must have targets in the box. Teal Bunbury and Chris Wondolowski occupied the back four leaving Zusi wide open at the far post. While Shea looked tired at times, he did a good job of supplying Zach Loyd for overlapping runs. Wondolowski again was the victim of fabulous goalkeeping. Much like another older super-sub Hercules Gomez; he has a knack for being in the right place. Bunbury's feet often failed him and his touch was heavy.
The United States didn't pose much of a threat after Wondolowski's attempt off a rebounded Jones strike. Some of that can be laid on the midfield and being down to ten men for the last forty minutes, but the strikers never teamed up in a meaningful way. At some point, the two strikers should be able to link up together.
Backline gets tested
Panama isn't going to be a pushover anymore. Their coaching again was excellent and in this game they pressed up higher than I expected. By outnumbering the center backs, often playing a three on two, they played several through balls and Parkhurst was beaten over the top occasionally. The red on Geoff Cameron was tough, it's certainly a yellow, but again the United States was beat over the top. I don't think Cameron did anything to condemn himself, but this wasn't a great showing for any of the back four. Jeff Parke actually looked the best, and he isn't in our future plans. A.J. DeLaGarza looked out of place, shockingly because he was out of place and Panama knew that.
Nick Rimando can be our third goalkeeper forever. Like his Real Salt Lake teammate Kyle Beckerman, I have no problem with his known qualities, I just don't like him starting for our team. I didn't expect him to start, but if a game needed a known quality at keeper, it was this one. Outside a ridiculous challenge at the top of the 18 in the 32nd minute, he was solid and most of all kept a clean sheet. Johnson wasn't tested as much, but did make the saves when needed.
The United States needs a creator
Games like this is why I miss Clint Dempsey. The midfield had too many problems from the start. If Ricardo Clark and Jermaine Jones are starting, Jones needs to get forward. Clark actually had the better forward runs outside of Jones long shot in the first half. I would have preferred having Zusi in the middle and playing someone more comfortable on the wing. Benny Feilhaber probably would have enjoyed more space as the strikers pulled the defenders off of him and then we cold have created some offense. This was an awkward throwback to the Bradley era without the quality of Donovan and Dempsey coming off the wings or the combination play of Altidore and Davies up top. When you aren't controlling the game, you need to counter and the United States struggled with that as well.
I complain too much because after all this was a road win, and I should be more pleased. Let's see the full team beat Italy and I'll be ecstatic again.
Sporting Kansas City's April 7th match against the defending MLS Cup Champion LA Galaxy has been moved to ESPN.
The match, which will be held at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, was originally planned to view on ESPN2. With the switch to ESPN, the start time for the match has been moved up one hour. Kick off time is now set for 3PM.
Last year's September 5th match between the two clubs, which ended in a 2-2 draw, was one of the more exciting games in MLS in 2011. Julio Cesar and Omar Bravo netted goals for Sporting, while Sean Franklin was able to score both of LA's goals in a highly contested match.
You can find highlights of both Sporting/ Galaxy matches from 2011 via the following links:
Sporting KC draws with Galaxy- September 5th, 2011
Los Angeles Galaxy top Sporting KC 4-1 May 14th, 2011
The match, which will be held at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, was originally planned to view on ESPN2. With the switch to ESPN, the start time for the match has been moved up one hour. Kick off time is now set for 3PM.
Last year's September 5th match between the two clubs, which ended in a 2-2 draw, was one of the more exciting games in MLS in 2011. Julio Cesar and Omar Bravo netted goals for Sporting, while Sean Franklin was able to score both of LA's goals in a highly contested match.
You can find highlights of both Sporting/ Galaxy matches from 2011 via the following links:
Sporting KC draws with Galaxy- September 5th, 2011
Los Angeles Galaxy top Sporting KC 4-1 May 14th, 2011
The final installment of the "Inside the SuperDraft 2012" series
The big story yesterday was Sporting Kansas City's own, Graham Zusi, scoring a goal in the USMNT's 1-0 victory over Panama last night.
Joe will be posting his thoughts on last night's game in the near future, so I won't get too much into the match. Just a few quick hits:
Brek Shea needs a break. He's looked rather ordinary these past two matches. I think Jurgen needs to give the guy a rest.
Nick Rimando gets my Man of the Match award. Panama could have scored at least a couple of goals if not for some great saves from Rimando. That leaky US defense sure could use Matt Besler, couldn't it?
Teal Bunbury still has one of the most inconsistent first touches out there. Regarding last night's match, it was no where to be found.
Zusi scored last night's goal the same way he scored his two goals in USMNT training: by not giving up on a play and seeing it through until the end.
Over at This Sporting Life, they have a very good post about Sporting Kansas City's current designated player situation. It hits on some pretty interesting ideas in regards to Sporting CEO Robb Heineman's tweet from early yesterday morning. At this point, I don't really feel like signing a DP is necessary, which I know is a departure from how I felt a couple of months ago. But the way I see it as things stand today, Kansas City was one game away from reaching the MLS Cup. True, they lost Omar Bravo, and Davy Arnaud this offseason, but neither one of those players had an impact during Sporting's playoff run.
With the addition of Bobby Convey, and Paulo Nagamura, and the continued maturation of Sporting's slew of talented younger players, I think Kansas City is in prime position to make a legitimate run at the MLS Cup. At the very least, I'd have to think Sporting is the favorite to win the Eastern Conference.
True, it would be nice to have that true #10 to provide consistent service to our forwards; a player that can break down the opposition's defense, and anticipate his teammates runs. Sporting tried to land that guy in 2011, and it didn't work out. That's not to say it couldn't work out in 2012. I just think it would have to be an ideal situation, and it sounds like that's not going to happen... Which is okay. I believe Sporting can bring home the MLS Cup with the current roster.
The wait is over. Sporting Kansas City has a new beat writer. Steve Brisendine announced on twitter yesterday that he will be following in the footsteps of Andrew Wiebe. Brisendine has written a couple of nice Sporting KC posts recently for MLSsoccer.com, so it's great news hearing that he's gotten the full-time gig. Congrats, Steve!
Finally, I'd like to start leaving you a short YouTube clip in every Daily Link post that I find to be rather amusing. Just something to maybe entertain you for a minute or so. Or in the case of today's clip, for about 14 seconds. I guarantee it will be 14 of the greatest seconds in your life.
Joe will be posting his thoughts on last night's game in the near future, so I won't get too much into the match. Just a few quick hits:
Brek Shea needs a break. He's looked rather ordinary these past two matches. I think Jurgen needs to give the guy a rest.
Nick Rimando gets my Man of the Match award. Panama could have scored at least a couple of goals if not for some great saves from Rimando. That leaky US defense sure could use Matt Besler, couldn't it?
Teal Bunbury still has one of the most inconsistent first touches out there. Regarding last night's match, it was no where to be found.
Zusi scored last night's goal the same way he scored his two goals in USMNT training: by not giving up on a play and seeing it through until the end.
Over at This Sporting Life, they have a very good post about Sporting Kansas City's current designated player situation. It hits on some pretty interesting ideas in regards to Sporting CEO Robb Heineman's tweet from early yesterday morning. At this point, I don't really feel like signing a DP is necessary, which I know is a departure from how I felt a couple of months ago. But the way I see it as things stand today, Kansas City was one game away from reaching the MLS Cup. True, they lost Omar Bravo, and Davy Arnaud this offseason, but neither one of those players had an impact during Sporting's playoff run.
With the addition of Bobby Convey, and Paulo Nagamura, and the continued maturation of Sporting's slew of talented younger players, I think Kansas City is in prime position to make a legitimate run at the MLS Cup. At the very least, I'd have to think Sporting is the favorite to win the Eastern Conference.
True, it would be nice to have that true #10 to provide consistent service to our forwards; a player that can break down the opposition's defense, and anticipate his teammates runs. Sporting tried to land that guy in 2011, and it didn't work out. That's not to say it couldn't work out in 2012. I just think it would have to be an ideal situation, and it sounds like that's not going to happen... Which is okay. I believe Sporting can bring home the MLS Cup with the current roster.
The wait is over. Sporting Kansas City has a new beat writer. Steve Brisendine announced on twitter yesterday that he will be following in the footsteps of Andrew Wiebe. Brisendine has written a couple of nice Sporting KC posts recently for MLSsoccer.com, so it's great news hearing that he's gotten the full-time gig. Congrats, Steve!
Finally, I'd like to start leaving you a short YouTube clip in every Daily Link post that I find to be rather amusing. Just something to maybe entertain you for a minute or so. Or in the case of today's clip, for about 14 seconds. I guarantee it will be 14 of the greatest seconds in your life.
The United States finishes its January camp with a much more familiar foe and one that shocked the United States in last year's Gold Cup. However, the win in the semi-final takes any revenge out of a match in desperate need of a plot. Hopefully, the jitters that appeared to hamper some of the debutantes for the United States will have been lost by this game. Even more hopeful, the United States comes out showing some offensive punch, that so far, no matter who plays, has lacked in Klinsmanns tenure. I don't mind solid defense and possession, but the little Eric Wynalda in me screams for goals (perhaps not with the same disregard for defense as we displayed in our exciting open win versus Slovenia.)
Consider this your open thread for the game. I'll try to chime in by stone-age phone when possible in between conversations about my kilt, Robert Burns, and why I wear the royal colors of the House of Stuart which should be enough clues as to my whereabouts and appearance in St. Louis tonight. Or follow along with us on twitter.
(Preview after the jump)
Questions for the United States
Does the United States change its formation or just places?
Some of the players were out of their comfort zones for the Venezuela games. Graham Zusi is not a natural winger (Apologies to Jurgen Klinsmann, apparently Brek Shea instigated the "hide Graham Zusi on the left" switch), and Benny Feilhaber expressed a lack of comfort playing so advanced with his back to goal. In Feilhaber's favor, Panama won't likely sit as deep as Venezuela did and give the defensive midfielders so much room. If the United States plays two forwards, they can drop the CAM deeper and let him run at defenders and look for passes. This also would mean playing Jermaine Jones as a lone holding midfielder in a midfield diamond, but that wouldn't hurt as they didn't need both Jones and Jeff Larentowicz holding last game. Until further notice, expect the 4-2-3-1 every game.
One thing is certain: someone will be wearing a different number and anyone not there for the starting lineups will be confused.
Who will start at striker?
The odds are that Chris Wondolowski starts, given the performances of the last game and Klinsmann's reactions to it. This doesn't mean Teal Bunbury and CJ Sapong aren't on the field at any point, just that they will be second half subs. If they change formation and play with two men up front, expect Bunbury and Wondolowski to start and CJ to come on in the second half.
Will Geoff Cameron and Michael Parkhurst get tested?
They looked great against Venezuela, but were not frequently tested. We showered praise on Parkhurst for clearing crosses with no real target and Cameron for passing well out of the back with no one near him. It would be promising if they don't get tested, because that means we're playing well in midfield. However, I would hope they get a couple of chances to prove their worth. Same goes for the keeper, most likely Sean Johnson, if Klinsmann is trying to get a look at all the youngsters.
Panama
As was the case with Venezuela, this is an up and coming team that is fielding a B-team against us. Another way of putting it, he coaching should be solid even if the play on the field is underwhelming. Julio Dely Valdés has been superb since taking over his national team, both in preparation and results. When I previewed Venezuela, I stated how much easier it was to move up in CONCACAF. This is the type of team that could go from tenth best to a World Cup qualifier in CONCACAF. However, that is a description that could be given to it's entire qualification group for the third round given Canada's underachievement, Honduras's recent run to the World Cup, and Cuba's always enigmatic qualities (They were the sixth seed in CONCACAF's draw?). Panama, based on form of late, should be able to advance to the hexagonal, but
In their defeat of the United States last summer, they matched the United States formation and took apart a sadly disorganized back four. The United States was killed on direct passes and sloppy defending, but I would put Cameron and Parkhurst ahead of 2011 Tim Ream and Clarence Goodson on the depth chart.
They tended, like the United States under Bradley, to defend in banks of fours and frustrate the United States attack. Don't be surprised if the United States again holds a great deal of possession and doesn't near goal. A few MLS players will be on the field, so we get a look at some of FC Dallas's off-season acquisitions in Blas Perez and . Carlos Rodriguez as well as Philadelphia's Gabriel Gomez. (Those watching on ESPN3.com, expect "This guy plays in MLS" to be a constant thread throughout the night, despite the two former players just being signed.)
History
The United States is 8-1-1 against Panama, with one win and one draw in games played in Panama. That includes six Gold Cup matches (two quarterfinals('07, '09), one semifinal('11), and one final('05)) and four qualifiers (Former Wizard Eddie Johnson scored a hat trick against them as a sub.)
Consider this your open thread for the game. I'll try to chime in by stone-age phone when possible in between conversations about my kilt, Robert Burns, and why I wear the royal colors of the House of Stuart which should be enough clues as to my whereabouts and appearance in St. Louis tonight. Or follow along with us on twitter.
(Preview after the jump)
Questions for the United States
Does the United States change its formation or just places?
Some of the players were out of their comfort zones for the Venezuela games. Graham Zusi is not a natural winger (Apologies to Jurgen Klinsmann, apparently Brek Shea instigated the "hide Graham Zusi on the left" switch), and Benny Feilhaber expressed a lack of comfort playing so advanced with his back to goal. In Feilhaber's favor, Panama won't likely sit as deep as Venezuela did and give the defensive midfielders so much room. If the United States plays two forwards, they can drop the CAM deeper and let him run at defenders and look for passes. This also would mean playing Jermaine Jones as a lone holding midfielder in a midfield diamond, but that wouldn't hurt as they didn't need both Jones and Jeff Larentowicz holding last game. Until further notice, expect the 4-2-3-1 every game.
One thing is certain: someone will be wearing a different number and anyone not there for the starting lineups will be confused.
Who will start at striker?
The odds are that Chris Wondolowski starts, given the performances of the last game and Klinsmann's reactions to it. This doesn't mean Teal Bunbury and CJ Sapong aren't on the field at any point, just that they will be second half subs. If they change formation and play with two men up front, expect Bunbury and Wondolowski to start and CJ to come on in the second half.
Will Geoff Cameron and Michael Parkhurst get tested?
They looked great against Venezuela, but were not frequently tested. We showered praise on Parkhurst for clearing crosses with no real target and Cameron for passing well out of the back with no one near him. It would be promising if they don't get tested, because that means we're playing well in midfield. However, I would hope they get a couple of chances to prove their worth. Same goes for the keeper, most likely Sean Johnson, if Klinsmann is trying to get a look at all the youngsters.
Panama
As was the case with Venezuela, this is an up and coming team that is fielding a B-team against us. Another way of putting it, he coaching should be solid even if the play on the field is underwhelming. Julio Dely Valdés has been superb since taking over his national team, both in preparation and results. When I previewed Venezuela, I stated how much easier it was to move up in CONCACAF. This is the type of team that could go from tenth best to a World Cup qualifier in CONCACAF. However, that is a description that could be given to it's entire qualification group for the third round given Canada's underachievement, Honduras's recent run to the World Cup, and Cuba's always enigmatic qualities (They were the sixth seed in CONCACAF's draw?). Panama, based on form of late, should be able to advance to the hexagonal, but
In their defeat of the United States last summer, they matched the United States formation and took apart a sadly disorganized back four. The United States was killed on direct passes and sloppy defending, but I would put Cameron and Parkhurst ahead of 2011 Tim Ream and Clarence Goodson on the depth chart.
They tended, like the United States under Bradley, to defend in banks of fours and frustrate the United States attack. Don't be surprised if the United States again holds a great deal of possession and doesn't near goal. A few MLS players will be on the field, so we get a look at some of FC Dallas's off-season acquisitions in Blas Perez and . Carlos Rodriguez as well as Philadelphia's Gabriel Gomez. (Those watching on ESPN3.com, expect "This guy plays in MLS" to be a constant thread throughout the night, despite the two former players just being signed.)
History
The United States is 8-1-1 against Panama, with one win and one draw in games played in Panama. That includes six Gold Cup matches (two quarterfinals('07, '09), one semifinal('11), and one final('05)) and four qualifiers (Former Wizard Eddie Johnson scored a hat trick against them as a sub.)
Now that the 2012 MLS SuperDraft has concluded, and Sporting Kansas City's training camp is officially underway, I thought ,"Why not take a look at the club's roster, and attempt to come up with a Starting XI, as well as first off the bench for each position?"
A lot of these are complete shoo-ins. Everyone knows the four players that will make up Kansas City's back line at the start of the season, but there are a couple of spots where things are a little more interesting.
Sporting has made a number of off-season moves, including the acquisitions of Bobby Convey, Paulo Nagamura, and Jacob Peterson. Out of the three new players, I would imagine Convey will be the only starter... at least on opening day.
I've written a little bit about Convey in the past. I actually think that Convey replacing Bravo on the left wing will help Kansas City's attack, as Bobby is a natural left winger, and he'll be looking much more to set up our center forwards with crosses into the box. Bravo spent much of his time cutting back into the middle of the pitch. Come to think of it, I really can't remember seeing Bravo cross a ball.
I can also envision Nagamura perhaps working his way into the starting lineup in the midfield alongside Graham Zusi and Julio Cesar somewhere down the line, especially if Roger Espinoza can't learn to control his emotions and exercise better judgement on the field more than what he has in the past.
I still think there is a chance that the club will bring in a designated player to play attacking midfield, but at this point, I'm not so sure that the club would be best served doing so (Robb Heineman tweeted earlier today that a DP signing in this window is unlikely at this point).
So as the roster stands, here's my projected Sporting Kansas City lineup, including a list of the players I think will round out the squad's best 18 at this point.
Bench
Center Forward- CJ SapongWingers- Jacob PetersonMidfielders- Paulo Nagamura, Michael ThomasFullback- Michael HarringtonCenter back- Lawrence OlumGoalkeeper- Eric Kronberg
Notes:
I've stated my opinion on the Teal/ CJ debate numerous times over the course of last season. CJ's the better overall player, but Teal will continue to start at center forward, allowing CJ to sub in where ever he's needed on a match to match basis.
I could have easily listed Daneil Cyrus instead of Olum at center back depth, but I'll give Olum the nod because Daneil missed so much time last season, and because there's been talk that his loan deal will end in March. I do think rookie Cyprian Hedrick will factor in at some point in the season, just not in the early going.
Wasn't too sure on whether I should put Michael Thomas or Peterson Joseph as the second midfielder off of the bench at this point, but I just have a feeling that Thomas, who I see as being the pro typical "Vermes" player, is going to have an impressive preseason. We didn't get to see much of Joseph last season, so we're still waiting to see why he's known as the "Haitian Xavi."
I see Jacob Peterson as the first winger off the bench (not that there are many options) for Kansas City at the moment, more because of his previous MLS experience than anything related to skills. I think Vermes gives him the nod over a player like Dom Dwyer at the start. Of course, Dwyer could end up setting the world on fire, and he could easily force his way into some decent minutes.
It will be interesting to see how Soony Saad's 2012 season plays out. The team is absolutely stacked at the striker position, and with the arrival of Dwyer, Saad could be even more hard pressed for playing time. I think Saad would have to be over Dwyer depth wise as of right now, but that could change if Dwyer is as explosive as the reports make him out to be.
I'm definitely liking what I've heard from Michael Harrington so far. Sounds like he's looking to make the best out of his situation as the back up to both Chance Myers, and Seth Sinovic. I wouldn't be surprised if Harrington has a bounce back year in 2012.
So now that you've seen my preseason Starting XI and first off the bench for each position, what's your starting lineup for opening day?
A lot of these are complete shoo-ins. Everyone knows the four players that will make up Kansas City's back line at the start of the season, but there are a couple of spots where things are a little more interesting.
Sporting has made a number of off-season moves, including the acquisitions of Bobby Convey, Paulo Nagamura, and Jacob Peterson. Out of the three new players, I would imagine Convey will be the only starter... at least on opening day.
I've written a little bit about Convey in the past. I actually think that Convey replacing Bravo on the left wing will help Kansas City's attack, as Bobby is a natural left winger, and he'll be looking much more to set up our center forwards with crosses into the box. Bravo spent much of his time cutting back into the middle of the pitch. Come to think of it, I really can't remember seeing Bravo cross a ball.
I can also envision Nagamura perhaps working his way into the starting lineup in the midfield alongside Graham Zusi and Julio Cesar somewhere down the line, especially if Roger Espinoza can't learn to control his emotions and exercise better judgement on the field more than what he has in the past.
I still think there is a chance that the club will bring in a designated player to play attacking midfield, but at this point, I'm not so sure that the club would be best served doing so (Robb Heineman tweeted earlier today that a DP signing in this window is unlikely at this point).
So as the roster stands, here's my projected Sporting Kansas City lineup, including a list of the players I think will round out the squad's best 18 at this point.
Bench
Center Forward- CJ SapongWingers- Jacob PetersonMidfielders- Paulo Nagamura, Michael ThomasFullback- Michael HarringtonCenter back- Lawrence OlumGoalkeeper- Eric Kronberg
Notes:
I've stated my opinion on the Teal/ CJ debate numerous times over the course of last season. CJ's the better overall player, but Teal will continue to start at center forward, allowing CJ to sub in where ever he's needed on a match to match basis.
I could have easily listed Daneil Cyrus instead of Olum at center back depth, but I'll give Olum the nod because Daneil missed so much time last season, and because there's been talk that his loan deal will end in March. I do think rookie Cyprian Hedrick will factor in at some point in the season, just not in the early going.
Wasn't too sure on whether I should put Michael Thomas or Peterson Joseph as the second midfielder off of the bench at this point, but I just have a feeling that Thomas, who I see as being the pro typical "Vermes" player, is going to have an impressive preseason. We didn't get to see much of Joseph last season, so we're still waiting to see why he's known as the "Haitian Xavi."
I see Jacob Peterson as the first winger off the bench (not that there are many options) for Kansas City at the moment, more because of his previous MLS experience than anything related to skills. I think Vermes gives him the nod over a player like Dom Dwyer at the start. Of course, Dwyer could end up setting the world on fire, and he could easily force his way into some decent minutes.
It will be interesting to see how Soony Saad's 2012 season plays out. The team is absolutely stacked at the striker position, and with the arrival of Dwyer, Saad could be even more hard pressed for playing time. I think Saad would have to be over Dwyer depth wise as of right now, but that could change if Dwyer is as explosive as the reports make him out to be.
I'm definitely liking what I've heard from Michael Harrington so far. Sounds like he's looking to make the best out of his situation as the back up to both Chance Myers, and Seth Sinovic. I wouldn't be surprised if Harrington has a bounce back year in 2012.
So now that you've seen my preseason Starting XI and first off the bench for each position, what's your starting lineup for opening day?
Unless something dramatic happens in the next two days, we will not be announcing a DP in this window. #SportingKC
Robb Heineman/ Twitter
Robb Heineman/ Twitter
The Philadelphia Union's PPL Park will host the 2012 MLS All-Star Game.
Roger Espinoza Hoping For World Cup Qualifying Action
Sporting Kc midfielder and Honduras international Roger Espinoza is hoping to play with Honduras in World Cup Qualifying.
Sporting Kc midfielder and Honduras international Roger Espinoza is hoping to play with Honduras in World Cup Qualifying.
