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Old 11-21-2011, 05:01 PM  
|Zach| |Zach| is offline
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**2012 Sporting Kansas City\Soccer Thread**

Sporting Kansas City was eliminated from MLS Cup contention after losing to Houston 2-1 aggreagate over the span of two games. They finished the year as US Open Cup Champions and a Kansas City team record of 63 points.

MLS Cup Final | LA Galaxy vs Houston Dynamo | December 1st, 3:30 CT









Final Regular Season Eastern Conference Standings
Full MLS standings here.



2012 US Open Cup Champions.


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Old 05-02-2012, 10:34 PM   #946
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Originally Posted by CHENZ A! View Post
Is that on TV?

Lucky we have them at home.
Nah it just now ended. Seattle beat LA 2-0 as well tonight.

Collin does a really good job on Lenhart. But that whole thing is gonna be a test.
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Old 05-02-2012, 11:01 PM   #947
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I probably won't ever post in here again, but I just caught a magnificent goal by Newcastle (I think they said) - did anyone else catch that? One of the most impressive soccer goals i've ever seen, i believe they were playing Chelsea. It made top plays, obviously.
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Old 05-02-2012, 11:15 PM   #948
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I probably won't ever post in here again,
Great.
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Old 05-02-2012, 11:18 PM   #949
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Originally Posted by Simply Red View Post
I probably won't ever post in here again, but I just caught a magnificent goal by Newcastle (I think they said) - did anyone else catch that? One of the most impressive soccer goals i've ever seen, i believe they were playing Chelsea. It made top plays, obviously.
The conversion has begun.

Five years and you will be Sporting's number one fan.
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JoeyChuckles threw an interception on a screen pass.JoeyChuckles threw an interception on a screen pass.JoeyChuckles threw an interception on a screen pass.JoeyChuckles threw an interception on a screen pass.JoeyChuckles threw an interception on a screen pass.JoeyChuckles threw an interception on a screen pass.JoeyChuckles threw an interception on a screen pass.JoeyChuckles threw an interception on a screen pass.JoeyChuckles threw an interception on a screen pass.JoeyChuckles threw an interception on a screen pass.JoeyChuckles threw an interception on a screen pass.
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Old 05-02-2012, 11:33 PM   #950
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Originally Posted by The_Wiz View Post
The conversion has begun.

Five years and you will be Sporting's number one fan.
No No, I like Soccer, I just don't care for that |Zoccer| - LOL
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Old 05-02-2012, 11:37 PM   #951
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No No, I like Soccer, I just don't care for that |Zoccer| - LOL
Damn. I jinxed it.

Welp. Bye now.
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Old 05-03-2012, 02:08 AM   #952
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Old 05-03-2012, 02:14 AM   #953
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I am holding firm to my stance of liking your team and being happy for you but hating Lenhart.

Your supporters group has crazy assholes...they are like the Newcastle United of the MLS.

Our matchup is going to be "quite" a show. May 27th in KC. It is an NBC Sports game. So that is good for the league.
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Old 05-03-2012, 02:17 AM   #954
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It's pretty amazing to be top of the league, extra game or no. You guys have been dominant, and yet the Quakes are right there with them and have handled #2 in the east after beating #2 in the west 3-1 recently.

Also: GUS JOHNSON IS DOING QUAKES RADIO BROADCASTS. WHY THE **** IS HE NOT ON TV. Gus Johnson + Ray Hudson for Quakes TV commentary plx
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Old 05-03-2012, 02:47 AM   #955
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It's pretty amazing to be top of the league, extra game or no. You guys have been dominant, and yet the Quakes are right there with them and have handled #2 in the east after beating #2 in the west 3-1 recently.

Also: GUS JOHNSON IS DOING QUAKES RADIO BROADCASTS. WHY THE **** IS HE NOT ON TV. Gus Johnson + Ray Hudson for Quakes TV commentary plx
SJ's ability to finish is pretty incredible. That is something I would take here in KC.

We basically firebomb your box for 90 mins one ball after another...and another...and another...our finishing is suspect but more often than not we will find the net.
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Old 05-03-2012, 02:51 AM   #956
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Sporting's second phase starts now.

Charles Gooch
The Kansas City Star
The only things, so far, that have been able to stop Sporting Kansas City's torrid start are a Chance Myers own goal and the schedule makers.

That both happened at the same time seems rather fortuitous.

While feels like a month ago, but, really it's only been a little over a week since KC fell 1-0 to Portland. Though it has been long enough for the Royals to end and begin another multiple-game losing streak in that period.

After the break, however, it's time to get back and re-focused -- like eating a taco, you never really forget how to do it. So, let's get going with XI Questions I have about the second phase of Sporting's season. Here goes.

1. What's the biggest challenge that Sporting face now?
Living up to expectations.

Peter Vermes and company have been the biggest surprise of the young MLS season. Many thought that KC would be good this year, but definitely not 7-1-0 with victories over Los Angeles and Salt Lake.

Well, now the element of surprise is gone.

Which is what happens when you sit at the top of the table with a six-point cushion in the Eastern Conference.

The element of surprise gets replaced by expectation.

While the expectations to start the season were already fairly high (repeat trip to the Eastern Conference finals), the expectations have risen higher -- main challengers for the Supporter's Shield and early favorites for the MLS Cup.

Any team that's trending toward ascendancy faces this obstacle. It comes from fans, from the front office, from the rest of the league, from the players themselves.

It's a huge beast that sits in every meeting and every huddle. You will take every team's best shot. You don't get the benefit of being the hunter (as KC were last year). Nope, you're now the hunted.

In 2000, the Wizards started 10-0-2 but struggled during a nine-game stretch with just one victory in early summer. That team managed to put things back together, re-focus and re-gather themselves. As the season closed, that squad lost only three times after August 1.

It's unknown how this current team will react to being the overwhelming favorite -- this is a position that not many of the players on this team have ever faced professionally.

Though, it can't hurt that Vermes and assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin were both there in 2000 to experience this first hand as players.

2. Speaking of expectations, what's logical to expect (points-wise) from Sporting at the end of the season?
Wow. That's a great question. I'm glad I asked myself that and then gave myself time to actually do the math to figure it out. (Math isn't my strong point.)

It's probably logical to expect KC to finish somewhere in the 58-67 points range based on current form.

To earn 58 points, KC would need to finish the next 26 games a slightly better than mediocre 10-9-7. To get to 67 points -- equal to Los Angeles' Supporters Shield total from last year -- KC would need to go 12-4-10.

By comparison, over the last 26 games last season, KC went 12-3-11.

3. How does this strong start compare to the trophy-winning seasons of the Wizards?
Thankfully, my colleague Tod Palmer already nailed this one. The cliff notes: Pretty favorably.

4. More recently: How does SKC '12 through 8 matches compare to SKC '11 through 8 matches?
Much better, obviously.

The eighth match of the season in '11 was a 1-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders. Sporting were 1-6-1 and mired in last place.

The starting XI that day? Jimmy Nielsen; Michael Harrington, Aurelien Collin, Matt Besler, Roger Espinoza (at left back!); Davy Arnaud, Craig Rocastle, Omar Bravo; Kei Kamara, Teal Bunbury, Ryan Smith.

This was the game that Vermes started to figure where his team was going. Four of those guys are no longer in KC; two aren't regular starters. And, in the next fixture (a 1-1 draw at Colorado), he added Graham Zusi, C.J. Sapong, Chance Myers and Seth Sinovic into the lineup as KC began its 14-match unbeaten streak.

That right there is the foundation of the current team, with only Bobby Convey tossed into the mix.

Kansas City never has looked back from there.

5. Is there a cool stat that bears mentioning right now?
Oooooh, I love stats that bear mentioning.

Sporting Kansas City have yet to draw a red card this season. By this time last year, KC had already drawn three red cards.

What's more, only three players (Collin -3, Myers -2, Nagamura -2) have multiple yellow cards this season.

6. There's got to be a more interesting stat than that?
This one comes from Tod Palmer's story on Monday. Sporting KC have more points right now (21) than the 1999 KC Wizards earned all season (20)!

7. Is Kei Kamara on pace to absolutely demolish the MLS shots record in one season?
Well, in the modern era (2002-present), the most shots registered in one season stands at 119. That was done twice (Ante Razov in '03 and Kenny Cooper in '08).

Kamara is averaging 8 per game so far. Which puts him on pace for … 248 this season.

Or, if you added Cooper and Razov's shot totals together... you'd still fall 10 shots short of the pace Kamara is on.

8. What is the schedule like for Sporting KC the next month?

Only four MLS games are on tap: Montreal this Saturday, back-to-back road swings with Chicago (May 12) and Colorado (May 19), then hosting San Jose on Sunday, May 27 in KC's first NBC Sports match. After that, another long bye week.

If you play the "reasonable expectation" game with this stretch, 7-9 points from those four fixtures seems logical. The San Jose and Colorado games are especially dicey. Trips to Chicago aren't always easy either. My guess is two wins (Montreal and San Jose), a draw (Chicago) and a loss (Colorado) -- 7 points.

9. Doesn't the U.S. Open Cup start soon?
Yes. Yes it does. Major League Soccer teams will enter the competition in the third round on May 29.

10. Who needs to step up the next few matches?
Michael Harrington and Teal Bunbury.

Harrington will get at least one start -- on Saturday against Montreal -- while Sinovic recovers from hand surgery. The one-time starter probably figured to have more minutes this season than one. It tells you how well Sinovic has played that it came to that. Saturday will be Harrington's chance to showcase his skills and prove the power of Kansas City's depth.

For Bunbury the challenge is more internal and harder to figure out. He's struggling to find the net and his way into the lineup. (He also won't have the consolation of U.S. Olympic matches either.)

Can Bunbury keep his focus and find a way out of this slump so he can remain a key young contributor to Sporting Kansas City? That's a question I think we'll have an answer to by this time next month.

11. What tactical tweaks has Vermes been working on this week?
I would hope that he's working on scoring in the run of play.

Of the 12 goals Sporting scored this season, only four have come from open play. And, depending on who is doing the counting, half of those appear to come from the New England game when KC was up a man.

It hasn't presented itself as a problem in seven of the eight games so far -- Zusi's dead ball ability, Sporting's counter-attacking and Sapong's relentless nose for rebounds have staked KC enough goals. But against Portland, KC's inability to circulate the ball and create scoring chances from possession hurt them almost as much as Myer's own goal.

If teams are going to bunker (especially when making trips to Livestrong) or if teams are going to give KC a bit of room on the flanks while clogging the middle (which Portland did at times), Sporting need to find a way to turn that into an advantage.

Which is really what's now expected of them.
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Old 05-03-2012, 05:39 PM   #957
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Sporting KC's Besler content to excel out of the limelight



KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The US national team window appears closed for now. His partner in the center of defense for Sporting Kansas City is getting the goals and the publicity.

So it looks as though Matt Besler is going to have to content himself with being back in All-Star form, regarded as one of MLS’ emerging center backs and the anchor of the league’s stingiest defense.

He’s fine with that.

“It’s not that big of a deal for me, so long as we’re winning games and as long as our defense is playing well,” Besler told MLSsoccer.com earlier this week. “I told you at the beginning of the year, I want to have the best defense in the league. I want to give up the fewest goals in the league. Right now, that’s where we’re at and we’ve got to keep it going.”

Besler has been the more durable of Kansas City’s center-back tandem, playing every minute during a 7-1-0 start which has seen KC post a league-best .375 goals-against average. (Seattle have also given up three goals, but over a seven-match span).

He also has just one caution over that span, while backline partner Aurélien Collin has three.

But while Collin has been more prone to taking knocks and seeing yellow, he also has three goals – tied for second on the team – and is becoming a YouTube star thanks to both his play and his tongue-in-cheek “Collin’s Corner” videos.

Besler doesn’t begrudge Collin the attention, though.

“I’m not too worried about who’s getting more credit or not,” he said. “He obviously deserves a lot of it. He’s been playing incredible so far.”

If there’s anyone who understands Besler’s outlook, it’s manager Peter Vermes.

“I wasn’t a limelight guy myself,” said Vermes, who centered the backline when the then-Wizards won MLS Cup in 2000. “You go out, you do your job and you do it every day. As long as you continue to do your job well, and your coach understands what your impact is, I don’t think you worry too much about press because you’re not a limelight guy anyway.

“He definitely has an impact on this team, and it’s not just on the field anymore,” Vermes added. “I think he’s become a quiet leader within this group as well.”

There is someone from whom Besler would love some attention, though: US coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who soon will begin assembling his World Cup qualifying squad.

“I think I’m making the case, but it’s not in my control,” Besler said. “I’m just going out and trying to play every game the best I can, trying to put together a really good season. If I do that, I’m going to be happy with my performance, whether or not I get a look. But if you’re asking me? Yeah, I hope I do.”

He doesn’t expect that shot to come this year, however.

“I don’t think that’s really realistic,” he said. “I think he’s going to bring in guys that have a little bit of experience and have been in the camp, but you never know.”

Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
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Old 05-03-2012, 05:55 PM   #958
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Sporting's hot start leads to comparisons with champs

By TOD PALMER
The Kansas City Star
Admit it, soccer fans, you’re all wondering the same thing: Does Sporting Kansas City have what it takes to make a run at the MLS Cup?

The cold, hard truth is that only time will tell. The answer won’t come before Dec. 1, but the club’s early-season surge to the top of the Eastern Conference table has the U.S. soccer world buzzing about the possibility.

Fresh off a trip to last season’s Eastern Conference final, Sporting KC, 7-1-0, broke from the gate better than any team in franchise history. A string of seven straight wins opening the season ended in a 1-0 loss on April 21 at Portland, the hard-luck result of an own-goal.

Now, with the unbeaten run finished and Sporting KC coming off its first open date, coach Peter Vermes’ squad heads deeper into the eight-month grind that is the MLS schedule as a heavy favorite to repeat as Eastern Conference champion.

The trick, of course, will be sustaining that momentum. But Sporting KC has been here before, and this year’s team stacks up favorably with those previous title winners.

The club won championships in 2000 and 2004. The then-Wizards hoisted the Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy in 2000 and, four years later, won the U.S. Open Cup and reached their only other MLS Cup final.

“Every team is unique, because it’s a matter of the talent you’ve got and the attitude that you’ve got to have,” said Bob Gansler, who coached the Wizards from 1999-2006. “Success in soccer always comes down to that. It’s always a combination of the talent you’ve got and the attitude those players bring to the field.”

During the 2000 season, the Wizards got it done with talent.

“That season, they were all good individual players who had never won anything in the league,” Gansler said. “That was motivation. They needed each other. They didn’t always like each other or love each other, for sure, but they needed each other to succeed.

“Off the field, they did not go to the same bar together — and that was on purpose. Teammates don’t have to love each other, but they have to respect each other. By that point, all of them had figured out they couldn’t carry a team to a title alone.”

Coming off the worst season in franchise history, that team was made up mostly of spare parts with something to prove.

“Throughout the course of preseason, it was pretty evident that we had a lot of strong personalities,” said Sporting KC assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin, who was a rookie on the 2000 club. “We had a lot of guys come in with something to prove, whether it was Peter (Vermes) being traded from Colorado, Tony (Meola) coming off a (knee) injury and the strong personalities of Preki and Mo Johnston, who were already here.”

With no love lost among players on that roster, it’s definitely a good thing the squad started out 10-0-2 — still the longest the franchise has gone to start a season without tasting defeat — before adversity set in.

“Going through the first 12 games undefeated, that set the bar for where we wanted to head that year,” Zavagnin said. “I can’t say from day one that the MLS Cup was on all our minds. It was more so that we wanted to prove something as individuals and bring ourselves together as a team to become relevant.”

By the time that team endured a 1-5-3 stretch during the summer, any clubhouse fractures had been healed by the realization that the Wizards were greater than the sum of their parts.

“The group of guys held each other accountable on the field,” said Vermes, now the team’s head coach. “They did not let guys get away with things, and we dealt with situations very quickly. We never swept anything under the rug, even when we were winning.”

It worked, but the 2004 team used an altogether different formula — less raw talent, vastly superior team chemistry.

“That team liked each other more than they needed each other,” Gansler said.

Whether it was Josh Wolff and Davy Arnaud’s selfless combination play in the attacking third or Nick Garcia and Jimmy Conrad’s kinship at central defender, those Wizards battled together and battled for each other despite a relatively slow 5-4-3 start.

“They all liked each other and liked making each other look good,” Gansler said.

Perhaps the one thing that team had in common was a sizable chip on its collective shoulder.

“The 2004 team after Preki broke his leg in preseason, all the media geniuses had us in last place or second to last place,” Gansler said. “The guys remembered that. They played 90-plus minutes every game and had no problem being behind. They would battle back.”

Never was that more evident than in the Western Conference finals, when Gansler’s Wizards spotted a San Jose Earthquakes squad led by Landon Donovan and Dwayne De Rosario a 2-0 lead after the opening leg before taking a 3-2 aggregate win.

“It’s like a mural, different hues and different shapes — knowing who you are and how you play best,” said Gansler, who watches Sporting KC with more than a passing interest these days from his home in Wisconsin. He sees commonalities between that edition of the team and the current one. “Are there are similarities in that? Yeah, they’re talented and, yeah, they’ve got the right attitude to perform and compete.”

Still, the eulogy for the 2012 season is far from written. There is endless potential — Sporting KC already has more points (21) than the club’s 1999 team claimed (20), and sits in first place in the Eastern Conference, six points ahead of second-place D.C. United with a game in hand — but this club has yet to face any true tests.

“Until you’re faced with that key moment of key games, you never know how a team is going to respond,” Zavagnin said. “2000 already has its history written, and we can say that that team was good enough to get the job done. This team is writing its own history right now. Hopefully, as the season goes along, our mentality becomes stronger and stronger to the point we can sustain that in key moments.”

With a strong starting 11 and high-quality, veteran depth, Sporting KC has the talent and continues to develop its winning mentality. But it’s a journey without any real destination, yet.

“You’ve got to maintain your approach,” Vermes said. “We’re too far away to worry about the MLS Cup. The key is remembering what is getting you results — how you’ve been playing and how you’re preparing.”

While there are mileposts by which this season’s club might measure itself against the 2000 and 2004 teams, the real lessons that will push Sporting KC were learned late last year.

“It’s that painful lesson of the Eastern Conference final, and maybe being a little naïve in certain situations, that are the reasons our players did the things they did in the offseason and have a hunger to be successful,” Zavagnin said. “That’s the gunpowder of the team right now — the willingness and determination to be better than last year.”
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Old 05-04-2012, 02:09 PM   #959
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Old 05-05-2012, 05:39 AM   #960
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SPORTING KANSAS CITY vs. MONTREAL IMPACT
LIVESTRONG SPORTING PARK, Kansas City, Kan.
May 5, 2012 (WEEK 9, MLS Game #83)
8:30 p.m. ET (KSMO; TVA)


Sporting Kansas City return to action after a week off, when they meet the expansion Montreal Impact for the first time on Saturday evening at Livestrong Sporting Park. Sporting saw their undefeated and untied start to the season ended last time out, a 1-0 loss at the Portland Timbers. The Impact are coming off the second victory in the club's MLS history, a 2-0 victory against those same Timbers.

REFEREE: Juan Guzman. SAR (bench): Brian Poeschel; JAR (opposite): Jonathan Johnson; 4th: Jorge Luna Hernandez
MLS Career: 11 games; FC/gm: 26.8; Y/gm: 3.6; R: 6; pens: 2

DOWNLOAD FULL GAME GUIDE (PDF)

INJURY REPORT:

SPORTING KANSAS CITY - OUT: GK Eric Kronberg (lower back strain); DF Seth Sinovic (R broken hand); DOUBTFUL: DF Shawn Singh (R hamstring strain); PROBABLE: DF Cyprian Hedrick (bilateral Achilles tendonitis)

MONTREAL IMPACT - OUT: DF Zarek Valentin (R calf contusion); DOUBTFUL: MF Justin Mapp (L hamstring strain); PROBABLE: DF Nelson Rivas (L hamstring strain); DF Gienir Garcia (L knee contusion); MF Davy Arnaud (L hamstring strain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none

SUSPENDED: none

WARNINGS:

SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: MTL: Sanna Nyassi

SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: KC: Aurelien Collin ... MTL: Felipe Martins, Bernardo Corradi

HEAD-TO-HEAD

ALL-TIME: First meeting.

RETURN MATCHES: 7/4: Montreal Impact vs. Sporting Kansas City, 7 p.m. ET (TSN/RDS); 9/22: Montreal Impact vs. Sporting Kansas City, 1 p.m. ET (TSN/RDS)

Coaches record: Jesse Marsch vs. KC: first game ... Peter Vermes vs. MTL: first game

SPORTING KANSAS CITY

Sporting Kansas City return to action after a weekend off, their last match their first loss of the season, a 1-0 defeat by the Portland Timbers at JELD-WEN Field. Sporting have 21 points from 8 matches to lead the Eastern Conference.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter...-v-mtl/preview
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