Former SKC Wizards Update

Lots of game activity this week for former SKC Wizards, with domestic former SKC Wizards getting time in the US Open Cup.

Still looking for:
Nick Cardenas
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Michael Kraus
Ryan McMahen
Ivan Trujillo

MLS
Jimmy Conrad - Chivas USA - Did not dress in Chivas' 3-2 loss to Philadelphia.
Adam Cristman - LA - Dressed but did not play in LA's 0-0 draw with San Jose. Came off the bench and played 7 minutes in LA's 2-1 win over the LA Blues in the US Open Cup.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Started and played 90 minutes in RSL's 3-1 win over Toronto. Started and played 90 minutes in RSL's 2-0 win over Wilmington in the US Open Cup.
Taylor Graham - Seattle - Did not dress in Seattle's 4-2 win over New York. Did not dress in Seattle's 2-1 win over New England. Started and played 90 minutes in Seattle's 2-1 win over Kitsap in the US Open Cup.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Started and played 90 minutes, recording the shutout in Dallas' 4-0 win over Portland. Started and played 90 minutes in Dallas' 3-2 win over Orlando in the US Open Cup.
Frankie Hejduk - LA - Did not dress in LA's 0-0 draw with San Jose. Did not play in LA's 2-1 win over the LA Blues in the US Open Cup.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 4-1 win over Colorado. Did not play in Columbus' 2-1 loss to Richmond in the US Open Cup.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 4-0 loss to Dallas.
Mike Jones - New York - Came off the bench and played 1 minute in New York's 1-1 draw with Chicago. Started and played 90 minutes in New York's 2-1 win over FC New York in the US Open Cup.
Jonathan Leathers - Vancouver - Started and played 90 minutes in Vancouver's 2-1 loss to KC. Dressed but did not play in Vancouver's 1-0 loss to Toronto.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Salt Lake - Dressed but did not play in RSL's 3-1 win over Toronto. Started and played 90 minutes in RSL's 2-0 win over Wilmington in the US Open Cup.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Did not dress in DC's 2-2 draw with Houston.
Ryan Pore - Portland - Dressed but did not play in Portland's 4-0 loss to Dallas.
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Dressed but did not play in San Jose's 0-0 draw with LA.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Started and played 45 minutes in San Jose's 0-0 draw with LA.
Tyson Wahl - Seattle - Dressed but did not play for Seattle in their 4-2 win over New York. Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Seattle's 2-1 win over New England. Did not play in Seattle's 2-1 win over Kitsap in the US Open Cup.
Josh Wolff - DC - Started and played 69 minutes, recording an assist in DC's 2-2 draw with Houston.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Did not have a game this week.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Started and played 90 minutes in Fort Lauderdale's 1-1 draw with Puerto Rico.
Amir Lowery - Montreal - Started and played 90 minutes in Montreal's 1-0 loss to FC Edmonton. Started and played 90 minutes in Montreal's 0-0 draw with Puerto Rico.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Started and played 81 minutes in Fort Lauderdale's 1-1 draw with Puerto Rico.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Came off the bench and played 26 minutes in Charleston's 2-0 win over Wilmington. Started and played 64 minutes in Charleston's 2-0 loss to Pittsburgh.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Started and played 89 minutes in Richmond's 0-0 draw with FC New York. Came off the bench and played 36 minutes, recording an assist in Richmond's 2-1 win over Columbus in the US Open Cup.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Started and played 90 minutes in Pittsburgh's 2-0 loss to Charlotte. Started and played 89 minutes in Pittsburgh's 2-0 win over Charleston.
Neal Kitson - Rochester - Started and played 90 minutes, recording the shutout and getting an assist in Rochester's 1-0 win over Dayton. Started and played 90 minutes in Rochester's 1-0 loss to Chicago in the US Open Cup.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Came off the bench and played 9 minutes in LA's 1-1 draw with Harrisburg. Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in LA's 2-1 loss to Harrisburg. Came off the bench and played 3 minutes in LA's 2-1 loss to the LA Galaxy in the US Open Cup.
Diego Walsh - Charleston - Did not dress in Charleston's 2-0 win over Wilmington. Did not dress in Charleston's 2-0 loss to Pittsburgh.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 0-0 draw wtih FC New York. Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 2-1 win over Columbus.
John Wilson - Charleston - Did not dress in Charleston's 2-0 win over Wilmington. Did not dress in Charleston's 2-0 loss to Pittsburgh.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Ocean City's 2-0 win over Brooklyn. Started and played 90 minutes, scoring 2 goals in Ocean City's 2-2 draw with Jersey. Started and played 90 minutes in Ocean City's 1-1 draw with Westchester.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Started and played 54 minutes, recording an assist in Jax's 4-1 loss to IMG Bradenton. Did not dress in Jax' 2-2 draw with Central Florida.

International

Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Lost 2-1 to Pacifico.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Off until late July.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - Started and played 79 minutes in Krasnodar's 2-2 draw with Anzhi Makhachkala.

Arnaud to Miss Up to 6 Weeks

KC announced today that another player will miss time due to surgery. Davy Arnaud will miss 4-6 weeks as he is having sports hernia surgery. Arnaud is the second Sporting KC player to have the surgery this year, as Omar Bravo had the surgery earlier this year. Due to the schedule congestion, Arnaud could possibly miss 10 games while out recovering. The sad thing for him is that he'll miss this weekend's game against former teammate Jack Jewsbury and the Portland Timbers.

S.A.S. Wednesday After

Here are some stats from last night's US Open Cup game.

Kevin Ellis became the first player from the Wizards Juniors program to make an appearance for KC's first team.

Kei Kamara's goal was his 15th in all competitions for KC, he's the 20th player to score that many goals in his KC career.

Kamara's goal also ties him with Jose Burciaga, Sasha Victorine, Claudio Lopez, and Jack Jewsbury for 16th place on the list for most goals in all competitions for KC.

Teal Bunbury's goal was his 10th in all competitions for KC, he's the 24th player to score that many goals in their KC career.

Counting qualifiers, Michael Harrington has competed in 10 US Open Cup games for KC. That's every Open Cup based game KC has played in his 5 year career. He's tied for 5th on that list with Jimmy Conrad and Chris Klein.

Eric Kronberg made his 7th appearance in all US Open Cup competitions, tying him with Diego Gutierrez for 11th.

Harrington and Kronberg also started their 7th US Open Cup competition game, tying them with Josh Wolff, Jack Jewsbury, and Preki for 7th on that list.

Kronberg recorded his 4th shutout in all US Open Cup competitions, breaking his tie with Bo Oshoniyi for the most shutouts.

Kronberg also recorded his 4th US Open Cup win, tying him with Meola for the most wins in the competition for KC.

Shavar Thomas made his 6th appearance in all US Open Cup competitions tying him with 6 other players for 13th on that list.

Thomas started his 6th game in US Open Cup competitions, tying him with Jonathan Leathers and Diego Gutierrez for 12th on that list.

Cruise Control

Basically for the entire game tonight, it seemed that Sporting KC never took it out of first gear as they took care of the Chicago Fire PDL 3-0 tonight out at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park. From the start KC came out and dictated the early tempo. In the 3rd minute, Teal Bunbury gave KC the only goal they'd need and to an extent killed the game. Off a free kick at the top of the box, Luke Sassano slide the ball to Bunbury who fired his shot into the corner giving KC the 1-0 lead. KC still attacked after that, but the level of intensity just did not seem to be there, KC's best chance after that came when Milos Stojcev struck the bar after a cross from Michael Harrington. Other than that KC seemed content to possess the ball around midfield or let Chicago have possession that led to very little. Although late it the half Chicago looked like they'd equalized, but the goal was called back due to the scorer, Paulo Vaz being offside. Overall, though, the first half was fairly dull, really killed off due to the early goal by KC that forced Chicago to chance the game and allowed KC to sit back and relax a little bit.

To start the second half, Graham Zusi entered for Sassano and immediately seemed to provide a little more spark to the team on the field, but still the team seemed to just coasting through the game. In the 58th minute, KC got the insurance goal that they'd kind of been searching for since Bunbury's opener. It was a superb piece of individual effort by Milos Stojcev as he got the ball close to the right side of the field, dribbled at his defender while cutting inside and fired a shot that went into the lower corner giving KC a 2-0 lead. A minute later, KC put the game completely to bed as Zusi found Kei Kamara on a free kick, with Kamara knocking the ball home to give KC the 3-0 lead. The Fire had some half chances, but didn't really threaten Eric Kronberg's goal as he earned his 4th solo shutout of the season (1 in league, 2 Open Cup qualifier shutouts). KC spent plenty of time in the second half just passing the ball along the back line killing time and late in the game the Fire were resigned to their fate as well. The only other important part of the match came in the 63rd minute when Wizards Juniors player, Kevin Ellis game into the game. Ellis became the first Juniors player to appear in a competitive match for Sporting KC. Ellis was the team's second home group player after Jon Kempin who was on the bench as a back up keeper tonight.

WIZARDS Man of the Match - Milos Stojcev - A wonderful goal by Stojcev to ice the game for KC and a solid performance overall from the Montenegrin that included hitting the bar in the first half.

Player Ratings - Kronberg 6, Harrington 6, Thomas 6, Collin 6, Lorenz 5, Sassano 5, Diop 6, Stojcev 7, Aiyegbusi 6, Bunbury 5, Kamara 5. Subs Zusi 6, Ellis 6, Besler NR.

We Want the Cup

Tomorrow night at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park KC will continue another quest for silverware, in the US Open Cup proper. The Cup is entering it's third round this Tuesday, and all 8 MLS teams that qualified for the tournament are entering at this stage. Kansas City's opponents, the Chicago Fire PDL came into the tournament in round 1. In the first round they took out the Iowa Menace, who qualified as a Region II representative, 1-0. In the second round, it took two days after weather delays, but the Fire took out the Madison 56ers of the NPSL 2-0 with two goals in the span of a couple minutes. Chicago gets to move their league game against Forest City London that was to take place tomorrow as well to come to Kansas City for this game.

Even with KC's current run of form, this may be the Wizards best chance at silverware this season. Mainly because they only have to win 4 games to get the cup and into next seasons CONCACAF Champion's Cup. Most fans seem to want KC to go for the cup as well. In my informal poll this afternoon on Twitter, it was unanimously in favor of going for the cup. KC fans certainly want to get some more silverware, and as stated above, this is possibly the best way to go about getting it. Expect to see quite a few changes to the lineup that took the field against Vancouver on the weekend. Having already played 2 games in the past 7 days, I expect we'll see quite a few starters rested and bench players get on the field. Hopefully this is a chance for a guy like Teal Bunbury and Kei Kamara to get back some of their goalscoring form heading into a very congested part of the season. As for the lineup, this is a complete and total guess from me.

Kronberg
Harrington - Thomas - Collin - Aiyegbusi
Auvray - Sassano - Diop
Kamara - Bunbury - Stojcev

Number to Remember - 4 - This is the fourth time that KC has played a PDL team in the Open Cup. KC is 2-0-1 against the PDL teams in the tournament. The two wins came against the Des Moines Menace in 2005 and 2006 winning 6-1 and 2-1 respectively. The other was a 0-0 draw with the Chicago Sockers that KC lost on penalty kicks back in 2000.

Key Match Up - Teal Bunbury vs Chicago's defenders - Bunbury's slump has gotten to the point where it's really starting to hurt KC. It's time for him to step up and put the ball in the net. Getting at least 1 tomorrow will do wonders, getting more would be fantastic.

PREDICTION - Winning may not be the best thing schedule congestion wise for KC, but I want KC to win the trophy, we're four wins away from getting the trophy. Chicago is a good PDL side, but even with a group of mainly reserves KC should be able to defeat the PDL side. Of course you would have said the same thing about KC's chances in 2000.

KC - 3 (Bunbury, Kamara, Diop)
CHI - 0

KC Interested in Panamanian Forward?

This rumor appears to be a little late, but it appears that KC was interested in trying to acquire Panamanian forward Orlando Rodriguez. Rodriguez was recently let go from his contract with Leon de Huanuco in Peru and appears set to rejoin his former club Arabe Unido for the 4th time in his career. Rodriguez was on the 2009 Panamanian Gold Cup team and apparently during this year's Gold Cup was on the radar for Sporting KC, along with Chivas and the Red Bulls before apparently making the decision to return to Arabe. It may not be much, but it's closing in on the start of silly season for Sporting KC and I'm sure there will be more rumored player acquisitions for KC in the next month plus.

Week 3 Attendance Comparison

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson

Continuing with another attendance comparison after Kansas City's 3rd game of the season. The game last night was announced as a sell out, 18,467, that means through 3 games so far this season, KC is averaging 18,953. As I said in the original write up on this, I'm going to compare the attendance as the season goes on. The attendances are pulled from the press releases or the media guide for the team.

Here is the 3rd home game attendance for Kansas City, for the first two weeks, check out the previous entry here.

1996 - Arrowhead
17,706
Average - 15,898

1997 - Arrowhead
6,272
Average - 8,292

1998 - Arrowhead
11,500
Average - 8,643

1999 - Arrowhead
4,815
Average - 9,546

2000 - Arrowhead
7,380
Average - 6,723

2001 - Arrowhead
14,521
Average - 10,661

2002 - Arrowhead
21,301
Average - 14,569

2003 - Arrowhead
16,006
Average - 17,665

2004 - Arrowhead
27,969 - third highest in team history
Average - 19,293

2005 - Arrowhead
10,007
Average - 11,833

2006 - Arrowhead
8,138
Average - 11,572

2007 - Arrowhead
10,141
Average - 8,335

2008 - Community America Ballpark
8,096
Average - 9,071

2009 - Community America Ballpark
10,385
Average - 9,231

2010 - Community America Ballpark
10,045
Average - 10,219

2011 - LiveSTRONG Sporting Park
18,467
Average - 18,953

Below are the rankings of the average attendances per season. The number in parenthesis is the amount the year has moved up or down compared to their rankings after two home games.

1. 2004 - 19,293 (+3)
2. 2011 - 18,953 (-1)
3. 2003 - 17,665 (-1)
4. 1996 - 15,898 (-1)
5. 2002 - 14,569 (+3)
6. 2005 - 11,833 (-)
7. 2006 - 11,572 (-2)
8. 2001 - 10,661 (+4)
9. 2010 - 10,219 (-)
10. 1999 - 9,546 (-3)
11. 2009 - 9,231 (+2)
12. 2008 - 9,071 (-2)
13. 1998 - 8,643 (+2)
14. 2007 - 8,335 (-)
15. 1997 - 8,292 (-4)
16. 2000 - 6,723 (-)

The biggest movers between the years was 2001 which moved up 4 spots with over 14,000 in attendance for the third game of the season, and the 1997 season which fell 4 spots after only 6,272 showed up. The 2011 season falls to second currently thanks to almost 28,000 showing up for KC's third game of the season in 2004, the third highest attendance in team history.

Sunday After Stats

Some stats from last night's game.

Kei Kamara made his 50th appearance in all competitions for Kansas City. He's the 46th player to hit that mark for KC.

Michael Harrington made his 126th league appearance for KC, breaking his tie with Tony Meola for 11th place on that list.

The win was Jimmy Nielsen's 13th in league play for KC, breaking his tie wtih Garth Lagerwey for 5th on that list for KC.

KC Takes All 3

Camilo gets his head on the free kick for Vancouver's goal.
photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson

Sporting KC fell behind early against the Vancouver Whitecaps last night at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park, but were able to fight back and win all three with goals by Omar Bravo and Julio Cesar to give KC a 2-1 win over the Canadian side. It's only the second time all season so far that KC has grabbed points from a losing position, the previous was the 1-1 draw in Colorado. It's the first time they've earned all three when coming back from a losing position.

The Wizards started the game trying to go right at the Whitecaps. A lot of the attack ended up coming from KC's right side through Omar Bravo, Milos Stojcev, and Chance Myers, helped to create some good attacks for KC. CJ Sapong almost gave KC the lead inside the first 10 minutes after receiving a ball in the middle, but Joe Cannon had cut the angle and Sapong's shot went off Cannon's chest. Shortly after that, it was Vancouver who grabbed a surprising 1-0 lead. A free kick from Davide Chiumiento found Camilo in the box. Camilo's flick on header made it past Jimmy Nielsen and into the net. His mark Cesar seemed to give up totally on following Camilo's run right after the ball was delivered. Some poor defending by the Brazilian.

KC continued to be the more dominate side as the half wore on, but were struggling to find that final ball. The got a chance from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute after Jay DeMerit fouled Bravo in the box. The play leading up to the PK was very well done, after a cleared free kick, Matt Besler found himself with the ball on the left. He played the ball to Bravo, who ran over the ball allowing it to go to Sapong. Bravo continued his run and Sapong played him through. Bravo shrugged off one challenge, but then when he cut back on DeMerit, the US national team defender went for a sliding challenged, but missed and Bravo got the deserved penalty. Cannon went to his right and Bravo put the ball just to his left and tied the game at 1-1.

After the goal, KC continued to push, looking for a second and if not for Cannon, Stojcev would have made it 2-1 in the 35th. A long switch by Seth Sinovic found Stojcev racing into the box, but his effort was blocked by Cannon and no one was close enough to get the rebound. In the 40th though, KC found their deserved second goal. A corner by Graham Zusi to the back post was headed back across the middle by Bravo. Cesar laid out getting enough on the ball to fire it on net and between Cannon's legs to give KC the lead.

In the second half, KC sat back a little more trying to hit on the counter while allowing Vancouver a little more possession. In the 53rd minute though, Eric Hassli almost made KC pay, Hassli got behind Besler and cut across goal, but Nielsen made a kick save to preserve the lead. Really, that was the only really threatening chance of the second half for Vancouver. KC had more chances on the counter, Roger Espinoza on his first start back with the team after the Gold Cup, had a blast from about 30 yards out that Cannon either saw late or didn't realize it was going to be on goal until late as he had to make a late diving save to keep the ball out. Kei Kamara came on as a sub for Sapong late in the game and had a few chances himself, once firing wide after getting in behind Vancouver's defense. KC did well to try to strike on the counter, but couldn't find a third. Still, KC held out and picked up another win, and moved themselves off the foot of the Eastern Conference.

WIZARDS Man of the Match - CJ Sapong - The rookie is having a fantastic rookie year and last night was a great example of that, he did great holding up the ball, laying it off and doing all the things that are expected of a center forward. Sapong didn't get a goal last night, but he did well in basically every part of the game that was expected of him last night. With Teal Bunbury slumping, Sapong's role has increased dramatically.

Honorable Mention - Aurelien Collin, Omar Bravo

Player Ratings - Nielsen 6, Myers 6, Collin 6, Besler 6, Sinovic 5, Cesar 5, Espinoza 5, Zusi 5, Stojcev 5, Sapong 8, Bravo 7. Subs Arnaud 5, Kamara NR, Harrington NR.

LA Game Now September 5th

Sporting KC has officially announced the rescheduled date of their game against the LA Galaxy. The game was supposed to take place on August 13th and be broadcasted on FSC. But with the announcement of Farm Aid coming to LiveSTRONG Sporting Park, KC had to move their game against David Beckham, Landon Donovan, and the rest of the Galaxy to September 5th. The game will now take place at 5pm on Labor Day, it will still be broadcasted on FSC.

This weekend had been an off weekend for the Wizards, one of the few weekends that MLS decided to observe FIFA's international dates. It's kind of funny that they chose to observe FIFA's dates at this time, but are making many fans choose between club and country today. Of course if the US hadn't made the finals, which earlier in the tournament looked a little likely, the league would have had a fairly dead day. Still MLS likely should have taken today off to allow US fans to watch their country (this is coming from someone that has club ranked much higher than country in this debate).

Currently the US has no game scheduled for that weekend, but the game would likely not be Monday anyway. The one bad thing already likely for KC is that Sierra Leone has an African Cup of Nations qualifier on the 2nd against Egypt, so KC could be missing Kei Kamara for this match. Other national teams that could affect KC have not announced schedules for that date either.

The good news for Sporting KC though is that this gives the team a longer break during that brutal home stretch coming up. Now KC has 11 days off between playing the Sounders on the 6th and the Timbers on the 17th. It'll be a nice break for KC after they'll have basically played twice a week up to that point for a few weeks.

Quick Turnaround

Now the schedule begins to get busy for Kansas City. The past two weeks have been the start of what is going to prove to be a very busy part of the season with basically two games every week. KC is back at home and they're close to beginning their extended home stand. This weekend they have Vancouver. The Whitecaps have not won a game on the road yet this year, currently 0-5-3 on the road, but got draw in their last road game, a 2-2 draw in Seattle. They also won their most recent game, 1-0 over the Philadelphia Union. Unlike the previous game that KC played against Vancouver, they'll have their designated player, Eric Hassli available after he was suspended for the last game between these two.

Kansas City used some strong defense to hold off the Philadelphia Union in Philly on Wednesday, and are coming off short rest to play the Whitecaps. I'm not sure how much rotation in the lineup we're going to see for this game, but I'm sure we'll start to see the squad rotation come in to effect very soon with all the home games coming up. Aurelien Collin is back from his yellow accumulation suspension and seems likely to regain his starting spot. Julio Cesar played well replacing him, but I'm still don't feel comfortable with him back there. Teal Bunbury's former being close to absolute zero right now is also very concerning heading into this busy stretch, at this point starting CJ Sapong over him isn't even a question. Sapong's form is much better at this point.

Nielsen
Myers - Collin - Besler - Harrington
Sassano - Diop
Kamara - Arnaud - Bravo
Sapong

Number to Remember - 3 - The number of days since KC's last game in Philly on Wednesday. Not a whole lot of time to recover. Especially when you have to travel from the East Coast. Hopefully Vancouver's trip from the West Coast is just as stressful for them.

Key Match Up - Aurelien Collin vs Eric Hassli - It seems I'm selecting Collin's match up every week, but each and every game I'm seemingly enjoying every match up that involved Collin. Just because of the way he plays. He's the type of player that you'd hate if you were playing against him, but love that he's on your team.

PREDICTION - Shockingly enough, if other results go KC's way, KC can pull off the foot of the Eastern Conference with a win. Certainly a game that KC has every ability to win. KC is playing better defensively lately, but the offense is going to have to pick it up a little bit to get KC a result. Vancouver has been playing better since Tom Soehn took over as their manager. Last week against Philly they picked up their second win of the season, but KC should be able to win this one at home against the Whitecaps.

KC - 2 (Sapong, Bravo)
VAN - 0

Thursday After Stats

Not a lot of stats from this Wednesday's game in Philadelphia, but here are your stats.

Michael Harrington made his 142nd appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Francisco Gomez for 14th place on that list.

It was also Harrington's 125th league appearance, tying him with Tony Meola for 11th on that list.

Stealing a Point

The offense didn't really show up, but the defense did what it's been doing lately, even without Aurelien Collin, and was able to shut down the Philadelphia offense to earn KC a 0-0 draw. Philadelphia had 26 chances on goal compared to Sporting KC's 8. Of those 26, 7 were on target, KC put 0 on target last night. The offense is certainly struggling to score goals and ever create chances, as there was really only one chance all night that I thought KC even looked possible to score on. But KC has lost at least 1 point due to bad luck this season in Seattle so this was a bit of redemption for that I guess. Now if we could just get the redemption for Omar Bravo's non-PK in the home opener.

Philadelphia pressed from the start, earning two early corners that they were unable to convert from, the best chance on those falling to Carlos Ruiz after the ball had been partially cleared. KC almost stole a goal in the 14th minute after a poor touch by Danny Califf, Kei Kamara stole the ball and raced in on goal by fired his shot wide of the Philly goal. Omar Bravo should have probably scored a short time later, on a lofted ball into the box, Bravo one timed it well over the goal on the volley. Yes it was a difficult shot, but with the time Bravo had to measure it, he has to at least put that chance on frame and test Faryd Mondragon.

After that chance KC's offense virtually dried up, and it became readily apparent on free kicks that Graham Zusi was missed as both Kamara and Teal Bunbury tried to replicate his 45 yard bomb vs Dallas by blasting balls into row Z off of free kicks. It basically became the defense and Jimmy Nielsen show. Nielsen came up with some big saves as the half wore on against Jack McInerney, and a great save on Carlos Ruiz off of a free kick.

At half time, Bunbury was pulled for CJ Sapong, Bunbury's poor run of form continues and this continues to be a growing concern for KC fans that Bunbury just can't seem to get things going right now. One of these days he'll finally break out, but it really needs to be sooner than later because KC is going to need all it's depth in the coming weeks when the schedule really gets fun. The Union continued to press throughout the second half, but Nielsen and blocks by virtually every defender on the field kept them off the board. Their best chance though came in the 71st, when Ruiz hit the cross bar with a header after a cross from Sebastien Le Toux. Nielsen was finally beat, but the post came to his rescue. KC offered little to nothing going forward at all, it basically became a shooting gallery for the Union with Justin Mapp, Le Toux, and others either firing wide or being stopped by Nielsen.

WIZARDS Man of the Match - Jimmy Nielsen - There's really no one else to choose. Nielsen was by far the man of the match for KC, stopping everything that got through KC's defense. While the performance wasn't the greatest by the rest of the team, getting a result against second place Philly is big.

Player Ratings - Nielsen 8, Myers 7, Cesar 6, Besler 6, Sinovic 6, Sassano 6, Diop 5, Arnaud 5, Kamara 4, Bunbury 3, Bravo 4. Subs Sapong 5, Harrington 4, Auvray 5.

Espinoza and Honduras Lose in Extra Time

Honduras put up a strong effort against Mexico down in Houston tonight, but in extra time Mexico proved too much, scoring twice to advance to the finals in LA where they will take on the USA who topped Panama. Espinoza playing in a more advanced roll than he does with Sporting KC, and had some very good plays setting up a few potential scoring chances for the Hondurans. In fact late in the game he almost put Honduras through to the finals himself, ripping a shot from 25 or so yards out that the Mexican keeper had to tip over the bar. In extra time though, the Espinoza we all know and love came out as he picked up two yellows, both with patented Espinoza tackles to see his tournament end early. He'll now return to KC and would seem likely to make his return either in the Open Cup game on Tuesday or the next Saturday vs Portland.

Former SKC Wizards Update

Quick update for you tonight on former Wizards. As mentioned on the Sporting KC radio show on Tuesday, Nick Garcia doesn't look like he'll become a current Wizard again as he is no longer in training. Here is the rest of this week's update.

Still looking for:
Nick Cardenas
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Michael Kraus
Ryan McMahen
Ivan Trujillo

MLS
Jimmy Conrad - Chivas USA - Did not dress in Chivas' 2-1 loss to Dallas.
Adam Cristman - LA - Did not dress in LA's 3-1 win over Colorado.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Dressed but did not play in RSL's 1-1 draw with DC. Came off the bench and played 83 minutes in RSL's 0-0 draw with Chicago.
Taylor Graham - Seattle - Did not dress in Seattle's 1-0 win over Toronto.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Started and played 90 minutes in Dallas' 2-1 win over Chivas.
Frankie Hejduk - LA - Dressed but did not play in LA's 3-1 win over Colorado.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes, recording the shutout in Columbus' 2-0 win over Houston.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal and recording an assist, but also missing a penalty in Portland's 3-3 draw with New York.
Jonathan Leathers - Vancouver - Started and played 90 minutes in Vancouver's 1-0 win over Philadelphia.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Salt Lake - Did not dress in RSL's 1-1 draw with DC. Dressed but did not play in RSL's 0-0 draw with Chicago.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Did not dress in DC's 1-1 draw with RSL.
Ryan Pore - Portland - Dressed but did not play in Portland's 3-3 draw with New York.
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Came off the bench and played 1 minute in San Jose's 1-0 loss to KC.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Started and played 90 minutes in San Jose's 1-0 loss to KC.
Tyson Wahl - Seattle - Started and played 90 minutes in Seattle's 1-0 win over Toronto.
Josh Wolff - DC - Started and played 62 minutes in DC's 1-1 draw with RSL.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Did not play in Minnesota's 1-1 draw with Edmonton.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Did not play in Fort Lauderdale's 0-0 draw with Montreal.
Amir Lowery - Montreal - Came off the bench and played 11 minutes in Montreal's 0-0 draw with Fort Lauderdale.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Started and played 90 minutes in Fort Lauderdale's 0-0 draw with Montreal.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Started and played 65 minutes in Charleston's 1-0 win over Dayton. Started and played 90 minutes in Charleston's 1-0 loss to Orlando in the US Open Cup.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Started and played 88 minutes in Richmond's 1-0 loss to Harrisburg. Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in Richmond's 4-1 win over Pittsburgh in the US Open Cup.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Started and played 82 minutes in Pittsburgh's 3-0 loss to Rochester. Started and played 90 minutes in Pittsburgh's 4-1 loss to Richmond in the US Open Cup.
Neal Kitson - Rochester - Started and played 90 minutes, recording the shutout in Rochester's 3-0 win over Pittsburgh. Started and played 90 minutes, recording the shutout in Rochester's 1-0 win over Harrisburg in the US Open Cup.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Did not in LA's 1-0 win in the US Open Cup.
Diego Walsh - Charleston - Started and played 57 minutes in Charleston's 1-0 win over Dayton. Did not dress in Charleston's 1-0 loss to Orlando in the US Open Cup.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 1-0 loss to Harrisburg. Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 4-1 win over Pittsburgh in the US Open Cup.
John Wilson - Charleston - Started and played 90 minutes in Charleston's 1-0 win over Dayton. Did not dress in Charleston's 1-0 loss to Orlando in the US Open Cup.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes in Ocean City's 2-0 loss to Long Island. Came off the bench and played 44 minutes, scoring a goal in Ocean City's 2-2 draw with Central Jersey. Play Brooklyn tonight.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Came off the bench and played 15 minutes in Jax's 1-0 loss to Fort Lauderdale.

International

Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Defeated Depor 2-0.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Off until late July.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - Started and played 81 minutes in Krasnodar's 1-0 win over Kuban Krasnodar. Started and played 90 minutes in Krasnodar's 2-0 loss to Terek Grozny.

New Byline to the Back Post

A little out dated, but not too much. Last night Thad and I recorded a new episode of From the Byline to the Back Post. For those that are subscribed to it on iTunes you've probably seen it already, but for everyone else, why haven't you subscribed yet? Check it out on Posterous as well. This week Thad and I discuss Ryan Smith, Craig Rocastle, the Gold Cup, the US Open Cup, and the multitude of games that had taken place since we last recorded.

Sporting KC US Open Cup Update

Two bits of news about Sporting KC's trip into the US Open Cup this year. First, the opponent for next week's game is known. After being delayed by the weather last night, the Chicago Fire PDL of the PDL defeated the Madison 56ers of the NPSL 2-0. Two second half goals in the span of 2 minutes by the Fire booked their ticket to Kansas City for a game at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park next Tuesday at 7:30. Tickets are now on sale for the game they're $10 for season ticket holders and $15 for non-members.

The other news, is that if KC gets by the Fire, they will once again host at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park. Should KC win they will take on the winner of the Columbus Crew vs Richmond Kickers match up on July 12th. Either game would kick off at 7:30 no matter the opponent. Another chance for KC fans to see their team play at home. The game falls between a home game vs Chivas USA and an away game vs Houston, both on Saturdays.

On the Road Again

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson

KC only has 6 more games on the road, they'll be down one more after tomorrow's game against the Philadelphia Union. The Union got a surprising loss over the weekend, falling 1-0 in Vancouver. But tomorrow they'll be back at PPL Park, where they are currently undefeated this season, 4-0-3 currently. They'll have Carlos Ruiz available most likely after Guatemala's elimination from the Gold Cup, although it's not guaranteed that he'll start for the Union with the recent addition of Veljko Paunovic. The Union has been a tough team to break down defensively, but at times has struggled defensively.

Kansas City continues a difficult stretch of games that will continue for the next couple weeks. This game starts a stretch of 3 games in 7 days as KC will play Philadelphia, then host Vancouver and the winner of the Chicago Fire PDL/Madison 56ers game tomorrow in the US Open Cup. KC will likely need to use their depth of squad of the next couple games, and they'll be forced to make at least one change to the roster for the game tomorrow as Aurelien Collin is suspended due to picking up his 5th yellow of the season in the game against San Jose. Julio Cesar seems the likely replacement, but the question is how many, if any, other changes will KC make tomorrow. I think we'll see a couple other changes though.

Nielsen
Myers - Cesar - Besler - Sinovic
Sassano - Arnaud
Kamara - Zusi - Bravo
Bunbury

Number to Remember - 10 - The number of days in which KC has played their last 3 game.s This games also starts a stretch of 3 days in 7 or 8 days. A busy time of year.

Key Match Up - Luke Sassano vs Sebastian Le Toux - Le Toux has been playing either on the wing or basically right under the striker, Sassano has done well the past few games, but will be in for another difficult outing going against one of last year's MVP candidates.

PREDICTION - This is going to be a difficult game for KC, a busy schedule and a very good home team that is currently unbeaten in their place. I want to be optimistic but this game just has plenty going against it for KC. Of the next 3 games this is the one I have the least confidence in. This is also against the best team we'll play in the next 3 games. I'd love to see us steal a point or even all 3 but I struggle to see it.

KC - 0
PHI - 1 (Le Toux)

Ryan Smith Done for Season

Ryan Smith is done for KC for the season. He left the team and has returned to England for a family issues and will not be returning to the team this season. The specifics of the situation were not revealed, but he does have a daughter that is in the UK, so maybe that played some sort of part in it. Smith missed time at the end of last season for family issues as well.

While the door on Smith returning has not been closed, I don't expect him to be back in a Sporting KC jersey unfortunately. I think he's going to find a club probably in one of the lower divisions in England and KC will either release him from his contract or get some sort of transfer fee for Smith. Smith is in the second year of a four year contract so he'd need to be released or transferred. It's sad that Smith's time in KC looks like it's likely over, he brought a creativity that KC really hasn't had in a long time. Although Carlos Marinelli was close, but it turns out those two are a little comparable due to their jumping around clubs and injury issues that plagued their time here in KC. Smith though obviously has a better attitude and endeared himself to fans a lot better. If Smith is in fact done, he finishes his career with four goals and seven assists in his 32 games for the club. Hopefully Smith gets these family issues under control. Good luck.

Thomas and Jamaica Bow Out of Gold Cup

Shavar Thomas and the Jamaican national team had not allowed a goal in the group stage of the Gold Cup, but Sunday at RFK against the United States, the Jamaicans once again could not beat the United States, falling 2-0 to the US. Thomas captained the Jamaican side as they took on the US. Overall Thomas actually had a solid game for Jamaica as their midfield was overrun at times in the first half, Thomas and LA Galaxy goalkeeper, Donovan Ricketts helped to reorganize the back line to keep the US pressure off. It took a deflected goal by Jermaine Jones off of Jermaine Taylor, a red card to Taylor on a dive by Jones, and a nice finish by Clint Dempsey to see the United States through. The US now move on to play Panama in the semifinals in Houston.

Thomas meanwhile returns to KC, probably at a fairly good time. With Aurelien Collin suspended for the game Wednesday in Philadelphia, Thomas could possibly find himself immediately back on the bench backing up Matt Besler and likely Julio Cesar in the center of defense on Wednesday as the Wizards only have the 3 center backs available.

Espinoza and Honduras Advance

Roger Espinoza got his first minutes of the Gold Cup, starting for Honduras in their Gold Cup quarterfinal against Costa Rica. Espinoza started and played 80 minutes before making way for Carlo Costly. The Honduras defeated the Costa Ricans on penalty kicks 4-2 after finishing the game tied 1-1. Espinoza helped to set up the Honduran goal, sending a long ball over the top to Javier Portillo. Portillo dribbled into the box and fired a shot that was saved. The rebound though fell to Jerry Bengtson who scored. The goal early in the first half had given the Hondurans a 1-0 lead before Costa Rica tied it up. Honduras now plays Mexico who took care of Guatemala 2-1 after falling behind 1-0 early in the game.

Attendance Comparison

Something that I've decided I'm going to look at and follow for the rest of the season. I'm going to take a look at the average attendance for the Sporting KC Wiz(ards) throughout their history in comparison to the 2011 season in the new stadium. The season should easily come in as the top season attendance wise in the team history. The record is currently 15,573, set in 2003 when Lamar Hunt and the team went on a big push to bring in people to games. Other than that, the history has been pretty mediocre to bad attendance wise. Hopefully the large amount of games late this summer does not lead to a soccer burnout for fans in this city or else it's going to be very hard to sell tickets to some of those late August games.

Anyway, what I'm going to do is each time KC has a home game, I'm going to add that to KC's average attendance for the season and compare it to the other seasons in KC's history. For comparison purposes, 1996 through 2000 and 2005 through 2006 there were 16 home games each season. In 2001 there were only 13 home games as one was canceled due to the events of 9/11. 2002 had 14 home games. 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 all had 15 home games. This year KC will have 17 home games. So here are the first two attendances for every season and the average after those games, rounded up or down accordingly. All these attendances have been pulled from either team write ups or from the team's media guide so if you take issue with the attendance number take it up with them.

I will not discuss things like weather and how it played a role in the attendance, I'm just looking at the numbers, I know the 2001 opener was played in a down pour and that the second game in 2009 was the sleet, snow, rain game against San Jose, I'm just looking at the numbers, not what contributed to them.

1996 - Arrowhead
21,141
8,848
average 14,995

1997 - Arrowhead
10,198
8,406
average 9,302

1999 - Arrowhead
10,299
4,130 (lowest attendance in KC history)
average 7,215

1999 - Arrowhead
15,509
8313
average 11,911

2000 - Arrowhead
7,540
5,250
average 6,395

2001 - Arrowhead
13,042
4,420 (3rd lowest in KC history)
average 8,731

2002 - Arrowhead
11,769
10,636
average 11,203

2003 - Arrowhead
22,403 (highest opening day attendance in KC history)
14,586
average 18,495

2004 - Arrowhead
20,229
9,682
average 14,956

2005 - Arrowhead
13,484
12,008
average 12,746

2006 - Arrowhead
18,143
8,436
average 13,290

2007 - Arrowhead
7,438 (lowest opening day attendance in team history)
7,426
average 7,432

2008 Community America Ballpark
10,385
8,731
average 9,558

2009 - Community America Ballpark
10,385
6,922
average 8,654

2010 - Community America Ballpark
10,385
10,228
average 10,307

2011 - LiveSTRONG Sporting Park
19,925
18,467
average 19,196

So here are the rankings of those attendances currently. In following weeks I will include how far the year has moved up or down in attendance in comparison to the rest of the years.

2011 - 19,196
2003 - 18,495
1996 - 14,995
2004 - 14,956
2006 - 13,290
2005 - 12,746
1999 - 11,911
2002- 11,203
2010 - 10,307
2008 - 9,558
1997 - 9,302
2001 - 8,731
2009 - 8,654
2007 - 7,432
1998 - 7,215
2000 - 6,395

Saturday After Stats

Here are some stats from last night's game.

CJ Sapong's goal was the first MLS goal at LiveStrong Park.

Jimmy Nielsen's shutout was his 11th in all competitions and league play, giving him sole possession of 3rd place on both lists, breaking his tie with Mike Ammann both times.

Sporting Top Quakes

In what turned into a fairly physical affair last night at LiveStrong Sporting Park, Sporting KC made a goal by CJ Sapong stand up for the winner as KC got their first win at their new stadium, 1-0 over the San Jose Earthquakes. KC made only 2 changes to the lineup that beat Dallas 4-1 last weekend. Jimmy Nielsen stepped back into goal for Sporting KC while Omar Bravo stepped in for the suspended Milos Stojcev. The Quakes, on a long unbeaten run of their own put out the same lineup that had beaten DC on the weekend 4-2.

The rough play started early, and led to the first good chance for San Jose after a foul. Khari Stephenson lined up a free kick from about 35 yards out in the 21st minute. Stephenson blasted the shot on goal and it took a dip and bounced right in front of Nielsen, who could only get in front of and knock it down. Luke Sassano followed up the chance and cleared it out for a throw in. Shortly after Stephenson's chance KC should have grabbed the lead. Matt Besler played a ball over the top searching for Graham Zusi. Bobby Burling tried to head the ball back to Jon Busch, but didn't get enough on it and Zusi raced through on Busch. But Busch was well off his line, cut down Zusi's angle, forcing the shot wide for a goal kick, although it appeared that Busch got a touch on it on his way through.

The goal seemed to be coming for KC though as they started to get a little bit more of the play, and in the 31st minute they got their goal. Zusi played in a great free kick into the box, a perfect spot that kept Busch glued to his line. Sapong had beaten his defender and laid out striking the ball with his foot past Busch for the first Sporting KC goal at LSP.

KC was unable to find another goal in the first half, but almost went up 2-0 in the first few minutes of the second half. After a poor give away by the Quakes, Zusi played a nice little ball to Sassano. Sassano played a cross into the middle towards Bravo. It didn't reach him, but Steven Beitashour slide in, almost knocking the ball into his own net, but Busch was there to cover the ball before it went in.

After scoring a hattrick against DC, Steven Lenhart was held in check by Aurelien Collin through the night. Collin got deep into Lenhart's head forcing him to pick up a yellow for dissent. Lenhart probably could have been sent off for pushing Collin into Nielsen later in the half, but he only got a talking to. Collin himself also picked up a yellow during the game that will force him to miss the game this Wednesday against Philadelphia. Which will be a big blow for KC's back line as Collin and Besler have formed a good partnership in the back.

As the second half wore on, the Quakes were the ones that looked more like scoring. Tottenham loanee, Simon Dawkins came on at half time and helped turn the game towards the Quakes. Dawkins had some great chances, including cutting inside Collin and firing just wide of Nielsen's near post. He had another great chance off a short free kick, firing towards the far post, but Nielsen made a great diving save. On the same sequence the Quakes had a second chance before the foul where Lenhart pushed Collin into Nielsen. The surprising player that helped shut down Dawkins a little bit was actually Julio Cesar, who was put on in place of Sassano and was basically tasked with shadowing Dawkins for the rest of the match.

KC was able to hold off the Quakes pressure the rest of the game, including some tense minutes when KC was unable to clear their own end. But they were able to hold off the Quakes and secure their first home win of the season. While KC is still in last place in the East, they're now only 1 point behind both New England and Chicago, having played 2 less games than the Revs and 1 less than the Fire.

Wizards Man of the Match - Aurelien Collin - I said his match up with Lenhart was going to be key, and he shut down the Quakes attacker. The match up was physical on and off the ball with both players fouling, but Collin did great to shut down Lenhart, keeping him from really getting into the game, in fact he did a great job of getting into his head and throwing him off his game.

Honorable Mention - CJ Sapong.

Player Ratings - Nielsen 6, Myers 6, Collin 8, Besler 7, Sinovic 6, Diop 5, Sassano 6, Arnaud 6, Zusi 7, Bravo 6, Sapong 7. Subs Cesar 6, Kamara 5, Bunbury NR.

Taking on the Quakes

KC plays their second home game of the season tomorrow when they take on the San Jose Earthquakes at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park. The Quakes come into the game having not lost since April 30th to the Philadelphia Union. That's a span of 8 games in all competitions, 6 in league play, including last week's 4-2 win in DC. They've scored more than one goal in 5 straight league games, 6 in all competitions. Against DC, San Jose got a hattrick out of Steven Lenhart. So the Quakes come in on a nice hot streak and have been scoring goals at a very good pace at the same time. KC's recent run of better defensive performances (2 goals in the last 5 games in all competitions) will definitely be tested.

Kansas City is on a small unbeaten run of their own, now unbeaten in 4 games in league play, 5 in all competitions. It's funny how a single win can turn a winless run into an unbeaten run. Stephane Auvray is back from the Gold Cup, but is getting the weekend off to recuperate from international duty. Ryan Smith and Omar Bravo both also look set to miss this weekend's game with their injuries that they've picked up. While Craig Rocastle went under the knife today to repair his torn meniscus. I'd expect a lineup very close to the team that put four past Dallas on Sunday, with the exception of the suspended Milos Stojcev. Although with Jimmy Nielsen and Michael Harrington back from their suspension, they could be back in the lineup as well. Also, factor in that this is the start of a 4 games in the next 11 days stretch for KC, so the lineup could get interesting.

Nielsen
Myers - Collin - Besler - Harrington
Sassano - Diop
Arnaud
Kamara - Sapong - Zusi

Number to Remember - 2004 - That's the last time that KC did not take all 3 points from a home game against the Earthquakes. August 14th, 2004 2-0 at Arrowhead was the last loss at home. That's a span of 7 games in all competitions (5 league, 1 Open Cup, 1 playoff).

Key Match Up - Aurelien Collin vs Steven Lenhart - Coming off a hattrick in DC last weekend, Lenhart is going to come into the game with confidence, as is the entire San Jose team. Should make for a fun match up to watch, but with Collin one yellow away from suspension, it could force Collin to play more conservatively.

PREDICTION - Both teams have been playing well lately. For pure confidence purposes this game is much more important to KC. Getting that first win at home will keep the hype in the city from the opener and the US game, but they need to get that win to do it. With so many home games coming up, getting the confidence up for that is going to be important. But with San Jose high on confidence it's going to be tough. KC was able to end one long unbeaten run on Sunday, hopefully they'll be able to do that again this weekend.

KC - 2 (Sapong, Kamara)
SJ - 1 (Lenhart)

Former SKC Wizards Update

Another week of former Sporting KC Wizards updates. The international season has basically wound down, but the US is in full swing with lots of former Wizards playing. Here's this week's update.

Still looking for:
Vicente Arze
Nick Cardenas
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Michael Kraus
Ryan McMahen
Ivan Trujillo

MLS
Jimmy Conrad - Chivas USA - Did not dress in Chivas' 2-1 loss to Houston.
Adam Cristman - LA - Did not dress in LA's 2-2 draw with Toronto.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Started and played 83 minutes in RSL's 1-1 draw with Philadelphia.
Taylor Graham - Seattle - Did not dress in Seattle's 2-2 draw with Vancouver.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Started and played 90 minutes in Dallas' 4-1 loss to KC.
Frankie Hejduk - LA - Dressed but did not play in LA's 2-2 draw with Toronto.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 1-0 loss to Chicago.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 1-0 loss to Colorado.
Jonathan Leathers - Vancouver - Started and played 90 minutes in Vancouver's 2-2 draw with Seattle.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Salt Lake - Dressed but did not dress in RSL's 1-1 draw with Philadelphia.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Did not dress in DC's 4-2 loss to San Jose.
Ryan Pore - Portland - Came off the bench and played 9 minutes in Portland's 1-0 loss to Colorado.
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Did not dress in San Jose's 4-2 win over DC.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Started and played 48 minutes, recording an assist in San Jose's 4-2 win over DC.
Tyson Wahl - Seattle - Started and played 90 minutes in Seattle's 2-2 draw with Vancouver.
Josh Wolff - DC - Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in DC's 4-2 loss to San Jose.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Did not play in Minnesota's 3-0 loss to Fort Lauderdale.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Started and played 90 minutes in Fort Lauderdale's 3-0 win over Minnesota.
Amir Lowery - Montreal - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Montreal's 2-1 loss to Puerto Rico.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in Fort Lauderdale's 3-0 win over Minnesota.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Did not dress in Charleston's 2-0 win over Regals FC.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Started and played 73 minutes, scoring a goal in Richmond's 2-0 win over FC New York. Came off the bench and played 23 minutes in Richmond's 4-1 win over Dayton in the US Open Cup.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in Pittsburgh's 3-1 loss to Wilmington. Started and played 120 minutes, recording 2 assists in Pittsburgh's 3-2 win over Chattanooga FC in the US Open Cup.
Neal Kitson - Rochester - Started and played 90 minutes, recording a shutout in Rochester's 1-0 win over Harrisburg. Did not play in Rochester's 2-1 win over Phoenix SC in the US Open Cup.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Defeated Hollywood United 3-1 in the US Open Cup.
Diego Walsh - Charleston - Came off the bench and played 53 minutes in Charleston's 2-0 win over Regals FC.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 2-0 win over New York. Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 4-1 win over Dayton in the US Open Cup.
John Wilson - Charleston - Dressed but did not play in Charleston's 2-0 win over Regals FC.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Did not dress in Ocean City's 1-1 draw with Central Jersey.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Started and played 79 minutes in FC Jax 1-0 loss to Central Florida. Dressed but did not play in FC Jax 1-1 draw with Fort Lauderdale.

International

Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Defeated Cortulua 3-2.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Off until late July.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - Started and played 90 minutres, scoring a goal in Krasnodar's 3-1 win over Rostov. Started and played 76 minutes, scoring a goal in Krasnodar's 4-2 win over Volga.

Smith to Atlas Rumors

Today, Kansas City's former sister club Atlas announced that they'd made a deal with the Chicago Fire to bring in Gaston Puerari. But in the same article about that move, there's talk about Atlas trying to bring in Sporting Kansas City midfielder, Ryan Smith, at least on trial. Smith who missed the first few games of the season, and the last two as well, due to injury has been limited to only 6 appearances this season.

Thad posted today after the rumor surfaced that he'd heard the rumors were not true. But still it's an interesting rumor that he's drawing interest from the Mexican league at least in some form it seems. Overall I'm not really sure how to feel about it though. Smith was (and probably still is) our most creative player when he's on the field. But the one thing that seems to have dogged him his entire career is injuries, and that's how he's started this year. KC has shown that they have plenty of guys that can play up top, but I think KC needs Smith. Without Smith and Omar Bravo KC really doesn't have a true wide forward for their 4-3-3 system. Teal Bunbury, Kei Kamara, and CJ Sapong are all better suited for the center forward position, although Kamara has done the best job of adjusting to the wide position of the 3. Unless KC already has a signed deal for a creative attacking minded player, this might not be the best move for KC, if there is any small truth to it.

KC Set to Host Third Round US Open Cup Game

The first round of the US Open Cup was yesterday while many Sporting KC fans were at the US-Guadeloupe game at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park. Today US Soccer announced the third round pairings for this year's US Open Cup. The third round is that Sporting KC and the other MLS teams will be entering the competition. KC will play one of two lower division teams in the 3rd round. KC will play the winner of Chicago Fire PDL and the Madison 56ers. The Fire PDL obviously plays in the PDL with the 56ers play in the NPSL. The two teams play this coming Thursday at Breese Stevens Field in Madison, Wisconsin. The winner gets to travel to Kansas City the following Tuesday, the 28th to take on Sporting KC at LSP. The home game for KC is in between a home game against Vancouver on the 25th and then play in Portland on the next Saturday the 2nd.

It seems like MLS teams are trying to do successfully this year as only one minor league team outbid an MLS side to host. Rochester will host Chicago if they defeat Harrisburg.

KC Deserves World Cup Qualifiers

Those that were at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park didn't necessarily see the best game of soccer, but the fans that were in attendance certainly brought the atmosphere. Enough so that it got the attention of people around the US talking about the venue as a host for World Cup qualifiers in upcoming cycles. In fact, Grant Wahl even said that KC is the place to host the next US-Mexico game, as the venue is small enough keep ticket sales to US fan groups. With KC's 11,000 season ticket holder base, their ever growing "membership" system, and group sales through the American Outlaws and US Soccer, KC could be basically sold out before tickets go on sale to the general public.

Robb Heineman also jumped on the band wagon as well during the game. And I personally think KC deserves the chance to host another meaningful US game. The game in 2001 is still the largest attended mid-week World Cup qualifier for the United States, and tonight they drew 20,109 for another midweek game. The attendance being over 1,600 over the announced capacity of LSP. The American Outlaws Kansas City chapter treated US supporters great, a good night before party and a good tailgate, great job by them the past few nights as well. Hopefully they get to do it again in the future. Sooner than Later.

Auvray, Guadeloupe Bow Out

Stephane Auvray and Guadeloupe bowed out of the Gold Cup tonight at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park, losing to the United States 1-0. While the US dominated the game, they were only able to find a single goal through Jozy Altidore. Much of the rest of the game saw Clint Dempsey miss numerous chances to extend the USA's lead. In the loss, Auvray went 90 minutes for the Gwada Boys. Depending on how things go, he could possibly be available now for KC when they take on San Jose on Friday. The US move on to take on Jamaica at RFK Stadium this weekend. Panama topped the group after a late equalizer by Luis Tejada gave Panama a 1-1 draw with Canada, and will take on El Salvador at RFK as well. New York Red Bulls midfielder, Dwayne De Rosario's name goes down in history as the first player to score a real goal at LSP.

Thomas and Espinoza Sit for Gold Cup Game

Shavar Thomas and Roger Espinoza were both on the bench for their respective national teams last night in their Group B encounter. Neither player made it into the match that Jamaica won 1-0 on a Noel Valladares own in the 35th minute. Jamaica advanced out of Group B as the group winners and will play the second place team out of Group C, which could be the United States. Honduras gets to play Group A runner up, Costa Rica in their quarterfinal matchup.

Monday After Stats

Here are your stats for Monday.

Luke Sassano scored his first ever MLS goal.

Aurelien Collin's goal was his first MLS league goal.

Milos Stojcev's red card was KC's 5th of the season, they had only 4 all of last year.

Matt Besler made his 50th league appearance for KC, he's the 38th player to hit that mark for KC.

Davy Arnaud made his 230th start in all competitions, breaking his tie with Preki for 3rd place on that list.

The Offense Awakens

When the lineup for tonight's game against FC Dallas was announced, I don't know if there were many fans, if any, predicting a point, let alone all three as Sporting KC took it to FC Dallas, winning 4-1, even though they played the last 30 plus minutes down a man. With virtually only 18 players healthy, or not with their national team, KC looked set to continue their long winless run, while Dallas looked set to extend their own unbeaten run to 10 games.

KC though came out from the start and took the game to Dallas, causing some problems early on set pieces and on long runs into the box. Off an early corner, CJ Sapong headed wide of the post on a diving header and Graham Zusi tested Kevin Hartman in the 17th with a stinging shot that Hartman pushed onto the post. Milos Stojcev also tested Hartman with a blast from the top of the box, that Hartman tipped up into the air and caught the rebound. In the 28th minute, KC grabbed a deserved lead through Zusi. Birahim Diop started a counter, finding Davy Arnaud in the middle of the field. Arnaud continued to switch finding Zusi. Zusi dribbled at Zach Loyd, cut inside and fired a shot past Hartman and into the net giving KC the 1-0 lead, their first since going up 1-0 on LA on May 14th. But the lead only lasted 4 minutes as the team's defensive errors popped back up. Brek Shea received the ball about 40 yards from goal, avoided a sliding Diop, and Stojcev seemed to decide to just watch him run. Aurelien Collin was the next to slide, completely missing Shea, finally Chance Myers got turned as Shea cut by. Shea then slotted the ball past Eric Kronberg in goal, leveling the game at 1-1. Kevin Stott had a busy first half, handing out 4 yellow cards, including 3 to Sporting KC players Collin, Seth Sinovic, and Stojcev.

In the second half, KC started things quickly from a corner kick. Zusi played in a corner to the back post. Sapong did well to knock the ball back into the middle where Collin knocked the ball home to give KC the lead again 2-1. The corner was the result of what appeared to be rehearsed set plays that KC tried throughout the game, play the ball to the back post and then get it back across the middle. On this goal it was executed perfectly by all 3 players involved in the play. And KC made it 3 shortly after the second goal. After a hand ball on Dallas just inside Dallas' half, Zusi stepped up, saw Hartman cheating a little bit for the ball into the box and let fly with an absolute rocket that hit the back of the net and rebounded back out from 50 yards out. An amazing goal that any other week would have easily been goal of the week.

Only after Zusi's rocket, KC found themselves down a man again after Stojcev picked up his second yellow of the game for a stupid challenge from behind on Marvin Chavez. A yellow on the play may have been a little harsh, but the challenge was silly and totally ill advised. Down a man though, Kansas City was still able to create chances and should have extended their lead. Sapong and Zusi had a 2 on 2 break, where Sapong had drawn both defenders but did not play the ball to Zusi who was on the hattrick at the time. A little later, substitute, Kei Kamara had a chance, but Jackson made a great sliding tackle to steal the ball away. KC though did find a fourth goal through Luke Sassano in the 78th. After a goal kick by Kronberg, the ball found it's way to the feet of Diop who played a nice little ball over the top to Sassano. Sassano reached the ball before the onrushing Hartman and touched it over him. The ball looped into the net making it 4-1. KC held on and grabbed their second league win of the season. A result that should give all kinds of confidence to the team heading into Friday's game at home against San Jose, who defeated DC United 4-2 on the weekend.

WIZARDS Man of the Match - Graham Zusi - Two goals and an assist for Zusi, a splendid performance. If not for Sapong being unable to get the ball to Zusi on the 2v2, Zusi could have gotten a hattrick. He even played the ball to Diop that set up the fourth goal tonight. If not for Eric Hassli's wonder strike his free kick would be the odds on favorite for goal of the week. And if not for Steven Lenhart's hattrick, Zusi would be wrapping up player of the week as well.

Honorable Mention - CJ Sapong

Player Ratings - Kronberg 6, Sinovic 6, Collin 7, Besler 7, Myers 6, Sassano 7, Diop 6, Arnaud 7, Zusi 9, Sapong 8, Stojcev 4. Subs Kamara 5, Cesar 5, Bunbury NR.

The Wizards Were THIS Close to Leaving KC

KC has gotten quite a few new fans over the past few years, and while they have heard the history of the team and the stories of the team potentially moving. But I would suggest for all fans, not just those that are newer read this story about the Rochester Rhinos no longer being on MLS' radar.

The reason for this is because you'll learn about how close Kansas City really did come to losing their MLS team to Rochester. For those that don't know the situation back in the later part of the 90's early part of the 00's, Rochester was drawing over 10,000 fans a game at a time when MLS was only drawing around 13,000 to 14,000 on average and on the low end in the 7,000 to 8,000 range. So Rochester appeared to be a team that would be above the minimum in the league.

How KC fits into this, is because KC was one of those teams at the low end of the attendance level. And while they weren't going to be put up for sale for another few years, back in 2002 Hunt's Sports Group met with the owners of the Rhinos in the hopes of getting the Wizards to move to Rochester into their new stadium, now called Sahlen's Stadium. I'd heard stories that the move was so close to happening that they were counting parking spots basically. Rochester's owners didn't have the funds at the time to meet MLS' year end cash call, but the plan would have been that Hunt would still own the team and meet the cash calls for equity in the stadium. The Rhinos ended up not making the deal because they were worried that Hunt would end up owning over 50 percent of the stadium if MLS never turned a profit. Rochester's loss turned out to be KC's gain. Even though KC fans had to live through Hunt officially putting the team up for sale, the rumored moves to New York or to San Antonio, or wherever else, OnGoal bought the team in 2006 and five years later we opened our home in KCK. Hope those of you that didn't know the history (and even those that didn't) enjoyed the look.

Auvray Guadeloupe Fall to Canada

A second minute red card to midfielder Jean Luc Lambourde, put Guadeloupe behind the eight ball from the start against Canada in Gold Cup action today, but it took a 50th minute penalty by Dwayne De Rosario for Canada to capitalize on it and take all 3 points in their group play match. Auvray went the full game for Guadeloupe as captain, but Gaudeloupe find themselves on the verge of elimination heading into their final group game in Kansas City against the United States.

Speaking of the United States and the other group game, the US were stunned by Panama 2-1 after a flat first half from the United States (a pattern under Bob Bradley it seems). The result sets up an interesting final day in Kansas City at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park. With the US having the second game, they will know what result they need before they kick off. Even with the loss, the US can still win the group. To do so though, they'll need Canada to beat Panama in the first game. Should that happen, a win over Guadeloupe would possibly win the group for the US. If Canada and the US win it puts those two and Panama on 6 points. The first tie breaker is the most points in head to head match ups of the 3 teams, which each team would have 3. The second tie breaker is goal difference between the tied teams. The US is at +1 against those two teams. Currently Canada is -2 while Panama is +1. So any win by Canada by 1 or 2 goals will win the group for the US as long as they beat Guadeloupe. If Canada wins by 3 goals, I believe it would revert back to the first tie breaker to break the tie between the US and Canada, which the US wins. Either way, Tuesday should be a fun night.

Back on the Road

After opening LiveSTRONG Sporting Park on Thursday night, Sporting KC heads back out onto the road for a game on Sunday against FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park. Dallas comes into the game after defeating New England at home last weekend 1-0. The shutout was the 100th of Kevin Hartman's MLS career. Dallas has done well to recover from the loss of David Ferreira and is getting results to keep them in a good league position.

KC is in a bit of a roster crisis right now, with injuries, call ups, and suspensions, KC only had 19 available players for selection for this weekend's game. Joining the four Gold Cup players out of action are Omar Bravo and Ryan Smith who will both be unavailable apparently, and the suspended Jimmy Nielsen and Michael Harrington. Certainly some lineup changes are going to have to be made to the team ahead of tomorrow's game. The depth of the team is going to be tested greatly tomorrow.

Kronberg
Myers - Collin - Besler - Sinovic
Arnaud - Zusi - Sassano
Kamara - Bunbury - Sapong

Number to Remember - 1 - The number of goals scored by Sporting Kansas City players in the last 6 games (there was also an own goal in there). Seriously, one goal by a Sporting KC player in the last 6 games is pathetic. KC needs to find their scoring touch quickly, and badly or this season will get incredibly long.

Match Up to Watch - Luke Sassano vs Brek Shea - Shea has taken over more of the playmaking responsibilities since Ferreira has gone out, it'll be tough for Sassano to deal with the talented attacker.

PREDICTION - I want to have a positive outlook on this game, but I really can't. KC isn't that good, and is coming off short rest, playing back on the road, while Dallas has been playing well, and has more time off. I hope that KC can pull an upset, but I don't see it.

KC - 0
FCD - 2 (Shea, Castillo)

Rocastle Out 2 Months

So it sounds like the injury that Craig Rocastle suffered with the Grenada national team in their first Gold Cup game is kind of serious. Andrew Wiebe, Sporting KC's beat writer for MLSsoccer.com posted on Twitter today that Rocastle was at training with a wrap on his leg. He also said that Rocastle has a torn PCL and meniscus. The injury will keep him out about 2 months. The team is hoping to schedule surgery for early next week.

It's a big blow to the Wizards as Rocastle had helped to turn the midfield and defense around after the issues early in the season. The injury would seem to mean more playing time for Luke Sassano or Stephane Auvray (when he returns from the Gold Cup).

SKC at the Gold Cup (Rocastle Hurt!)

Only one of Sporting Kansas City's Gold Cup call ups made the field tonight. Shavar Thomas started and played the full game for Jamaica as they took out Guatemala 2-0 thanks to two goals by Demar Phillips. The Jamaicans now sit on top of their group as the only team to win both of their games with a plus 6 goal difference. Jamaica closes out their group on Monday when they'll take on Honduras.

Speaking of Honduras, Roger Espinoza was on the bench for tonight's game against Grenada, but didn't see the field as Honduras cruised 7-1 over Grenada. A hattrick by one time Wizards target, Carlo Costly, a brace by Jerry Bengtson, and goals by Walter Martinez and Alfredo Mejia finished off Grenada who actually took the lead through Clive Murray before surrendering 7 unanswered.

The worst news those of the night was that Wizards defensive midfielder, Craig Rocastle didn't even dress for the game. After doing some looking, I found that Rocastle apparently has some ligament damage, that he is having a scan done on to find out the extent of the injury. On the low side it could just end his Gold Cup, on the other side this could be a disaster for the Wizards as Rocastle's presence in the center of midfield had calmed the team after their rough start. Luke Sassano filled in well last night but I'm not sure he's the long term solution there. So hopefully this ligament damage is minor and Rocastle will be back quickly.

On the Field Last Night Wasn't Great, But

While the result on the field, and some times in the stands was not the greatest last night, there are many more talking points about last night's game that need to be addressed. Specifically the opening of Livestrong Sporting Park. Seriously, the stadium is absolutely amazing. I'm not ashamed to say that for a while inside the Members' Club last night before the game I was tearing up and getting a little misty eyed. To think that this is our home, a place to "hang our hat" as it is, a place where we can say we are the primary tenant, we have first choice on dates (after NASCAR). The club is amazing inside, plenty of room even with a packed house to at least relax for a couple minutes in the air conditioning, which will do wonders when the August home stretch is going on. It was great to meet Ron Newman the team's original coach in the Members' Club pregame and have a conversation with Don Garber as well in the same of an hour.

You walk out and look at the rest of the stadium and it just feels so close and intimate. Seriously it almost has a little bit of a claustrophobic feel to it when you look around the stadium, especially when full. The steep raise of all the sections put you right on top of the action. I spent the first half on the east side of the Members' Stand and felt like I was right on top of Michael Harrington and Dominic Oduro in the first half. In the second half I moved behind the goal, and even though I was over half way up the section I still felt incredibly close to the field. This was something that up until this year was really only reserved for the field side reserve people. I've been to quite a few of the soccer specific stadiums in this country (HDC, Rio Tinto, Dick's Sporting Goods Park, PHP, Toyota Park, and Crew Stadium) and never felt this close to the action from that far away.

The pregame stuff for the game last night was fantastic as well, I loved the "retrospective of the team throughout the years (video below). It was classy to have both Robb Heineman and Lance Armstrong speak at the opening.

It just feels great to have a place of our own, a place that I know we'll come to for years to come knowing this is our house. Now all we need to do is avoid becoming the Royals, having a nice stadium, but having a stinker year in and year out on the field.

Enjoy the team retrospective and the well Matchday 360 from yesterday below.

Friday After Stats

In the 19th minute, Michael Harrington hit the 10,000 minute mark for Sporting KC. He finished the game with 10,071 minutes played. He's the 12th player to hit that mark.

Harrington also made his 141st appearance in all competitions for KC tying him with Francisco Gomez for 14th place on that list.

It was also his 124th league appearance breaking his tie with Chris Brown for 12th on that list.

Harrington also made his 124th start in all competitions, breaking his tie with Jose Burciaga for 13th place on that list.

The red card to Jimmy Nielsen was the first time a Sporting KC keeper did not finish a game they started since 2004 when Bo Oshoniyi subbed in for Tony Meola in a US Open Cup game vs Atlanta. It appears to be the first time in league play since 2003 also in a game against the Chicago Fire.

It was Davy Arnaud's 229th start in all competitions, breaking his tie with Jimmy Conrad and moving him into a tie with Preki for 3rd place on that list.

Let Down

I showed up at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park yesterday and couldn't take the smile off my face, everything to do with the stadium just made me smile. Then the game started...

It was the same Sporting KC we'd seen for much of this season, struggling to create offensively, but prone to a few defensive mistakes. Last night it didn't cost KC as they got a 0-0 draw after going down to 10 men against the Chicago Fire. And should have gotten a 1-0 win if it wasn't for Michael Kennedy proving once again to be the bane of KC soccer fans when he didn't award a penalty for a horrible challenge on Omar Bravo.

Chicago had the first good chance of the game in the 9th minute on a quick counter. Dominic Oduro raced into KC's half, then laid the ball behind Gaston Puerari. Puerari recovered, played the ball back for a sliced shot that fell to Corbon Bone, who cut inside and fired a shot that Jimmy Nielsen did well to save. In the 15th, KC thought they'd grabbed the lead and Graham Zusi thought he'd written his name into the history books with the first goal at the new stadium. Kei Kamara did well to turn and beat his man down the wing and fired a low cross into the box where Bravo and Zusi were arriving. Bravo got a touch on it and Zusi finished it, but Bravo had been offside when Kamara played his initial ball.

Zusi had another chance in the 28th after a combination play with Teal Bunbury, but fired his shot from 25 yards out just over the bar. Shortly after that Nielsen was once again called upon to make a decent save low to the corner on a snap header. Late in the first half, Bravo had a great chance off of cross, but flubbed the header and it went harmlessly to Johnson.

In the second half half, KC seemed to begin to gain more control over the game, but really failed to test Sean Johnson in the Chicago goal. Then in the 67th minute, Oduro again got played in behind Michael Harrington and the KC defense. Nielsen raced off his line and as Oduro tried to chip the ball over him Nielsen got a hand up and knocked the ball away. Unfortunately for Nielsen he was outside the box. Kennedy produced a straight red and down to 10 men, Peter Vermes pulled Teal Bunbury to get Eric Kronberg on the field to take up position in goal. As oddly happens when a team goes down to 10 men, KC controlled the game still, but Chicago hit hard on the counter and should have produced a goal. A long shot by Daniel Paladini was not held at all by Kronberg. The rebound fell to Orr Barouch, who one timed his shot past Kronberg, but right into the bar saving KC.

KC should have had their penalty in the 85th minute. Birahim Diop headed on a goal kick from Kronberg into the path of Zusi. Zusi flicked the ball into the box for Bravo who was cutting in towards goal. Bratislav Ristic immediately went to ground trying to get the ball. At most the Fire defender got the slightest of touches, but mainly Ristic went right through Bravo to get the ball. Kennedy didn't even seemed concerned with the play as the boos (and eventually bottles and other objects) rained down. Virtually everyone but Kennedy both in the stadium and those who've commented to me later have said it was a penalty that should have given KC a chance to win. Instead it left Bravo in a heap and only really able to continue because KC was out of substitutes. After 9 minutes of stoppage time due to injuries, the red card, a stupid streaker in a cow costume (that absolutely deserved the tackle he got by the security guy), what in the end was a very poor game finally ended. KC's winless streak reached 10 games, but they're on a 3 game unbeaten run now (queue the search for optimism).

WIZARDS Man of the Match - Aurelien Collin - A strong game by the Frenchman to shutdown the Fire's attack. Did good standing up opposing offensive players throughout the night.

Player Ratings - Nielsen 5, Myers 5, Collin 7, Besler 6, Harrington 4, Sassano 5, Arnaud 5, Zusi 5, Bravo 6, Bunbury 4, Kamara 5. Subs Sapong 6, Kronberg 5, Diop NR

Disgraceful

The worst thing about tonight's game was not the Michael Kennedy no-PK call, it was the response by the Cauldron. I've been in the Cauldron since it was in the corner of Arrowhead, section 114 and I've never really felt ashamed of being there. Tonight I did. Seriously disgraceful crap by multiple fans who felt it was alright to throw shit on the field after Kennedy blew the penalty call. This is how you treat a $200 million facility? By throwing shit onto the field? Yes is frustrating watching Kennedy once again job us out of a result, but you make the rest of the fans in the section look like drunk assholes, not just to the rest of the people in attendance, but to the people all over the US that were watching the game. Thankfully ESPN apparently spent most of the bottle throwing time showing replays of Kennedy's call so KC was spared a little embarrassment. But seriously, grow up, you look like idiots. And you make the rest of us look like idiots by association.

New Podcast

It's finally here, it's the day of the opener. For those of you that are like me and have to work, or those of you going out to tailgate and you need something to listen to, this week's From the Byline to the Back Post is out. We discuss Nick Garcia and Kei Kamara news as well as the Toronto, Chicago, and Dallas games. Enjoy on iTunes and Posterous.

LSP Opens Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the home opener for Sporting KC at Livestrong Sporting Park. Here are a few news bits before the game tomorrow.

First, Thad posted it on Twitter today, and Robb Heineman mentioned it on 980 today, Sporting KC will not have a surprise jersey sponsor on the jersey for the game tomorrow. We'd heard previously that this was 50/50 for the opener anyway, so it's not terribly surprising. Hopefully KC can get one finalized soon. Maybe a good performance and atmosphere tomorrow could change someone's mind.

Second, the team announced today that there were only 200 tickets left available for the game tomorrow. The game is almost a sellout, although it's kind of surprising considering some of the Ticket Master searches people were doing this week. But we've almost got the full 18,467 seats full. The team though has also announced that they will be selling 1,500 standing room only tickets. That will put the capacity tomorrow around 20,000 if all the SRO tickets are sold.

Former SKC Wizards Update

Time for a week of former SKC Wizards updates. First some congrats to two goalkeepers, Kevin Hartman for recording his 100th MLS shutout over the weekend, and to Neal Kitson for scoring a goal in Rochester's 2-2 draw. Herculez Gomez has a new club as he has moved to play with Tecos in the Mexican first division. Here is the rest of your SKC Wizards update.

Still looking for:
Vicente Arze
Nick Cardenas
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Michael Kraus
Ryan McMahen
Ivan Trujillo

MLS
Jimmy Conrad - Chivas USA - Did not dress in Chivas' 1-0 win over Portland.
Adam Cristman - LA - Came off the bench and played 7 minutes in LA's 0-0 draw with DC.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Came off the bench and played 9 minutes in RSL's 2-0 win over Vancouver. Came off the bench and played 31 minutes in RSL's 2-1 loss to Columbus.
Taylor Graham - Seattle - Did not dress in Seattle's 0-0 draw with Chicago.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Started and played 90 minutes, recording the shutout in Dallas' 1-0 win over New England.
Frankie Hejduk - LA - Dressed but did not play in LA's 0-0 draw with DC.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 1-1 draw with New York. Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 2-1 win over RSL.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 1-0 loss to Chivas.
Jonathan Leathers - Vancouver - Did not dress in Vancouver's 2-0 loss to RSL.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Salt Lake - Dressed but did not play in RSL's 2-0 win over Vancouver. Dressed but did not play in RSL's 2-1 loss to Columbus.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Did not dress in DC's 0-0 draw with LA.
Ryan Pore - Portland - Did not dress in Portland's 1-0 loss to Chivas.
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Did not dress in San Jose's 2-0 win over Houston.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Started and played 82 minutes in San Jose's 2-0 win over Houston.
Tyson Wahl - Seattle - Started and played 90 minutes in Seattle's 0-0 draw with Chicago.
Josh Wolff - DC - Started and played 88 minutes in DC's 0-0 draw with LA.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Did not play in Minnesota's 2-0 win over Atlanta. Did not play in Minnesota's 1-1 draw with Puerto Rico.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Started and played 90 minutes in Fort Lauderdale's 3-2 win over Puerto Rico.
Amir Lowery - Montreal - Did not play in Montreal's 2-0 win over Edmonton. Dressed but did not play in Montreal's 2-1 loss to Atlanta.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Fort Lauderdale's 3-2 win over Puerto Rico.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Started and played 82 minutes in Charleston's 1-1 draw with New York. Did not dress in Charleston's 1-0 loss to Harrisburg.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Did not have a game this week.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Started and played 90 minutes, in Pittsburgh's 2-1 loss to Dayton.
Neal Kitson - Rochester - Started and played 90 minutes in Rochester's 2-1 win over Antigua. Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Rochester's 2-2 draw with Antigua.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Did not have a game this week.
Diego Walsh - Charleston - Started and played 89 minutes in Charleston's 1-1 draw with New York. Did not dress in Charleston's 1-0 loss to Harrisburg.
Yomby William - Richmond - Did not have a game this week.
John Wilson - Charleston - Started and played 90 minutes in Charleston's 1-1 draw with New York. Did not dress in Charleston's 1-0 loss to Harrisburg.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Did not dress in Ocean City's 1-1 draw with Bermuda.

International
Sunil Chhetri - Chirag United - India - Season is over.
Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Is done playing until the 15th of June.
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - Season is over.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Off until late July.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - On international duty. Started and played 90 minutes in Armenia's 3-1 loss to Russia in Euro qualifying.