Sporting Fall in Final Disney Matchup

Sporting KC ended the Disney Pro Soccer Classic in disappointing fashion tonight. With a win guaranteeing them a spot in the consolation game Sporting KC on paper looked like they'd be able to take care of business against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Kansas City put out a starting lineup that featured 7-8 players that are likely to feature in the starting 11 in 10 days when KC takes the field against DC United. Meanwhile Vancouver put out a lineup that would likely be considered a reserve lineup except for one or two players.

Instead though KC had a fairly uninspiring performance, and struggled to really break down Vancouver's defense. Vancouver ended up grabbing the lead early in the second half, as Sebastien Le Toux knocked home a cross into the box, past Jon Kempin. Shortly after, Russell Teibert collected a ball near the top of KC's box and fired a shot that made it past Kempin and doubled the lead at 2-0. Finally, in the 67th minute, Vancouver made it 3-0 as Carlyle Mitchell knocked home a cross to make it 3-0. KC had some attempts to score, but couldn't find the net and didn't force Brad Knighton to make a really great save.

Yes it's only the preseason, and you don't want to take the results too seriously, but the performances down in Orlando have left plenty to be desired when it comes to the way the team has played. With the start of the season only being 10 days away you would hope that the team's performance was better than has been seen in the 3 game tournament.

On the other hand, the players knew it was preseason, and while many of the players that were on the field for Vancouver were fighting for their roster spots, while the guys that KC put out all are more likely set in where their position is currently and are more looking towards the start of the season.

The team has one more game in Orlando, tomorrow morning against the US U17 team before returning to KC and really begin to prepare for DC United and the season opener.

Former SKC Wizards Update

Here is this week's former SKC Wizards update. A week from now, the new season for former SKC Wizards will start with MLS teams kicking off in the CCL. Plenty of former Wizards are working to get contracts, JT Murray is currently on trial with LA, Stephane Auvray is on trial with Columbus, and Scott Sealy looks set to sign with Dallas. Elsewhere, Amir Lowery is continuing his playing career, back in the NASL with Carolina. Here's the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Daneil Cyurs
Doug DeMartin
Pablo Escobar
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Mike Jones
Chris Konopka
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Amir Lowry
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Milos Stojcev
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.
Adam Cristman - LA - Season is over.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Season is over.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Season is over.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Season is over.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Season is over.
Eddie Johnson - Seattle - Season is over.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Chivas - season is over.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Season is over.
Ryan Smith - Chivas - Season is over.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Season is over.
Shavar Thomas - Montreal - Season is over.
Tyson Wahl - Montreal - Season is over.
Josh Wolff - DC - Season is over.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Season is over.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Season is over.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Out of season.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Out of season.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Out of season.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Out of season.
Yomby William - Richmond - Out of season.
John Wilson - Charleston - Out of season.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Out of season.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Out of season.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Out of season.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Had an assist in Wichita's 20-17 loss to Rochester. Had an assist in Wichita's 9-6 loss to Syracuse. Played in Wichita's 10-2 loss to Rochester.
Nick Garcia - Kansas Magic - Did not play in either of Kansas' games.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Played in Baltimore's 19-9 win over Norfolk.
Mike Jones - Illinois Piasa - Did not have a game this week.
JT Murray - Louisville Lightning - Did not play in Louisville's 9-8 loss to Detroit.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not play in Missouri's 15-14 loss to Milwaukee. Played in Missouri's 21-6 win over Milwaukee.
Yomby William - Norfolk SharX - Played in Norfolk's 19-9 loss to Baltimore.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Did not play in either of the Bolts games.

International
Vicente Arze - Diosgyor - Hungary - No game this week.
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Started and played 66 minutes in Cruz Azul's 2-0 loss to Morelia.
Sunil Chhetri - Mohun Bagan - India - No game this week.
Eloy Colombano - Defensores de Cambaceres - Argentina - Defeated CSyD Liniers 2-1.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Tied T&TEC FC 1-1.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes, scoring a goal, but missed a PK in Santos' 2-1 loss to Chivas.
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - Honved - Hungary - No game this week.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Tied Tivoli Gardens 0-0.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - Did not play in any of Bahia's 3 games this week.
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - on winter break.
Neal Kitson - Northampton Town - England - Dressed but did not play in Northampton's 2-1 loss to Port Vale.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - on winter break.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - No game this week.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - Started and played 73 minutes in Armenia's 3-1 win over Canada.
Craig Rocastle - Thrasyvoulos Fylis FC - Greece - Started and played 60 minutes in Thrasyvoulos' 5-0 win over Ethnikos Asteras.
Matt Taylor - SC Paderborn 07 - Germany - Came off the bench and played 1 minute in Paderborn's 4-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Season is over.

One More Preseason Game Added

Sporting KC announced today that the team had added one more preseason friendly to their schedule down in Orlando before returning home. The team has scheduled a friendly for tomorrow against the US U17 team at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in the morning. With the majority of the first team getting the run out tonight, expect it to be a team filled mainly with reserves and trialists that takes on the young national team tomorrow morning.

The team also announced one early change to their reserve league schedule. Originally on March 13th the reserves were set to take on Creighton University at Livestrong Sporting Park. Today the team announced that the game will actually be against Rockhurst. The time and location has remained the same, only the opponent has changed for the Swope Park Rangers.

Sporting Close Out Group Play

Today at 5pm CST, Sporting KC close out the group phase of the Disney Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando against the Vancouver Whitecaps. The Whitecaps are currently 2-0 in the group and have booked their spot in Saturday's final against the winner of the other group. Kansas City still has a chance to play on Saturday in the consolation game.

Kansas City is currently on 2 points from their two draws, while Montreal and Houston each have a point. A win over the Whitecaps puts Kansas City into the consolation game. A draw will put them in if Montreal and Houston also tie their game. A loss would possibly also get KC into the consolation game as long as it's a 1-0 loss, and Montreal-Houston draw 0-0. (I'm assuming the tie breakers in order are head-to-head, GD, goals for, which would see KC advance because GD would be -1 for KC, -1 for Houston, -3 for Montreal, and goals for would be KC 1, Houston 0). A 1-1 draw between Montreal and Houston, then who knows.

I've seen some comments on Twitter that seem to imply that the Whitecaps will play a more reserve squad in today's game. I would have expected KC to put out a first team lineup for this game considering KC had the reserves play on Sunday. But it's completely possibly we'll see the reserves play again. One player that won't be there is Roger Espinoza, who is away on international duty. But as I posted Sunday, it appears that Kei Kamara did not travel to Sierra Leone for his countries African Cup of Nations qualifier. If KC does play a first team lineup, I'd expect Paulo Nagamura to replace Espinoza in the midfield next to Luke Sassano and Graham Zusi.

Taking a Look at the Sanctions to the Dynamo Supporters

I don't particularly like the Houston Dynamo. Outside of them beating Sporting KC in last year's Eastern Conference finals, I even don't really like them. Their fans as well aren't my favorite MLS fans in the league. A couple of KC fans who went down there for the Western Conference finals a few years ago were told to stay away from their supporters because they didn't really get along with opposing supporters. That being told to a group that has prided itself on being welcoming to away supporters when they come to KC was certainly enough to raise some ire with some people. That said I'm keeping an eye on the situation in Houston now due to the actions of their supporters groups. Because it sets a precedent that could come into effect for Sporting KC supporters and the Cauldron on away trips.

For those that missed it, Dynamo supporters have been banned from bringing banners, drums, flags, etc. to a away games until their stadium's opening on May 12th. These things are normal allowances for away supporters to bring to games as a way to support their team on the road. But due to the actions of some of their fans in 3 specific games last year, a regular season game at Dallas, the Eastern Conference finals against KC, and the MLS Cup finals at the Home Depot Center. After their home opener, the situation will be reassessed. No matter what though, even after the reassessment, Houston fans will not be allowed to bring those items into LSP on July 7th when the Dynamo travel to KC.

The 3 incidents saw the Dynamo fans travel in great numbers to see their team play. Also during the game were reports, and sightings, of smoke bombs, abusive language, and throwing objects onto the field, along with other things.

The Dynamo supporters groups were informed of this via an email from the league. This is a new response from the league, which in the past has seemed to let a lot more slide. But I think the final straw may have been the throwing of batteries, flashlights, and other hard objects in the direction of LA Galaxy players, specifically Landon Donovan and David Beckham after the cup final last year.

Dynamo supporters have said that the club has already passed down punishments to the below that they believe threw things onto the field based on video evidence, including half and full season bans this year. But the league felt they needed to step in and impose their own sanctions on the team. Honestly I can't really fault the league for doing it, throwing things like batteries and flashlights is stupid and immature, if one of the Galaxy players had actually gotten hurt it could have been very bad, similar to the Jimmy Nielsen bobble head incident.

But the thing to pay attention to is the potential implications for the future, not just for the Dynamo, but for all supporters groups. Houston isn't the only supporters group that has done the things that are being pointed out by the league. Let's take a look at some specific points while taking a look at Kansas City this past year.

1. Multiple illegal smoke bombs were brought into the stadium, ignited and thrown onto the field (MLS Cup, Houston Dynamo vs. LA Galaxy at the Home Depot Center (November 20, 2011), Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City at LIVESTRONG Park (November 6th, 2011), and Houston Dynamo vs. FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park (September 24, 2011))

While I haven't seen an incident of a smoke bomb being thrown on the field, they have been set off inside the Cauldron. Most of the ones that I've seen in the section have been illegal ones, usually with the consequence of the person that lite them getting thrown out. In the Chivas Guadalajara game last year I was standing next to someone else who was confronted by security and told they'd lit one when they had not.

I've seen legal ones that have been given to Cauldron capos by security as well. In 2010 when the team was still at CAB, the Cauldron got assistance in requiring a proper fire permit to set off smoke bombs in the section by certain people. I myself set off of a few of them and placed them in coffee cans filled with sand while they burnt out. So the smoke bombs are something that the Cauldron has started to see with some regularity.

It is also a little hypocritical of the league to come down on a supporters group for smoke bombs when quite a few teams and advertisements have had video of smoke bombs being set off in them.

2. Various objects that presented a safety risk thrown onto the field in the direction of players and stadium personnel (MLS Cup, Houston Dynamo vs. LA Galaxy at the Home Depot Center (November 20, 2011)).

There were two big moments this past year that saw items thrown onto the field that struck or almost struck a player. One was an isolated one off incident, the other was done in mass. Firstly the one most people think of when they think of stuff thrown onto the field, the Omar Bravo bobblehead incident. For those living under a rock, that was during the Portland this year. After KC took the lead through Graham Zusi's first goal, Jimmy Nielsen got hit right under the eye by the head of an Omar Bravo bobblehead that was handed out before the game.

The other incident, the one that I think more matches the situation referenced in the letter to the Dynamo supporters, was opening day. After Omar Bravo got upended in the box by Bratislav Ristic and no penalty was given. While Bravo laid on the ground well over 100 bottles and other things got thrown onto the field. That situation almost matches exactly what happened with the Dynamo supporters in MLS Cup.

3. Obscene language and gestures by multiple supporters (MLS Cup, Houston Dynamo vs. LA Galaxy at the Home Depot Center (November 20, 2011)).

All supporters groups have obscene language, either in an organized form or by individuals shouting stuff out. The fact that this is an item is probably the one that many fans should be concerned about. If MLS is going to be sticklers to this point things could get interesting with sanctions. Of course from the game here that the Dynamo supporters are being sanctioned for, this happened:
Again, I'm not forgiving the actions of the Dynamo supporters, in fact I think they're down right pathetic, but it'll be interesting to see how these sanctions play out now as the season goes on. The league has set a precedent now with these sanctions and if they don't follow them as the season goes on, then they'll be called hypocritical for not giving the same sanctions for another group.

Definitely something to keep an eye on, because as I pointed out above, each of the things that Dynamo fans are being "charged" for, are things that have happened in the Cauldron. If similar things happen in the Cauldron this year, what's to say that the Cauldron doesn't get similar sanctions?

This is also something to keep an eye on, because from comments from some of the leadership of the Dynamo groups, the league is apparently looking at Sporting KC because of racist chants being directed at the Dynamo fans when they were in Kansas City for the Eastern Conference finals.

Sporting Tie Montreal

In a game that featured reserves, Sporting KC kept their undefeated start to preseason alive with a 1-1 draw with the Montreal Impact in the second game of the Disney Pro Soccer Classic. Only 3 players that saw the field in the opener against the Houston Dynamo were even dressed for the game today against the expansion Impact. Paulo Nagamura, Jacob Peterson, and Soony Saad, who all 3 came on as subs against the Dynamo started against the Impact. The Wizards did a good job of forcing the game early, but couldn't find a goal to capitalize on their efforts. In the 30th minute, Sporting got a chance to take the lead, as Saad was brought down from behind in the box for a penalty kick. Saad took the duties himself and promptly struck the post keeping the scores level.

Only a few minutes after Saad's miss, the Impact took the lead. Number 1 draft pick, Andrew Wenger, turned Cyprian Hedrick in defense and then fed Mike Fucito, who beat Jon Kempin in Sporting's net.

The second half saw Sporting push the game, looking for an equalizer. They finally got it in the 70th minute, with Saad making amends for his earlier miss, taking a pass from Michael Thomas and beating Evan Bush in the Impact net to tie the game at 1-1. That's where the game finished as both teams settled for a point.

The draw, combined with the Vancouver Whitecaps win over the Dynamo sees Vancouver head to the championship game of the tournament. The spot in the consolation game is still up for grabs heading into the final game day. A win by Sporting over the Whitecaps would see Sporting advance to that game. A draw could also see them go into the consolation game if the Dynamo and Impact also draw in their game.

With all the reserves on the field, a few trialists got a run out still trying to make the roster. Sacir Hot was the only one to start the game, but draft picks Shawn Singh and Kyle Miller both entered the game as late subs, as did former Canadian U20, Mozzi Gyorio, another trialist. The game against the Whitecaps is Wednesday the 29th at 5pm CST.

Comets End Regular Season with Big Win

The Missouri Comets closed out the regular season today against the Milwaukee Wave at the Independence Events Center. After the events of Friday where the two teams ended the game in a shoving match, everything was lined up for an extremely physical game. That did not disappoint either, as the two teams combined for 13 blue cards today. The Comets though used the Wave penalties to their advantage, going 4 of 5 on the day while the Wave went 1 for 4.

Things got off to a rocky start for the Comets though, as less than 6 minutes in, Stefan Stokic was sent to the box for a tripping penalty. The Wave took advantage of the penalty as Giuliano Oliveiro finished off an opportunity from Hewerton, when he crossed the ball into the box and Oliveiro, who five holed Boris Pardo, who was getting his first start of the season. Two minutes later, the Wave doubled their lead. This time, Oliveiro played set up man as he fed Jonathan Greenfield who fired in a shot that beat Pardo to the far post.

By this point, the Comets looked to be going through the motions, without Vahid Assadpour, Tiguinho, Leo Gibson (who was actually red carded at the end of the game Friday), and Ryan Junge, the team just didn't seem to be there. Combine that with the fact that this game meant nothing and you could almost understand.

The game though continued to get physical and shortly after the Wave went up 4-0, we got some 4v4 soccer. Brian Harris was shielding a ball back to Pardo when he was fouled by Oliveiro. Harris took exception to the foul and immediately got up and pushed Oliveiro earning both players blue cards. Neither team was able to capitalize on the wide open field, but during that play, the Comets seemed to finally wake up. Shortly after the 4v4 situation, the Comets found themselves on the power play as Evan McNeley was given a blue card for tripping. The Comets took advantage of the man advantage, as Geison played a ball to the back side. Byron Alvarez connected with a header, putting it onto the bar and off of Milwaukee goalkeeper Nick Vorberg. The ball bounced onto the line and Alvarez pounced on it first making it 4-2.

Things continued to get out of hand as the quarter was drawing to a close. Neto had words with Greenfield after they both collided running for the ball. After their words, Neto was making a run, and Josh Rife stuck out a foot, tripping the Comets forward. The Comets pressed on the power play, and finally tied the game up. Once again it was the Geison to Alvarez combination. Geison found Alavarez at the back post with a cutting pass that Alvarez blasted in from a yard out to tie the game with 1.5 seconds left in the quarter.

The second quarter continued the physical and rough play as just a minute in, there was 4v4 soccer again as John Sosa and Marcio Leiti both got sent to the box for pushing. The Comets grabbed the lead just over 6 minutes into the game. Pardo collected a weak shot by the Wave and played an immediate ball to Stokic at Missouri's yellow line. Stokic then dribbled the length of the floor before firing a shot past Vorberg and into the net giving the Comets their first lead.

The Wave became the ones that really pushed the game from that point, pressuring the Comets and pushing their thing bench. The high pressure almost paid off late in the quarter. After Pardo got caught out of net, the Comets gave the ball away and Leite tried to ship the Comets keeper, Pardo got his hands up and knocked the ball down, but the problem was that Pardo wasn't back in the box yet. Pardo was whistled for a hand ball and the Wave had a shootout attempt. Pardo though came up big on the shootout attempt stopping Leite and then the Comets were able to kill off the power play.

With less than a minute left in the half, the Comets again found themselves on the power play. Hewerton this time was sent to the box. The Comets weren't able to capitalize before the end of the half, but early in the third quarter, the Comets again paid off and once again it was Geison to Alvarez. Geison played a ball to himself off the wall and then fired a ball to the back post where Alvarez was there once again to tap the ball in giving the Comets the 8-4 lead. Just over a minute later, the Comets made it 10-4. Pardo again played a quick ball to Stokic who again went the length of the floor, this time Vorberg saved his shot, but Geison was there this time to follow and make it a 6 point lead for the Comets.

Things went and got worse for the Wave, as Marco Terminesi was sent to the box for holding as Bato Radoncic got in behind the defense. Once again, the Comets capitalized on the power play and for the fourth time it was Geison to Alvarez. This time Geison played in a cross in the air that Alvarez met with a diving header to make it 12-4. At this point, Missouri was up by as many as they were at the same time on Friday. It became a question of whether Missouri had learned anything from the performance on Friday. About the midpoint of the quarter, the Wave cut the lead back to 6 as Oliveiro finished off his second of the game and for a split second people had to think "oh no here we go again."

Instead though the Comets came back and restored their 8 point lead. This time it was Neto finishing off a chance. His original 3 pointer was saved, but Bato was there, collected the rebound. Bato's first chance was blocked, he then picked out Neto who buried his chance and it was 14-6. The physicality continued though, and the Comets found themselves down a man again. Neto had fouled a Wave player. The player took exception to it and got in Neto's face. Missouri's big defender, Cristiano stepped up for his teammate and received a blue card for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Comets held the power play off though and ended the quarter up 14-6.

The fourth quarter saw the Comets build on their lead. First was Alvarez getting his 5th goal of the game, the first not on a power play. Alvarez led a fast break and was looking to return a favor from earlier goals as he tried to feed Geison. The pass though was blocked by a Wave defender and rolled into the net as Vorberg had committed himself to the pass. With Alvarez at the yellow line when he played the pass, it was a 3 point goal making it 17-6. At this point, the Wave made an interesting decision and went with the 6th attacker very early. The reason for this probably has to do with the playoffs approaching. With the playoffs, around the corner, if the Wave were facing a situation similar to this in the playoffs, they'd need to do this again so getting practice in a real game that means little is a big bonus to the Wave. The Comets though took advantage of it shortly after they made the change. Another quick outlet from Pardo found Coady Andrews who raced down the side. He fired a shot into the middle that got turned in by Neto to make it 19-6.

The Wave continued to pull the 6th attacker in and out of the game depending on the situation for the majority of the rest of the half. About halfway through though, the Comets made it 21-6, with Alvarez again finding the net off a pass from Harris. The Wave finally killed a power play, but that seemed to have a lot more to do with the Comets not really attacking than the Wave's defense. The Comets as well had one more penalty to kill after Alvarez picked up a 4th foul in the half and had to sit. But the Comets killed the game off and will go into the playoffs on a high with the 21-6 win, as the Comets scored 21 of the last 23 points in the game.

Comets vs Milwaukee PBP

Here's your play by play

Sporting KC Take on Expansion Impact

Sporting KC is back in action in about an hour down in Orlando when they'll take on the expansion Montreal Impact in their second game of the Disney Pro Soccer Classic. Sporting comes into the game off their 0-0 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Friday night. The Impact come in after being defeated 3-0 by the Vancouver Whitecaps in their tournament opener.

The big question today will be what type of lineup that Sporting puts out. I am not sure we'll see the same lineup that took the field against the Dynamo. I think it's very possible that we see a more reserve lineup today. Get some other guys some time. With Friday night being the first time the majority of the players went 90 minutes, Peter Vermes might look to give some of the guys like Cyprian Hedrick, Dom Dwyer, Soony Saad, Sacir Hot, and Stefan Antonijevic a chance to gete some game time because of the short turnaround.

That said, Vermes could just so his substitutions more and still play the starters.

Kamara not going to Sierra Leone

It looks like Kei Kamara will be hanging around Orlando for the rest of preseason. Kamara was supposed to depart for Sierra Leone tomorrow for an African Cup of Nations qualifier. But today on Twitter, Kamara apologized to the people of Sierra Leone because he was "going 2 seat [sic] this game out." Based off the travel schedule he posted it makes sense, he would not be leaving Orlando until tomorrow, wouldn't get into Sierra Leone until Tuesday and would play Wednesday in the qualifier. That's a crazy schedule for anyone, let alone someone who would be expected to play close to 90 minutes in the game against Sao Tome and Principe. It would have been a good opportunity for Kamara to possibly get his first international goal as The Falcons and True Parrots Team is ranked about 100 spots below Sierra Leone in the world rankings according to FIFA.

MLS Cup Trophy Coming to LiveSTRONG (If Only for a Year)

Strike one up to the power of social media. The Wizards MLS Cup 2000 trophy has been found. After Sporting Times article a few weeks ago regarding the fate of the 2000 trophy, the question on where the trophy was has circled through not only the KC soccer community but had started to go through the MLS community as well.

Today the Star broke the news that the trophy is not in Dallas as I had though when I wrote my 2012 wishes, wanting the trophy to return to KC. In the end, the trophy never left Kansas City. The trophy has been in storage at Arrowhead since the renovations of the facility in 2007.

Clark Hunt, after hearing of the campaign to get the trophy back to Kansas City contacted Cliff Illig and Robb Heineman offering to display the trophy at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park next year. The trophy will only stay at LSP for one year before going on display permanently in the Lamar Hunt Gallery at Arrow Stadium's Chief's Hall of Honor. In return, Sporting KC will get a replica of the trophy that will then be put on permanent display.

When OnGoal bought the team in 2006, part of the deal to sell the team was that Lamar Hunt and Hunt's Sports Group would retain the 2000 MLS Cup. This was because of how important it was to Lamar according to his son, Clark. “That trophy was very, very important to my father...it was his first trophy in MLS and first professional trophy since the Dallas Tornado (won the North American Soccer League) in 1971."

I appreciate the fact that the trophy is "found" and will be making it's way LiveSTRONG Sporting Park, if only for a year, but I still don't agree with everything that was said. Firstly, while I have no doubt of Clark's comments about the trophy being important to his father, I just question how important Clark sees it. It was so important in Clark's eyes that two years after the renovations at Arrowhead were completed the trophy was still in storage collecting dust. As soon as renovations were done the Chiefs Lombardi trophy was out and on display for fans.

I also cannot understate my admiration for Lamar Hunt, for not only bringing Major League Soccer to Kansas City, but helping work to make sure that MLS stayed in Kansas City. Yes he put the team up for sale, but he gave precedent to selling the Wizards to local ownership. He could have easily sold the team to New York businessman, Andrew Murstein (who wanted to move the team to New York and revive the Cosmos), or sold and moved the team to Rochester when the Raging Rhinos were outdrawing MLS teams on a regular basis, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Tulsa, or any number of the other cities that were rumored to be getting the Wizards. Instead he kept the team in Kansas City and along came OnGoal and the rest is history.

All that said, I can't think of a situation where an owner has sold a team and kept the trophy that the team won for a championship. But yet Lamar and HSG kept their trophy when OnGoal bought the team. I mean the Kauffman's didn't keep the Royals 85 World Series trophy, there's a replica of it apparently at the Kauffman Center, but the original is in the Royals Hall of Fame at Kauffman. Why isn't something like that done in this instance? Instead, Sporting is the one that will be getting the "replica" trophy. Yes I understand the trophy will stay local, it'll be at Arrowhead. It just doesn't seem right that a trophy for the team is staying with the former owner. Will the Chiefs Lombardi Trophy go if Hunt ever sells the Chiefs?

Sporting Draw Disney Opener

Sporting KC continued their preseason work yesterday in the opener of the Disney Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando, Florida. In the opening game of the tournament, Sporting KC took on the Houston Dynamo in a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference finals where the Dynamo won 2-0.

Last night in Orlando, KC fielded a fairly first team lineup, there were only two positions where you could argue that someone else would be starting come March 10th in DC. If it were March 10th, Luke Sassano would likely be replaced by Julio Cesar, who is currently in Spain for personal reasons. The other is the debate over whether you start CJ Sapong or Teal Bunbury at the center striker position. Either one can play the position, but it's going to be a matter of preference for Peter Vermes.

In the end, both teams had some decent chances, with both Jimmy Nielsen and Tally Hall both coming up big for their side. The best chance for KC came in the 62nd minute, when a Graham Zusi cross was met by Kei Kamara. Kamara's header was saved, the rebound bounced off Sapong who couldn't get a good shot off before Houston cleared their lines. Houston's best chance came late in the game off a Dynamo corner kick. Geoff Cameron got a free header, but it was well within arm reach for Nielsen to make a diving save.

Sporting will play again tomorrow at 2pm against the Montreal Impact. The Impact lost their tournament opener last night to the Vancouver Whitecaps, 3-0.

Bunbury and the U23 Team Beat San Antonio

The US U23 team got their second win of their camp in Frisco, TX yesterday as they topped the San Antonio Scorpions 3-0 yesterday. Sporting KC forward, Teal Bunbury started for the U23 team again as the center striker in Caleb Porter's 4-3-3 system. He had one really good chance that the Scorpions goalie did well to save. Bunbury subbed out at half time for Juan Agudelo. In the second half is when the US got all their goals. Agudelo first set up Brek Shea for a tap in after a run down the line. Dilly Duka of Columbus cut through the Scorpions defense with a slaloming run before he finished near post. The final goal came from Jake McInerney as he headed home a deflected cross from Tony Taylor.

Here are the highlights

Poor Third Quarter Dooms the Comets

The Comets saw their 5 game winning streak snapped tonight at the Independence Events Center as a poor 3rd quarter doomed the Comets to a 15-14 loss to the Wave. In the first quarter, the Wave were the more aggressive side, pushing the game on the Comets, but were not able to find the net early on. The Comets had their chances as well, but they to couldn't get a goal. With just over 5 minutes left in the quarter, the Wave got on the board first, as Nicolas Perera cut inside on his defender and fired a shot past Danny Waltman to give Milwaukee the 2-0 lead. After grabbing the lead though, the Wave seemed to concede more of the field, and the Comets started to take advantage, and with just over 12 minutes played, got the score level. Lucas Rodriguez did a good job of splitting the defense with a nice pass and Geison fired the shot past Marcel Feenstra.

Shortly after the goal, the Comets found themselves on the power play, as Jonathan Greenfield was blue carded for boarding on Cristiano. A little over 20 seconds later, the Comets capitalized on the power play. Off a restart, Tiguinho fed a pass to Rodriguez, whose low shot 5 holed Feenstra and gave the Comets the lead at the end of 1 quarter, 4-2.

The second quarter saw the Wave working to get back into the game, but Waltman, as he has been doing a lot lately was coming up with quite a few big saves to keep the Comets in the lead. As the quarter wore on, the frustration for Milwaukee started to come out as they picked up foul after foul. The Comets themselves also had some chances, but Feenstra made some good saves himself in his goal. With just under 4 minutes to play in the quarter, the Comets started firing in rapid succession. The first to strike was Byron Alvarez. Waltman collected a weak shot from the Wave and immediately played an outlet pass to Alvarez. The ball went over his defenders head and Alvarez went to goal, he let the ball bounce one more time than fired a volley that beat Feenstra and made it 6-2 Comets. Less than a minute later, the Comets were up 8-2. The play came about after both teams had fast breaks, first the Comets broke 2v2, but had the chance broken up. This led to a 3v1 situation for the Wave, but Waltman made a good save and back the other way came Geison and Neto on a 2v1. Geison fed Neto who collected, turned and fired past Feenstra to make it 8-2. The fouling by the Wave continued and Marcio Leite found himself in the box for holding a short time later. Once again, the Comets capitalized on the power play, only 15 seconds after the power play started, it was 10-2. A ball played across to the back post was headed back into the middle by Geison. Feenstra could only slap at the header and the ball fell to Leo Gibson who hit it on the side volley past Feenstra to have the Comets go into the half up 8.

The 3rd quarter, once again saw the Wave come out looking to get themselves back into the game. Both keepers were busy though as the Comets continued to try to strike on the counter. Once again they suffered a blow to their offense, as Tiguinho went down with a knee injury close to half way through the quarter and did not return to the game. The loss of Tiguinho hurt a lot, because Missouri didn't really have someone that could pull the strings offensively as well as the Brazilian. Without him, the Comets offense sputtered.

The Wave took advantage. Just over 7 minutes in, Greenfield got on the board as he fired a shot low to Waltman's far corner in off the post. From there the Wave continued to pressure and they always looked the more likely team to score again. The next goal came from Ian Bennett, who was played in behind the Comets defense by Hewerton and he only had to tap it past Waltman to make it 10-6. A few minutes later, the Wave were within one. After Waltman made a good save, knocking away a low effort, the ball unfortunately fell to JP Rodrigues, who from outside the yellow line fired a 3 pointer that made it into the net and made it 10-9. Less than a minute later, the Wave were back in the lead. This time it was Hewerton getting the goal. Leite started the play on the right, squaring the ball into the middle, where Hewerton beat Stefan Stokic to the ball and poking the ball past Waltman to make it 11-10 after 3 quarters.

After the first 3 quarters saw late goals, the fourth quarter started with a flurry. Less than 30 seconds in, the Wave had expanded their lead as Greenfield got his second goal of the game as Hewerton was again the set up man, playing Greenfield in behind the defense. The Comets though didn't take long to respond. Bato Radoncic, picking up some of the playmaking role, picked out Gibson who had made a run on the back side. Gibson collected the ball, took a touch and fired past Feenstra to make it 13-12. A minute later the lead was again 3 points after the Comets intentially played the ball out of bounds in their own half. Leite found Hewerton on the left on the free kick and Hewerton made no mistake firing into the roof of the net to make it 15-12. The Comets though responded about a minute later, this time again through Geison. First, Rodriguez fired a shot off the top glass, the ball fell to Alvarez, whose header hit off the cross bar as Feenstra batted at it, but it fell to Geison who headed it into the net to make it a 1 point game again.

The Comets continued to push the game late, getting another power play, but were again unable to capitalize on the opportunity. In the end they missed Tiguinho's creativity on the field to help them break down the Wave's defense. The end of the game saw Bennett commit a rough foul on Gibson. After the game, the foul led to an exchanging of words and shoving between the two players. The shoving escalated and both teams were soon enough packed together on one side of the field trying to separate things out. Certainly will make the next 3 games the two teams play against each other of the next week or so very interesting.

Comets vs Milwaukee PBP

Comets vs Milwaukee Play by Play

Sporting Back in Action Today

Sporting KC is back in preseason action today as they kick off the Disney Pro Soccer Classic down in Orlando, Florida. KC's opponent today is the Houston Dynamo, who defeated the Wizards in the Eastern Conference final last year 2-0 to earn a trip to MLS Cup ahead of Sporting.

The Dynamo have Brian Ching back after spending time with the Montreal Impact, who selected him in the expansion draft. Brian Davis is also working his way back from the injury that he picked up in the Eastern Conference final and may play a role in the game as well. Other wise, Houston is very close to the same team as last year. Gone are Carlo Costly, Danny Cruz, Hunter Freeman, Jason Garey, and Eddie Robinson, though other than Costly and Cruz the players didn't get a ton of time. Replacing them Houston has brought in Nathan Sturgis and Macoumba Kandji.

Based on comments during the Sporting KC show last night, KC will have mainly first teamers playing the game tonight. There will be a few absences for one reason or another. Specifically in the center midfield position, where Julio Cesar is away on personal business in Spain, and Paulo Nagamura is currently sick and unlikely to play. That would seem to put Luke Sassano or Michael Thomas as the favorite to start next to Roger Espinoza and Graham Zusi in the midfield. Espinoza and Kei Kamara are likely to play a part in the first two games before heading off to join their national teams for their games on Wednesday the 29th.

Remember that you can watch the game live tonight on MLSsoccer.com, the game is on Channel 2.

New Trialist and Dear Mr Hunt Letter Campaign

Sporting KC has a new trialist in camp according to reports. Sacir Hot, the former New York Red Bulls home grown player, was waived by the Red Bulls last week. Hot was signed by the Red Bulls last January as a home grown and appeared in two US Open Cup games for the Red Bulls, his only 2 first team appearances for the Red Bulls.

The 20 year old Hot was also a part of the US U20 team that traveled to Guatemala for World Cup qualifying. the 6'1" center back looks set to compete with Stefan Antonijevic for a spot on the roster.

Dear Mr. Hunt Campaign

Also today, the campaign to get the 2000 MLS Cup trophy back to Kansas City started getting some attention from some more major media today as Nick Wright discussed the topic today on his show. He took a bit of a different angle than many fans would hope. Wright said that he'd love to have the trophy back in Kansas City, but said that he understands Hunt wanting to keep the trophy as well. Fair enough to Wright he said he'd feel the same way if Hunt sold the Chiefs and kept the Lombardi Trophy.

Although I doubt that very much so. I think if Hunt were to sell the team and keep the trophy, this city (and the media by extension) would be up in arms over the trophy not staying in KC, which is the point that Sporting KC fans are trying to make in regards to the 2000 MLS Cup and wanting it back.

Former SKC Wizards Update

Another week of former Wizards updates. Eddie Johnson did sign with MLS, he ended up going to Montreal, but the Impact traded him to Seattle for Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle. Another former Wizard has a new club as well, as Rauwshan McKenzie has officially signed with Chivas USA after being on trial with them all of preseason. Also with preseason ending soon, it appears that Scott Sealy will have a new club as well, as he's impressed down in Dallas while trialing with them. Here's the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Chris Konopka
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Amir Lowry
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Milos Stojcev
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.
Adam Cristman - LA - Season is over.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Season is over.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Season is over.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Season is over.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Season is over.
Eddie Johnson - Seattle - Season is over.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Chivas - season is over.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Season is over.
Ryan Smith - Chivas - Season is over.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Season is over.
Shavar Thomas - Montreal - Season is over.
Tyson Wahl - Montreal - Season is over.
Josh Wolff - DC - Season is over.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Season is over.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Out of season.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Out of season.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Out of season.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Out of season.
Yomby William - Richmond - Out of season.
John Wilson - Charleston - Out of season.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Out of season.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Out of season.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Out of season.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Scored a goal in Wichita's 16-10 loss to Rochester.
Nick Garcia - Kansas Magic - No game this week.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Played in Baltimore's 17-13 win over Milwaukee.
Mike Jones - Illinois Piasa - No game this week.
JT Murray - Louisville Lightning - No game this week.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not play for the Comets against Rochester.
Yomby William - Norfolk SharX - Played in Norfolk's 21-17 win over Syracuse. Did not play in Norfolk's 14-13 win over Milwaukee.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Played Tijuana this wek.

International
Vicente Arze - Diosgyor - Hungary - Lost 2-0 to Videoton in the league cup.
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Started and played 90 minutes in Cruz Azul's 1-1 draw with Pumas. Dressed but did not play in Cruz Azul's 4-0 win over Deportivo Tachira.
Sunil Chhetri - Mohun Bagan - India - Did not have a game this week.
Eloy Colombano - Defensores de Cambaceres - Argentina - Defeated Midland 1-0.
Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Did not play for Deportivo Cali.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Did not have a game this week.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 11 minutes in Santos' 1-1 draw with Monterrey.
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - Honved - Hungary - Did not have a game this week.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Tied Montego Bay United 1-1.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - Did not have a game this week.
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - on winter break.
Neal Kitson - Northampton Town - England - Dressed but did not play in Northampton's 3-2 win over Macclesfield Town.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - on winter break.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Game against Melgar was postponed.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - On winter break.
Craig Rocastle - Thrasyvoulos Fylis FC - Greece - Game this week was postponed.
Matt Taylor - SC Paderborn 07 - Germany - Came off the bench and played 9 minutes, scoring a goal in Paderborn's 2-2 draw with Dynamo Dresden.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Season is over.

Bunbury, Zusi, Cyrus, and Collin Player News

Some quick hits on new for some Sporting KC players.

Bunbury and US U23 Team Top FC Dallas

In the first of a few scrimmages in the current US Under 23 camp, the US team pulled out a 2-1 win over FC Dallas. Dallas grabbed the lead through Andrew Jacobsen off a corner. Shortly after the US equalized through Ike Opara off a Freddy Adu corner. The winner for the 23's came shortly after half time when Dallas' own Brek Shea scored to make it 2-1. Later on the US Kofi Sarkodie and Shea sent off for two yellow cards as the US ended with 9 men.

Teal Bunbury started for the US in the center striker position in the game. He subbed out at half time for Tony Taylor, but reappeared in the 67th, coming on for Adu. So Bunbury got a total of 68 minutes in the friendly with the US team.

Zusi Contract Extension Official

Robb Heineman let the cat out of the bag last week on this, but today it was made official by the team. Zusi has signed a new contract with the club. Per club and league rules, the specifics of the deal were not announced, but Heineman's tweet referenced a 4 year deal for the central midfielder.

Cyrus Waived

In a move that I think most people saw coming, Daneil Cyrus is no longer with Sporting KC. The Trinidad and Tobago international had not been in camp for Sporting KC at all this preseason. The reason given was for "personal reasons", but with Cyrus turning up in camp with the Trinidad U23 team, you knew that his time in KC was going to be ending soon. Even if Cyrus had been around, he'd have been competing with the newly signed Cyprian Hedrick and draft pick Stefan Antonijevic for time.

Cyrus appeared in two league games for Sporing KC last season. Coming on as a sub for Aurelien Collin against Toronto after Collin hurt his back. He then started the next game against New England, being removed for Teal Bunbury as Sporting was trailing. Shortly after that, Cyrus broke his foot in a reserve game and was done for the season.

KC's other no show in camp for personal reason, Birahim Diop, will likely also be on his way out of KC sooner than later one would assume.

Collin's Corner

Words do not do justice, just watch.

Sporting KC Sign Hedrick

When Sporting KC selected Cyprian Hedrick with the 30th pick of the Superdraft, quite a few people were surprised by the selection. But in the videos post draft, you could hear the excitement in Peter Vermes' voice at getting the Coastal Carolina grad. Today, Sporting KC officially announced the signing of the Cameroonian center back, adding him to the roster.

Hedrick joins Aurelien Collin, Matt Besler, Lawrence Olum, and Julio Cesar in the mix for centerback minutes, although Cesar is likely to spend the majority of his time in the midfield. Also in the mix is Daneil Cyrus, but the Trinidad and Tobago defender has yet to be in camp with the team.

Counting the recently signed Hedrick, and Cyrus and Birahim Diop (who also has not been in camp), KC has 29 players under contract. That would leave 1 roster spot open for KC's remaining draft picks, Shawn Singh, Stefan Antonijevic, and Kyle Miller. But with Cyrus and Diop not in camp, it'll be interesting to see if KC doesn't end up signing all 3 of them and cutting Cyrus and Diop loose.

Sporting KC Reserve Schedule Released

Today, MLS released this year's reserve schedule for all teams. Once again Sporting is in the Central Conference, where they will play each of the other 5 teams home and away to give them a total of 10 games. Sporting though, has already announced one other reserve game, on their schedule on their team site.

The Swope Park Rangers open their season against Creighton University, 3 days after the season opener against DC United. They then kick off their "league" season a week later in Salt Lake against RSL. They play their next 4 games at home, all at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park.

The full team will then travel to Chicago on the weekend of May 12th, because the day after the first team plays the Fire, the reserves play the next morning. Double the games for a Cauldron road trip, as long as at least 1 bus is willing to leave Chicago around noon.

After the Chicago game, the Rangers play only 1 game in June, 1 in August, and 2 in September. Certainly a front loaded schedule for the reserves. Hopefully some other games get scheduled in there as well.

The best part of the schedule for me though, has to do with the times of the games in Kansas City. Of the 6 reserve games that they've announced, 5 of them are at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, and will be played in the evening. That means, should the games be open to the public (and I have no reason to believe that they won't, there's a greater likelihood of fans being able to attend.

Here is the team's schedule.

Date	Opponent	Local Time	Location
Tuesday, March 13	CREIGHTON UNIV.	7:30pm	LIVESTRONG Sporting Park
Tuesday, March 20	at Real Salt Lake	11:00am	RSL Training Field
Tuesday, March 27	HOUSTON DYNAMO	7:30pm	LIVESTRONG Sporting Park
Tuesday, April 10	CHICAGO FIRE	7:30pm	LIVESTRONG Sporting Park
Tuesday, April 24	COLORADO RAPIDS	7:30pm	LIVESTRONG Sporting Park
Tuesday, May 1	FC DALLAS	7:30pm	LIVESTRONG Sporting Park
Sunday, May 13	at Chicago Fire	10:00am	Toyota Park Practice Field
Saturday, June 9	at Colorado Rapids	11:00am	DSG Park Field 20
Tuesday, August 14	at Houston Dynamo	10:00am	Houston Amateur Sports Park
Tuesday, September 11	REAL SALT LAKE	11:00am	Sporting Club Training Center
Tuesday, September 25	at FC Dallas	7:30pm	FC Dallas Stadium

Undermanned Comets Hold Off Lancers

Without three players that put in a large number of minutes for the team today, the Missouri Comets built a 13-5 lead by late in the 4th quarter, but had to hold on late to defeat the Rochester Lancers 13-11 for their 5th straight win.

The Comets were without 3rd leading scorer, Vahid Assadpour, Cristiano, and recent signing Bato Radoncic today as they took on the Lancers. To go along with that, the Comets lost Ryan Junge and Tiguinho during the course of the game due to injury.

The Comets grabbed the early lead as Neto backhealed a pass from Tiguinho into the net. Only a minute later, the Lancers actually pulled ahead off a restart 3 pointer from Mauricio Salles. The Comets continued to push to try to get the lead back, and late in the quarter they pulled ahead again. Once again it was Neto finding the net off another assist from Tiguinho. This time Tiguinho got open on the right hand side and played a ball across the box to an unmarked Neto who tapped the ball home.

In the second quarter, the Lancers retook the lead, as Andrew Hoxie beat Danny Waltman in net to make it 5-4. Just after the midway point in the half though, the Comets retook the lead. This time through John Sosa. Byron Alvarez led a 2v1 break and then fed Sosa who slotted the shot under Patrick Hannigan to make it 6-5. Just over a minute later, Bryan Harris fed a pass to Neto, and the Brazilian fired a shot from 3 point range the went into the roof of the net giving the Comets a 9-5 lead. Waltman was called to make some big saves, including one where he made it across the length of the goal and knocked a ball off the line to keep the lead for Missouri.

In the second half, the Lancers began to push the game more, looking to get themselves back into the game. And at each turn, Waltman came up big, making a number of big saves. Including once again saving one off the line. Late in the quarter, Missouri extended their lead. With less than a minute left, Lucas Rodriguez fed a pass to the back post for Geison who beat Hannigan low again making it 11-5.

The fourth quarter saw both keepers once again come up big for their side, Waltman continued to keep the Lancers out of the net, while Hannigan kept his team in it as well. Missouri though did find another goal just before the half way point. Alvarez picked up his second assist of the game, feeding Geison who scored his second goal making it 13-5. The Lancers though kept things close, and finally found a way past Waltman. Doug Miller got the first goal with just over 9 minutes gone. Less than a minute later the Lancers were within 3, thanks to a goal from Gary Boughton.

Then as the game was winding down, things got interesting. The Lancers brought on the 6th attacker with about 2 and a half minutes left and pushed the game even more. That lasted for only about 30 seconds though when a blue card came out for Sallas. The Comets went onto the power play, but they were on the power play for about a minute when Lucas Rodriguez found himself going to the box for boarding. So with the teams playing 4v4, the Lancers brought the "5th attacker" back on the field. The Comets withstood the pressure and with 25 seconds left Harris tried to lead a break. Instead, Harris was up ended by Kyle Manscuk and went into the boards. The foul was the last of what had been a chippy 4th quarter, and Harris came up ready for a fight. Players from both teams came off the bench and a scuffle broke out. The referees quickly broke things up. When everything cleared up, Manscuk was shown a red card for his challenge, while Harris was given a blue card for retaliation and went to the box himself. So for the last 25 seconds the two teams played 3v3. The Lancers had one good late chance right before time expired, but Waltman came up with one last big save. In the end, Waltman had over 20 saves as the Comets held the Lancers off.

Combine the Comets 5th straight win with a 3rd straight loss for the Milwaukee Wave, and Missouri is back in the race to potentially win the Central Division. Missouri has to win out while the Wave continue to lose, but it is still possible. The Wave have 1 game against Syracuse before ending the season with 2 against the Comets.

Kamara Called Up for Leone Stars

Kei Kamara posted on Twitter today that he will be traveling to Sierra Leone in the next few days. Kamara's comment: "Packing for an even longer trip this time...Orlando then Sierra Leone then Soa[SIC] Tome & Principe."

Kamara and Sporting KC head to Orlando tomorrow to begin the final phase of preseason training. But while KC is in Orlando, there is an international match date, on the 29th of February. Roger Espinoza and Teal Bunbury will already miss time in Orlando due to national team commitments, and now Kamara is set to as well. Shortly after the first tweet, Kamara confirmed his call up saying: "Guys am only going for a game on the 29 Feb. And should be back in time for the Opener in DC. Hopefully lol jk."

Kamara's tweets along with the fact that the Leone Stars play Soa Tome & Principe in a friendly would make it obvious that Kamara will be representing his country in the upcoming friendly. Kamara will join up with his national team before heading to the island nation in the Gulf of Guinea.

With Kamara and Bunbury both gone, there's certainly an opportunity for Dom Dwyer, Jacob Peterson, and Soony Saad to all step up and contribute during the tournament down in Orlando coming up this week.

New Byline to Back Post

Last night Thad and I got together to record a new episode of From the Byline to the Back Post. We discussed the Sporting Juniors college signings, changes to the academy system, getting our cup back, preseason so far, including international call ups and contract extensions. In segment two we discuss the Comets, Magic, and former Wizards news. Available via Posterous and iTunes.

Zusi Signs Extension

Last weekend, Robb Heineman posted on Twitter that "pending league approval got another guy resigned". Speculation on who that was ran around for a few days. The two names that were regularly brought up were Matt Besler and Graham Zusi. The two had breakout years last year, with Besler stepping up and anchoring the central defense for KC and becoming an asset on set pieces, especially with his long throw. While he may not have gotten a ton of assists off them, Besler helped set up at least 5 goals with his throw ins. Zusi as well become a threat on set pieces, playing in some great corners and free kicks, leading the team in assists with 7, and also scored 5 goals as well.

Today, Heineman confirmed that they had re-signed Zusi to a new 4 year contract. This move has obviously been met enthusiasm from most fans that I've seen. It locks in a fan favorite for the next 4 years. Zusi will play the prime years of his career in KC. And should a club come calling after Zusi, KC will get themselves a nice transfer fee from the move if it were to ever happen. For quotes directly from Zusi check out the Star's article. Congrats to Graham.

More Sporting International News

To go along with Teal Bunbury's call up to the US U23 team two more Sporting KC players have/had national team duties to attend to. Today, Honduras named their roster for their upcoming friendly against Ecuador. The game will take place on February 29th, the same date that the US national team is set to take on Italy in Italy. Espinoza is the lone MLS representative in the team. Missing out on the game is former Houston Dynamo forward, Carlo Costly. The man who was one time linked with a move to KC, and who scored the clinching goal against KC in the playoffs, will miss out on the game because he's not playing regularly, instead he was in Miami playing against retired "fat" players as Honduras coach termed it (not related to Espinoza at all, but found it hilarious that the coach said this).

In other news for internationals playing with Sporting KC, Daneil Cyrus is in camp with the Trinidad and Tobago U23 team as they too prepare for the Olympics. Today they played the Guyana national team. Cyrus started for the T&T U23 team as they took care of Guyana 3-1. The team is preparing for their qualifying group that will contain favorites Mexico out in LA. Cyrus, who is still on KC's roster, has not been a part of preseason, instead being granted leave for "personal reasons". With Cyprian Hedrick signing (per a Tweet from Dom Dwyer, since deleted) and Stefan Antonijevic still hanging around, you have to wonder about Cyrus' future with Kansas City after he appeared in 2 games last season playing just over 100 minutes before breaking a bone in his foot in a reserve game.

Bunbury Called into US U23 Camp

US national team U23 coach, Caleb Porter, today announced his upcoming roster for the team's camp in Frisco, TX. The 23 man roster will start on Sunday the 19th of February. The camp will end on the 29th when the US team takes on the Mexican U23 team at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco.

Included on the roster, is Sporting KC forward, Teal Bunbury. Bunbury is one of 8 forwards included on the roster, 5 of whom are based in the US in MLS. It'll be interesting to see how Bunbury fits in though, because many of the forwards included on the roster play very different games. So with the likes of Freddy Adu, Juan Agudelo, Joe Gyau, and Brek Shea, along with others, it'll be interesting to see where Bunbury fits in with that team. The camp is likely one of the last opportunities to impress before the Olympic qualifiers kick off on March 22nd for the US.

Bunbury will miss a good stretch of the team's preseason training in Orlando. Bunbury will miss all 3 group games of the Disney Pro Soccer Classic that Sporting is competing in while in Orlando. He could possibly play in the championship or consolation game on the 3rd should Peter Vermes want him too, but I think Vermes would give him a rest after the camp.

With Bunbury gone, it certainly provides an opportunity to other players on the roster, especially reserve strikers, Dom Dwyer and Soony Saad, giving them a chance to impress Vermes while in Orlando.

Former SKC Wizards Update

The MLS season is getting closer, and we're approaching the end of the former SKC Wizards season. Some former are still on trial with different teams, including Scott Sealy who looks set to sign with Dallas. In other news, former player, Scott Lorenz, will be playing in Florida this year with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, who had former players Aaron Hohlbein and Abe Thompson on the team last year. New rumors today have had the Colorado Rapids apparently interested in Eddie Johnson, but that rumor appears to be getting shot down already. here's the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Doug DeMartin
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Santiago Hirsig
Eddie Johnson
Chris Konopka
Michael Kraus
Jonathan Leathers
Amir Lowry
Rauwshan McKenzie
Ryan McMahen
Michal Mravec
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Milos Stojcev
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Season is over.
Adam Cristman - LA - Season is over.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Season is over.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Season is over.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Season is over.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Season is over.
Kurt Morsink - DC - Season is over.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Season is over.
Shavar Thomas - Montreal - Season is over.
Tyson Wahl - Montreal - Season is over.
Josh Wolff - DC - Season is over.

NASL
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Season is over.
Aaron Hohlbein - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Season is over.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Out of season.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Out of season.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Out of season.
Akeem Priestley - LA - Out of season.
Yomby William - Richmond - Out of season.
John Wilson - Charleston - Out of season.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Out of season.
Sergei Raad - FC Jax Destroyers - Out of season.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Out of season.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Played in Wichita's 6-3 loss to Milwaukee.
Nick Garcia - Kansas Magic - Did not play for the Magic
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Scored a goal in Baltimore's 18-9 loss to Missouri.
Mike Jones - Illinois Piasa - Did not play for Illinois. Played in Illinois' 6-5 loss to Detroit.
JT Murray - Louisville Lightning - Did not play in Louisville's 8-5 win over Ohio.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not play in either of the Comets games.
Yomby William - Norfolk SharX - Played in Norfolk's 21-4 loss to Syracuse. Played in Norfolk's 21-17 win over Syracuse.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Did not play in Anaheim's 12-10 win over Tacoma. Did not play in Anaheim's 12-11 win over Tacoma.

International
Vicente Arze - Diosgyor - Hungary - Next game 2/22
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Played 83 minutes in Cruz Azul's 0-0 draw with Tijuana.
Sunil Chhetri - Mohun Bagan - India - Did not play in Bagan's 2-1 win over Mumbai.
Eloy Colombano - Defensores de Cambaceres - Argentina - Lost 3-0 to Deportivo Laferrere.
Pablo Escobar - Deportivo Cali - Colombia - Did not play for Deportivo Cali.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Scored a goal in North East's 2-0 win over San Juan Jabloteh.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Dressed but did not play in Santos' 3-1 loss to Morelia.
Zoltan Hercegfalvi - Honved - Hungary - On winter break.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Defeated Reno 3-1.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - Tied Vitoria 0-0. Defeated Juazeiro Ba 4-1.
Will John - Vinogradar - Croatia - on winter break.
Neal Kitson - Northampton Town - England - Did not dress in Northhampton Town's 1-0 win over AFC Wimbledon.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - on winter break.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Next game 2/19
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - On winter break.
Craig Rocastle - Thrasyvoulos Fylis FC - Greece - Games this week were canceled.
Matt Taylor - SC Paderborn 07 - Germany - Dressed but did not play in Paderborn's 5-1 loss to Greuther Furth.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Season is over.

New Trialist

Not only today did quite a few of KC's rookies and trialists finally get a good run out in one of the preseason games, there was also a new trialist that started at the forward position, replacing Bobby Convey for the last 30 minutes. KC hasn't really had many known trialists other than the 3 that stayed with the team after their week of training in KC, so it's interesting to see that we're looking at what trialists we've brought in. The trialist, John Owoeri, appears like he's already spent some time trialing in the United States. If it's the same Owoeri, he spent time last year trialing with the Columbus Crew. The Crew though did not pick up the Nigerian. And although they apparently had to expose him in the expansion draft for some reason. An article out of Nigeria made it sound like his Egyptian club, Ismaily wanted compensation if he signed another contract, although Owoeri had apparently not been getting paid by the club.

The 25 year old Owoeri has been capped by the Nigerian national team and also appeared for Nigeria in the FIFA World Youth Championships. It'll be interesting to see if KC look to add another forward to their roster.

Dwyer Hattrick Leads Sporting Past FC Tucson

Sporting KC closed out the Arizona leg of their preseason today with a win over local PDL side, FC Tucson. In a 120 minute game that was cut short due to the weather, KC got goals from Kei Kamara, Roger Espinoza, and a hattrick from rookie, Dom Dwyer gave Sporting a 5-1 win over the local side. The first 60 minutes of the game saw a team that contained mostly first teams get a 2-0 lead.

It was actually FC Tucson that had the best chance early, as Jon Kempin, who started in goal, was called for a penalty after bringing down Tucson's Kevin King in the box. Kempin though redeemed himself as he stopped the ensuing PK from Reid Schmitt. KC opened the scoring in the 18th minute, as Soony Saad successfully challenge the Tucson keeper for the ball in the air off a long ball from Luke Sassano. Saad's challenge caused the ball to Kamara who knocked the ball into the net giving KC the 1-0 lead. KC doubled the lead 5 minutes before halftime through Espinoza who fired home from about 30 yards out, beating Tucson keeper Mike Selmo.

KC made full scale changes in the 60th minute, and for the first time in preseason, the rest of KC's draft picks that hadn't previously played, and the trialists got a chance to get onto the field. It was Tucson that got the first response though, as Schmitt beat trialist goalkeeper Steve Spangler in the 65th to make it 2-1.

From there though, it became the Dom Dwyer show, as Dwyer scored 3 goals over the final 20 minutes of the game. The first game 5 minutes after Tucson got on the board, Dwyer put away a cross from supplemental draft pick, Shawn Singh. Nine minutes later, Dwyer had his second goal after navigating through a crowded penalty area and squeezing the ball past a few defenders and into the net. Just before the final whistle at the 90 minute mark, Dwyer finished off a cross from Cyrus Saydee with a glancing header to make it 5-1.

The team left for the airport virtually right after the game to head back to KC. The team will have tomorrow off before training in KC Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Monday they'll depart for the final phase of preseason in Orlando.

Sporting Juniors/Open Tryouts

Some news that Sporting KC released earlier today regarding the Juniors and upcoming Open Tryouts.

Last week I posted about the Sporting KC Juniors that I'd been able to find that had signed for colleges. Today Sporting KC came out with a full list of those Juniors players that have signed to play at the collegiate level.

Along with Daniel Hare (DF) (Loyola Chicago), Derek Schrick (MF) (SMU), Taylor Walter (MF) (Colgate), Eric De Julio (DF) (Creighton), Andrew Brown (FW) (Bradley), Nate Opperman (FW) (Evansville), David Isaacks (MF) (Rhode Island), Evan Wright (GK) (St. Louis), and Andrew Lightner (DF) (Dayton) all of whom I'd mentioned in my previous article, 8 other Sporting KC players have committed their future to a college.

Joining De Julio at Creighton will be Chris Tuso (MF). Shane Woods (FW) will be going to Drury University. Drew Wilson (MF) will be going to Fort Hays State, while Andrew Miller (DF) is headed to the NAIA semifinalist Baker University. Finally 4 players are headed to Barton County Community College. Included in the list of players following Kevin Ellis' path to Barton is Eduardo Moreno (FW), who was invited to a U17 game at Bradenton back in December of 2010. Also joining the Cougars are Garrett Pulliam (FW), Jacole Turner (GK), and Isai Gutierrez (FW).

I believe all these players have been in the system long enough for KC to potential call any of them up as potential future home grown players, so definitely a few guys to keep your eyes on.

Open Tryouts

Also released today, the team announced that they will once again be hosting open tryouts. Unlike previous years when the tryouts have been held in preseason though, this year, the open tryouts will take place June 9th and 10th. Again the tryouts will be held at the Swope Park training facility. They're only allowing the first 300 people who register and cost between $200 and $208. The finalists will be given the chance to train with the first team and try to pull a Kevin Souter or Nelson Pizarro and make the KC roster.

With the tryouts being held midseason though I have to wonder how likely it is for any of the guys that tryout this year to actually make the team. It just seems a little odd to have the tryouts now, but that could be because I'm used to them being in February.

Live For It

That's the campaign for Sporting KC this season, "Live for It". The team debuted their commercial last night during the Grammy Awards. The team will be advertising with the commercial (another that will debut during the season opener), along with online, outdoor, print, and radio. The team will be doing billboards around the city, the billboards will include two of Sporting KC's newest national team players, CJ Sapong and Graham Zusi. Later ads that will go up will include Matt Besler and Jimmy Nielsen.



The big conspiracy that's popped up with the announcement is the fact that Teal Bunbury is not being included in the ads. There's likely nothing in the conspiracy, but it is interesting that two guys that had been part of last year's campaign (and are still with the team) are not involved in this year's campaign as both Bunbury and Kei Kamara are not featured. Again, there is likely little to nothing to it, but it's certainly gotten plenty of people talking like it means something.

Cauldron Tickets Sell Out

The Cauldron sold out of their allotment of tickets to the home opener in about 25-30 minutes. An amazing feat for the section. I'm still absolutely amazed at the growth of the section over the past few years. Hell when I joined in 2004, only about 8 years ago, the section was 25-30 people, 100+ was a really good night. Now the section is 2000 every single game without a problem. Selling the 300 that they had tonight in a span of 30 minutes is just a huge sign of the growth.

Tickets are currently on sale for season ticket holders to get extra tickets to the first 8 games. Sporting members get their shot later this week. And Friday they go on sale to the general public.

Comets Clinch Playoff Spot

The Missouri Comets had gotten their magic number down to 1 on Friday with their win over the Baltimore Blast. They didn't wait long to make make that magic number 0. The Comets took care of business today in Milwaukee, defeating the Wave 17-14 to punch their ticket to the playoffs.

The Wave grabbed an early 2-0 lead on the power play less than 5 minutes into the quarter. It was the last 5 minutes of the quarter where the excitement was though. Lucas Rodriguez tied the game at 2-2 on the power play, off an assist from Byron Alvarez. Less than a minute later though, the Wave were not only 4-2 up, but 6-2, as they scored two goals in the span of 13 seconds. Before the end of the half though, the Comets were back in the game, as Ryan Junge scored to make it 6-4 after 1 quarter.

The Comets got the second quarter going in style as Geison hit a 3 pointer just over 3 minutes in, and right around the 4 minute mark, Neto scored to put the Comets on top 9-6. Once again the end of the quarter saw a lot of action. Vahid Assadpour got on the board with a goal to make it 11-6 with under 3 minutes left. Less than a minute later, the Wave made it 11-8. But before the half was over Assadpour grabbed his second to have a 13-8 lead in the half.

In the third quarter, Milwaukee was the only team to score making it a 3 point game at 13-10. Into the fourth quarter with Missouri in the lead, John Sosa added an early goal to make it 15-10. Milwaukee pushed the game looking to get back into it, and Hewerton Moreira led the charge, scoring 1 goal to make it 15-12 around the half way point of the quarter. Then almost immediately after putting on their 6th attacker, Moreira scored to get the Wave within one. That's as close as the Wave got though, while still with the 6th attacker on the field, a long pass from Danny Waltman was missed by two Wave players and headed into the empty net. Making it 17-14 and completing Assadpour's hattrick.

The Comets will host the Milwaukee Wave on March 9th at the Independence Events Center in their playoff matchup.

Sporting Win Second Preseason Game

In the second preseason game of the season, KC once again took care of business, this time against their First Kick opponent DC United. What would be assumed to be the first team started the game again for Kansas City. It was the same lineup as KC put out against San Jose last weekend, with one exception. Teal Bunbury was replaced in the starting lineup by CJ Sapong. In fact Bunbury didn't play at all in today's game.

The starters played for 60 minutes, save Julio Cesar who subbed out at half time for Paulo Nagamura and Luke Sassano came in for Roger Espinoza before the team made the full scale changes at the hour mark.

In the game itself, KC grabbed the lead in the 34th minute through Graham Zusi as one of his free kicks beat Bill Hamid in the United net giving KC the 1-0 lead. Shortly after the full roster change, KC doubled the lead. Jacob Peterson pounced on a loose ball and beat United goalkeeper Joe Willis to the ball. The ball bounced to Soony Saad who tapped the ball into an unattended net to double the lead. With about 12 minutes left, DC got on the board and it was from the foot of a former Wizard, as Jose Burciaga Jr, a guest player for DC. Burciaga slide a shot past Eric Kronberg and into the net making it 2-1. KC though held on for the win. Sporting will end the Tucson leg of their preseason on Tuesday when they'll play FC Tucson.

Highlights below.

We Want Our Cup Back

Back when I posted about my 2012 Wishes, one of the wishes was wanting to get the 2000 MLS Cup back. For those that missed it, or don't know, the 2000 MLS Cup is not in Kansas City. The cup that teams get to keep after winning MLS Cup is in Dallas at the Hunt Sports Group Headquarters in Dallas.

Since that point, I've not said much about the the trophy or built off of that comment regarding getting the trophy back. James has picked up that slack with this fantastic post regarding the situation. He's picked up my slacking off and started the process of trying to bring the cup back to Kansas City. He's set up a Facebook group, and is working on getting a group together to write cordial letters to Clark Hunt and HSG about getting our trophy back.

I hope all Sporting KC fans get involved in the process of trying to get the trophy back. The thing to remember though is sending letters bashing Hunt or HSG is not going to get the trophy back. I'm not saying to kiss their ass either, but you need to have a fair balance of the two in any letter. Just blasting them and demanding the trophy back is going to likely be met with deaf ears. If you're professional in it then you stand a better chance of getting your point across.

Comets Move Closer to the Playoffs

The Missouri Comets magic number for clinching a playoff birth this year is now down to 1, after an 18-9 win over the Baltimore Blast at the Independence Event Center. The win, coupled with a 6-3 loss to the Milwaukee Wave in Milwaukee leaves the Comets 1 win or 1 Wichita loss away from clinching a spot in the playoffs this year.

The game tonight against the Blast started slow for both teams. The first quarter was an extremely sloppy affair as neither team was really able to create much with their possession and both teams seemed to lose it easily. Both Danny Waltman and Sagu were tested once or twice, but other than that, the first quarter was a complete and total stalemate.

The second quarter started very similar to the first, with neither team being able to really retain possession. The Blast had employed a very high pressure defense, pressuring Waltman and his two defenders very early on. This lead to a lot of early turnovers by the Comets. The combined with some chippy play pointed to the two teams both getting on the board soon. Just under 6 minutes into the quarter, the Blast broke the deadlock. Machel Millwood knocked a ball towards the middle of Missouri's box. It took a bit of a deflection, and Ricardinho was the first one to react and knocked the ball past Waltman for a 2-0 lead. Twenty-five seconds after the Ricardinho goal, the Blast were up 5-0. The Comets turned the ball over almost immediately off the kick off, Mike Lookingland fed the ball to Mike Deasel who raced a good quarter of the field unpressured and let loose a shot that got past Waltman and into the net for a 3 point goal.

The Comets called a timeout immediately to regroup, and it seemed to make a difference. From the timeout the Comets were getting more pressure and were finding quicker ways around the Blast's high pressure. Just after the half way point of the quarter, the Comets got on the board, as Byron Alvarez laid a ball into the middle for Vahid Assadpour who beat Sagu and made it 5-2. Unlike the Blast though, the Comets didn't need 25 seconds to score their second goal. Instead, it only took them 9 seconds, as Bato Radoncic won the ball immediately off the kick off, raced to the yellow line and let loose with a shot that Sagu was slow to get down for and the ball hit of the post and in, and just like that the Comets were level at 5-5.

The Comets weren't done though, and once again off the kick off, the Comets immediately won the ball through Christiano. Christiano fed Neto with a through ball that he fired past Sagu to make it 7-5. The Comets had gone from 5-0 down to 7-5 up in the span of 24 seconds. After taking the lead, the Comets sat back for a little bit. It took them 1 minute 1 second to grab another goal. Bryan Harris had a run in deep to the Blast end, he laid the ball back to Assadpour who beat Sagu for his second of the night and gave the Comets a 4 point lead at 9-5. In a minute twenty-five, the Comets had gone from 5-0 down to 9-5 up. The score held up through the end of the half and the Comets went into the half up 9-5.

The third quarter once again started with the Blast continuing their high pressure looking to get back into the game. But in their eagerness to get back into the game they got caught with too many men on the field. On the ensuing power play, the Comets were able to extend their lead. Lucas Rodriguez collected a pass from Assadpour and seemed to have all day just outside the 3 point arc to shoot. Rodriguez had time to line up his shot and fired a blast into the upper corner past Sagu to make it 12-5. From this point, the Blast really started to push the game and the game became the Danny Waltman show as more than once Waltman seemed left out to dry by his defense, but the goalkeeper stepped up and made a number of great saves, including getting across his goal once or twice to save goals. The Comets tried to break on the counter and Assadpour led a 2v1 with Neto but chose the shot instead of laying the ball off to his teammate and Sagu collected. The Blast did start to pull back into the game late in the quarter, as Shaun David played a ball into the middle for Ricardinho, who finally beat Waltman, but the Comets keeper almost made it across to keep it out but only got a small touch on it. With just under 4 minutes left, the Blast pulled back within a goal as they scored again to make it 12-9. Waltman on the series came up with two nice saves but could do nothing about the third as Pat Healey was fed by Adriano Dos Santos and Healey buried his chance. Late in the quarter, the Blast got their first power play of the game as Leo Gibson was called for kicking. The Comets though were able to kill the power play for the rest of the quarter, leaving them with only 1 second to kill in the fourth.

The Comets started off the fourth and were able to kill off the last second and get back to full strength. Just over a minute into the quarter, the Comets were back on the power play as Deasel was called for boarding. Unlike the Blast's last opportunity, the Comets again took advantage. They worked the ball around the perimeter before Rodriguez played the ball in down low to Alvarez who fired a shot into the roof of the net as Sagu went down for the save, making it 14-9. The Blast pushed for a way back into the game, and earned another power play as Stefan Stokic got a blue card for holding. The Blast once again though couldn't find a goal, in fact it was the Comets who controlled the ball for the majority of the two minute power play. Shortly after Stokic's power play was killed, the Comets found themselves on the power play again, as Max Ferdinand found himself in the penalty box for barreling into Waltman as he was playing the ball. To make matters worse for the Blast, the Comets once again scored on the power play to make them 3 for 3 with a man advantage compared to the Blast's 0 for 2. This time it was Rodriguez again, as he collected a pass from Gibson around the corner of the box and fired a shot past Sagu and into the net for his second of the night.

Waltman continued to come up big for the Comets making some more big saves and guaranteeing himself man of the match honors. With just under 4 minutes left, the Blast pulled Sagu for the 6th attacker. While the Blast had the majority of the possession after that, they couldn't find a goal. The Comets had a few quick counters with the open net but couldn't quite convert. Then with just under a minute left, Christiano fired a shot that was going to go just wide, but Geison raced onto it and buried it into the net to kill the game off and make it 18-9.

As mentioned above the Comets and need just one more win, or one more loss by the Wings to clinch themselves a spot in the playoffs. The Comets will have the first chance to wrap up a playoff spot on Sunday when they travel to Milwaukee to take on the Wave. Should they lose that the next opportunities would come next weekend when the Wings and Comets play the Rochester Lancers on back to back nights. A win by Rochester in the first game or by the Comets in the second will clinch a playoff spot.