Sporting KC Troll the Chiefs and Royals

It may not have been intentional today, but Sporting KC trolled the other two professional sports teams in Kansas City competing right now, the Chiefs and the Royals.  This afternoon, both the Chiefs and the Royals were playing simultaneously, and both teams were being beaten fairly handily.  About the half way point of both of those games, Sporting KC sent out this tweet:

Just a reminder that #SportingKC playoff tickets go on sale 10/19 for general public. Season ticket holder pre-sale starts this week!
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) September 30, 2012

The timing of the tweet couldn't have been more perfect, whether intentionally done then or not.  Both the Chiefs and the Royals are teams that Sporting is trying to compete with for entertainment dollars in the city, and driving home the point that they are successful while the other two are being beaten handily is a nice little bit of marketing.  The tweet brought plenty of comments on Twitter about it being perfectly timed with the way both teams were playing.  The performance of both teams today was reminding people of the poor teams both organizations have put on the field over the past few years.  And while Sporting probably isn't wanting the Chiefs and the Royals to do poorly (at least on social media the 3 teams seem to support the efforts of the others), not trying to take advantage of it with the success that Sporting has lately would be irresponsible.

What We Want to Happen Today 9/30

Results didn't really go Sporting's way last night, as everyone in the Eastern Conference playoff race won except for DC.  There's one game today that has a minor effect on Sporting.

LA at Colorado
What we want - Colorado win

There's very little in this game, but a Colorado win means that LA would have to win out while KC loses out for the Galaxy to tie KC on points.  This is a factor when it comes to potentially hosting MLS Cup.  As I said, little in it, but it's still there.

Attendance Comparison After 16 Home Games

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson

Last night at Livestrong Sporting Park, Sporting set a new attendance record for the stadium, drawing 21,010, 2,543 above the announced capacity of the stadium.  The attendance also guarantees that KC will set a new team record again this year in terms of average attendance and total attendance as they've already topped last year's total attendance total with one game left.

1996 - Arrowhead
18,594
Saturday September 21, 1996 vs San Jose 0-0 (1-2) shootout loss
Final home game of the season.
Average - 12,986

1997 - Arrowhead
12,485
Friday September 26, 1997 vs Colorado 5-2 win
Final home game of the season.
Average - 9,058

1998 - Arrowhead
13,146
Saturday September 19, 1998 vs Dallas 0-1 loss
Final home game of the season.
Average - 8,073

1999 - Arrowhead
14,845
Saturday October 9, 1999 vs Los Angeles 0-1 loss
Final home game of the seasons.
Average - 9,849

2000 - Arrowhead
20,078
Saturday September 2, 2000 vs Tampa 1-0 win
Final home game of the season.
Average - 9,882

2001 - Arrowhead
Season finished
Average - 10,954

2002 - Arrowhead
Season finished
Average - 12,287

2003 - Arrowhead
Season finished
Average - 15,573

2004 - Arrowhead
Season finished
Average - 14,816

2005 - Arrowhead
12,546
Saturday October 8, 2005 vs New England 2-2 draw
Final game of the season.
Average - 9,691

2006 - Arrowhead
15,878
Saturday October 7, 2006 vs Chvias USA 2-1 win
Final game of the season.
Average - 11,083

2007 - Arrowhead
Season finished
Average - 11,586

2008 - Community America Ballpark
Season finished
Average - 10,716

2009 - Community America Ballpark
Season finished
Average - 10,053

2010 - Community America Ballpark
Season finished
Average - 10,286

2011 - Livestrong Sporting Park
17,838
Wednesday September 28, 2011 vs Columbus 2-1 win
Average - 17,678

2012 - Livestrong Sporting Park
21,010
Friday September 28, 2012 vs Chicago 2-0 win
Average - 19,403

And here is the list of the average attendances for each of the year's throughout Sporting's history.

1. 2012 - 19,403 (-)
2. 2011 - 17,678 (-)
3. 2003 - 15,573 (-)
4. 2004 - 14,816 (-)
5. 1996 - 12,986 (-)
6. 2002 - 12,287 (-)
7. 2007 - 11,586 (-)
8. 2006 - 11,083 (+1)
9. 2001 - 10,954 (-1)
10. 2008 - 10,716 (-)
11. 2010 - 10,286 (-)
12. 2009 - 10,053 (-)
13. 2000 - 9,882 (+2)
14. 1999 - 9,850 (-1)
15. 2005 - 9,691 (-1)
16. 1997 - 9,058 (-)
17. 1998 - 8,073 (-)

S.A.S. Saturday After Stats

Last night's win was Sporting's 17th, setting a team record for wins in a non-shootout season.  It also ties the 1996 season for the second most wins in team history.

It was the 21st win in all competitions for Sporting this year, tying the 1997 season for the most wins in team history.

The second goal last night was Graham Zusi's 8th home goal in league play, tying him with Claudio Lopez, Jose Burciaga, and Teal Bunbury for 15th on that list.

The second was his 9th in all competitions at home, tying him with Lopez and Matt McKeon for 18th on that list.

Zusi's first goal was his 5th game winner for KC, tying him with Jimmy Conrad, Jack Jewsbury, Igor Simutenkov, Teal Bunbury and CJ Sapong for 13th on that list.

It was also Zusi's 5th game winner in all competitions, tying him with Jewsbury and Conrad for 17th on that list.

Kei Kamara's assist was his 16th in league play for KC, breaking his tie with Lopez and Chris Henderson for 14th on that list.

It was Kamara's 16th in all competitions for KC as well, breaking his tie with Henderson, Diego Gutierrez, and Michael Harrington for 16th on that list.

In the 80th minute, Matt Besler moved past Sasha Victorine and into 17th place for most league minutes for KC, Besler finished the game with 8,631 minutes played.

Besler made his 100th league appearance last night, he's the 22nd player to hit that mark.

Roger Espinoza made his 112th league appearance, breaking his tie with Sean Bowers for 18th on that list.

Espinoza also made his 103rd start, breaking his tie with Victorine for 20th on that list and moving him into a tie with Mark Chung for 19th on the list.

Espinoza also made his 92nd league start, tying him with Bo Oshoniyi for 20th on that list.

The win was Jimmy Nielsen's 20th in all competitions this year, breaking his tie with Tony Meola for the most wins in a non-shootout season.

Playoffs Clinched

It'd been 1,864 days since Sporting KC won a game at home against the Chicago Fire.  That ended last night at Livestrong Sporting Park as a brace from Graham Zusi helped lead KC to a 2-0 win in front of the largest crowd in history at Livestrong Sporting Park, 21,010.  In the process, Sporting clinched a spot in the playoffs this year and increased their hold on the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

KC came out pressing from the start, but it was the Fire that created the first really good chance on the counter.  Gonzalo Segares won the ball off of Chance Myers and played the ball ahead to Sherjill MacDonald.  MacDonald cut inside and laid the ball off to an on coming Chris Rolfe.  From the top of the box though MacDonald shot wide of the net.  Shortly after that attempt, KC grabbed the lead.  Paulo Nagamura played a ball out wide to Kei Kamara around midfield.  Kamara took a touch wide, and spun around Segares and took off down the field.  From the corner of the box, Kamara played the ball into the middle, where Zusi filled the spot left as CJ Sapong cut further down into the box.  And from just past the penalty spot one timed a shot into the corner of the goal past Sean Johnson and KC was up 1-0.  KC continued to push the game during the half and were unlucky not to go up 2-0 in the 36th minute.  Off a Zusi corner, Kamara got up and headed a shot on goal, but Johnson got his hands up and pushed the ball onto the bar and was then cleared by Alvaro Fernandez.  While KC controlled play, the Fire still created opportunities on the counter.  In the 44th it came at the expense of a poor pass from Kamara.  Kamara's pass was intercepted by Rolfe who played the ball to MacDonald.  As MacDonald raced down the line, Rolfe and Zusi collided behind the play.  MacDonald played the ball across the face of goal, but with the collision, there was no one of the Fire to get on the end of the cross.

Into the second half, the Fire continued to look for an equalizer.  In the 57th minute, after a cross was not fully cleared Rolfe tried to chip Jimmy Nielsen from 20 yards out, but put his chip just over the bar.  KC was able to create chances of their own as well trying to hit on the counter.  A superb tackle by Julio Cesar on Rolfe in the 63rd minute led to a great counter.  The clearance of the tackle found Sapong who fed Roger Espinoza down the wing.  Espinoza played a cross into the box for Kamara, but his shot was right at Johnson who easily made the save.  The game really started to open up as Chicago looked for an equalizer and KC pushed to try to find a second.  In the 73rd Chicago had another good opportunity to counter.  Dominic Oduro led the counter and ended up feeding the ball to MacDonald who took the shot, but fired it wide of the goal.  A goal kick was given although it certainly appeared to strike the leg of at least 1 KC defender on the way through.  KC should have doubled the lead through Chance Myers, but he had a poor header from about 6 yards out after some good build up.  Into stoppage time, KC found themselves stretched at the back and had to rely on another superb tackle from Cesar.  Cesar slide from behind, but to the side of Fire substitute, Guillermo Franco and tackled the ball away.  A ballsy tackle that worked to perfection for KC.

Stoppage time got even more interesting, as Frank Klopas got sent back to the locker room shortly after Cesar's tackle as Klopas didn't like the way that referee Chris Penso called the game, and honestly he didn't have the best game.  He was very inconsistent with his calls throughout.  Shortly after Klopas was sent back to the locker room, he was joined by Segares as the Costa Rican picked up his 2nd yellow in the 4th minute of stoppage time for a fairly weak foul on Sapong.  In the 6th minute of stoppage time, KC struck for their 2nd goal.  After Kamara tried to take it down the line into the corner, he laid the ball back to Myers.  Myers played the ball over the top towards Sapong.  Sapong flicked his header into the path of Zusi.  With Nagamura overlapping, he pulled the two defenders to Zusi's left.  Zusi was able to cut back and curled a shot into the far corner, doubling KC's lead and killing the game.  Shortly after the kickoff, the final whistle blew.

Wizards Man of the Match - Graham Zusi - A brace for Sporting's play maker.  Zusi played extremely well and took both of his chances very well to put KC into the playoffs.  He was unlucky to also pick up an assist when Johnson made a good save on Kamara's header.

Honorable Mention - Kei Kamara, Seth Sinovic, Julio Cesar

Player Ratings - Nielsen 6, Myers 6, Olum 6, Besler 6, Sinovic 7, Cesar 8, Nagamura 6, Espinoza 6, Kamara 7, Sapong 6, Zusi 8.

What We Want to Happen Today 9/29

Figured I'd start this back up again, even though KC has clinched a playoff spot, seeding is still going to be a factor.  KC is still also fighting for the Supporters' Shield, and don't forget that MLS Cup this year is hosted by the team with the most points between the two competing teams.  So here's a look at today's games.

Toronto at New York
What we want - Toronto win.

As unlikely as that is, we want Toronto to pull off the win against the Red Bulls.  The Red Bulls sit 8 points back of KC with 4 games left.  A loss by New York means that KC would need to pick up just two more points (or have New York drop 2 more) to guarantee finishing ahead of the Red Bulls.

Philadelphia at Columbus
What we want - Philadelphia win

Neither of these two teams can catch Sporting after their win last night.  Both though are fighting for their playoff lives.  Philadelphia is in a much more precarious situation and needs help to even get into the playoffs.  But I'd rather play Philadelphia than the Crew, hence the selection.  Although an argument could be made for a Columbus win so that they're closer to clinching by the team we go there later this season.

New England at Houston
What we want - New England win or draw

Houston can still mathematically catch KC on points, so any more dropped points by them guarantees KC a top 4 spot in the East. A win or draw by New England in Houston guarantees the play-in game at home should KC slip up in their final 3 games. 

Seattle at Vancouver
What we want - Vancouver win

Who doesn't like watching Seattle lose?  A loss by the Sounders is also good for hosting honors of MLS Cup should both teams make it.  A loss leaves Seattle 10 points back of KC with 4 games remaining for the Sounders.  So a win by the Whitecaps would almost put Seattle in KC's review mirror entirely for points.

Salt Lake at Chivas USA
What we want - Chivas win

Same as with Seattle, a loss by Salt Lake keeps them trailing KC in terms of points.  In fact a win by Chivas means that Salt Lake could only equal KC's point total.

DC at Portland
What we want - Portland win

Similar to New York, DC is sitting on 50 points in the East.  Dropped points by them, combined with New York, would put KC on the verge of clinching a top 2 spot in the East.

Dallas at San Jose
What we want - Dallas win

If KC want the Supporters' Shield they need to be Dallas fans tonight.  They need the Earthquakes to start dropping points.  Dallas is in decent form lately but going on the road against San Jose is a tough ask.

"Rivals" In Town

Since the beginning of last season, Sporting KC has made an increased effort in trying to create a rivalry with the Chicago Fire.  While two of KC's biggest wins in franchise history have come at the expense of the Fire, Chicago has never looked at KC as much more than an annoying little brother.  Last year, Robb Heineman and Sporting tried to change that.  First was the traveling 300 to Chicago for the second game of the season last year.  Then came the donating money for each goal scored against them, and the deal with Firehouse Subs for when the Fire lost.  For many Fire fans that seemed to do little more than make KC look like someone craving attention.  A rivalry develops with the fans and really, until last year, KC drew flies in comparison to the Fire.  And while the growth in the last few years has turned heads in that department, it's maintaining that level that is one key.  The other key for Sporting to really start to develop a rivalry is easy, WIN.  The Fire hold a 23-10-9 record in league play against KC.  It took until 2005 for KC to win a game in Chicago.  Lately though it's been KC's home form that has doomed them against the Fire, as they have not won at home against their "rival" since 2007 when the team still played on the Missouri side of the state line.  Rivalries are built on classic match ups, and really KC and the Fire haven't had many of those.  Tony Meola is a hero in KC for standing on his head during MLS Cup 2000, but probably isn't in the top 10 of the most hated Fire opponents.  Start beating the Fire more regularly, maintain being a consistent top of the East team, maybe knock them out of the playoffs a few times, and KC will start to get more and more attention from the Fire.

The Fire come into Livestrong Sporting Park having won their last 4 league games, beating Houston, Montreal, Toronto, and Columbus.  They've also won 7 of their last 8 dating back to the beginning of August, in all 8 of those games, the Fire have at least scored two goals.  In the same stretch of times, KC has only scored 2 or more goals 3 times.  Chris Rolfe is helping to lead the way for the Fire scoring 2 goals in their last game, a 3-1 win over Columbus.  In the past two months they've climbed up the Eastern Conference and now find themselves trailing KC by only 2 points and they have a game in hand on KC.

KC has their own decent run of form lately, having been unbeaten in their last 8 games, although they've picked up fewer points than in their 7 game unbeaten run from earlier this season.  While Chicago's picked up wins, KC has been having to settle for draws.  While Chicago has scored at least 2 goals in every game since the beginning of August, KC hasn't allowed more than 1 goal by the opposition in that same stretch of time.  Something will have to give when the two teams take the field tomorrow.  Sporting will welcome back 2 players who did not play against Montreal last weekend.  Roger Espinoza returns from his yellow card accumulation suspension, while Aurelien Collin returns after being rested on the weekend.  Sporting will be without Jacob Peterson who picked up a red card after being subbed out against Montreal.  His absence will likely push Graham Zusi back up to the forward position.

Nielsen

Myers - Collin - Besler - Sinovic

Cesar - Nagamura

Espinoza

Kamara - Sapong - Zusi

Number to Remember - 0 - That's the number of wins KC has against the Fire in the state of Kansas.  In 3 years at CAB and 2 years at LSP KC has yet to defeat the Fire, combine that with one loss at BVDAC in the Open Cup, and KC is 0-3-4 in the Sunflower State against Chicago.

Key Match Up - Matt Besler vs Chris Rolfe - Rolfe is in form at the moment and has been a handful for teams to deal with since coming back into the league.  Rolfe also hasn't made many friends in KC after he crawled back on the field in the team's last meeting to try and get the referee to stop play when he was injured.  Besler seems the most likely candidate to match up with the Fire goal scorer.

PREDICTION - This is a must win for Sporting.  If they want to finish at the top of the East, they can't drop any of the remaining 6 points at home, especially against the team that is only 2 points back.  A loss and the Fire jump over KC while still having a game in hand.  A draw and the Fire are a win away from jumping over KC, again with that game in hand.  A win has to happen tomorrow.  Anything else is 100% unacceptable.  Can they take care of business? Absolutely, the Fire haven't shut a team out since they beat Vancouver at home back in the middle of July, their last road shut out, in Houston on July 3rd.  So KC is going to get their chances, especially at home where they have been doing it all season.  As long as the defense avoids the lapses that led to the Fire's goal the last time these two teams played KC can cool off the Fire.

SKC -2 (Kamara, Zusi)
CHI - 1 (Rolfe)

Comets Re-Sign Two and More

In a series of announcements made at a press conference today, the biggest news for Comets fans is probably the re-signing of two key parts of the team over the past two years.  The team has re-signed defender, Leo Gibson and goalkeeper Danny Waltman.  Gibson had started out as a forward for the Comets in their first season back, but dropped back to defense due to injury issues and has become one of the better defenders in the league since.  Waltman has been one of the best keepers in the league the past two years with the Comets and will be a good presence in net for them.

Also announced today was the team's promotional calender for the year, further information on the MISL Combine being hosted by the Missouri Comets this year, and an announcement that former Comet, Alan Mayer will join Gino Schiraldi in having his jersey retired by the team.  Also announced was a partnership with Cricket Wireless and the team officially introduced Craig Rocastle as well.  This weekend at the Independence Events Center is the Comets Fan Fest from 3-6pm.  A chance to meet players and get a look at the IEC before the new season.

Former SKC Wizards Update

Here is this week's former SKC Wizards update.  Yura Movsisyan and Matt Taylor continue to bang in goals for their clubs teams. 

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Eloy Colombano
Doug DeMartin
Birahim Diop
Pablo Escobar
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Tom Gray
Willy Guadarrama
Zoltan Hercegfalvi
Santiago Hirsig
Aaron Hohlbein
Will John
Neal Kitson
Jonathan Leathers
Ryan McMahen
Anthony Noriega
Sergei Raad
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Ivan Trujillo
Diego Walsh
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Started and played 90 minutes in Montreal's 0-0 draw with KC.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Came off the bench and played 1 minutes in RSL's 2-1 win over Portland.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - No game this week.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Out recovering from surgery.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 2-1 loss to RSL.
Eddie Johnson - Seattle - Did not dress in Seattle's 2-1 loss to San Jose.
Chris Konopka - Philadelphia - Did not dress in Philadelphia's 1-0 loss to DC.  Dressed but did not play in Philadelphia's 3-1 win over Houston.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Chivas - Did not dress in Chivas' 1-0 loss to DC.
Scott Sealy - Dallas - No game this week.
Ryan Smith - Chivas - Started and played 80 minutes in Chivas' 1-0 loss to DC.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Dressed but did not play in San Jose's 2-1 win over Seattle.
Shavar Thomas - Montreal - Dressed but did not play in Montreal's 0-0 draw with KC.
Tyson Wahl - Colorado - Dressed but did not play in Colorado's 2-2 draw with Vancouver.
Josh Wolff - DC - Did not dress in DC's 1-0 win over Philadelphia.  Did not dress in DC's 1-0 win over Chivas.

NASL
Jose Burciaga - Atlanta - Started and played 90 minutes in Atlanta's 1-1 draw with Puerto Rico.
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Started and played 73 minutes, scoring a goal in Minnesota's 1-1 draw with San Antonio.
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Started and played 90 minutes in Fort Lauderdale's 2-2 draw with Edmonton.
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Came off the bench and played 71 minutes in Carolina's 0-0 draw with Tampa.
Luke Sassano - Carolina - Started and played 85 minutes in Carolina's 0-0 draw with Tampa.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Started and played 90 minutes, recording a goal and an assist in Fort Lauderdale's 2-2 draw with Edmonton.

USL
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Season is over.
Akeem Priestley - Dayton - Season is over.
Yomby William - Richmond - Season is over.
John Wilson - Charleston - Season is over.

PDL
Michael Kraus - FC Tucson - Season is over.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Season is over.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Season is over.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Season is over.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Season is over.
Craig Rocastle - Comets - Season is over.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Season is over.

International
Vicente Arze - R. Charleroi S.C. - Did not play in Charleroi's 2-1 loss to Genk.  Did not play in Charleroi's 4-2 win over Deinze in the cup.
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 17 minutes in Cruz Azul's 1-1 draw with America.
Sunil Chhetri - Sporting Clube de Portugal B - Portugal - Dressed but did not play in Sporting's 1-1 draw with Torfense.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Trinidad - Started and played 90 minutes in W Connection's 1-1 draw with Chivas.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - No game this week.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 4 minutes in Santos' 0-0 draw with Jaguares.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Beat Humble Lions 1-0.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - Did not play in Bahia's 3-1 loss to Internacional.
Mike Jones - FC Hjorring - Denmark - Did not play in Hjorring's 0-0 draw with AB.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - Did not dress in Tiraspol's 0-0 draw with Iskra-Stal.
Carlos Marinelli - Alvarado - Argentina - Did not play in Alvarado's 1-0 loss to Def. Belgrano.
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring 2 goals in Krasnodar's 6-1 win over Mordovia Saransk. Beat Khimik Dzerzhinsk 2-1 in the cup.
Michal Mravec - FC Emmen - Netherlands - Did not play in Emmen's 2-1 win over Veendam.  Did not play in Emmen's 0-0 (5-4) cup PK win over Vvog.
Pablo Punyed - Fjolnir - Iceland - Started and played 90 minutes in Fjolnir's 1-0 loss to Haukar.
Milos Stojcev - FC Akzhayik - Kazakhstan - Came off the bench and played 31 minutes in Akzhayik's 2-1 loss to Kairat.
Matt Taylor - Preußen Münster - Germany - Started and played 77 minutes, scoring a goal in Munster's 4-0 win over Arminia Bielefeld.  Started and played 89 minutes, scoring 2 goals in Munster's 2-1 win over Alemannia Aachen.

Rangers End Season with Loss

The Swope Park Rangers ended their reserve league season tonight down in Dallas with a 2-0 loss to FC Dallas.  Dallas got two goals from home grown forward, Bryan Leyva as they cruised to the win after Dom Dwyer got sent off late in the first half for a second bookable offense.  Leyva scored in the 34th and 79th minute to lead them to the victory.  The loss was the Rangers' 4th straight in the reserve league, as they fell to 2-6-2 to end their season, with 8 points in the Mountain/Midwest division.  It was also the 3rd straight game in which the reserves picked up a red card, previously Eric Kronberg and Jon Kempin have picked up red cards for KC.  The reserves gave a start to U18 academy midfielder, David Leichty in the midfield and also allowed academy player Isai Gutierrez to get in the game.  Also with the team were two Missouri Comets players as both John Sosa and Leo Gibson came on as second half subs for the reserves in the loss.

Some Numbers Ahead of Clash with Fire Friday

Here's a few random numbers I came up with for you ahead of this Friday's game against the Chicago Fire.

0 - Number of wins Sporting has over the Fire since the team's move to Kansas.  KC is 0-2-4 (W-L-D) against the Fire since the team's first year at CAB in 2008.  And in a 2001 US Open Cup loss and KC is 0-3-4 against the Fire in the Sunflower State.

0 - It's also the number of goals that KC has scored against the Fire at Livestrong Sporting Park.  In 180 minutes, KC has yet to find the back of the net at home against their "rival".

3 - KC's magic number.  A win on Friday and Sporting KC will clinch a playoff spot.

4 - Number of points to guarantee a top 4 finish.  This would mean that KC would at least host the play in game of the playoffs.

4 - Is also the number of games in a row the Fire have won in league play..  Only one of those wins though (vs Toronto) was on the road.

8 - Sporting's current unbeaten run, their longest of the season, topping their 7 game unbeaten run to start the season.

717 - The numbers of days on Friday it will have been since KC beat the Fire in any game.  The last game KC won against Chicago was a 2-0 win in Chicago on 10/12/10.  That is also the Fire's last loss against an Eastern Conference team at home.
1,864 - The number of days on Friday it will have been since KC won a game at home against the Fire, 5 years, 1 month, 6 days since KC's 3-2 win on 8/22/07 at Arrowhead against the Fire, a 3-2 win that saw Sasha Victorine, Scott Sealy, and Jose Burciaga Jr all score for KC.

Qualifier at LSP Sold Out

It was announced today that the US Men's World Cup qualifier against Guatemala at Livestrong Sporting Park is sold out.  The first World Cup qualifier in KC since the 2001 qualifier against Costa Rica, and the first at the new stadium will see what is expected to be a loud, partisan crowd.  The announcement does mean that there will be at least 18,467 at the game in October.  The question is whether that sold out crowd will include standing room only or not.  A crowd of 20,109 saw the USA beat Guadeloupe last summer at Livestrong Sporting Park in the Gold Cup.  A goal to shoot for for the crowd by the time the 16th rows around, is the 20,839 that showed up for last year's Eastern Conference final against the Houston Dynamo.  Not saying that they'll get there with standing room only tickets, but that has to be the number to look towards.

Sunday After Stats

Oriol Rosell became the 6th youngest player to start a league game for KC, at 20 years 77 days.

Rosell became the 8th youngest to start a game in all competitions.

In the 42nd minute, Michael Harrington moved past Matt McKeon and into 9th place for minutes played in league.

It was Harrington's 170th appearance in all competitions, breaking his tie with Mo Johnston for 9th on that list.

It was his 149th in league play, tying him with Johnston for 8th on that list.

Harrington made his 128th league start, tying him with Josh Wolff for 9th on that list.

Julio Cesar made his 50th league appearance for KC, he's the 45th player to hit that mark.

Matt Besler made his 115th appearance in all competitions, breaking his tie with Sasha Victorine for 20th on that list.

It was also Besler's 94th league start, breaking his tie with Mark Chung for 18th.

Can I Get that Two Hours Back?

Before the two game trip to the East Coast, most Sporting fans probably would have been quite happy taking 4 points from the two games.  But after the win in New York on Wednesday confidence was high heading into the game in Montreal yesterday.  The game yesterday at Saputo Stadium though was anything but exciting compared to the New York game.  Quality chances for both Sporting and the Impact were at a premium and neither side really looked likely to be the winner.

KC came out and pressured early on, and the Impact struggled to deal with that pressure, but KC couldn't do much with the chances they created.  In the 12th minute KC had one of their best chances of the game.  A Michael Harrington cross was blocked into the path of Graham Zusi, who from the top of the big fired on goal, but his shot curled just wide of the far post as the scores stayed level.  KC continued to pressure and another cross from the right hand side found Kei Kamara in the box, but Kamara put the shot right at Troy Perkins, and was offside anyway.  In the 25th minute, the Impact had a good opportunity to take the lead as Justin Mapp collected a short free kick and dribbled to the top of the box without a KC defender shutting him down.  Mapp's shot though went wide of KC's near post.  The Impact continued to get into the game and Felipe Martins tried to take advantage of the wet surface from the rain when he fired a shot from outside the box, but Jimmy Nielsen knocked down the first shot and jumped on the rebound.

The level of play in the second half didn't go up any in the second half, as the teams still struggled to create scoring chances.  Both sides had a few half chances, but neither side really tested the keeper.  In the 68th minute some poor defending by KC almost cost them.  A cross to the back post found 2 unmarked Montreal players.  Seth Sinovic got a head that knocked it away enough that a free header ended up falling to Davy Arnaud instead.  Arnaud ended up firing a shot just wide of Nielsen's post, leaving the score 0-0.  The lack of chances attempting to test from distance on teh slick surface was a bit of a surprise in the game, bu in the 75th, Jacob Peterson tried one for KC and forced a decent save from Perkins.  Back down the field came the Impact winning a corner.  From there, Marco Di Vaio almost beat Nielsen directly from the corner.  Nielsen though was able to punch the ball clear.

The game continued to slowly move towards it's conclusion, but things got interesting in the 89th minute.  As the Impact were getting ready to restart the play, referee, Jorge Gonzalez came over to the sidelines and brandished a red card to Peterson who had subbed out of the game 6 minutes early.  Peterson was apparently dismissed for foul and abusive language towards the referee.  To be fair to Peterson, Gonzalez had been having a piss poor game, making some odd calls, not calling things at other times.  But Peterson needs to keep his mouth shut at the same time.  He'll now miss the big game on Friday against the Fire because of that red card.  Before the final whistle, Nielsen was called on one last time off a free kick from Di Vaio who found Matteo Ferrari.  Ferrari's header was right on target, but right at Nielsen who had to punch the ball away.  KC endured high pressure through the end of the game and leave Canada with a point.

Wizards Man of the Match - Jimmy Nielsen - There wasn't a lot to this game offensively from either side, but Nielsen came up with saves when he needed to get his 13th shutout of the season.

Player Ratings - Nielsen 7, Sinovic 6, Besler 6, Olum 5, Harrington 4, Cesar 5, Rosell 6, Zusi 5, Kamara 5, Sapong 4, Peterson 5.  Subs Nagamura 5, Myers NR, Joseph NR.

Back to Canada

Sporting KC continue this short road trip to the east coast with their final trip to Canada where they'll take on the Montreal Impact.  After the big 2-0 win over New York on Wednesday, Sporting has earned themselves a bit of breathing room at the top of the East, but can't rest on that point with a number of big games still remaining in the season.  It's an early game tomorrow, a 12pm central time kick off for Sporting.

Montreal comes into the game having lost their last two games to Chicago and Columbus, both of those games have been on the road.  At home, it's been a different story for the Impact.  Montreal have won 5 straight games at Saputo Stadium.  They haven't lost at home since Sporting KC got a 3-1 win over the Impact back on July 4th.  They've made their home a very tough place to come and get anything from.  Even KC's win back in July was a very fortuitous victory, as KC got 2 penalty kicks and a deflected goal from Jacob Peterson to win.  Since that game the Impact have made some defensive changes, in goal now is Troy Perkins and in front of him, now is AC Milan legend, Alessandro Nesta.  They'll be a tough defense to crack.

Sporting's 7 game unbeaten run matches their run from earlier this season (although that one was 7-0 compared to the current 5-0-2 run in league play) with the win over New York.  They've given themselves a little breathing room ahead of New York and Chicago, although the Fire have a game in hand now.  Still it's always better to have the points in hand than the game in hand.  KC will have to play tomorrow without midfielder, Roger Espinoza, who is suspended due to yellow card accumulation after picking up a yellow on Wednesday.  The choice of replacing him is the big one.  There are two specific routes that KC could take.  They could either just straight replace Espinoza, or bring in another forward and drop Graham Zusi back.  The first option is to insert either Lawrence Olum or Oriol Rosell into the midfield, leaving the rest of the lineup untouched.  The other option is to insert Jacob Peterson (who could also play in center midfield), allow him to play left forward, and slide Zusi back into the midfield. 

Nielsen

Myers - Collin - Besler - Sinovic

Cesar - Nagamura

Zusi

Kamara - Sapong - Peterson

Number to Remember - 6 - That's KC's "magic number" for clinching a playoff spot.  That's points won/lost by KC and the team in 6th place in the East, so there's a possibility that by the end of the night that KC could potentially get themselves a playoff spot.  That's also Montreal's current winning streak at home.

Key Match Up - CJ Sapong vs Alessandro Nesta - The Impact's midseason signing for defense has helped to settle the defense.  Meanwhile, Sapong has now scored in two straight games for Sporting and seems to be hitting some decent form in the late run up of the season.

PREDICTION - Coming into this road trip, I think that most fans would have thought that 4 points would have been a dream.  Now with what would be considered the more difficult of the two games out of the way there are dreams of picking up all 6.  Montreal isn't an easy place to play though, their current unbeaten run shows that.  KC needs to take advantage early as they did against New York on Wednesday.  Getting some more possession than they did against New York is another thing that KC needs to improve upon from the midweek.  They can't give away that much possession, even though most of it was after getting a 2-0 lead.

SKC - 1 (Sapong)
MTL - 1 (Di Vaio)

Henry Suspended and New York Tifo Failure

Not directly related to Sporting KC, but some news from Wednesday night's game against New York.

Henry Suspended

It wasn't in the match highlights, but in second half stoppage time as Kansas City was making a substitution before a New York corner, Thierry Henry started to make a run across goal.  When he went past Kei Kamara, he appears to knock heads with Kamara.  Both players go to ground, Kamara holding the side of his head, Henry for some reason, holding the back of his head.  The disciplinary committee reviewed the play today and handed down a 1 game suspension and undisclosed fine for violent conduct that endangered the safety of Kamara.



While the highlights that the league posted as a whole are inconclusive of the contact, the actions and reactions speak quite loud.  First when you watch the highlights, no one else is moving, the play is dead as KC is making a substitution, even the player taking the corner for the Red Bulls is not lined up to strike the ball.  Yet Henry starts to make a run into the box like the ball will be played any second.  He also makes little to no effort to really avoid Kamara while at the same time trying to make it look like he is, similar to the red card he picked up when these two teams met at Livestrong Sporting Park last year when he bowled into the back of Roger Espinoza seeming to lower his knee into Espinoza.  Henry grabbed the back of his head is the second give away, the back of Henry's head was no where near the point of impact with Kamara. There just seemed to be little reason for Henry to be making that run at that time and the way he did unless there was intent.  And that's probably what the DisCo saw.  While the actually headbutt itself is a little inconclusive from the video, the actions and surrounding actions, speak for themselves.

The bad thing about this whole situation may be the reaction of the Red Bulls.  Their game tomorrow is on the road at Gillette Stadium, on turf.  In Henry's time in the league, he's only once played on a field with turf, so the likelihood of him playing tomorrow anyway were already slim.  In fact Hans Backe even said today that he wasn't going to play Henry tomorrow.  So Henry's suspension is for a game he was going to miss anyway.

Tifo Fail Goes Big

For the game in New York, the Red Bulls Supporters had created a minor TIFO for the game, saying "Yo're not in Kansas anymore. SKC no heart, no brain, no courage.  No Wizard can save you now." And yes that spelling is correct as you can see in the above picture.  The Red Bull supporters who made the TIFO misspelled you're.  Just holding it up would have been hilarious to those KC fans in attendance, and the staff that was there for the broadcast of the game, but then the banner got hung at midfield so that it was seen over and over again during the game.  The spelling mistake got picked by multiple different outlets that are poking fun at the sign.  It's been on Yahoo, Deadspin, and was even in ESPN's Not Top 10 this morning.

Remember kids always spell check your work.

Wigan Still After Espinoza

Roger Espinoza to Wigan was a big rumor in the final few days of the summer transfer window, with Espinoza being linked to join his countryman, Maynor Figueroa at the EPL club.  The window though closed without a deal.  News out of the UK today though is that Wigan boss, Roberto Martinez, is still trying to sign the midfielder after this season.  With Espinoza out of contract, it's going to be a difficult task to hold onto him, his strong Olympic performance has put him firmly in the shop window for foreign clubs.  I will find no fault in Espinoza for making the jump to Europe at the end of the season if there is a good deal in place for him.  Robb Heineman has already said that they are going to try to keep the midfielder, so it sounds like it's going to be shaping up to be a busy winter of rumors.

S.A.S. Thursday After Stats

Plenty of player stats from the game last night, but also some team records are starting to fall as well.

The win was Peter Vermes' 53rd in all competitions, breaking his tie with Ron Newman for the second most wins on that list.

Kei Kamara made his 200th appearance in all competitions in his MLS career.

Kamara's goal was his 31st in league play for KC, tying him with Mo Johnston for 5th on that list.

Kamara's goal was his 33rd in all competitions, breaking his tie with Johnston for 5th on that list.

Kamara's goal was his 10th in league play away from home for KC, that ties him with Scott Sealy and Johnston for 7th on that list.

It was Kamara's 10th in all competitions away from home too, tying him with Sealy and Johnston for 7th on that list.

Sporting won their 8th road game of the season, equaling their number of road wins for the last 2 seasons combined.  They only trail the shootout aided 1997 season by 1 road win.

Sporting KC also tied a team record for wins in a non-shootout season, tying the 16 by done in the 2000 season.

After the game, Sporting has more goals away from home (19) than they have at home (18) this season, having played 1 more home game.

CJ Sapong's goal was his 5th in league play away from home, tying him with Claudio Lopez, Jose Burciaga, Miklos Molnar, and Chris Henderson for 15th on that list.

Sapong's was his 6th away from home in all competitions, tying him with Lopez and Burciaga for 16th on that list.

Sapong's goal was his 12th in league play, tying him with Igor Simutenkov, Molnar, and Henderson for 19th on that list.

It was Sapong's 18th in all competitions, tying him with Matt McKeon for 13th on that list.

Sapong's goal was KC's first ever at Red Bull Arena.

Sapong's game winner was his 5th in his career in league play, tying him with Jimmy Conrad, Jack Jewsbury, Simutenkov, and Teal Bunbury for 13th on that list.

It was his 7th game winner in all competitions, tying him with Chris Brown and Bunbury for 10th on that list.

Graham Zusi's assist was his 22nd in league play, tying him with Kerry Zavagnin for 7th on that list.

Only 3 times has a player had a season with more assists than Zusi for KC, Preki in 1997, 2000, and 2003.

It was Zusi's 26th in his career in all competitions, tying him with Mark Chung for 6th on that list.

In the 8th minute, Roger Espinoza moved past Sasha Victorine and into 20th place for minutes played in all competitions for KC, he finished the game with 9,256 minutes played.

Espinoza made his 111th league appearance for KC, tying him with Sean Bowers for 18th on that list.

Espinoza made his 102nd start in all competitions for KC, tying him with Victorine for 20th on that list.

In the 25th minute, Matt Besler moved past Bo Oshoniyi and into 17th place for the list of minutes in all competitions, he finished the game with 9,747 mintues played.

In the 72nd minute, Besler moved past Oshoniyi and into 18th place for league minutes, played, he finished the game wtih 8,451 minutes.

Besler made his 114th appearance in all competitions, tying him with Victorine for 20th on that list.

Besler made his 93rd league start, tying him with Chung for 18th on that list.

Julio Cesar made his 50th start in all competitions for KC, he's the 47th player to do this.

The win for Jimmy Nielsen was his 16th of the season, setting a new team record for wins in a non-shootout season.

Still "Yo're" Eastern Conference Leaders

The road warriors continued to do work away from Livestrong Sporting Park, as Sporting KC handed the New York Red Bulls a 2-0 loss at Red Bull Arena, their first home loss of the season.  Doing so the exact opposite way most Sporting games seem to go.  New York controlled much of the possession and had more shots, but it was KC that made two early goals stand up.

New York has been notorious lately for giving up early goals, and KC put New York behind early again.  In only the 11th minute, KC grabbed the lead.  Off a free kick at the top of the box, Kei Kamara touched the ball to Roger Espinoza who stopped it for Graham Zusi.  Zusi's shot banged off the cross bar and fell to Matt Besler.  Besler immediately touched the ball to CJ Sapong.  Sapong did a great job to settle, turn and fire a shot into the near corner to give Kansas City the 1-0 lead.  KC continued to press early and in the 19th minute found a second.  Off a corner kick, Zusi found Kamara who had easily lost his mark, William Conde, and beat Bill Guadette to the ball and his glancing header went into the net to make it 2-0 KC.  Shortly after New York should have pulled a goal back.  Some lax passing around the back led to Julio Cesar being disposed by Rafa Marquez who dribbled in on goal with Thierry Henry to his left.  Feeding Henry who was one on one with Jimmy Nielsen you'd expect Henry to score, but the Frenchman pushed the ball high and wide of the goal. 

Into the second half, the game started to open up more and there were chances at both ends. In the 56th minute, Sapong played Zusi into the box and he appeared to get dragged down from behind but no foul was called.  New York immediately came back the other way through Kenny Cooper, who fed Henry.  Henry then went back out wide and crossed into the box, but Cooper put his header wide of the goal.  The no call on the Zusi penalty was the first of two.  The second came later in the half when Sapong had gotten a step on his defender and was into the box.  Guadette came to claim the ball, sliding.  Sapong touched the ball wide and Guadette didn't seem to get the ball at all, but the referee didn't call a foul and instead gave a corner.  While New York continued to push numbers forward, KC still had some chances on the counter.  One involved some nice individual play from Zusi and Espinoza.  Zusi dribbled into the box, winning back possession when a New York defender won a tackle.  Zusi found Espinoza who cut to the byline and played a nice cross to Kamara at the back post.  Kamara headed the ball back across goal, but Guadette made a good save punching the ball away.  Again in the 87th KC almost grabbed a third on the counter.  Kamara led the attack into the box before laying it to Zusi at the top of the box.  Zusi's one time shot was well saved by Guadette who pushed the ball wide. 

KC's defense continued to hold strong even though New York threw numbers forward.  In stoppage time players were throwing themselves into tackles to block shots and win the ball back and in the end KC got the deserved 3 points and gave themselves a little breathing room in the East.

Wizards Man of the Match - Matt Besler and Aurelien Collin - KC's two centerbacks did a masterful job of limiting the chances for Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill in the first half, and Kenny Cooper when he came on in the second.  While New York had some shots on goal this game, Nielsen only had to make one really good save, the rest being saves he should make with ease.

Player Ratings - Nielsen 7, Myers 6, Besler 8, Collin 8, Sinovic 7, Cesar 7, Nagamura 6, Espinoza 6, Kamara 7, Sapong 7, Zusi 7.  Subs Peterson 6, Olum, NR, Rosell NR.

Former SKC Wizards Update

Clubs were back in action this week after the international break, plenty of games this week and lots of midweek games as well.  Here's this week's games.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Eloy Colombano
Doug DeMartin
Birahim Diop
Pablo Escobar
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Tom Gray
Willy Guadarrama
Zoltan Hercegfalvi
Santiago Hirsig
Aaron Hohlbein
Will John
Neal Kitson
Jonathan Leathers
Ryan McMahen
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Sergei Raad
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Started and played 90 minutes in Montreal's 3-1 loss to Chicago.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Came off the bench and played 30 minutes in RSL's 1-0 win over Tauro.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Started and played 90 minutes, recording a shutout in Dallas' 1-0 win over Vancouver.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Out recovering from surgery.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in Portland's 1-1 draw with Seattle.  Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 2-2 draw with San Jose.
Eddie Johnson - Seattle - Started and played 90 minutes in Seattle's 1-1 draw with Portland.  Started and played 76 minutes, scoring a goal in Seattle's 3-2 win over Marathon.
Chris Konopka - Philadelphia - Did not dress in Philadelphia's 1-1 draw with Toronto.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Chivas - Did not dress in Chivas' 2-0 loss to San Jose.  Did not dress in Chivas' 1-0 loss to Columbus.
Scott Sealy - Dallas - Came off the bench and played 2 minutes in Dallas' 1-0 win over Vancouver.
Ryan Smith - Chivas - Came off the bench and played 24 minutes in Chivas' 2-0 loss to San Jose.  Started and played 72 minutes in Chivas' 1-0 loss to Columbus.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Came off the bench and played 1 minute in San Jose's 2-0 win over Chivas.  Dressed but did not play in San Jose's 2-2 draw with Portland.
Shavar Thomas - Montreal - Did not dress in Montreal's 3-1 loss to Chicago.
Tyson Wahl - Colorado - Did not dress in Colorado's 2-0 loss to LA.
Josh Wolff - DC - Did not dress in DC's 2-1 win over New England.

NASL
Jose Burciaga - Atlanta - Started and played 90 minutes in Atlanta's 1-0 win over Fort Lauderdale.  Did not play in Atlanta's 3-1 win over San Antonio.
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Did not play in Minnesota's 2-0 loss to Puerto Rico.
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Came off the bench and played 14 minutes in Fort Lauderdale's 1-0 loss to Atlanta.
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Started and played 90 minutes in Carolina's 2-1 win over San Antonio.  Started and played 90 minutes in Carolina's 1-1 draw with Tampa.
Luke Sassano - Carolina - Came off the bench and played 8 minutes in Carolina's 2-1 win over San Antonio. Did not play in Carolina's 1-1 draw with Tampa.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Did not play in Fort Lauderdale's 1-0 loss to Atlanta.

USL
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Season is over.
Akeem Priestley - Dayton - Season is over.
Yomby William - Richmond - Season is over.
John Wilson - Charleston - Season is over.

PDL
Michael Kraus - FC Tucson - Season is over.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Season is over.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Season is over.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Season is over.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Season is over.
Craig Rocastle - Comets - Season is over.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Season is over.

International
Vicente Arze - R. Charleroi S.C. - Belgium - Did not dress in Charleroi's 3-2 win over Mons.
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - Started and played 56 minutes in Cruz Azul's 2-0 loss to Tigres UANL. Came off the bench and played 25 minutes in Cruz Azul's 1-1 Copa Mexico draw with Atlas.
Sunil Chhetri - Sporting Clube de Portugal B - Portugal - Dressed but did not play in Sporting's 2-1 win over Arouca.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Trinidad - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes in W Connection's 3-2 loss to Xelaju.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Beat Caledonia 3-1.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 23 minutes in Santos' 2-0 loss to America. Started and played 73 minutes in Santos' 4-0 win over Aguila.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Tied Tivoli Gardens 2-2.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - Did not play in Bahia's 2-1 win over Figueirense.
Mike Jones - FC Hjorring - Denmark - Did not dress in Hjorring's 2-1 loss to Fyn.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - Started and played 61 minutes in Tiraspol's 2-1 loss to Sheriff.
Carlos Marinelli - Alvarado - Argentina - Did not play in Alvarado's 2-1 win over Union Mar del Plata
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - Started and played 90 minutes in Krasnodar's 5-2 loss to Anzhi Makhachkala.
Michal Mravec - FC Emmen - Netherlands - Did not dress in Emmen's 0-0 draw wtih Telstar
Pablo Punyed - Fjolnir - Iceland - Started and played 90 minutes in Fjolnir's 3-1 loss to Throttur Reykjavik.
Milos Stojcev - FC Akzhayik - Kazakhstan - Came off the bench and played 8 minutes in Akzhayik's 1-0 loss to Shakhter Karagandy.
Matt Taylor - Preußen Münster - Germany - Started and played 76 minutes in Munster's 2-0 win over Osnabruck.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Season is over.

Battle at the Top

Sporting KC have a big battle ahead of them to remain at the top of the Eastern Conference when they travel to New York to play the Red Bulls tomorrow at at Red Bull Arena.  It's not been an easy trip, because as of this posting, right around 21 hours to game time, the team was just leaving Kansas City for the New York metro due to the weather currently in that part of the country.  Per tweets from the team, they've been at MCI since about 1:30 this afternoon and still have not left.  It's going to be a long night for the team unfortunately and it's for a game that KC really needs to be at the top of their game for.

The Red Bulls come into the game on the back of a 3-1 win over the Columbus Crew thanks to a brace from Thierry Henry.  The Red Bulls are quite healthy now, and have a number of match up complications for Sporting.  Unlike the game in Kansas City earlier this season, Sporting will have to deal with Henry, and will likely face him for a full 90 minutes, unlike last season's late season match up that saw Henry red carded in the first half.  With their current home form, 10-0-3 and are undefeated in their last 5 games in league play as well.

Sporting is continuing to get healthy, Jacob Peterson continues to make his return from injury while Bobby Convey slowly makes his come back.  With KC on a 6 game unbeaten run in league play, and 7 in all competitions, KC is in their own vein of good form.  Combined with KC's good road form and this is shaping up to be a massive clash between the two teams at the top of the East.  With that good run of form still going for KC, I doubt we'll see Peter Vermes make any changes to the line up that has played the majority of this current unbeaten run.

Nielsen
Myers - Collin - Besler - Sinovic
Cesar - Nagamura
Espinoza
Kamara - Sapong - Zusi

Number to Remember - 1 - That's the number of times previously in KC's history that they've gotten more than 7 road wins.  That happened in the shootout aided 1997 season when KC finished on top of the Western Conference.  KC currently has 7 road wins this season, with 4 games left they can certainly come closer to that record. 

Key Match Up - Matt Besler vs Thierry Henry - Depending on who starts with him tomorrow, Henry seems possible to match up with local boy Besler, especially on set pieces when center back partner, Aurelien Collin likely to match up with another DP, Tim Cahill.

PREDICTION - This isn't going to be an easy match up at all for Sporting to get a result from.  The Red Bulls are an extremely tough team to break down at home.  KC's best chance is for them to actually take advantage of early opportunities that they can create.  The Red Bulls have given up some early goals this season and if KC can actually take advantage of them they'll have a decent shot at the game.  But the Red Bulls aren't going to go down easy and with all the offensive firepower they have it's not going to be an easy one.

SKC - 1 (Sapong)
NYRB - 2 (Henry, Cahill)

US Qualifier Right Around the Corner

We're less than a month away from what could be a win or go home game for the US men's national team at Livestrong Sporting Park against Guatemala.  With the results against Jamaica during this last set of qualifiers, the US find themselves tied with Jamaica and Guatemala for first place in the group on 7 points.  KC's first game of the upcoming qualifiers is in Antigua against Antigua and Barbuda.  Antigua's qualifying hopes are barely alive at this point and the US can eliminate them with a win or a draw.  While that game is going on, Jamaica and Guatemala will play.  No matter the result in those two games, the US game will mean a lot when it comes to qualifying.  There are a number of scenarios for the way the games could play out, but the simplest thing for the US is to win both games.  If the US doesn't, there are ways that could see the US not get through though, but I don't see that as a likely situation.

Ahead of the qualifier, there is going to be a public training session available for fans to attend on Sunday October 14th out at Livestrong Sporting Park.  The event in Columbus ahead of the Jamaica game was quite well attended and while it was a light workout for the US, looked like fun.  The other thing to keep an eye on is the American Outlaws plans for the game.  Not only the pre-night party at Johnny's Tavern, but the festivities the day of. 

The one interesting thing about the plans is the news that due to the NASCAR race the weekend after the game, it appears that the parking lots where most Sporting fans park will not be available for use for the game.  It'll be a fun day, and could be quite stressful as well, but Columbus Crew Stadium raised the bar against Jamaica, now it's Livestrong's turn to show off.  Checking Ticketmaster tonight I wasn't even able to find any tickets for sale.  Although there are some on secondary sites at this time.

Sporting's Run In to the Playoffs Isn't an Easy One

Sporting KC is still on top of the East at the moment, but things as a whole are not looking that good for Kansas City's final run in to the end of the season.  In their final 6 games, KC has one of the most difficult schedules in the league as they go towards the end of the season. 

KC has 4 of those 6 games on the road, and while they've had an extremely good road record this year, the road trips coming up are not easy.  Two of those four games are in New York, where the Red Bulls are undefeated, going 10-0-3 (W-L-D).  A third of those four is in Montreal, where the Impact will not only be looking to revenge a 3-1 loss that KC laid on the Impact earlier this season, but with only 2 home games left for them and slim playoff hopes starting to slip away, will be looking to claw their way into the playoffs.  KC's other road game is a trip to Columbus, where KC has already won 2-0 earlier this season, but the addition of Federico Higuain has given the Crew an extra boost and even though they've lost their last two games, will also be fighting for their playoff lives.  Even though KC is 7-4-2 on the road this year (only 1 win less than KC has at home this year), and teams seem to play less conservative against KC on the road, these are 4 places that are difficult to get all 3 points in, especially with all three teams battling for playoff positioning, or their playoff lives.

KC's home schedule isn't exactly easy either.  The aura of invincibility that had been seen at Livestrong Sporting Park last year for a decent period of the season has slowly evaporated, teams have figured out how to hold KC's offense at bay, KC is actually averaging fewer goals per game at home (1.2) than they are on the road where KC averages 1.31 goals per game.  KC has gotten 1 or fewer goals in 9 of 15 league games at Livestrong Sporting Park this season.  Not the type of home form that you want heading into what will likely be two must win home games.  The first is against the Chicago Fire who KC haven't beaten since October of 2010, and who they haven't beaten at home since August 22, 2007. Since then, KC has gone 0-2-4 at home against Chicago, in fact they haven't beaten the Fire since they moved to the Kansas side of the state line.  When the two teams take the field on the 28th at LSP, it will have been 5 years, 1 month and 6 days since KC's last win at home vs Chicago.  And that's not even mentioning the Fire's current hot streak, winning four of their last five, and five of their last seven dating back to the beginning of August.  The second home game, KC's season finale, is on paper the easiest of KC's 6 remaining games, playing against the Philadelphia Union who are likely to be long eliminated from the playoff race by then.

KC can still win the East on their own power, they just have to take care of business themselves.  If they can't they might struggle to get some help, with Chicago having games against Philadelphia and New England, along with 3 games at home, where they haven't lost to an Eastern Conference team since KC beat them back in October of 2010. Meanwhile New York gets to play Toronto, New England, and Philadelphia in their final run up, and has 4 home games, where they're undefeated this season.  The final six games for all 3 of the teams are against the Eastern Conference, and based off of the history this year, it favors Chicago and New York, who are 1-2 in their record against the Eastern Conference.  And while KC took care of the Western Conference, only losing once, their record of 9-6-4 vs the East puts them in 4th place in the conference in that list.

I have little doubt that KC will make the playoffs this year, and the teams form lately has been pretty good, unbeaten in 6 league games, 7 in all competitions, but this last stretch is going to be extremely difficult, with half of their remaining games against teams that are immediately below them in the table.  Now is the time of the season usually when a team gets hot and makes a deep run in the playoffs.  KC is doing quite well right now, but need to get a little hotter, start putting more of these 28 shots, 9 shots on goal into the net and start turning some of these single points into three points.  If KC can finish at the top of the East after these final 6 games and clinch home field advantage up to MLS Cup (depending on if San Jose make it to MLS Cup or not), KC would have to be considered one of the heavy favorites for the cup.

Attendance Comparison After 15 Home Games

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson

It wasn't the highest attended game in Livestrong Sporting Park history as Don Garber mentioned on Twitter on Friday, but it was still another game where KC pulled over the capacity of LSP.  Here's the comparison of 15 home games.

1996 - Arrowhead
12,141
Sunday September 7, 1996 vs Columbus 1-5 loss
Average - 12,612

1997 - Arrowhead
8,761
Friday September 12, 1997 vs New York 0-0 (2-3) shootout loss
Average - 8,830

1998 - Arrowhead
6,755
Saturday September 5, 1998 vs San Jose 5-1 win
Average - 7,734

1999 - Arrowhead
9,592
Saturday September 25, 1999 vs Colorado 0-0 (2-3) shootout loss
Average - 9,516

2000 - Arrowhead
8,485
Friday August 18, 2000 vs Miami 1-2 loss
Average - 9,202

2001 - Arrowhead
Season finished
Average - 10,954

2002 - Arrowhead
Season finished
Average - 12,287

2003 - Arrowhead
14,923
Saturday October 18, 2003 vs Dallas 1-0 win
Final home game of the season
Average - 15,573

2004 - Arrowhead
20,435
Saturday October 16, 2004 vs Los Angeles 1-0 win
Final home game of the season.
Average - 14,816

2005 - Arrowhead
7,207
Saturday October 1, 2005 vs Chicago 0-1 loss
Average - 9,501

2006 - Arrowhead
15,038
Saturday September 30 2006 vs Salt Lake 3-3 draw
Average - 10,763

2007 - Arrowhead
14,353
Thursday September 27, 2007 vs Los Angeles 0-1 loss
Final game of the season.
Average - 11,586

2008 - Community America Ballpark
9,841
Saturday October 18, 2008 vs San Jose 3-2 win.
Final game of the season.
Dramatic late winner by Herculez Gomez.
Average - 10,716

2009 - Community America Ballpark
10,385
Saturday October 22, 2009 vs DC 2-2 draw
Average - 10,053

2010 - Community America Ballpark
11,518
Saturday October 23, 2010 vs San Jose 4-1 win
The Diop game part Deux
Average - 10,286

2011 - Livestrong Sporting Park
18,778
Friday September 23, 2011 vs Philadelphia 1-1 draw
Average - 17,668

2012 - Livestrong Sporting Park
19,877
Friday September 14, 2012 vs Houston 1-1 draw
Average - 19,296

And here is the list of the average attendances for each of the year's throughout Sporting's history.

1. 2012 - 19,296 (-)
2. 2011 - 17,668 (-)
3. 2003 - 15,573 (-)
4. 2004 - 14,816 (-)
5. 1996 - 12,612 (-)
6. 2002 - 12,287 (-)
7. 2007 - 11,586 (-)
8. 2001 - 10,954 (-)
9. 2006 - 10,763 (+1)
10. 2008 - 10,716 (-1)
11. 2010 - 10,286 (-)
12. 2009 - 10,053 (-)
13. 1999 - 9,516 (+1)
14. 2005 - 9,501 (-1)
15. 2000 - 9,202 (-)
16. 1997 - 8,830 (-)
17. 1998 - 7,734 (-)

S.A.S. Saturday After Stats

Jimmy Nielsen has started 50 straight league games.

CJ Sapong's goal was his first in a game that Sporting didn't end up eventually winning.

The goal was Sapong's 3rd against Houston in all competitions, tying him with Teal Bunbury for the most goals against Houston.

The goal was Sapong's 17th in all competitions, tying him with Miklos Molnar, Eddie Johnson, and Jimmy Conrad for 14th on that list.

It was Sapong's 7th league goal at home, tying him with Omar Bravo, Molnar, Chris Henderson and Paul Wright for 18th on that list.

It was his 12th at home in all competitions, breaking his tie with Molnar, Bunbury, and Jack Jewsbury for 13th on that list.

Graham Zusi's assist was his 21st in league play for KC, breaking his tie with Jack Jewsbury for 8th on that list.

It was Zusi's 25th in all competitions for KC, tying him with Kerry Zavagnin for 7th on that list.

Matt Besler made his 106th start in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Bo Oshoniyi for 17th place on that list.

Besler made his 92nd league start, tying him with Oshoniyi for 19th on that list.

Another Home Game, More Dropped Points

KC left it late but pulled a point out against Houston at home last night on NBC Sports.  Houston came out and played the same game that has become the blue print for playing Sporting KC at home.  They bunkered in and tried to limit Kansas City's chances and strike on the counter.  The Dynamo worked it to perfection, because while Sporting had over 4 times the number of shots (28-6) and 3 times the number of shots on goal (9-3) they grabbed a 1-0 lead 13 minutes into the second half and almost pulled off a big 1-0 win before CJ Sapong struck late to salvage a point. 

Just 5th minutes into the game KC almost took the lead.  CJ Sapong pressured Jermaine Taylor and forced him into a bad back pass.  Sapong beat Tally Hall to the ball and with Hall out of the net, Sapong laid the ball back to Graham Zusi whose shot was saved off the line by Bobby Boswell.  KC continued to attack and in the 19th minute forced Hall into a good save.  Kei Kamara won a header on a ball into the box.  The ball landed in front of Sapong who cut outside and fired a shot on goal that was delfected on the way in, but Hall was able to knock it away.  Hall almost knocked the ball into the path of Paulo Nagamura that would have been a goal, but Nagamura couldn't get a touch.  KC kept pushing and in the 33rd were again close to grabbing the lead.  With everyone in the box for a long throw from Matt Besler, Besler played the ball short and received the ball right back.  He played a cross into the box for Sapong whose powerful header was very well saved by HAll.

Closing in on half time, Houston had an extremely dangerous opportunity as Will Bruin got played in behind KC's defense in a blown attempt at the offside trap.  One on one with Bruin though, Jimmy Nielsen came up with a very big save to keep the game scoreless.

In the 55th Hall again came up big.  Off a Besler long throw, Sapong headed the ball into the path of Kamara who just got a touch to the ball but Hall knocked the ball over the bar. All the pressure that KC had pushed early on though didn't get them the goal and then in the 58th, Houston grabbed the lead.  After some sustained possession for Houston, Oscar Boniek Garcia picked out Brad Davis at the top of the completely unmarked.  Davis had time to take a touch and fire his shot towards the far corner.  Nielsen seemed to get a good look at it and got a good jump, but somehow it got past him and into the net to put Houston on top 1-0.  KC threw even more numbers into the attack but still couldn't find net.  Sapong missed just wide of the goal with a header from the top of the box off a Chance Myers cross in the 78th minute.  Then in the 81st off a Zusi free kick Myers forced a decent save from Hall on a header, but the shot was right at Hall.  The rebound was cleared before anyone from KC could get to it.  The pressure looked like it'd be for not as the game entered stoppage time with the game still 1-0 to the Dynamo.  In the 3rd minute of stoppage time, Besler played a long ball over the top to the edge of the box where Sapong headed into the path of Zusi and pealed away to make a run to the back post.  Zusi took a touch then cut inside before looping a ball to the back post where Sapong was unmarked.  Sapong headed the ball past Hall and into the net tying the score at 1-1.

Wizards Man of the Match - CJ Sapong - He got the game tying goal, but if not for some very good saves from Hall last night, Sapong would have had 2-3 goals.  This was the type of confidence building game that Sapong needed heading into the late run this season.

Player Ratings - Nielsen 5, Myers 5, Collin 6, Besler 4, Sinovic 5, Cesar 5, Nagamura 6, Espinoza 6, Kamara 5, Sapong 6, Zusi 6. Subs Peterson 5.

Back to the Business of League Play

With the international break last week behind us, it's time for Kansas City to get back to league business for the final push for the playoffs.  Kansas City is currently 3 points behind San Jose for the Supporters' Shield with 7 games left, and 3 points ahead of Chicago for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Kansas City returns to league play against the team that ended KC's season last year, the Houston Dynamo.  The Dynamo built the blue print last year in the Eastern Conference finals on how to defeat KC's high pressure at home.  And since KC has yet to find a way to consistently beat the bunker defense at home, expect Houston to come out in that similar format again tomorrow night.  So far this season, Houston has won down in Houston and drawn in Kansas City in the two previous meetings.  Tomorrow Houston though will have to do it without Calen Carr, who is suspended due to yellow card accumulation.  While they'll still have leading scorer, Will Bruin, Carr is the only player that has scored on Kansas City this season for Houston.

Kansas City's long term injury sufferers, Bobby Convey and Jacob Peterson are getting closer to full health, in fact Peterson is set to be cleared to play.  Peterson though is unlikely to be a starter immediately from his return, but wouldn't be surprised to see him make an appearance off the bench.  With that, and Aurelien Collin's return from his 1 game suspension, I'd expect Kansas City's lineup to be similar to what we've seen the last few games.

Nielsen

Myers - Collin - Besler - Sinovic

Cesar - Nagamura

Espinoza

Kamara - Sapong - Zusi

Number to Remember - 11 - That's KC's magic number right now.  KC needs a combination of points gained by them and lost by 6th place in the East (currently DC United) equaling 11.  With 3 home games left, each one is going to be important in this final stretch.  The playoffs while not a forgone conclusion would take a big collapse down the stretch for them to miss the playoffs.  So getting to the playoffs just isn't enough.

Key Match Up - Aurelien Collin vs Will Bruin - Collin returns from his suspension for yellow accumulation and will get to match up with Houston's leading scorer.  Bruin is going to create an extremely physical match up with Collin and while it won't be Collin vs Steven Lenhart, it's going to be interesting to watch.

PREDICTION - Three home games left for Sporting KC, each one has to be a win.  Houston has had some form issues lately, and their road form has been worse.  Their last road win was in late July when they won in Toronto (which honestly does winning in Toronto really count?).  Before that you have to go back to the second game of the regular season when Houston beat San Jose on the road 1-0 for their last road win in league play.  With Chicago and New York breathing down KC's neck, it's absolutely dire that Sporting take care of business at home.  In the past Dominic Kinnear has out coached Peter Vermes.  And the longer tomorrow goes without a goal the more Houston is going to be comfortable taking the point.  Houston is going to use the same strategy that they diagrammed in the EC finals last year.  The best was to break that down has been an nearly goal and that's not going to change tomorrow.  Getting the early goal is going to once again be the key for KC.

SKC - 2 (Sapong, Kamara)
HOU - 1 (Bruin)

MLS Rules Confuse Me... Again

I spend more time than I should trying to understand MLS' rules when it comes to player acquisitions.  I do this because the rules as a whole aren't exactly that straight forward, with the draft, "college protection", discovery claims, allocations, and the like, it can be hard for the casual fan to understand exactly what is going on.  Today though I am almost at a loss because of what would appear to be a contradiction of MLS' rules.

Today the teams participating in the lottery for Marcus Tracy were released.  The lottery is designed as a way to allocate a player out to a team so that they are not able to hold out for a specific club.  Tracy was the 2008 Hermann Award winner as the best college player.  He was drafted with the 56th pick of the 2009 MLS draft by Houston.  He fell so far because Tracy was already planning to bypass MLS and sign with Aalborg of the Danish league.  The Dynamo though made an offer to Tracy which allowed them to retain his MLS rights for 2 years.  The reason for this is because of the "College Protection List" which if a player is drafted but doesn't sign with the league the team retains the player's rights for 2 years.  That expired on December 31, 2010 for the Dynamo.  So tomorrow Tracy is going through a lottery.

What makes it confusing is a situation involving Sporting Kansas City.  Earlier this year, Sporting KC signed local KC player, Michael Thomas after making a trade with the San Jose Earthquakes.  Thomas had been drafted by the Earthquakes in 2010, but after being offered a contract, instead signing with Halmstads in Sweden.  Based on the "College Protection List" and the information on Tracy being offered a contract, Thomas' period should have expired on December 31, 2011.  On January 17th, 2012 though, Sporting announced that they had traded a supplemental draft pick to the Quakes for Thomas.  At the time I was told that because San Jose made an offer, Thomas stayed on their "College Protection List" forever.  That doesn't make sense in light of the Tracy situation.

So if Thomas had been offered a contract by San Jose the same way that Houston had offered one to Tracy, why is the way that the two were/are allocated to the league different?  Honestly it's not a matter of the draft pick, the Earthquakes drafted Tyler Krumpe from Loyola Marymount, who didn't even make the Quakes roster.  The point of this is MLS seeming to have used two different ways of bringing a player into the league when both players' situations when they "left" the league were the same.

It just doesn't make sense.  The only thing I can really think as a potential reason for it is because of the last reserve game of the year last year against Dallas.  In that game, Thomas was the infamous Trialist 1.  At that time, Thomas was still on San Jose's "College Protection List" so maybe as a sign of good faith with the Quakes, or because the Quakes realized it was Thomas and complained to the league, they made the trade.  If so, why not just state that instead of stating something that is contradictory to your own rules that you publish on the web?

 As I said earlier, in the end this isn't about the draft pick we've given up, I'd have rather given up a throw away draft pick than our lottery spot for Thomas, because in the lottery there's no guarantee that he'd end up in KC.  My problem is the fact that with two seemingly similar situations the league is going two totally opposite ways with the way a player is allocated to a team.  I love Sporting KC, and I love the league, I love that my son will get to grow up watching professional soccer in the US, but I wish the league would follow the own rules that they have set up.

Former SKC Wizards Update

Not a lot of players in action this week due to the international break, but still some action for a few players.  Also, congratulations to Luke Sassano who has landed on his feet after being waived by KC, signing with Carolina.

Active without a club or unknown
Stephane Auvray
Chris Brunt
Eloy Colombano
Doug DeMartin
Birahim Diop
Pablo Escobar
Mauro Fuzetti
AJ Godbolt
Tom Gray
Willy Guadarrama
Zoltan Hercegfalvi
Santiago Hirsig
Aaron Hohlbein
Will John
Neal Kitson
Jonathan Leathers
Ryan McMahen
Anthony Noriega
Ryan Pore
Sergei Raad
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Ivan Trujillo
Lance Watson

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - No game this week.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Came off the bench and played 7 minutes in RSL's 1-0 loss to Houston.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - No game this week.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Out recovering from surgery.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - No game this week.
Eddie Johnson - Seattle - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring 2 goals in Seattle's 2-1 win over Chivas.
Chris Konopka - Philadelphia - No game this week.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Chivas - Started and played 89 minutes in Chivas' 2-1 loss to Seattle.
Scott Sealy - Dallas - No game this week.
Ryan Smith - Chivas - Did not dress in Chivas' 2-1 loss to Seattle.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - No game this week.
Shavar Thomas - Montreal - No game this week.
Tyson Wahl - Colorado - No game this week.
Josh Wolff - DC - No game this week.

NASL
Jose Burciaga - Atlanta - Came off the bench and played 24 minutes in Atlanta's 1-1 draw with Tampa.
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Did not play in Minnesota's 1-1 draw with Edmonton.  Came off the bench and played 15 minutes in Minnesota's 4-0 win over Puerto Rico.
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Came off the bench and played 14 minutes in Fort Lauderdale's 1-1 draw with Puerto Rico.
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Started and played 90 minutes in Carolina's 1-0 loss to San Antonio.  Play Edmonton tonight.
Luke Sassano - Carolina - Just signed for the Railhawks.
Abe Thompson - Fort Lauderdale - Did not play in Fort Lauderdale's 1-1 draw with Puerto Rico.
Konrad Warzycha - Carolina - Loan - Came off the bench and played 18 minutes in Carolina's 1-0 loss to San Antonio.

USL
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Season is over.
Akeem Priestley - Dayton - Season is over.
Yomby William - Richmond - Season is over.
John Wilson - Charleston - Started and played 90 minutes in Charleston's 1-0 win over Wilmington.

PDL
Michael Kraus - FC Tucson - Season is over.

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Season is over.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Wichita Wings - Season is over.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Season is over.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Season is over.
Craig Rocastle - Comets - Season is over.
Paul Wright - Anaheim Bolts - Season is over.

International
Vicente Arze - R. Charleroi S.C. - Belgium - No game this week.
Omar Bravo - Cruz Azul - Mexico - No game this week.
Sunil Chhetri - Sporting Clube de Portugal B - Portugal - No game this week.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Trinidad - No game this week.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - No game this week.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Started and played 90 minutes in the USA's 2-1 loss to Jamaica.  Started and played 80 minutes, scoring a goal in the USA's 1-0 win over Jamaica.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Season is over.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - Did not play in either of Bahia's games.
Mike Jones - FC Hjorring - Denmark - Did not play in Hjorring's 2-0 loss to Vejle-Kolding.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - No game this week.
Carlos Marinelli - Alvarado - Argentina - Did not play in Alvarado's 1-1 draw wtih Sportivo Desamparados
Yura Movsisyan - FC Krasnodar - Russia - Started and played 90 minutes in Armenia's 1-0 win over Malta.  Started and played 90 minutes in Armenia's 1-0 loss to Bulgaria.
Michal Mravec - FC Emmen - Netherlands - No game this week.
Pablo Punyed - Fjolnir - Iceland - Started and played 90 minutes in Fjolnir's 1-0 loss to Thor.
Milos Stojcev - FC Akzhayik - Kazakhstan - No game this week.
Matt Taylor - Preußen Münster - Germany - No game this week.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Season is over.

Flags Policy Change, Warzycha Recalled From Loan

Basically, ever since the US Open Cup final, when Robb Heineman allowed the Emerald City Supporters and the rest of the Seattle Sounders supporters to bring flags in for the game, the team has had Chicago Fire fans wage a "Fear the Flag" campaign to get flags allowed in for all away supporters.  With the Fire set to make one more appearance at Livestrong Sporting Park on Friday the 28th, Section 8 and the rest of the Fire fans were really pushing to get their flags allowed in for the game.

After a lot of comments directed at Robb Heineman on Twitter, and conversations with the Cauldron leadership, Heineman and Sporting KC changed their policy regarding flags.  Per the announcement by the team today on the blog though, not only will the flags be available to away supporters, but ALL fans will now be allowed to have flags, provided that they meet a few conditions put forward by the team. The new policy goes even further than the Chicago Fire's policy which does not allow flags outside the home and away supporters' groups (a fact that Sporting makes sure to point out in their announcement on their blog today). 

As long as this announcement is properly relayed to security throughout the stadium, this is a good move.  I know that the South Stand is already planning to make use of this new rule themselves by getting poles for their own flags that they have.  So if all of the security people get the message and don't cause problems for fans throughout the stadium that bring in flags, this will be a very good thing for the team and for the atmosphere at Livestrong Sporting Park.

Warzycha recalled from loan

Konrad Warzycha was back from his loan with the Carolina Railhawks for yesterday's reserve game against Real Salt Lake.  This was originally part of the loan deal so that Warzycha could play in Kansas City's last two reserve games. But now Warzycha will not be returning to Carolina.  Warzycha appeared in the final 18 minutes of Carolina's last game playing at right back.  And with Carolina clinching a playoff spot, Peter Vermes has recalled the center back. 

You do have to wonder if the reason for Warzycha's return is that he has played 18 minutes in the few games he's been available and those 18 minutes were spent at right back.  Maybe Vermes was disappointed with the amount of playing time and where Warzycha was playing.

Good Night for Sporting KC Internationals

It turned out to be a huge night for Sporting KC's international players as all 3 got huge results to help them in their own qualifying efforts. 

First, Graham Zusi got his first start in a competitive game for the US national team as they faced a virtual must win at home against Jamaica.  After the loss in Jamaica and Guatemala beating Antigua earlier tonight, the US faced the prospect of falling out of a spot in the Hex with only 2 games left.  Zusi though took full advantage of his starting opportunity having a fantastic game and earning himself high praise around the US Soccer community.  In the 6th minute Zusi cut outside around the corner of the box and fired a shot on goal that hit the cross bar.  Zusi had two other opportunities in the first half, the first after a blocked shot by Fabian Johnson that Zusi got to on the back post by Dwayne Miller got his foot to the shot knocking it away.  Also off a corner that was headed back to him by Carlos Bocanegra, Zusi hit the volley just over the bar.  Even without the efforts, Zusi had a great game, combining extremely well with Steve Cherundolo, the two caused Jamaica a number of problems down the USA's right side the entire game. 

It took until the second half for the US to find the winner and it came off a fantastic free kick from former Wizard, Herculez Gomez.  Miller in the Jamaican net should have done better, but you can't take away from the strike from Gomez.  The US now have 2 games left to clinch advancement to the Hex and would certainly appear to be in the driver's seat.

In other World Cup qualifying action, Roger Espinoza and Honduras took on Cuba in San Pedro Sula in Honduras.  Honduras got their qualification hopes back on track with a 1-0 win and moved into second in the group ahead of Canada on goal difference.  Espinoza set up the goal by Jerry Bengtson after some great work on the end line before sending a looping ball to the back post where Bengston headed the ball into the empty net.  The goal was all Honduras needed.  Honduras finish qualifying in Panama on the 12th before finishing qualifying at home vs Canada which could be the game that decides which of those two teams advances to the Hex next year.

The final Sporting international playing tonight was Peterson Joseph who finished their first qualification phase for the Caribbean Championships and Gold Cup qualification.  The Haitians topped Puerto Rico 2-1 to finish atop Group 1.  With the win, Haiti move into Group 6, which will be hosted October 18th through the 25th in Grenada.  Haiti and Grenada will be joined by the winner of Group 2 and the second place team from either group 4 or 5.

Nielsen Green Card, Rangers Fall

Ahead of tonight's USA game, where Graham Zusi is set to earn his 4th cap as a starter tonight, here is some news for you.

Nielsen Receive Green Card

Today on Twitter, Jimmy Nielsen announced that he had earned his green card.  With that, Nielsen will now no longer count as an international player on Sporting's roster.  US laws require that a green card holder be treated the same as a citizen, so Nielsen will now count as a domestic player.  He's the second player in the last month or so to pick up his green card, joining Julio Cesar.  Those two picking up their green cards allows KC some more roster flexibility heading into next season, which could be a way to bring in a striker.

Rangers Fall

The Swope Park Rangers dropped their 3rd straight reserve league match today out at Swope Park against Reserve Salt Lake (RSL, get it?) 1-0.  From reports, KC controlled much of the play but seemed to suffer from the same finishing problems as the first team.  Then in the 58th minute, Jon Kempin brought down Emiliano Bonfigli in the box, denying a goal scoring opportunity and the goalkeeper was sent off.  Academy keeper, Jacole Turner came on, but Bongifli scored the only goal of the game giving RSL the win.  The Rangers have 1 more game left in the reserve league this season, two weeks from today when they play Dallas down in Dallas.

Joseph and Haiti Clinch Spot in Next Round

Haiti clinched advancement to the next round in qualifying for the Caribbean Championships with a 3-1 win over Bermuda last night.  Sporting KC midfielder, Peterson Joseph picked up another cap for Haiti going the full 90 minutes in the win.  Haiti is currently second in their group behind Puerto Rico on goal difference.  The two teams meet tomorrow in the final group game.  Haiti need a win to guarantee first place in the group.  Should Haiti win, they will move into Group 6 to play Grenada.  Should Haiti draw or lose to Puerto Rico, they will go into Group 7 which is hosted by Guadeloupe and feature Martinique who finished 1st in Group 3.

Kamara and Sierra Leone Draw at Home

Kei Kamara and Sierra Leone will have a tall task ahead of them when they travel to Tunisia for the second leg of their African Cup of Nations qualifying series.  Today in Sierra Leone, the Leone Stars drew 2-2 with Tunisia.  That means that Sierra Leone will now need to win on the road in Tunisia or draw 3-3 or greater to advance automatically.  A 2-2 draw in Tunisia would see the game go to extra time and potentially PKs.

Sierra Leone grabbed the lead in the early goings of the first half and held on through half time.  Early in the second half, Tunisia tied things up.  Then in the 87th minute Sierra Leone went ahead again after two Sierra Leone players went up for a header.  After the header, one of the Leone Stars was the first to react and bury it in the net to make it 2-1 Sierra Leone.  The celebration was short lived though as 1 minute later Tunisia was level again after some very poor defending by the Leone Stars.  A Tunisian player dribbled to the end line with his mark applying little pressure, then as he was falling down squared the ball into the middle for another player who buried it in the net to level the scoring. 

Kamara played the full 90 minutes, for his 10th cap while a member of Sporting KC and 15th overall.