Match Day 22 - More Lineup Changes

Through 21 games this season, Sporting KC has played 21 different lineups. And heading into tomorrow's game against the Philadelphia Union, Sporting looks set to field it's 22nd different league lineup. Due to schedule congestion, injuries, call ups, suspensions, and everything else, KC has been unable to field a consistent lineup this season.

Philadelphia comes into the game in a transitional period. Earlier this week, the team announced the signing of Algeria's World Cup veteran, Rais Mbolhi to be the team's new starting goalkeeper. An odd timing for the move as they have Zac MacMath and first round pick, Andre Blake currently on their roster. Yes getting a player like Mbolhi is a solid move, but there were other areas that they could have upgraded. Current starter, MacMath is set to start for the Union tomorrow against KC, but it could be his final one for a while if Mbolhi is ready to go next week. Where MacMath's head is out heading into the game will be a big part of tomorrow's game. If he's already resigned himself to being a back up and departing Philly it could be a long night for the Union. He could also see it as an opportunity to be in the "shop window" and play lights out (which seems to happen more than it should against KC). Elsewhere on the field, Conor Casey has been a handful for opposing defenses, especially as of late and he'll be a big one for Aurelien Collin in KC's defense.

KC's defense will again have a makeshift feel to it tomorrow. With the suspension of Matt Besler, and Seth Sinovic doubtful with an injury, KC will again be shuffling the back line. Kevin Ellis is likely to fill one of those two positions. If Ellis is at centerback, then Jacob Peterson would seem to be the most likely one to replace Sinovic at left back having played right back against Houston and Manchester City. Other options at left back would include Sal Zizzo or Toni Dovale, both of whom have spent time as a wingback. The other possibility is that Ellis slots into Sinovic's left back position. If that happens, 17 year old Erik Palmer-Brown could get another start in the center of KC's defense. The other area KC has to replace, is the defensive midfield position right in front of the center backs. Filled recently by Lawrence Olum, he's on international duty now, so Jorge Claros could make his competitive debut for the club. If he doesn't start, slotting Benny Feilhaber back there as he has earlier this year would be expected. Lots of questions for KC's back four and midfield heading into tomorrow's game.

Gruenebaum

Juliao - Collin - Ellis - Peterson

Claros - Lopez

Feilhaber

Zusi - Dwyer - Dovale

Number to Rememer - 4 - That's the number of 2-1 wins hat KC has had in a row heading into tomorrow's game. Wins over Montreal, Columbus, and Toronto on the road, plus a win over LA at home by the same scoreline.

Key Match Up - Dom Dwyer vs Maurice Edu - The US international has slotted back into defense for the Union at this time and will be needed to shut down Dwyer. KC's leading scorer has been held scoreless in their last three league games, since his third brace of the season against the Impact. It's been good in a way for KC though, as other players have found net and now KC has more than two players with more than a single goal.

PREDICTION - Both teams come in on an unbeaten run, KC at seven games unbeaten in league play, Philadelphia unbeaten in four. Philadelphia was off last weekend, instead playing Crystal Palace in a friendly so they may be a little fresher heading into the game. For Kansas City, that 2-1 loss to the Union at home earlier this season has to be something that is in the player's mind, it's the second time in as many seasons that the Union have come to KC and grabbed all three points. That's something that I'm sure Vermes has pointed out this week. This is a game that KC should be able to win, even with their back line the way it is, they should have enough firepower up front to win.

SKC - 2 (Dwyer, Feilhaber)
PHI - 1 (Le Toux)

FC Kansas City Fall in Washington

From FC Kansas City.

FC Kansas City (11-6-4 37pts) lost 2-1 to the Washington Spirit (9-8-4 31pts) tonight in front of 2,744 fans at Maryland SoccerPlex. The Blues got on the board first when Becky Sauerbrunn scored in the 18th minute but two late goals from Kerstin Garefrekes and Christine Narin gave Kansas City a road loss.

The first half started out well for the Blues, maintaining possession of the ball and finding close chances on goal. The Spirit only had a few chances throughout the opening minutes, but those few were solid chances.

A Washington throw in found its way to Kansas City’s backline where Sauerbrunn took control of the ball. The 2013 NWSL Defender of the Year made one of her rare, yet stunning, runs toward the attacking third. She ran in to some pressure and passed the ball to Sarah Hagen while still running. Hagen fed the ball right back to the captain who took a chip shot over Ashlyn Harris for the first goal of the night. This was also Sauerbrunn’s first goal in her NWSL career.

The momentum slightly shifted as the Spirit became more aggressive and found more chances on goal. A close one came in the 27th minute when Garefrekes fired off a shot from less than 18 yards out. The ball hit the post and went out to safety.

From that shot on, FC Kansas City seemed to collect possession again and control the run of play. Harris performed well as the Blues’ offense challenged her throughout the first 45 minutes including three corner kicks in a row from Lauren Holiday. None of the chances from either side connected with the back of the net and the teams took a break with the Blues up 1-0.

Washington came back from the locker rooms hungry for an equalizer. Garefrekes was the answer to that in the 49th minute. A corner from Narrin was sent in to the box which found Garefrekes’ head and the Blues were there for stop that. The ball bounced towards the byline and the play seemed to end until Narin saved it. Lisa De Vanna got a hold of it and sent it back to Garefrekes who sent it past Nicole Barnhart to even the score 1-1.

With the score tied up, the battle for the upper hand saw an increased intensity. Both sides played smarter and created opportunities in the attacking thirds. De Vanna played a ball to the top of the box to find Narin. She fired a shot while Barnhart dove to try and save. The ball went just beyond Barnhart’s hands to put the Spirit up the 67th minute.

FC Kansas City applied offensive pressure throughout the rest of the match, but neither team scored any additional goals. The Blues took a 2-1 road loss and begin to focus on Saturday’s match against first place Seattle Reign FC.

Jewsbury Plays 300th MLS Game - Former SKC Wizards Update

 Jack Jewsbury joined a bit of an exclusive club this past weekend. Against the Montreal Impact, Jewsbury played his 300th MLS game as the Portland Timbers topped the Impact 3-2. Jewsbury played the full 90 minutes in the win for Portland.

Also this week, three former players have been involved in Europa League qualifying. Pablo Punyed and Milos Stojcev both advanced with their clubs. Meanwhile Igor Kostrov and his club bowed out of the competition. Here's the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Vicente Arze
Jose Burciaga
Julio Cesar
Edson Elcock
Adnan Gabeljic
Aaron Hohlbein
Mechack Jerome
Mike Jones
Neal Kitson
Michal Mravec
Alex Martinez
Nelson Pizarro
Akeem Priestly
Peter Schmetz
Scott Sealy
Konrad Warzycha

MLS
Davy Arnaud - DC - Started and played 82 mintes in DC's 3-0 win over Toronto.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Started and played 81 minutes in New England's 2-1 loss to Columbus. Started and played 90 minutes in New England's 2-1 win over Colorado.
Bobby Convey - New York - Did not dress in New York's 1-1 draw with Salt Lake.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Dressed but did not play in Salt Lake's 3-1 win over Montreal. Came off the bench and played 23 minutes in Salt Lake's 1-1 draw with New York.
Michael Harrington - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 3-2 win over Montreal.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 3-2 win over Montreal.
Eddie Johnson - DC - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in DC's 3-0 win over Toronto.
Chris Konopka - Toronto - Dressed but did not play in Toronto's 2-1 loss to KC. Dressed but did not play in Toronto's 3-0 loss to DC.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Portland - Did not dress in Portland's 3-2 win over Montreal.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - No game this week.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Dressed but did not play in Columbus' 2-1 win over New England.

NASL
Stefan Antonijevic - Fort Lauderdale - Did not dress in Fort Lauderdale's 1-1 draw with New York.

USL
Brian Fekete - Pittsburgh - Dressed but did not play in Pittsburgh's 5-2 win over RSL's reserves. Came off the bench and played 10 minutes in Pittsburgh's 5-0 loss to Sacramento.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 3-0 win over Dayton.
Jonathan Leathers - Charlotte - Started and played 86 minutes in Charlotte's 2-0 win over Wilmington.
Kyle Miller - Oklahoma City - Came off the bench and played 5 minutes in OKC's 3-0 win over Dayton.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in OKC's 3-0 win over Dayton.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 2-1 win over Harrisburg.
John Wilson - Charleston - Started and played 90 minutes in Charleston's 2-0 win over Arizona. Dressed but did not play in Charleston's 1-0 win over Montreal.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - St. Louis - Offseason.
Pat Healey - Baltimore - Offseason.

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Auerbach - Germany - No game until 8/1.
Scott Angevine - Sporting Kristina - Finland - Started and played 90 minutes in Sporting's 2-1 loss to Kerho 07 (SJK II)
Federico Bessone - Millwall - England - No game until 8/9
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - Started and played 71 minutes in Chivas' 1-0 win over Pumas. Did not dress in Chivas' 3-1 win over Deportivo Tepic.
Mitchell Cardenas - Atlético Coatzacoalcos - Mexico - Offseason.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Offseason.
Eloy Colombano - UAI Urquiza - Argentina - Offseason.
Daneil Cyrus - Ha Noi T&T (W Connection) - Vietnam (Trinidad) - Started and played 90 minutes in HA Noi's 3-1 win over Hoang Anh Gia Lai.
Pablo Escobar - Cúcuta Deportivo - Colombia - Started and played 90 minutes in Cuuta's 1-1 draw with Patriotas Boyaca. Started and played 20 minutes in Cucuta's 2-1 loss to America de Cali.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - No game until 8/9
Herculez Gomez - Tigres - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 25 minutes in Tires' 4-2 win over Leon. Started and played 73 minutes in Tigres' 4-0 cup win over Altamira.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Offseason.
Jeferson - América RN - Brazil - Started and played 90 minutes in America's 1-0 win over America Mineiro.
Will John - AZAL - Azerbaijan -No game until 8/9.
Kei Kamara - Middlesbrough - England - Started and played 90 minutes in Sierra Leone's 2-0 win over Seychelles.
Igor Kostrov - Veris - Moldova - Did not dress in either of Veris' Europa League games. Started and played 90 minutes in Veris' 5-0 win over Dinamo-Auto.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Did not dress in Universidad's 4-0 win over UTC Cajamarca.
Neven Markovic - Servette FC - Switzerland - Started and played 90 minutes in Servette's 4-2 loss to Wohlen.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - No game until 8/1
Pablo Punyed - Stjarnan - Iceland - Started and played 120 minutes in Stjarnan's 3-2 extra time win over Motherwell. Started and played 90 minutes in Stjarnan's 2-0 win over IBV.
Oriol Rosell - Sporting Club de Portugal - Portugal - No game until 8/17.
Yann Songo'o - Blackburn - England - No game until 8/9
Milos Stojcev - FK Sarajevo - Bosnia -  Started and played 82 minutes, scoring a goal in Sarajevo's 3-1 win over Haugesund.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - No game until 8/1
Ivan Trujillo - Deportivo Lara - Venezuela - No game until 8/10

Sporting Name Three to be Inducted as Sporting Legends

Sporting Club announced today that they will be inducting three people as Sporting Legends this year. After a fan vote that included Kerry Zavagnin, Chris Klein, and Mo Johnston, two players were chosen, Peter Vermes and Jimmy Conrad. The team also announced that the team's original owner Lamar Hunt would be inducted as well.

The trio will be inducted on Friday during half time of Sporting KC's game against the Philadelphia Union.

Of the players available for selection, neither one was my choice selection this year, my vote went to Mo Johnston. For me I was only looking at Vermes' playing career with Kansas City. With him currently being the coach of the club I personally had seen his coaching history as something to not yet be considered in the discussion. I felt of the candidates available, on their playing alone, Vermes was the weakest candidate for inclusion as a Sporting Legend. Based on his time as coach I figured once he was done coaching he would then go in as a legend for both his play and his coaching. But in the release the team put out they are including his coaching accomplishments. I understand including it, cause they are great accomplishments, but to me it just doesn't sit right when he is still the team's coach.

As for Conrad, he is 100% deserving of going in as a Sporting Legend. For me though I felt that at this time, Johnston was the more deserving candidate. Honestly Conrad was probably second in my head behind Johnston.

Then there's Hunt, who is probably the most deserving candidate of anyone that has been elected as a Sporting Legend. That's one of my issues with the Sporting Legends system right now, the fact that Hunt was not the first person selected for the honor. When the team announced Preki, Tony Meola, and Bob Gansler as the first class, I'd hoped that Hunt would be the second class, inducted by himself, getting the attention and honor he deserved as the team's founder and for bringing not just the team to this city, but bringing MLS to this country, and helping to keep KC and the league alive through the lean years of the league. I know I've said some bad things about Hunt over the years, especially after he announced the team but he's done so much for the team, he could have sold it to Rochester, San Antonio, or somewhere else before OnGoal came in and purchased the team. He really, I think, he deserved to be in a class all on his own.

That leads to another thing with the Sporting Legends program right now. I understand that there is catching up to do with regards to inductees into the program, we've gone almost 20 years without one, so there is history in the team that needs to be recognized and celebrated. But in the first two years there have now been six selected.

In my mind there aren't that many more players I would consider "Legends" for the club at this point who are no longer playing. Really in my mind the only ones right now not in that should be, are the three who didn't get in this year (Johnston, Klein, and Zavagnin), along with Nick Garcia, Jimmy Nielsen, and Josh Wolff. And even all of that may be pushing it, look at the likes of DC United, who only have 10 players in their Hall of Tradition, only twice have they inducted more than one per year, and they started in 2003. Or the Chicago Fire who have seven in their Ring of Honor who have never inducted more than one a year. As I said earlier, I understand that there's a need to catch up, but I'm not sure there a reason to basically induct as many in two years as the Five have since 2003. I would hope the inductions slow down to just one a year, if that, at this point. I don't want to get to the point where a player is being elected just to elect someone.

FCKC Top Sky Blue FC

From FC Kansas City

FC Kansas City fought with Sky Blue FC to a 2-1 victory in front of 1,852 fans tonight on Verizon Wireless Field. The Blues’ undefeated record at home still stands as Amy Rodriguez and Lauren Holiday secure an important win tonight.

The match had an exciting start. Katrina Gorry took a tumble after a shot that goalkeeper Jill Loyden saved quickly. The game’s energy matched the Kansas City summer heat on the field. Erika Tymrak also had a close shot. NWSL’s 2013 Rookie of the Year took a beautiful shot that Loyden just saved.

Though the Blues had stunning offensive attacks, the New Jersey club challenged Kansas City and kept the pressure in the defensive third. FC Kansas City finally broke through Sky Blue FC’s defense in the 34th minute. The dangerous team of Sarah Hagen, Holiday and Rodriguez worked the ball around the defenders in the box. Holiday found an open Rodriguez who fired a shot past Loyden. It was Rodriguez’s eleventh goal of the season.

FC Kansas City controlled the ball for the remaining minutes of the first half. Gorry looked up to see a streaking Hagen but Sky Blue’s defense was there to intercept the pass. The first half closed out with the Blues up 1-0.

The second half looked similar to the first, the Blues controlled the ball with a few chances against the run of play. Rodriguez looked dangerous in the 59th minute when she had a close shot for her 12th goal of the season but Loyden was there to keep the score 1-0 with 30 minutes remaining.

Amy LePeilbet made a huge defensive play for FC Kansas City in the 64th minute. LePeilbet took on multiple New Jersey attackers on her own to possess the ball and clear it out of the defensive third.

The score increased by one in the 70th minute when Frances Silva sent a beautiful cross from 18 yards out to find an open Holiday. She found her opportunity to take a shot and found the back of the net. The Blues went up to 2-0 with Holiday’s eighth goal of the season.

Sky Blue FC scored in the 87th minute. Gorry had a pass intercepted by Nadia Nadim who turned the ball and broke the shutout. The New Jersey club controlled the match with scary close chances on goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart. June’s Player of the Month held strong and the game ended at 2-1.

Olum Called Up by Kenya

Sporting KC announced today that Lawrence Olum has been recalled to the Kenyan national team for their upcoming African Cup of Nations qualifier against Lesotho. The game on August 3rd is the second game of their home and away series against Lesotho. Kenya lost the first leg on July 20th 1-0. Meaning they need to win to even have the chance to advance.

The call up will cause Olum to miss this Friday's game against the Philadelphia Union. Like Olum's last call up to Kenya it comes at a bad time for Sporting KC. Sporting will be without Matt Besler for Friday's game after his red card last night against Toronto. There is also the potential risk of being without Seth Sinovic, who left last night's game early with a groin strain. The problem is that the primary back up to fill both Besler's and Sinovic's role is the same player, Kevin Ellis. With Ellis only able to fill one spot, it could get interesting.

If Sinovic can go Friday, it's simple, Ellis plays center back next to Collin, Sinovic plays left back. If Sinovic can't go though there are a number of ways things could go. One option would be that Erik Palmer-Brown could slide into central defense and Ellis could play left back. Palmer-Brown though has missed time lately with an injury as well, if he can't go it gets more complicated. Ellis would likely need to play center back, leaving the left back slot open. There are a few options for KC at left back in this scenario. Jacob Peterson, who has played right back at times this season, including in a league game against Houston could slide left. Sal Zizzo, who played outside back with the Portland Timbers could also be called in as an emergency full back. The third option is Toni Dovale, who played left back for Celta de Vigo before KC brought him in. So KC has options, but they're not the most ideal.

The call up also means that we could see Jorge Claros make his MLS debut in the midfield for KC.

Sunday After Stats

Graham Zusi's goal was his 19th league goal for KC, tying him with Teal Bunbury and CJ Sapong for 10th on that list.

Zusi is now tied with Sapong as KC's active goals leader in league play.

Zusi's goal was his 21st in all competitions for KC, tying him with Mark Chung for 11th on that list.

Zusi's goal was his 8th in league play away from home, tying him with Sasha Victorine for 11th on that list.

It was his 9th away from home in all competitions, tying him with Chris Brown and Matt McKeon for 11th on that list.

There have been 13 red cards in KC games this year, only 2009 saw more (16).

In the 20th minute, Seth Sinovic moved past Chance Myers and into 17th place for minutes played in all competitions for KC. He finished the game with 11,121 minutes played.

In the 78th minute, Aurelien Collin moved past Uche Okafor and into 20th place for minutes played in all competitions. Collin finished the game with 10,294 minutes played.

Collin made his 116th start in all competitions, tying him with Okafor for 20th on that list.

CJ Sapong made his 100th league appearance for KC, he's the 28th player to hit that mark.

Matt Besler made his 166th appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Josh Wolff for 11th all time on that list.

Besler made his 159th start in all competitions, tying him with McKeon for 8th all time on that list.

Ten Man Sporting Top Toronto

Sporting extended their team record winning streak on the road last night to five games with a 2-1 win over Toronto at BMO Field. Kansas City did it after going down a man, losing Matt Besler to a red card after he picked up two yellows. In reality though it was not one of KC's best performances, Toronto easily could have been up a couple goals in the first half.

Early on KC had a good chance to take the lead, but Joe Bendik made a good save. After a weak punch by the TFC keeper fell to Igor Juliao, the Brazilian took a touch and fired a shot on goal but Bendik made a good save knocking the ball away. Toronto's Dominic Oduro caused Kansas City troubles all night down KC's left. In the 16th minute Oduro set up the opener. After Seth Sinovic went forward to win a header, he ended up flicking the ball into the path of Oduro. He got past Besler and then slotted a ball into the box for Jackson who had gotten past Juliao. Jackson rounded the Andy Gruenebaum and fired the ball into the net to give Toronto the lead. Things could have gotten worse in the 23rd minute. A through ball for Gilberto looked like he'd be 1v1 with Gruenebaum. Aurelien Collin came into a tackle with the Brazilian knocking him over. No foul was called but an argument could easily be made for a denial of a goal scoring opportunity. While the game continued, Toronto almost scored a second anyway. Oduro found space again down TFC's right and crossed a ball into the middle for Nick Hagglund. The defender's header beat Gruenebaum, but hit the near post and was knocked away. Toronto continued to pressure down KC's left with Oduro causing Sinovic all kinds of issues. In the 33rd Oduro again turned him and raced towards goal. He fired a shot at Gruenebaum's near post, but that shot hit the post and was eventually cleared away by Lawrence Olum. KC escaped the first half only having conceded the one goal, and were honestly lucky in that regard.

The second half though started great for Kansas City. After Benny Feilhaber got the ball into the box, the ball pinged around as Toronto tried to clear it away. Eventually the ball fell to Graham Zusi at the top of the box. Zusi took a touch and curled the ball into the far corner of the goal past a couple TFC defenders on the line after Bendik came out. But the same issues from the first half cropped up again as Oduro continued to cause Sinovic tons of trouble. In the 53rd he got past him again and played a cross that Besler cut out. The ball went right back to Oduro who was fouled just outside the box and Besler picked up his first yellow of the night. Sinovic on the play looked to have pulled up lame and was replaced shortly after by Kevin Ellis. KC did find some opportunities going forward in the second, Feilhaber had a shot well saved by Bendik after CJ Sapong chested a cross down into his path. Even with the change at left back, Oduro was still finding space and in the 65th should have been up again as Oduro found Jackson at the back post but he put his shot over the goal.

Toronto fans wanted another red card for a denial of a goal scoring opportunity in the 69th. Oduro again was at the center of the situation as he led a counter attack down KC's left. Juliao, who was covering pulled back on Oduro's jersey earning a yellow card on the play. The reason it wasn't a red card probably had to do with Oduro's position on the field, he was still wide of the sides of the goal box and there were three Sporting KC players that would have likely been able to cut off the play, which is what likely had referee Ted Unkel pull only a yellow on Juliao. In the 75th KC did finally go down a man. Again it came from an attack through Oduro. The TFC player received the ball out wide. As Besler stepped to him, Oduro touched the ball past him and ended up getting fouled as he went over Besler's foot. Sporting's captain picked up his second yellow of the night and was off. The red card led to KC needing to adjust, Olum dropped back to partner Collin with Jacob Peterson entering the game for Mikey Lopez. It was Peterson that stepped up to be the hero with KC down a man. A cross by Ellis was deflected towards Peterson. Like against the Crew, Peterson tried to spin with the ball, but only got a slit touch. The ball went to Dom Dwyer who back heeled the ball back into the path of Peterson who slotted the ball into the corner to make it 2-1 KC. Toronto threw numbers forward trying to find an equalizer but were struggling to create good chances as KC sat back. Their best chance actually came from attacking down the right this time as Jackson played a very nice ball to the back post but Oduro could not get a touch on it. KC was able to hold on and take all three points again on the road.

Wizards Man of the Match - Aurelien Collin - While the left side had plenty of trouble, Collin had a very solid game. He could have been sent off for the challenge on Gilberto, but was strong overall in the back. He kept KC's back line organized, especially after Besler's sending off.

Player Ratings - Gruenebaum - 5, Juliao 5, Collin 7, Besler 4, Sinovic 3, Olum 5, Lopez 4, Feilhaber 5, Zusi 6, Dwyer 4, Sapong 4. Subs Ellis 4, Saad 4, Peterson 6.

Match Day 21 - Looking for Five Straight on the Road

Sporting KC are back on the road and looking to continue their club record run on the road. Tomorrow night in Toronto, Sporting will be looking to grab their fifth straight win on the road. The four straight is already a club record, so they'll be looking to extend that tomorrow. The team is also on a six game unbeaten run, dating back to a 1-0 loss to DC United.

Toronto is coming into this game with a bit of a gap offensively. The Reds will be without their leading scorer, Jermain Defoe. The Englishman picked up his fifth yellow card of the season last weekend and is now suspended for tomorrow's game due to accumulation. That will leave a hole offensively up top for TFC tomorrow to fill with the likes of Luke Moore and Gilberto. They will still have American midfielder, Michael Bradley, who did not play in the clubs midweek friendly against Spurs. That should have him rested and ready to go for the game.

Kansas City meanwhile rested one of their two World Cup veterans for Wednesday's friendly against Manchester City. Graham Zusi did not play a part in the game. Zusi should be rested for tomorrow's game. Slotting him back into the midfield would seem to be the way to go for tomorrow's game. The rest of the team should be fairly similar to the one that took the field against the BPL Champions. Paulo Nagamura is still out with an ankle injury, and Eric Kronberg is out with the break in his hand. Potential changes could see Toni Dovale back with the first team, or Jacob Peterson up top to provide the defensive cover that Peter Vermes enjoys when on the road. Jorge Claros could also make his competitive debut for the club.

Gruenebaum

Juliao - Collin - Besler - Sinovic

Olum

Zusi - Feilhaber

Peterson - Dwyer - Saad

Number to Remember - 15 - That's the number of goals that number of goals scored by both teams outside their leading scorer. Kansas City has scored 29 goals this year, 14 of which have been from Dwyer. Defoe meanwhile has scored 11 of Toronto's 26 goals this year.

Key Match Up - Graham Zusi vs Michael Bradley - The two World Cup veterans are likely to see a lot of time together in the midfield. Although Benny Feilhaber will see just as much action with Bradley, the two World Cup veterans will be the one to watch.

PREDICTION - Toronto without Defoe is still a much improved side from last year. Bradley is going to be a handful for Kansas City in the middle of the field. KC's defense should be able to hand a Defoeless Toronto attack, the question will be whether KC can find the net at the other end. And while it's not something you'd expect people to say, a win by KC on the road against Toronto would be a good statement win for KC. Toronto is currently 3rd place in the Eastern Conference and has three games in hand on the East leading KC. I'm not sure that KC will get the full three tomorrow, but I do think they'll walk out with a point on the road.

SKC - 1 (Dwyer)
TFC - 1 (Moore)

Former SKC Wizards Update

More of the leagues around the rest of the world are starting to kick off their seasons, adding more players to the list for those playing. It also means that some players are now no longer with teams, like Korede Aiyegbusi who apparently no longer with Servette in the Swiss second division.

Here's the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Korede Aiyegbusi
Jose Burciaga
Julio Cesar
Edson Elcock
Adnan Gabeljic
Aaron Hohlbein
Mechack Jerome
Mike Jones
Neal Kitson
Michal Mravec
Alex Martinez
Nelson Pizarro
Akeem Priestly
Peter Schmetz
Scott Sealy
Konrad Warzycha

MLS
Davy Arnaud - DC - Started and played 84 minutes in DC's 3-1 win over Chvias
Teal Bunbury - New England - Started and played 57 minutes in New England's 2-0 loss to Dallas.
Bobby Convey - New York - Did not dress in New York's 1-1 draw with San Jose.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Started and played 57 minutes in RSL's 1-1 draw with Vancouver.
Michael Harrington - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 2-1 win over Colorado.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 2-1 win over Colorado.
Eddie Johnson - DC - Started and played 90 minutes, getting a goal and an assist in DC's 3-1 win over Chivas.
Chris Konopka - Toronto - Dressed but did not play in Toronto's 2-2 draw with Houston.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Portland - Dressed but did not play in Portland's 2-1 win over Colorado.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Came off the bench and played 21 minutes in San Jose's 1-1 draw with New York. Came off the bench and played 2 minutes in San Jose's 5-1 win over Chicago.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Dressed but did not play in Columbus' 2-1 win over Montreal.

NASL
Stefan Antonijevic - Fort Lauderdale - Started and played 90 minutes in Fort Lauderdale's 2-0 loss to San Antonio.

USL
Brian Fekete - Pittsburgh - Dressed but did not play in Pittsburgh's 2-0 win over Charlotte.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Dressed but did not play in OKC's 1-1 draw with Arizona. Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 1-0 loss to the LA Galaxy II. Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 3-3 draw with Harrisburg.
Jonathan Leathers - Charlotte - Started and played 23 minutes in Charlotte's 2-0 loss to Pittsburgh. Did not dress in Charlotte's 2-1 win over Dayton.
Kyle Miller - Oklahoma City - Started and played 73 minutes in OKC's 1-1 draw with Arizona. Dressed but did not play in OKC's 1-0 loss to LA Galaxy II. Started and played 27 minutes in OKC's 3-3 draw with Harrisburg.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in OKC's 1-1 draw with Arizona. Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 1-0 loss to LA Galaxy II. Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 3-3 draw with Harrisburg.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 4-0 win over Charleston. Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 1-1 draw with Charleston.
John Wilson - Charleston - Started and played 90 minutes in Charleston's 4-0 loss to Richmond. Did not dress in Charleston's 1-1 draw with Richmond.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - St. Louis - Offseason.
Pat Healey - Baltimore - Offseason.

International
Scott Angevine - Sporting Kristina - Finland - Started and played 90 minutes in Kristina's 4-2 loss to AIFK.
Vicente Arze - FK Hoverla Uzhhorod - Ukraine - Offseason.
Federico Bessone - Millwall - England - No game until 8/9
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - Started and played 90 minutes in Chivas' 1-1 draw with Chiapas.
Mitchell Cardenas - Atlético Coatzacoalcos - Mexico - Offseason.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Offseason.
Eloy Colombano - UAI Urquiza - Argentina - Offseason.
Daneil Cyrus - Ha Noi T&T (W Connection) - Vietnam (Trinidad) - Started and played 90 minutes in Ha Noi's 1-1 draw wtih Song Lam Nghe An.
Pablo Escobar - Cúcuta Deportivo - Colombia - Did not dress in Cucuta's 2-1 win over Union Magdalena.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - No game until 8/9
Herculez Gomez - Tigres - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 17 minutes in Tigres' 0-0 draw with Atlas.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Offseason.
Jeferson - América RN - Brazil - Came off the bench and played 74 minutes in America's 4-2 win over Bragantino. Started and played 66 minutes in America's 1-1 draw with Vasco da Gama.
Will John - AZAL - Azerbaijan -No game until 8/9.
Kei Kamara - Middlesbrough - England - No game until 8/9
Igor Kostrov - FC Costuleni - Moldova - No game until 7/25
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Did not dress in San Martin's 1-0 loss to Union Comercio.
Neven Markovic - Servette FC - Switzerland - Started and played 90 minutes in Servette's 2-1 win over Biel-Bienne.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - No game until 8/1
Pablo Punyed - Stjarnan - Iceland - Started and played 90 minutes in Stjarnan's 2-2 draw with Motherwell. Started and played 80 minutes in Stjarnan's 3-1 win over Fylkir.
Oriol Rosell - Sporting Club de Portugal - Portugal - No game until 8/17.
Yann Songo'o - Blackburn - England - No game until 8/9
Milos Stojcev - FK Sarajevo - Bosnia -  Started and played 90 minutes in Sarajevo's 1-0 loss to Haugesund.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - No game until 8/1
Ivan Trujillo - Deportivo Lara - Venezuela - No game until 8/10

Sporting Park to Host Women's World Cup Qualifiers

There will be more international soccer coming to Sporting Park this year. For the first time since 2011, the US women's national team will be coming to Sporting Park this October Sporting Park has been named as one of four sites in the United States that will host the final round of qualification for the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada.

Sporting Park will host the first of the group games of the final eight team tournament on October 15th and 16th. All eight teams will play over the course of those two days. The eight teams (USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and four Caribbean teams) will be divided into 2 groups. After Kansas City the teams will head to Chicago, and then DC, before heading to Philadelphia for the semifinals and finals.

It'll be a good opportunity to welcome the women back to Sporting Park and a chance to see some of FC Kansas City's players represent the US national team in person. This will be the second time that the US women's team will play at Sporting Park, and the sixth time they've played in the KC metro area. For their comparative history though it's not the record you'd expect, the women are 2-0-3 all time in the KC metro area (0-0-1 at Sporting Park). The women have beaten Finland (1999 6-0), drawn Canada twice (2000 1-1, 2011 1-1), drawn Italy (2003 2-2), and beaten Mexico (2004, 1-0).

It should be a good time though and I'd hope that a number of fans come out to support the women's team, the women have always been well supported here with the women averaging 22,508 in their prior five visits to KC.

Sporting KC Fall to Manchester City

Last night at Sporting Park, Sporting KC fell to BPL champions, Manchester City in the Champions Shield match up. The visiting Citizens grabbed the lead in just the 2nd minute when Bruno Zuculini picked up a loose ball and beat Andy Gruenebaum with a very well struck finish. Even though KC went down early, they actually looked pretty good and had a couple opportunities to equalize. They almost did so immediately as CJ Sapong headed a ball off the cross bar. The rebound though was cleared away. Shortly after that, Sporting thought they had equalized. A free kick by Benny Feilhaber was headed on goal by Dom Dwyer. The shot was saved but the rebound fell to Dwyer who buried it, but Dwyer was ruled to have been offside on the initial free kick, ruling the goal out. Going the other way City had a number of good opportunties to add to their lead, but Gruenebaum in KC's net came up with some good saves to keep the score at 1-0. KC finally found themselves level in the 30th minute. A nicely lofted ball by Feilhaber was well settled by Sapong inside City's box. The forward brought it down and calmly slotted the ball into the corner. A nice play from Feilhaber to pick Sapong out and a calm finish from the forward. City continued to pressure looking for a second, Aurelien Collin came up with a nice defensive play, tracking back to knock a ball away from Stevan Jovetic right before he fired a shot on goal. Unfortunately right before half time City retook the lead. After a foul by Seth Sinovic near the corner for the box, Jesus Navas played a beautiful free kick into the box where Dedryck Boyata beat Collin in an aerial dual and headed the ball past Gruenebaum and into the net to make it 2-1.

At half time, Sporting made 11 changes bringing on the reserves, including new signings Jorge Claros and Michael Kafari, later in the half, Martin Steuble entered the game as well. The reserves did well for themselves in the early going, holding their own against a City side that only made one half time change. They even created a few chances as Kafari had a shot turned away by City goalkeeper, Willy Caballero. In the 72nd Kafari was again involved, but this time at the wrong end of the field, bringing down Scott Sinclair in the box. Aleksandar Kolarov stepped up and sent Jon Kempin the wrong way, giving City a 2 goal lead. Both teams had chances the rest of the way, but it was City who grabbed a fourth in the 88th. Navas again was the creator, turning Victor Munoz, who was filling in at left back, and creating space before sliding a ball back to the top of the box where Kelechi Iheanacho slotted a shot right inside Kempin's post to make it 4-1 to City.

"Major Announcement" Today

It's game day for Sporting Kansas City as the team takes on BPL Champions, Manchester City in a friendly at Sporting Park. The game though looks like it may not be the biggest news of the day (at least for me). Yesterday, Sporting Club announced that they would have a "major announcement" today that would include the club, Wyandotte County unified government representatives, and Kansas governor Sam Brownback.

The team's release doesn't say what the announcement today is about, the guess that has been made by many in the community is that this is going to have to do with the US training complex that the club had announced the intentions to build in 2013.

To add to that speculation, the training complex was a topic of discussion last week for the Unified Government. The training center would be at 98th and Parallel in Kansas City, Kansas, to the north and east of Sporting Park's current location. The complex would be included in the STAR Bonds that were used to build the Legends and Sporting Park and would anticipate opening in 2015.

The $65 million project would be another big step for Sporting Club in establishing Kansas City as the "Soccer Capital of the USA" that they've called KC since last year. And while in the past I've mocked that name a little bit, the club is certainly working very hard to make that true.

The training complex would include multiple outdoor fields as well as an indoor facility. I'm still hoping that part of the complex will include the re-establishment of the US Soccer Hall of Fame and it's archives, but that may still be wishful thinking.

Match Day Friendly - Friendly Time

Let's face it, this game tomorrow between Sporting KC and Manchester City is not a game that I'm the primary target for. This game is set up for the fans of City and those neutrals who are interested in seeing the BPL champions play. I was much more interested in Saturday's league game against the Galaxy than I am in the game tomorrow against City. The addition of the "Champions Shield" trophy does nothing for me.

The Manchester City squad that will be available tomorrow is not their full squad or close to it. Four of City's World Cup veterans are joining the club after tomorrow's friendly. The roster that will be available does have experience in the Premiership, including last season's BPL winning squad. Ten of the now 22 man roster for the game (Alvaro Negredo is out injured now) played for City last year in the Premier League. Eight of those ten ended up picking up winner's medals for playing 10 games for the club during the Premier League Season.

As for Kansas City they're right in the middle of a busy stretch of the season. They're just coming off a stretch of three games in eight days and travel to Toronto this coming weekend for a league game. It would appear that Peter Vermes has an eye on that as well heading into tomorrow's game. According to quotes today, he looks set to use two groups for the game tomorrow, which is probably the smartest move as it'll give many KC fans what they want, a chance to see the likes of Matt Besler, Graham Zusi and Aurelien Collin go against some BPL players.

PREDICTION - It's going to take a lot for this game to be the worst friendly Sporting KC has played the last few years, that honor goes to the Newcastle game. It's also going to have to be a heck of a game to top the excitement of the then Wizards 2-1 win over City's city rivals, Manchester United back in 2010. With City's lack of stars for this game and ticket prices, the game has not yet sold out Sporting Park for tomorrow night. That fact alone has to sting a little bit for Sporting ownership, especially coming off a game against the Galaxy that drew over 21,000. I'll be there for the game tomorrow, but the thing I'll be rooting for is zero injuries for Sporting heading further into the second half of the season.

Besler's Path to Break the Record Books

Back when news was first starting to really come out about Matt Besler and a potential move abroad, Besler's agent, Eddie Rock said that there were really only three options for Besler, a move to the EPL, a move to the German Bundesliga, or stay with Sporting KC.

Rock said in the article that “If Matt re-signs with the league now, his intentions would be to be a one-club player for the rest of his career. His goal would be to finish atop Sporting and the Wizards in all-time appearances and longest captaincy. He would try to build a dynasty there,”

With Besler having signed a new contract with the club making him a designated player and it rumored to keep him in KC through 2018, let's take a look at Besler's path to set the records for the club for appearances in league and all competitions and minutes played in both. I currently don't have a list of who the captain was for each game in KC (maybe I can bug Sporting for that), but if I do I will pass that information along too.

Currently Besler is 12th in team history for league appearances, with 138 and tied for 11th in all competitions with 165. Davy Arnaud is the team's leader in league appearances with 240, while Kerry Zavagnin is the leader in all competitions with 291. With 14 games left this year in league play I'd expect Besler to play in most. In all competitions I'd expect anywhere from 16 to 20 games this season. In league play that would put Besler at 152 league appearances. That would leave Besler less than 90 appearances away from Arnaud's team record for league appearances. Besler would basically need to average 22 appearances over the next four seasons to tie Arnaud.

In all competitions, Besler will have over 180 appearances, so he'll be somewhere around 100 appearances short of Zavagnin's clubs record in all competitions. So 25 appearances a season over the next four seasons would see him top Zavagnin's record.

When it comes to starts, Besler has 133 starts in league play and 158 in all competitions, both have him in 9th place. The club record for both of those is held by Zavagnin, 228 in league, 281 in all competitions. With 14 league games left this year, Besler could finish with 147 starts, leaving him only 81 starts short of Zavagnin's record. Just over 20 league starts a season over the next four and he'd reach it. In all competitions Besler is likely to have around 175 starts, just over 100 short of Zavagnin's record. Again a little over 25 starts over the next four years in all competitions and Besler will top Zavagnin's record there.

The other club records that this will put him in line for is the most minutes played in league and in all competitions.  Currently both are held by Zavagnin, 20,516 in league play 25,290 in all competitions. Besler sits at 12,051 in league play and 14,397 in all competitions. Good for 9th on each of those lists. So with 14 games and 1,260 minutes still available to play, Belser is 8,465 minutes short in league play. If Besler plays every league minute the rest of the way he'll be 7,205 away from Zavagnin's club record. In his prior five seasons before this one, Besler averaged just under 2,200 minutes a season, that would mean that it'd take about three and a half seasons to top Zavagnin if he follows his average.

In all competitions, Besler is 10,893 minutes behind Zavagnin. Besler's minutes the last three seasons have been quite a bit higher than his league averaging over 3,000 minutes a season in all competitions over the last three years. If he keeps a similar pace up it will take just over three years again for him to top Zavagnin for the club record.

All goals that are certainly well within reach of Besler in the next few years. I have little doubt that as long as he avoid serious injury, he will be re-writing the Sporting KC/KC Wizards record books before he retires.

Sunday After Stats

Stats following yesterday's game against the LA Galaxy.

In the 81st minute, Jacob Peterson hit the 10,000 minute mark in MLS play for his MLS career. He finished the game at 10,009.

Andy Gruenebaum made his 100th start in all competitions in his MLS career.

All three of Lawrence Olum's career MLS goals have been game winners.

Seth Sinovic started his 100th league game for KC.

In the 63rd minute, Graham Zusi moved past Uche Okafor and into 16th place for league minutes played for KC. Zusi finished the game with 9,541 minutes played.

Zusi and Sinovic made their 124th start in all competitions for KC, breaking their tie with Jose Burciaga for 16th on that list.

Matt Besler made his 165th appearance in all competitions for KC, tying him with Josh Wolff for 11th all time on that list.

Besler made his 158th start in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Mo Johnston for 9th place on that list.

Sporting Top the Galaxy

Sporting Kansas City extended their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference, moving four points clear of the idle DC United with a 2-1 win over the LA Galaxy at Sporting Park. Kansas City rode a strong start to the game to help them extend their unbeaten run to six, end their four game winless run at home, and end he Galaxy's eight game unbeaten run.

Kansas City started the game with some very early pressure against the Galaxy and pushed the game early on. In just the sith minute, Igor Juliao forced a good save out of Jaime Penedo as he raced forward after a quick switch. Throughout the first half, KC did a lot of attacking down their left, LA's right, trying to take advantage of the match up with Tommy Meyer who has spent more time as a center back than a wide player. Soony Saad, on KC's left was a focal point of KC's attack, in the 10th minute he won a free kick after beating Meyer on that side. Benny Feilhaber stepped up curled the free kick over the wall and into the net in the 11th minute to give Sporting the 1-0 lead against the Galaxy, Feilhaber's second in as many games and third of the season. KC continued to attack down their left, specifically with Saad, causing lots of issues for the Galaxy back line. Saad in the 32nd forced another save out of Penedo. With all the chances that KC had in the first half you had to wonder if they'd pay for only scoring the one goal.

Early in the second half the Galaxy almost did make them pay. Some good work down the Galaxy's right found Landon Donovan 1v1 with Aurelien Collin. Donovan tried to square the ball into the middle, but Matt Besler cut it out. The ball only went as far as Baggio Husidic, whose shot skimmed the outside of Andy Gruenebaum's near post. The start of the second half became very open as KC had a great chance to double their lead. Graham Zusi won a ball in the Galaxy half of the field, dribbled into the box and then squared a ball into the middle of the box, but there was no one there for KC to tap the ball home. The Galaxy came back the other way immediately and almost found the equalizer. After some good work by Robbie Keane he played a ball in to Marcelo Sarvas, Sarvas played the ball to Gyasi Zardes who was 1v1 with Gruenebaum, but KC's goalkeeper was quick off his line and blocked the effort. Both teams looked for chances and the Galaxy almost struck on the counter in the 54th minute. A turn over by Feilhaber in KC's offensive end led to a 2v1 break for the Galaxy on Juliao. Juninho fed the ball across to Keane who fired a shot over the goal as Gruenebaum raced out. Keane wanted a call after the play, but referee Allen Chapman gave a goal kick. Shortly after that, KC doubled their lead. A Zusi corner was partially punched by Penedo. Collin collected the ball, instead of laying it back to an open Saad, Collin lofted a cross back into the box where Jacob Peterson headed the ball on goal. Penedo again made the save, tipping it onto the cross bar, but the ball fell to Lawrence Olum who headed the ball into the net to make it 2-0 KC. The Galaxy continued to press, but the offside flag played a roll a number of times as Keane and Zardes both got called off on good opportunities. When Keane was onside, KC got help from the cross bar. A long ball saw Keane find space behind KC's defense, but he fired his effort into the cross bar and over. In the 79th though the Galaxy fond a way back into the game. A short corner by the Galaxy was partially cleared, but Husidic headed the ball back into the area, it was flicked on by Bradford Jamieson into the path of Keane who slotted a shot past Gruenebaum and into the net as Feilhaber attempted to clear it. Freeze frames of the play show that Keane was JUST in front of Feilhaber and offside, but in a situation like that it would have been quite difficult to catch that in real time. The Galaxy tried to find an equalizer, but Sporting had chances of their own, Collin had a chance off a corner but it was cleared out. Then in the 89th minute, Zusi picked out Dom Dwyer all alone in the box, but his header was right at Penedo. The Galaxy had the pressure late on but really didn't test Gruenebaum and KC extended their unbeaten run.

Wizards Man of the Match - Lawrence Olum - Did a good job of breaking up the Galaxy's midfield. Most of their most dangerous chances came from balls over the top that avoided KC's midfield entirely. He also picked up the game winning goal.

Player Ratings - Gruenebaum 6, Juliao 6, Collin 6, Besler 7, Sinovic 7, Olum 8, Feilhaber 6, Zusi 6, Saad 7, Dwyer 5, Dovale 5. Peterson 5, Sapong 5, Ellis NR.

Collin Joins Besler and Zusi on the All Star Team

Sporting KC defender, Aurelien Collin will be headed to Portland along with teammates Matt Besler and Graham Zusi for this year's All Star game against Bayern Munich. Yesterday at half time of KC's game against the LA Galaxy, the entire 23 man roster was announced. All the players from the fan 11 were there along with 12 other players. Included in that number was Collin.

Two names absent from that list that arguably deserved to be there were Dom Dwyer and Benny Feilhaber. Dwyer is the only player with 10+ goals that did not get selected to the team, Robbie Keane (who hit 10 yesterday) was in the fan vote, Jermain Defoe and Bradley Wright-Phillips were selected by Caleb Porter, and Erick Torres was a pick by Don Garber, leaving no room for KC to have a fourth representative. Feilhaber has arguably been KC's MVP this season with his consistent play for Sporting. But once again limited spots in the midfield keep Feilhaber out of the 23.

As someone who has spoke about my frustration with the All Star game (2 injuries and an over play in the last three all star games for KC players) I'm happy that KC only has the three selected. With another nine players needing to be named as reserves, one would hope that Feilhaber will be added to that list. Unfortunately, Dwyer won't get the opportunity to be named one as MLS rules state that the 32 man roster can only contain 7 forwards, all of which are currently on the 23 man roster named by Porter and Garber.

Besler and Zusi Given New Contracts, Made DPs

A big announcement today ahead of Sporting KC's game against the LA Galaxy, the team announced that they'd re-signed the clubs two World Cup veterans, Matt Besler and Graham Zusi to new contracts. The new contracts will not only keep the pair in Kansas City through the 2018 season, but also makes the two players designated players, filling all three of KC's DP slots at this time. The pair become the fifth and sixth DP in club history (after Claudio Lopez, Omar Bravo, Jeferson, and Claudio Bieler).

The signing will put an end to plenty of rumored speculation on the two players and their potential departure from the club. Specifically Besler who had been linked with a move abroad ever since the World Cup. But in the end this is great for the league in that they keep two of US national team players from the World Cup, two players that have been proven to be fairly marketable, and it proves that teams will reward players for their development. It also proves that Kansas City and Peter Vermes more specifically is good at developing quality talent, and that the club will reward that talent for their loyalty to the club. Really I love that the two are being rewarded and that both are set to spend close to the rest of their career in Kansas City, giving both the opportunity to be one club players.

FCKC Draw in Rochester

From FC Kansas City

FC Kansas City (10-5-4 34pts) tied 1-1 with the Western New York Flash (7-9-3 24pts) tonight at Sahlen’s Stadium in front of Rochester fans. Sarah Hagen scored the Blues’ sole goal of the night in the 17th minute. Samantha Kerr scored the Flash’s goal in the 22nd minute.

Lauren Holiday started the match off with a close shot in the 6th minute. After missing the last match due to illness, the 2013 National Women’s Soccer League MVP fired off a shot that went just over the crossbar in the opening minutes of the match.

FC Kansas City made it on to the board a few minutes later when a running Holiday received a ball from Erika Tymrak. Holiday then pushed the ball up to Hagen. She chipped the shot over Flash goalkeeper Kelsey Wys for the first goal of the night.

The Flash equalized five minutes later when Kerr capitalized when Carli Lloyd headed a cross to the Australian. The Blues had a close chance directly after the Flash’s goal. Rodriguez received a Holiday free kick but the shot bounced off the goal post and out of bounds.

The Blues looked much better all over the pitch after an abnormal performance in Portland. FC Kansas City’s defense solidified and stopped multiple attacks from Kerr and Lloyd throughout the night. The Kansas City offense was stronger tonight at well with attacks from all over the lineup. Even with a better performance from the Blues, the score remained in a stalemate at 1-1 going in to the locker rooms.

The second half did not see any more goals, but a much more aggressive Flash offense. The ball remained in the Blues’ defending third throughout the last 45 minutes. FC Kansas City had multiple scoring chances in the second half but nothing could find the back of the net. Kansas City and the Flash were evenly matched and it showed tonight. The match ended kept the same score of 1-1 at the final whistle.

Match Day 20 - Looking for Some Home Form

Sporting KC are the defending MLS Cup champions. Tomorrow at Sporting KC welcome the winner of the previous two MLS Cups, the LA Galaxy to Sporting Park. Kansas City will be looking for their first win at home since early May when KC beat the Columbus Crew 2-0. Since then they have played four games at home, getting a loss and three draws in those four games. With KC's continued want to have Sporting Park be a fortress, this current string of games combined with the team's general history at Sporting Park is disappointing for the team as a whole. The team can't continue to rely on their road form to carry them, they're going to need to start picking up wins at home.

The Galaxy come into Sporting Park on a nice unbeaten run, having not lost in eight league games. They extended it to eight games on Wednesday night when they destroyed the New England Revolution 5-1. Their offense is really clicking with Robbie Keane and Gyasi Zardes both scoring two goals on Wednesday night. And they still have Landon Donovan in the team, one of those players who has really hurt KC over the years, he has 13 league goals against KC in his distinguished career in MLS. The one area where the Galaxy have struggled this year is in defense, specifically in their wide positions. They got even thinner on Wednesday when Dan Gargan was red carded for a denial of a goal scoring opportunity foul on Teal Bunbury. That means that Gargan will miss tomorrow's game against KC, leaving LA with few options in defense, an area that KC needs to exploit.

Sporting will be relieved that the independent group that reviewed Aurelien Collin's red card rescinded it, allowing the Frenchman to play tomorrow partnering Matt Besler in central defense. Kansas City should also welcome back Graham Zusi to the starting 11 after not playing on Wednesday night against the Crew, being given the night off by Peter Vermes. Zusi's rest is going to be key for Sporting KC tomorrow, him and if Toni Dovale starts should both be causing a number of issues for the Galaxy defense, especially wide, which as I said is a current weak point for the Galaxy defense. With the way that KC likes to attack down the wings there could be a lot of space for whoever KC starts wide to operate against the Galaxy.

Gruenebaum

Juliao - Collin - Besler - Sinovic

Olum - Feilhaber

Zusi

Sapong - Dwyer - Dovale

Number to Remember - 3 - That's how many more wins Sporting has on the road (6) than they do at home (3). KC is 6-4 at home this year and currently sit 3-1-5 at home. While they only have the one loss, KC has left another 10 points on the table with all those draws this year. KC really needs to start picking up all 3 points at home.

Key Match Up - KC Wingers vs Galaxy wingbacks - As I mentioned, the Galaxy are hurting when it comes to their wingbacks. KC has shown, especially lately that they are going to spend a lot of time attacking the wings. This could be a great game for KC in that regard. If CJ Sapong gets another start he also provides a big body in the box to help Dom Dwyer against the likes of Omar Gonzalez and Leonardo.

PREDICTION - This game is all dependent on how the Galaxy choose to play. Are they going to come in and sit back like the Chicago Fire do when they come here, or are they going to come out and try to push KC like the Portland Timbers have done to great success at Sporting Park the last few years. I honestly think with the Galaxy's attacking ability they are going to come out and play more against KC, Bruce Arena really hasn't shown with the Galaxy that he's the type to really sit back. The question is going to be whether KC can exploit the space that this creates. In the end this game is going to come down to whether KC can take advantage of the openings they're going to get with the Galaxy's issues in the back. If they can they should be able to take all three points.

SKC - 2 (Dwyer, Zusi)
LA - 1 (Zardes)

Manchester City Announces Travel Roster

We're less than a week away from the Champions Shield match up between Sporting Kansas City and Manchester City at Sporting Park, and today, the EPL champions announced their travel roster for the game. Unfortunately for a lot of people, there's going to be disappointment as none of City's 10 players that were at the World Cup are on the roster. Those players don't look like they'll join the club until after the game with KC so no Joe Hart, no Yaya Toure, and no Sergio Aguero along with others.

That's certainly going to be a big talking point for a lot of people that bought tickets hoping to see big name players that played during City's run to the EPL title. Less than half of the roster (11 of the 23) played in the Premier League last season. For me there are really only nine names on the roster that stick out to me as names that I really recognize.

The names on the roster really aren't going to be those that really move tickets much. And while sales look better than they earlier this week, there still appears to be a number of tickets available for the game.

Manchester City FC Travel Squad
Goalkeepers (3): Willy Caballero, Richard Wright, Ian Lawlor
Defenders (8): Micah Richards, Dedryck Boyata, Gael Clichy, Karim Rekik, Aleksandar Kolarov, Matthias Bossaerts, Matija Nastasic, Jason Denayer
Midfielders (8): Fernando, Samir Nasri, Scott Sinclair, Javi Garcia, Jesus Navas, Jack Rodwell, Bruno Zuculini, Emry Huws
Forwards (4): Alvaro Negredo, Stevan Jovetic, John Guidetti, Kelechi Iheanacho

Collin Red Card Rescinded

Aurelien Collin will get the opportunity to be on the field tomorrow against the LA Galaxy after an independent review panel agreed with Sporting KC's appeal of his red card. Collin picked up his second red card of the season in the 55th minute of Wednesday's game against the Columbus Crew when he went up for a header against Adam Bedell. Collin's arm movement on the play appeared to be the natural movement during an attempted jump, swinging the arms up to try to get more on his leap. As Collin came down from the jump, his elbow hit Bedell on the nose, causing the Crew forward to bleed. Referee Edvin Jurisevic did not even call a foul on the play, instead calling one seconds later. It was only after conversing with his assistants that he produced the red card.

Most non-partisan viewers seemed to think that the red card was harsh, as did a number of Crew fans that I saw posting about it on social media. In the end it was very much the right move for the panel to overturn the red card. Funny enough it's the second time that a red card that Jurisevic has given Collin has been overturned. The last time was in 2011 and it was a case of mistaken identity. It'll give KC a boost ahead of tomorrow's game against the Galaxy and their attack.

Kamara on His Way Out at Boro? Former SKC Wizards Update

A few weeks ago, Kei Kamara Tweeted that he was in KC and had been getting treated for malaria. In the same tweet, he blasted both his club, Middlesbrough and his national team for their lack of assistance with the illness. The full story of that has not been relayed, but my running thought has been that it was misdiagnosed by both and it wasn't until he was in KC that it was correctly diagnosed. The tweet though hasn't endeared Kamara to the Boro fans. And with the club in preseason there have been rumors that Boro is looking to get rid of the Sierra Leone striker.

Here's the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Jose Burciaga
Julio Cesar
Edson Elcock
Adnan Gabeljic
Aaron Hohlbein
Mechack Jerome
Mike Jones
Neal Kitson
Alex Martinez
Nelson Pizarro
Akeem Priestly
Peter Schmetz
Scott Sealy
Konrad Warzycha

MLS
Davy Arnaud - DC - Started and played 90 minutes in DC's 2-1 win over San Jose.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Started and played 90 minutes in New England's 1-0 loss to Chicago. Started and played 90 minutes in New England's 5-1 loss to LA.
Bobby Convey - New York - Started and played 61 minutes in New York's 4-1 win over Columbus. Came off the bench and played 3 minutes in New York's 3-1 loss to Philadelphia.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Started and played 45 minutes in Salt Lake's 1-0 loss to LA.
Michael Harrington - Portland - Started and played 120 minutes in Portland's 3-1 loss to Seattle in the US Open Cup. Started and played 83 minutes in Portland's 2-0 loss to Seattle.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 81 minutes in Portland's 3-1 loss to Seattle in the US Open Cup. Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 2-0 loss to Seattl.e
Eddie Johnson - DC - Started and played 88 minutes, scoring a goal in DC's 2-1 win over San Jose.
Chris Konopka - Toronto - Dressed but did not play in Toronto's 4-2 win over Houston. Dressed but did not play in Toronto's 1-1 draw with Vancouver.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Portland - Started and played 120 minutes in Portland's 3-1 loss to Seattle in the US Open Cup. Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 2-0 loss to Seattle.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Stated and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in San Jose's 2-1 loss to DC.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Came off the bench and played 31 minutes in Columbus' 4-1 loss to New York. Dressed but did not play in Columbus' 2-1 loss to KC.

NASL
Stefan Antonijevic - Fort Lauderdale - Started and played 90 minutes in Fort Lauderdale's 3-0 loss to Minnesota.

USL
Brian Fekete - Pittsburgh - Dressed but did not play in Pittsburgh's 2-0 loss to OKC.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Dressed but did not play in OKC's 2-0 win over Pittsburgh.
Jonathan Leathers - Charlotte - Started and played 90 minutes in Charlotte's 0-0 draw with Charleston. Started and played 90 minutes in Charlotte's 1-0 los to Sacramento.
Kyle Miller - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 2-0 win over Pittsburgh.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in OKC's 2-0 win over Pittsburgh.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 2-1 win over Sacramento.
John Wilson - Charleston - Started and played 90 minutes in Charleston's 0-0 draw with Charlotte.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - St. Louis - Offseason.
Pat Healey - Baltimore - Offseason.

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Servette FC - Switzerland - No game until 7/20
Scott Angevine - Sporting Kristina - Finland - Started and played 90 minutes in Kristina's 3-0 loss to Kraft.
Vicente Arze - FK Hoverla Uzhhorod - Ukraine - Offseason.
Federico Bessone - Millwall - England - No game until 8/9
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - No game until 7/20
Mitchell Cardenas - Atlético Coatzacoalcos - Mexico - Offseason.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Offseason.
Eloy Colombano - UAI Urquiza - Argentina - Offseason.
Daneil Cyrus - Ha Noi T&T (W Connection) - Vietnam (Trinidad) - Started and played 90 minutes in Ha Noi's 2-2 draw with Song Lam Nghe An.
Pablo Escobar - Cúcuta Deportivo - Colombia - Did not play in Cucuta's 2-0 win over Alianza Petrolera.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - No game until 8/9
Herculez Gomez - Tigres - Mexico - No game until 7/19
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Offseason.
Jeferson - Boavista - Brazil - No game until 7/20
Will John - AZAL - Azerbaijan - Offseason.
Kei Kamara - Middlesbrough - England - No game until 8/9
Igor Kostrov - FC Costuleni - Moldova - Offseason.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Came off the bench and played 26 minutes before being subbed out in San Martin's 0-0 draw with Sporting Cristal. Did not dress in San Martin's 3-1 win over Los Caimanes.
Neven Markovic - Servette FC - Switzerland - No game until 7/20
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - Nogame until 8/1
Michal Mravec - Podbeskidzie - Poland - No game until 7/18
Pablo Punyed - Stjarnan - Iceland - Started and played 89 minutes in Stjarnan's 2-2 draw with FH. Started and played 90 minutes in Stjarnan's 4-0 win over Bangor City.
Oriol Rosell - Sporting Club de Portugal - Portugal - Offseason.
Yann Songo'o - Blackburn - England - No game until 8/9
Milos Stojcev - FK Sarajevo - Bosnia -  Offseason.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - No game until 8/1
Ivan Trujillo - Deportivo Lara - Venezuela - Offseason.

Bieler Linked with a Move Back to Ecuador

Matt Besler isn't the only player with interest abroad right now that plays for Sporting KC. Word out of Ecuador today is that Barcelona SC (the one in Ecuador) is interested in bringing in Sporting KC designated player, Claudio Bieler. The team's manager, Ruben Israel is apparently for the move. Barcelona (who oddly enough played Kansas City in the Copa Mercanorte in 2001) is apparently looking to put the investment in to bring Bieler back to Ecuador.

Bieler has gotten little playing time for Sporting KC this season, especially in recent weeks. His last game for KC was Sporting's 2-0 win over Minnesota in the US Open Cup. His last league appearance was against the Chicago Fire in Chicago. He's appeared in eight league games, but started just three of them, scoring just one goal and playing just 274 minutes. A lot of that has to do with the success that Dom Dwyer is having playing in the center forward position for KC. It also has to do with Dwyer playing the forward position more like Peter Vermes, Dwyer will pressure a lot more from the top forward position than Bieler has. I liked what Bieler brought to KC last year, but at this point it may be best for him to make a move for his career, and for KC to free up the cap space.

S.A.S. Thursday After Stats

Here are some stats from yesterday's win against Columbus.

At 21 years, 146 days, Mikey Lopez became the 18th youngest player to start a league game for KC, knocking Matt McKeon out of the top 20.

He became the 19th youngest player to appear in a league game for KC, knocking Vicente Figueroa out of the top 20.

CJ Sapong scored his 19th league goal for KC, tying him with Teal Bunbury for 10th all time on that list.

Sapong's goal was his 9th league goal away from home, giving him sole possession of 10th place on that list.

It was Sapong's 10th goal in all competitions away from home tying him with Scott Sealy and Mo Johnston for 8th on that list.

Seth Sinovic made his 100th league appearance for KC, he's the 27th player to hit that mark.

Sinovic made his 99th start in league play, breaking his tie with Chance Myers for 20th on that list.

It was Sinovic's 123rd start in all competitions, tying him with Jose Burciaga and Graham Zusi for 16th on that list.

Matt Besler made his 157th start in all competitions, tying him with Mo Johnston for 9th place on that list.

Besler and Zusi Named to All Star Fan XI

Matt Besler and Graham Zusi are once again MLS All-Stars. The pair of Sporting KC and US internationals have been named to the MLS All-Star Fan XI that was announced tonight at half time of the Philadelphia vs New York game on ESPN2.

Eight of the 11 represented the United States in Brazil in the World Cup. That group will now be available for selection by Portland Timbers coach, Caleb Porter for this year's MLS All Star game against Bayern Munich on August 6th. The full roster for the game will be announced at half time of this weekend's game between KC and the LA Galaxy on ESPN 2.

Late Feilhaber Goal Sees KC Get All 3 Points

Sporting Kansas City set a club record tonight on the road against the Columbus Crew, winning their fourth straight road game 2-1 over the Crew thanks to a late winner by Benny Feilhaber.

Sporting came out in the first half and looked the better side during the half, pressuring the Crew high up the field as they've shown to do on the road. In the 7th minute KC had a great opportunity to take the lead. A Feilhaber corner found the head of Lawrence Olum in the box, but his header was hit the ground far enough in front of Steve Clark and has it bounced back up he was able to palm the ball over the bar. The next corner was headed clear. Kansas City continued to pressure in the half, winning a number of corners and finally in the 43rd minute capitalized. Feilhaber found the head of CJ Sapong who headed it past Clark and into the net. The goal was Sapong's first of the season and his celebration seemed to contain a bit of relief in it as well.

The second half saw KC start off attempting to continue their pressure on the Crew. That all changed in the 54th minute, when a floated ball into KC's half of the field was challenged for by Aurelien Collin and Adam Bedell. Collin had gotten up in the air above Bedell, and headed the ball away. Collin had gotten his arms up on the playand ended up bringing his elbow down on Bedell. No foul was called on that challenge, but seconds later on another foul. But after Bedell got treatment for a bloody nose he picked up on the play and consulting with his assistants, referee, Edvin Jurisevic, gave Collin a red card for the challenge. From there the game changed, Sporting immediately replaced Soony Saad with Kevin Ellis. KC though was on the back foot from that point forward. The Crew took advantage of the man advantage and Dom Dwyer's isolation up top to pin Kansas City deep in their own end. From comments Peter Vermes after the game, it sounds like Sporting is going to appeal his red card as well. In the 61st minute, Andy Gruenebaum was called into service as the Crew worked down KC's right. Bedell's initial header wasn't on goal but Seth Sinovic knocked the ball back to Bedell who one timed a shot to Gruenebaum's near post. He got down well though and palmed the ball out. The Crew finally leveled the game in the 69th minute. Bernardo Anor dribbled at KC's defense before playing the ball wide to Chad Barson. Barson crossed the ball into the box towards Federico Higuain. Igor Juliao was in front of the Crew midfielder though but there was little Juliao could do to avoid the ball and he knocked it into his own net leveling the game at 1-1. The Crew continued to pressure but weren't able to grab a second goal as Sporting started to sit deeper. The teams were level at 10 a piece in the 89th minute when Will Trapp didn't control a quick throw-in by Anor and tripped Juliao as he raced to win the ball. Trapp was given his second yellow card and sent off, leveling the two teams for the final two minutes plus stoppage time. With the teams level KC was able to get into the game more again and found a winner in the third minute of stoppage time. KC worked the ball down the right wing with Jacob Peterson. He played the ball up the field to Juliao who got by his mark and cut in a little towards goal. He played a ball back towards the top of the box. Peterson had continued his run and tried to control the ball but didn't get enough on the ball. It continued to roll though right into the path of Feilhaber who hit a one time strike that hit the underside of the cross bar and went in, restoring KC's one goal lead. KC held on through the rest of stoppage time for the fourth straight road win.

Wizards Man of the Match - Benny Feilhaber - A goal and an assist for the new dad, a very nice performance from him, taking control of the midfield as he's done for most of the season for KC. Plenty of fans have been more impressed with his set pieces than those of KC's regular taker,Graham Zusi.

Player Ratings - Gruenebaum 6, Juliao 6, Collin 4, Besler 6, Sinovic 6, Feilhaber 8, Olum 6, Lopez 6, Sapong 6, Dwyer 5, Saad 4. Subs Ellis 5, Peterson 6.

Sporting KC Sign Jorge Claros and Martin Steuble

Sporting KC announced today the signings of midfielders Jorge Claros and Martin Steuble. The pair of midfielders, both internationals join the club for the second half of the MLS season.

Claros, a Honduran international has been a long time target of Sporting KC. He was pursued by the club during last summer's transfer window, but a deal did not get done to bring the now 28 year old to Kansas City. He has appeared 53 times for his country, the last three of which were at the 2014 World Cup. The Honduran had most recently been playing in his home country with CD Motagua. His time with the club though was split as he spent a year and a half on loan at Hibernian. He's probably most well known for the incident in 2011 when he was shot in the head and played three weeks later for his club.

Claros is a defensive minded midfielder and will help in both Lawrence Olum's and Paulo Nagamura's spots on the field. This gives KC some depth and cover there and also provides the ability for Olum to drop into the center back position if he needs to should KC send up selling Matt Besler in this transfer window. Claros will be available to make his debut this Saturday against the LA Galaxy.

Steuble is a Swiss-Filipino midfielder that was last with FC Wil 1900 in the Swiss second division. He's spent his entire career in the Swiss league, bouncing around a few clubs in the second and first division in his native country. He's started to get more games over the past few years with the likes of Wil and his club before that, Wohlen. 

He'd been on trial with the club for a short while leading up to his signing. Steuble is also an international for his country, having represented the Philippines nine times in his career, scoring one goal in a friendly against Nepal. The dual citizen, along with Claros become the ninth and tenth player on the current KC roster to play for their national team.

The two signings give KC 30 players on their roster. Four of those players though are currently on injured reserve, leaving KC with 26 of their 30 spots full at this time (players on IR do not count against roster numbers but do count against the cap).

Match Day 19 - Travel Woes Done, Time to Continue a Busy Stretch

Sporting KC had quite a bit of trouble getting to Columbus for tomorrow's game against the Crew. After a flight delay to DC, the team split up and headed to Chicago and New York. The Chicago crew, including the coaches made it to Columbus later in the day Monday. The group that went to New York though weren't so lucky. More delays and a cancellation later and that group was stranded in New York for the night. The team finally made it to Columbus early this afternoon. So they'll be on the ground a little more than 24 hours ahead of tomorrow's game against Columbus.

Columbus is coming into the game after a performance that was dubbed their "worst of the season." They were beaten 4-1 by the New York Red Bulls with Thierry Henry being involved in all four goals, scoring one and assisting on three. They also lost forward Jario Arrieta to an injury that will keep him out of tomorrow's game for the Crew. They will have defender Bernardo Anor available as his red card that he picked up against the Red Bulls was rescinded today by the Disciplinary Committee. The Crew will also be welcoming back their pair of Costa Rican World Cup veterans, Giancarlo Gonzalez and Waylon Francis for the game tomorrow which will be a boost to their defense.

Kansas City continued their current unbeaten run, which reached four games after the win against the Impact. It's also surprising to be writing a write-up for one of KC's games and really not mention much in the way of injuries. Other than Eric Kronberg's injury and Paulo Nagamura being questionable, Sporting appears to be as healthy as they are going to get at this point. That's certainly a good thing heading into a busy part of the schedule that will see them add another competition to their schedule in August. And while there hasn't been any more additions, there's still the talk of the international player Robb Heineman mentioned a few weeks ago.

Gruenebaum 

Juliao - Collin - Besler - Sinovic

Feilhaber - Olum

Zusi

Saad - Dwyer - Dovale

Number to Remember - 1 - That's the number of wins that the Crew have in their last 15 MLS games. That's right, they're 1-6-8 in their last 15 MLS games. That's after they started the season with a 3-0 record.

Key Match Up - Andy Gruenebaum vs Columbus attack - The former Crew starting goalkeeper returns to Columbus for the first time as a visitor. The Crew have been struggling offensively, scoring just three times in their last five games. Gruenebaum is sure to have a bit of a point to prove.

PREDICTION - This is a game that KC should be able to win. They are one of the best road teams in the league this year. Meanwhile the Crew have the 1 win in 15 run that I've spoken about. Even with the travel delays, KC should be able to get something out of this game. It might not be the win many are hoping for though. With Gonzalez back most likely in the center of defense, he's going to make it tough on Dom Dwyer and Kansas City to really get the chances they'll want. This also feels a bit like a trap game. Columbus has to bust out of this poor slump at some point, and they may have hit rock bottom with that loss to New York. The loss in particular scares me heading into tomorrow.

SKC - 1 (Collin)
CLB -  1 (Higuain)

Besler Linked with Sunderland and Fulham

The news on whether Matt Besler stays or goes continues to be a talking point among Sporting KC and US national team fans. The latest news has been coming from Greg Seltzer. Last week, Seltzer shot down the rumored move to Freiberg for Besler. He said that Freiberg isn't even looking for a central defender at this time.

Seltzer is also saying that Sporting is asking for what would be a club record fee. The club record fee is $6 million that the club received from Fulham back in 2008 for Eddie Johnson.

Seltzer had an update to the situation today, naming two of the clubs interested in Besler, and an apparently deadline in the proceedings. Seltzer said that there are 10 clubs interested in Besler at this time. Only one of those nine teams is in the Bundesliga, the other nine are apparently in England. He names two of those by name, Sunderland, who has apparently not put in a bid yet for the defender, and recently relegated side, Fulham, who have apparently put in a bid. A move to Sunderland would see him join fellow World Cup veteran, Jozy Altidore who joined the club ahead of last season.

For me, Sunderland would be an interesting, but rough move for Besler. Sunderland performed a great escape last year, avoiding the drop with some big results down the stretch, but the question will be whether they've improved the rest of the squad as well so they aren't in that situation this season. With Fulham you're going to a recently relegated side who likely will be a favorite to yo-yo right back to the Premier League in the 2015-2016 season. Besler could certainly play a role in that.

I'm still not sure which way that Besler is going to end up going, but according to Seltzer we won't have to wait long. Besler apparently has a deadline of this coming Monday for when he's going to make a decision.

FC Kansas City Blown Out by Portland

From FC Kansas City

FC Kansas City (10-5-3 33pts) visited Portland Thorns FC (7-6-4 25 pts) tonight and lost 7-1 in front of 9,672 fans. This was the first unfortunate result for the Blues since May 14th. Katrina Gorry tallied her first National Women’s Soccer League goal for FC Kansas City tonight. Portland had five goal scorers: Veronica Boquete, Alex Morgan, Allie Long, Christine Sinclair and Amber Brooks.

Portland got on the board early with a goal from Boquete in the third minute on a play from Morgan. Kansas City tried to answer minutes later with a shot from Sarah Hagen, but it hit the post. The Thorns scored again in the 15th minute when Morgan shot one past Nicole Barnhart from Stephanie Catley.

The Blues got on the board when Gorry launched a shot from six yards out past Nadine Angerer. The lone goal came when Amy Rodrgiuez had the ball at the top of the box. She found a running Gorry on the outside. Gorry took it out and fired over Angerer’s hands in the 30th minute.

The Thorns had to defend some attacks from Kansas City until the 43rd minute when they scored for the third time. Long ran a play with Sinclair that resulted in another goal for the Rose City. That would be the last goal of the first half. Portland led 3-1 going in to the locker rooms.

FC Kansas City returned to the pitch fired up and ready to equalize the score. The Blues held the ball at the beginning of the second half and tried to make some magic. The whole Kansas City lineup tried to push forward including defenders Leigh Ann Robinson and Kassey Kallman.

The Blues held the Thorns at three goals until the 63rd minute when a ball bounced off of the referee and in to the possession of Portland. The play ended up at Long’s feet who then sent it past Barnhart to make it 4-1 with less than 30 minutes to play.

In the 74th minute, Amy LePeilbet was called for a foul on Tobin Heath. The home team was awarded a penalty kick. Boquete stepped up to take it and chose wisely as Barnhart went the other way.

A few minutes later, Morgan was stretchered off the field with what seemed to be an ankle injury. Jessica McDonald came in for the Portland while up 5-1. Sinclair scored her goal just after on a great pass from Boquete. The game moved to 6-1 with minutes left.

Portland would tally one more goal before the final whistle. Brooks took credit for the last goal of the night with the assist going to Meleana Shim in the 88th minute.

Sunday After Stats

A lot of stats from yesterday's game.

In the 31st minute, Aurelien Collin hit 10,000 minutes in all competitions in his career with KC. He finished the game with 10,059 minutes played.

Andy Gruenebaum made his 100th start in all competitions in his MLS career.

Dom Dwyer's 2 goals give him 16 league goals for his career with KC, that puts him in 15th place all time.

The 2 goals put Dwyer at 18 goals in all competitions, tying him with Matt McKeon for 15th on that list.

The 2 goals give Dwyer 14 for the season in league play, that's the 3rd most in a single season for KC (Eddie Johnson 15, 2007, Preki 18, 1996)

He also has 14 in all competitions this year, that's tied for the 5th best single season in all competitions in KC history with Davy Arnaud in 2004. (Johnson 15, 2007, Digital Takawira 15, 1996, Miklos Molnar 17, 2000, Preki 22, 1996)

Dwyer's second goal was his 7th in league play away from home, tying him with 4 other players for 12th on that list.

His second goal was his 8th in all competitions away from home, tying him with 4 players for 13th on that list.

Dwyer made his 50th appearance for KC in all competitions, he's the 61st player to hit that mark.

In the 39th minute, Graham Zusi moved past Jose Burciaga and into 17th place for league minutes played, Zusi finished the game with 9,451 minutes played.

Zusi started his 123rd game in all competitions for KC, tying him with Burciaga for 16th all time on that list.

In the 56th minute, Matt Besler moved past Mo Johnston and into 10th place for minutes played in all competitions for KC.

In the 79th minute, Besler then moved past Tony Meola and into 9th place for minutes played in all competitions, he finished the game with 14,217 minutes played.

Besler started his 156th game in all competitions for KC, moving him into a tie with Meola for 10th all time on that list.

Benny Feilhaber made his 50th start in all competitions for KC, he's the 51st player to hit that mark.

Seth Sinovic made his 98th league start for KC, that tied him with Chance Myers for 20th place on that list.

Kansas City Sweep Montreal

Sporting KC allowed a goal against the Montreal Impact for the first time this season, but it wasn't enough to keep Kansas City from sweeping the season series last night in Montreal. Sporting KC got a pair of goals from Dom Dwyer, his fourth and fifth against the Impact this year.

Dwyer got Kansas City going very early. In just the third minute, KC had a throw in deep in Montreal's end. Returning captain, Matt Besler launched a ball into the box. Dwyer got to the ball ahead of Montreal goalkeeper, Troy Perkins and headed the ball into the net to give KC the early lead. Unlike the last time these two teams meant, when KC passed the Impact off the field, this time the game was much closer with the Impact getting chances going forward. KC though still had the better of the early going with Jacob Peterson forcing a save out of Perkins after Benny Feilhaber did a good job of winning the ball at midfield. In the 28th minute though the Impact finally found the back of the net against KC this season. Off a throw-in deep in KC's end, Patrice Bernier received the throw-in and lofted a pass towards the back post. Justin Mapp had gotten some space away from Peterson. Mapp got his head on the ball, knocking it back into the middle for Marco Di Vaio who was completely unmarked. Di Vaio headed the ball back across the face of goal and into the corner past the reach of Andy Gruenebaum to level the score. Shortly after the Impact almost too the lead. A ball was lofted towards Felipe in the box. Both Felipe and KC's Igor Juliao missed the ball but Andres Romero was following up he play. He fired a shot back across goal, but Gruenebaum made the save. The ball continued to the back post where it looked like Di Vaio may get to it and knock it home. Aurelien Collin stepped in just in time though to touch the ball out for a corner kick, saving a goal. Seth Sinovic created a good chance for himself just before half time. A free kick by Graham Zusi was headed to the top of the box where Sinovic took it on the volley but pushed it wide of Perkins' net.

In the second half, KC stepped their game back up and pushed the game. KC found good movement down the wings, with Juliao doing well to create some chances for KC down the right. It was down the left though that KC had a great opportunity in the 59th minute. Peterson was played in behind his defender and played a low cross into the box for Toni Dovale. The ball fell to the Spaniard's favored left foot, but instead of picking a corner, fired the ball right towards the middle of the goal where Perkins made a good save. Both teams had some chances as the game went on, but as the minutes ticked by the game looked more and more like it was headed towards a draw. Then in the 89th minute Lawrence Olum lofted a ball into the attacking half of the field. Heath Pearce let the ball bounce past him and roll towards the box for Perkins. Sporting sub CJ Sapong though raced after the ball trying to chase it down. Neither Pearce nor Perkins took control of the situation allowing Sapong to reach the ball first, getting a touch on it. Sapong knocked the ball off of Perkins and the ball fell into the path of Dwyer. Sporting's leading scorer took a touch and then curled a shot into the net giving KC a 2-1 lead. The effort was enough to see KC take all three points in the win.

Wizards Man of the Match - Dom Dwyer - The KC forward now has the third most goals in KC history in a single season after his two goals last night. He continues to have himself a fantastic season.

Player Ratings - Gruenebaum 6, Juliao 5, Collin 6, Besler 6, Sinovic 5, Olum 5, Zusi 6, Feilhaber 6, Peterson 6, Dwyer 8, Dovale 5. Subs Saad 5, Sapong 6.

Match Day 18 - Sporting Begin the Second Half of the Season

Sporting KC begins the second half of their MLS season tomorrow in Canada when they'll take on the Montreal Impact at Stade Saputo. The Impact has been a welcome opponent for Sporting in the first half of the season. In their two prior meetings his season, Sporting has outscored the Impact 7-0, including a 3-0 win in Montreal earlier this season. That game saw one of the more dominating performances in MLS history in terms of possession and passing. The game tomorrow though likely won't have the same style to it as that one. Gone is one of the main players in that 800 plus pass game as Oriol Rosell has transferred to Sporting Lisbon.

Montreal is still struggling at the bottom of not only the Eastern Conference, but MLS as a whole. They've played one less game than Sporting KC at this point, but has only recorded 14 points in those 16 games. In their five home games since Kansas City's 3-0 win there, Montreal has played quite well at home, going 4-1 in those games, their only loss a 4-2 loss to DC United. Their last time out at home the Impact beat the Houston Dynamo 3-0.

Kansas City dropped more points at home last week with the draw against the Chicago Fire, the team's fifth draw at Sporting Park this season. On the road they've continued to get results that have helped keep KC near the top of the East, even with all their injury issues. A new name joined that list this week, with Eric Kronberg going down with a broken bone in his hand. That injury leaves just Seth Sinovic as the only regular starter for Sporting KC's defense that hasn't miss extended time this year. Andy Gruenebaum will get his first league start of the season tomorrow in place of the injured Kronberg. The good news is that Gruenebaum had been a regular starter for Columbus the last two years, starting 54 of the Crew's 68 games. So KC has plenty of experience behind Kronberg ready to step in. The big big question for KC will likely be whether Sporting's Matt Besler starts tomorrow. Him missing another game would add plenty of speculation to the Besler leaving campaign. He's supposed to be available though along with teammate Graham Zusi who returned last week in the draw with Chicago.

Gruenebaum

Juliao - Collin - Besler - Sinovic

Olum - Nagamura

Feilhaber

Peterson - Dwyer - Zusi

Number to Remember - +1 - That's KC's goal difference this season without the +7 from KC's two games against Montreal. While KC is taking care of this team at the bottom of the league, they're not doing enough against the rest.

Key Match Up - Igor Juliao vs Justin Mapp - Mapp has been the Impact's main set up man, recording five assists for the Impact this season. Matching up against Juliao would seem to give Mapp the advantage. Juliao's defensive positioning was exposed badly against Chicago, especially on the goal when he didn't slide centrally when Aurelien Collin committed to pressure Alex after the Seth Sinovic turn over. Juliao has to read that and slide to the middle. Mapp is going to be a handful for the young Brazilian.

PREDICTION - I expect this game to be much different than the previous two games between these two teams. The Impact have been difficult at home since Sporting took them apart. KC will need to have a quick start like they did in the previous two games between the teams here. The longer that the game remains scoreless, the more confidence that Frank Klopas' team will get. With KC having the closest they've had to their best XI available in a long time, KC needs to get the result tomorrow to keep pace with DC United.

SKC - 2 (Dwyer, Collin)
MTL - 1 (McInerney)