2014 Moments of the Year

With 2014 coming to an end, here's a look at my 2014 moments of the year.

Game of the Year

3/16/2014 vs Baltimore Blast

Start here in the game.

Not going with a Sporting KC game this year for the game of the year. Instead that honor goes to the Missouri Comets and the mini-game, game three against the Baltimore Blast that clinched the MISL championship for the Comets. The game took place immediately after Game 2, which the Comets had lost 19-4, and were thoroughly dominated by the defending champion Blast. The 15 minute mini game featured some good defense by both teams. The Blast took the lead 2-0 with just over six and a half minutes to play. The Comets equalized almost a minute later from a bicycle kick from Lucas Rodriguez.

The final five minutes became a hectic scramble of goals. First the Blast retook the lead with a goal at the back post. Then with just over a minute and a half left, and Vahid Assadpour on as the sixth attacker, the Comets found an equalizer as Stefan St. Louis knocked home a Rodriguez cross at the back post to tie the game at 4-4. Then with under a minute left, The Comets found a winner. A long ball up the field to Leo Gibson was touched into the path of Brian Harris who had made a run up the boards. Gibson's touch to Harris was perfect and the defender was able to fire the ball into the far corner to give the Comets the 6-4 lead. They were able to kill the last 54 seconds and claim their first (and last) MISL title.

Goal of the Year

Grhaam Zusi vs Chicago Fire 10/10/14



We didn't see a lot of this this year from Zusi. Running at defenders and shooting from distance, but we got it here. Collecting a pass from Kevin Ellis, Zusi fires from distance into the far corner to give KC a 1-0 lead over the Chicago Fire.

Assist of the Year

Lauren Holiday vs Seattle Reign 8/31/14



A fantastic play to secure a title, Lauren Holiday set up Amy Rodriguez in the NWSL final against the Seattle Reign. Receiving the ball, Holiday proceeded to turn and race towards goal. Over the course of that 25 yard run, Holiday was able to turn her two markers a number of times before getting into the box and laying off a nice ball to Rodriguez who made no mistake, firing home to give FCKC a 2-0.

Single Game Performance of the Year

Oriol Rosell vs Montreal Impact 5/10/14



Probably Sporting KC's best game of the season, KC won 3-0 over the Impact, and really completely dominated them the entire game. And at the center of it all, was KC's Spanish midfielder, Rosell. Rosell didn't score any goals, in fact he only had 1 shot, which coincidently led to the team's first goal as Collen Warner kept the ball out of the goal with his hand. But it was his passing that did it. Behind Rosell, KC passed the Impact to death, completing 739 of their 803 passing attempts and holding possession for over 78% of the game, all of those are MLS records, with quite a bit of distance to second place. The 92% passing accuracy is the second highest in league history (all since Opta started tracking MLS stats in 2011). Rosell himself set records for passing attempts (166) and completed passes (160, 96.4% completion percentage) in a game. his 160 completed passes were only 13 less than the entire Montreal Impact had as a team on that day. A dominating performance by him even if it doesn't show in the stats.

Low Point of the Year

2-1 Loss to New York 9/6/2014

This moment is not for this loss itself, but for this loss and the three games before it as well. Over that stretch from August 23rd through September 6th, Sporting went 0-4, conceding 11 goals while scoring just 3. This stretch was what really saw KC fall from grace as the season really hit it's tailspin. The first two of those games, a 3-0 loss to DC and a 3-1 loss to Houston were both at Sporting Park and two of the worse performances the team has put in at the new stadium. The 3-0 loss to DC was the worst in team history at Sporting Park. KC then followed those two up by losing both games of a East Coast road trip, losing 3-1 in New England and then the 2-1 loss in New York. KC did come out a week after this and romp Chivas USA 4-0, but it ended up being false hope for the rest of the season.

Non-Sporting KC, KC player moment of the year

6/16/14 Graham Zusi vs Ghana



After taking a 1-0 lead in the first minute, the US had been holding onto that lead for dear life against Ghana in their opening match of the 2014 World Cup. In the 82nd minute though Ghana equalized. It was only four minutes later though when the US reestablished their lead. Zusi, a substitute for Alejandro Bedoya, played a corner in to substitute, John Brooks (who'd come on at half time for Matt Besler). Brooks powered his header into the net giving the US a 2-1 lead and eventual win over the team that had knocked them out of the prior two World Cups.

KC Soccer Player of the Year

Brian Harris

The MISL finals MVP last year in the Comets victory over the Baltimore Blast, Harris has continued his superb form in the 2014-2015 season in the MASL. As the Comets have started the season 9-0, Harris has chipped in 15 goals and 6 assists for 21 points on the season. Many of those coming from big runs forward and blasts from long range.

Sporting KC Player of the Year

Dom Dwyer

Setting the single season scoring record for the club is definitely a big deal, KC has never been a club that's been known to have one dedicated goal scorer. They haven't been a club that has scored a lot of goals really since the Ron Newman days. But Dwyer had a season that many won't forget soon. At the half way point of the year I was ready to give the award to Benny Feilhaber, but the second half of the season, with Oriol Rosell gone, Feilhaber was forced to drop deeper in the field to help distribute, and his contribution to the team fell from there.

FCKC Player of the Year

Amy Rodriguez

I'd said in my wishes for 2014 that I wanted Rodriguez to become the goal scorer the Blues needed to take the pressure off of Lauren Holiday, and she certainly did that, finishing second in the league in goals with 13. Rodriguez played herself back onto the national team after missing the 2013 season after giving birth. Now if only Jill Ellis would get her on the field more.

Espinoza Subs on in Potential Final Appearance for Wigan - Former SKC Wizards Update

With the news this week that Wigan is likely to let former KC midfielder, Roger Espinoza out of the rest of his contract, allowing him to return to the United States, and presumably, Kansas City, the Honduran played what is potentially his final game for the Latics yesterday. Espinoza came on for the final 24 minutes in the loss to Sheffield Wednesday. Malky Mackay spoke highly of Espinoza ahead of his impending departure, so much so that even with his departure likely he still put him in the team for the game.

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

Active without a club or unknown
Vicente Arze
Federico Bessone
Bobby Convey
Toni Dovale
Christian Duke
Mechack Jerome
Peterson Joseph
Michael Kafari
Neal Kitson
Igor Kostrov
Rauwshan McKenzie
Michal Mravec
Victor Munoz
Nelson Pizarro
Akeem Priestly
Scott Sealy
Martin Steuble
Ivan Trujillo
Konrad Warzycha

MLS
Davy Arnaud - DC - Offseason.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Offseason.
Aurelien Collin - Orlando City - Offseason.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Offseason.
Andy Gruenebaum - San Jose - Offseason.
Michael Harrington - Colorado - Offseason.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Offseason.
Eddie Johnson - DC - Offseason.
Kei Kamara - Columbus - Offseason.
Chris Konopka - Toronto - Offseason.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Offseason.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Offseason.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Offseason.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Offseason.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Offseason.

NASL
Stefan Antonijevic - Fort Lauderdale - Offseason.
Alex Martinez - Carolina - Offseason.

USL
Brian Fekete - Pittsburgh - Offseason.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Jonathan Leathers - Charlotte - Offseason.
Kyle Miller - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Yomby William - Richmond - Offseason.
John Wilson - Charleston - Offseason.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Seattle - Scored one goal in Seattle's 8-7 loss to Sacramento.
Adnan Gabeljic - St. Louis - Did not play in St. Louis' 5-4 loss to Chicago. Had a goal and an assist in St. Louis' 8-3 win over San Diego.
Pat Healey - Baltimore - Had two assists in Baltimore's 19-8 win over Rochester.
Boris Pardo - Wichita - No game this week.

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Auerbach - Germany - No game until 2/22.
Scott Angevine - Vasa - Finland - Offseason.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - No game this week.
Mitchell Cardenas - Atlético Coatzacoalcos - Mexico - No game this week.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Offseason.
Eloy Colombano - AD Berazategui - Argentina - No game until January 31.
Daneil Cyrus - Ha Noi T&T (W Connection) - Vietnam (Trinidad) - Offseason.
Pablo Escobar - Cúcuta Deportivo - Colombia - Offseason.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - Came off the bench and played 20 minutes in Wigan's 2-0 win over Leeds. Came off the bench and played 24 minutes in Wigan's 1-0 loss to Sheffield Wednesday.
Herculez Gomez - Tigres - Mexico - No game this week.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Offseason.
Jeferson - América RN - Brazil - No game until January 25th.
Will John - Maghreb Fes - Morocco - Tied Khouribga 0-0.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Offseason.
Neven Markovic - Servette FC - Switzerland - No game until 2/8.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - No game until 3/6.
Lawrence Olum - Kedah FA - Malaysia - Offseason.
Pablo Punyed - Stjarnan - Iceland - Offseason.
Oriol Rosell - Sporting Club de Portugal - Portugal - Started and played 90 minutes in Sporting's 2-0 win over Vitoria Guimaraes.
Soony Saad - BEC Tero Sasana FC - Thailand - Offseason.
Yann Songo'o - Blackburn - England - Did not dress in either of Blackburn's games.
Milos Stojcev - FK Sarajevo - Bosnia - On break until February.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - No game until 2/28.

Comets Win Wild Game in Milwaukee

The Missouri Comets made it to the new year with their undefeated record in tact, but it certainly wasn't easy, playing in Milwaukee with only 12 players due to injuries, and in the end it took the Comets going to their first shootout of the season, but the Comets won 7-7 (2-1) over the Wave to go to 10-0 on the season.

The Wave grabbed the lead after breaking the Comets pressure, with Tony Walls redirecting a shot past Danny Waltman and into the net to make it 1-0. The Comets were able to respond in the last five minutes of the half, as Leo Gibson finished off a pass from Alain Matingou to level the game at 1-1. Before the end of the quarter the Comets were able to grab the lead with Vahid Assadpour finishing off an opportunity from Bryan Perez. Unfortunately for the Comets, Milwaukee equalized in the final minute of the quarter with Marcio Leite finishing off the chance.

The second quarter saw the Comets take over control of the game. Just over half way into the quarter, the Comets were able to retake the lead on the power play. Bryan Perez scored the goal off an assist from Gibson. The Comets pressure continued, but Nick Vorberg came up with some good saves to keep the Wave in the game. In the final minute of the quarter though Matingou beat Vorberg to a loose ball in the box and knocked it home to make it 4-2 as the two teams headed into the half time break.

The third quarter saw the Comets take another injury blow. Already without Max Touloute and Ramone Palmer due to injuries, Coady Andrews picked up an ankle injury early in the quarter and finished the game on the sidelines. The Comets though continued to press and just over half way through the quarter the Comets extended their lead to three. While it should go down as an own goal as Victor Quiroz headed the ball into his own net, the goal officially went to Perez for his second of the night as the Comets made it 5-2. Late in the quarter the Comets extended the lead to 6-2 as Brian Harris fired a shot home from long range.

The fourth quarter saw the Wave come storming back into the game. Just under three minutes in, the Wave cut the lead to 6-3 as Luan Sales Oliveira scored. The Wave continued to press the game, looking to cut the lead further. Before the half way mark, they'd cut the lead to one with two goals less than 30 seconds apart. Less than eight minutes in, JC Banks scored to make it 6-4, then 30 seconds later, Ian Bennet scored to make it 6-5. With less than five and a half minutes left, Banks scored again to tie the game at 6-6 completing the Wave's comeback. The Comets though stopped the Wave's run with three and a half minutes left as Perez finished off his hattrick scoring off of a free kick to put the Comets ahead 7-6. Very late in the game, things got extremely crazy. First with just under two minutes left, the Wave brought on their sixth attacker. Then with just five seconds left, Matingout went to the box with a blue card for four fouls. The Wave took the restart and eventually the ball made it to Oliveira who scored with less than a second left. At the time the Comets were livid because the clock did not start running when the free kick was taken. If the clock had started on time the game likely would have been over before the goal was scored. In frustration over the call, head coach, Vlatko Andonovski pulled his team off the field as the game was over.

Eventually the Comets came back out onto the field, although Andonovski was sent off by the referees. Overtime started with the Wave on the power play, but the Comets were able to kill the play off. Through the rest of the overtime both teams had chances, but the Comets had the better of them. Unable to capitalize on them though the Wave almost found a winner late on. With Waltman out of position, the Wave had an open net, but the shot was knocked off the line by John Sosa with his hand, channeling Luis Suarez in the 2010 World Cup. This led to a shootout attempt for the Wave, but Oliveira had his attempt stopped by Waltman and time in overtime expired.

The game went to a shootout with each team alternating shots. Gibson and Bennett both had their first attempts saved by Waltman and Vorberg. With the second attempt, Perez had his attempt saved while Leite tried to round Waltman, but went too far wide to get his effort on goal. Up third for the Comets was Assadpour. Up third for Wave was Oliveira who fired quickly, beating Waltman to tie the score and send the shootout to sudden death. Per the rules, Gibson stepped up to take the attempt again. This time Gibson buried his attempt past Forberg. For the Wave Oliveira stepped up again, but Waltman came up with a big save to give the Comets the win. The Comets got off the field as quickly as possible in a smash and grab, getting out of Milwaukee with the win.

Espinoza to Leave Wigan, Return to US

Word out of the United Kingdom today is that Wigan Athletic midfielder, Roger Espinoza will be leaving the club and returning to the United States. Espinoza's return to the US would give all the indications that he will be re-signing with Sporting KC since Sporting still hold his MLS rights.

There had been rumors of Espinoza's return to KC since October, but at the time, Sporting head coach, Peter Vermes said that he would not be willing to pay a transfer fee for the Honduran. The reason for this had to do with the fact that Espinoza would be out of contract at the English club anyway. The release though would allow him to return to KC on a free transfer.

So far, none of the reports have explicitly said that he's returning to Sporting KC, but with Wigan head coach, Malky Mackay saying "There is an agreement that the club have shaken hands with Roger on to allow him to go back to America," and Kansas City's prior interest in bringing him back, it'd be shocking if he returned to anywhere but Sporting.

Over the course of five seasons with Sporting during his first stay with the club, Espinoza appeared in 113 league games, starting 93 of them, and appeared in 130 in all competitions scoring two goals. Since leaving for the Premier League after the 2012 season though, Espinoza has appeared just 57 times for the Latics across all competitions.

His return to Kansas City would be welcome in the midfield, where Espinoza could slot in back in his old box to box role that he really made his own over his last two seasons in KC. That could lead to KC's midfield being a bit more dynamic if the team plays Paulo Nagamura and Benny Feilhaber with him. With none of the three being defensive midfielders in the role of Oriol Rosell or Lawrence Olum, it could mean that any of the three could go forward into the attack, which could cause other match up issues.

Comets Win Back and Forth Game with San Diego

In arguably their most exciting game of the year, the Comets remained undefeated pulling out a 10-7 win over the San Diego Sockers at the Independence Events Center to move to 9-0. It was the Sockers though that came out with the more impressive start of the game. Just 14 seconds into the game San Diego was on top after Chiky Luna got the ball out wide and played it to the back post where Kraig Chiles tapped the ball home. After absorbing the early high pressure from the Sockers, the Comets started to keep San Diego pinned in their own end of the field. But that led to Sockers counters and five and a half minutes in, the Sockers doubled their lead. On a 3 on 2 counter, Matias Kruger fed the ball wide to Ney who beat Danny Waltman to make it 2-0 Sockers. With the 2 goal lead the Sockers seemed to lay back a bit, and the Comets made them pay. Off a restart in the corner, Vahid Assadpour laid the ball back to Brian Harris who fired the ball home to put the Comets within one goal. It was then the Comets turn to high pressure, keeping the Sockers pinned in their own end unable to clear. This led to a give away by goalkeeper, Chris Toth. He played the ball right to Bryan Perez who controlled the ball and laid it off to Leo Gibson who slotted the ball into the corner to make it 2-2. The Comets kept up the pressure and won another free kick at the top of the arc. And again the Comets scored off the restart. This time it was John Sosa playing the ball wide to Assadpour who turned and fired. Toth got a piece of it, but couldn't keep the ball out of the net as the Comets took their first lead of the game.

The second quarter continued the Comets run as under two minutes in it was a 4-2 lead as Alain Matingou scored off an assist by Assadpour. The Comets kept up the pressure, but it wasn't until just under nine minutes in that they were to add to their lead as Assadpour picked up his second of the game at the back post after a Matingou run on the opposite side of the field. Late in the quarter though the Sockers started their own run again. First Chiles picked up his second of the game, finishing off a ball from Ney to make it 5-3. Then with just over 3 minutes left, Nick Perera scored to make it 5-4 as the teams headed into half time.

The Sockers continued their run in the start of the third quarter as well. Just over two minutes in, the Sockers struck on the beak as Eduardo Velez fed Ney on the break leading to the goal to tie the game at 5-5. The Sockers kept up the pressure as the third quarter went on and took a deserved lead as Perera laid off a long ball to Jeff Hughes who fired home to make it 6-5 Sockers. The game quickly broke down as in the same of a minute there were three penalties and a shootout attempt. Both Harris and Chiles went to the box for boarding making it 4v4 before Touloute was brought down by Toth to set up a Gibson shootout. Toth though made the save in the shootout and neither team could score on the ensuing short sided game. Shortly after the power plays ended though the Comets tied the game. Gibson got into the box and fired a shot that went wide right to Max Touloute who was able to settle the ball and fired it high over Toth and into the net tying it 6-6.

As the fourth quarter started, the Comets struck early. Gibson received the ball in the corner and was able to turn his defender. He attempted to fire a wall pass to Touloute but the pass off the wall hit a seem, went off a defender, went off Toth and rolled into the net to give the Comets the win. The Comets picked up the high pressure again and were rewarded as Harris picked off a pass at midfield. Harris then raced to the yellow line and fired a shot that took a deflection and went in to make it 8-6. With the two goal deficit, the Sockers pushed forward trying to find a way back in, but it was the Comets who hit on the counter this time as Gibson played Touloute into the corner. He controlled the ball and laid it off to the on coming Matingou who fired the ball into the net to make it 9-6. Coming out of the restart the Sockers put their sixth attacker on. With the extra man, the Sockers controlled the game and quickly found a goal as Chiles received the ball in the corner and beat Waltman to get the Sockers back within 2. The Sockers then shortly went back to the sixth attacker after winning possession and were looking to cut the lead to one, but the Comets took advantage of the empty net, winning the ball near the yellow line, Assadpour fired a shot over Hughes head and into the net. The Comets will get another competitive game this week as they take on the Milwaukee Wave in Milwaukee.

Lopez Named Rapids Director of Soccer - Former SKC Wizards Update

Claudio Lopez is back in the soccer world. After spending some time as a rally car racer, Lopez has returned to soccer and to MLS. This past week, Lopez was named the Colorado Rapids Director of Soccer, joining the front office of the club he won an MLS Cup with back in 2010.

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

Active without a club or unknown
Vicente Arze
Federico Bessone
Jose Burciaga
Bobby Convey
Toni Dovale
Christian Duke
Edson Elcock
Mechack Jerome
Peterson Joseph
Michael Kafari
Neal Kitson
Igor Kostrov
Rauwshan McKenzie
Michal Mravec
Victor Munoz
Nelson Pizarro
Akeem Priestly
Scott Sealy
Martin Steuble
Ivan Trujillo
Konrad Warzycha

MLS
Davy Arnaud - DC - Offseason.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Offseason.
Aurelien Collin - Orlando City - Offseason.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Offseason.
Andy Gruenebaum - San Jose - Offseason.
Michael Harrington - Colorado - Offseason.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Offseason.
Eddie Johnson - DC - Offseason.
Kei Kamara - Columbus - Offseason.
Chris Konopka - Toronto - Offseason.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Offseason.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Offseason.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Offseason.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Offseason.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Offseason.

NASL
Stefan Antonijevic - Fort Lauderdale - Offseason.
Alex Martinez - Carolina - Offseason.

USL
Brian Fekete - Pittsburgh - Offseason.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Jonathan Leathers - Charlotte - Offseason.
Kyle Miller - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Yomby William - Richmond - Offseason.
John Wilson - Charleston - Offseason.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Seattle - Had 2 goals and an assist in Seattle's 11-9 loss to Ontario.
Adnan Gabeljic - St. Louis -No game this week.
Pat Healey - Baltimore - Had an assist in Baltimore's 12-4 win over Syracuse.
Boris Pardo - Wichita - Started in Wichita's 8-7 loss to Texas.

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Auerbach - Germany - No game until 2/22.
Scott Angevine - Vasa - Finland - Offseason.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - No game this week.
Mitchell Cardenas - Atlético Coatzacoalcos - Mexico - No game this week.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Offseason.
Eloy Colombano - AD Berazategui - Argentina - No game until January 31.
Daneil Cyrus - Ha Noi T&T (W Connection) - Vietnam (Trinidad) - Offseason.
Pablo Escobar - Cúcuta Deportivo - Colombia - Offseason.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - Dressed but did not play in Wigan's 2-1 loss to Rotherham United.
Herculez Gomez - Tigres - Mexico - No game this week.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Offseason.
Jeferson - América RN - Brazil - No game until January 25th.
Will John - Maghreb Fes - Morocco - Tied Hassania Agadir 2-2.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Offseason.
Neven Markovic - Servette FC - Switzerland - No game until 2/8.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - No game until 3/6.
Lawrence Olum - Kedah FA - Malaysia - Offseason.
Pablo Punyed - Stjarnan - Iceland - Offseason.
Oriol Rosell - Sporting Club de Portugal - Portugal - Started and played 90 minutes in Sporting's 3-2 win over Vizela. Came off the bench and played 9 minutes in Sporting's 1-0 win over Nacional.
Soony Saad - BEC Tero Sasana FC - Thailand - Offseason.
Yann Songo'o - Blackburn - England - Did not dress in Blackburn's 2-0 win over Charlton.
Milos Stojcev - FK Sarajevo - Bosnia - On break until February.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - No game until 2/28.

Sporting KC Sign Tim Melia

Sporting Kansas City have their third goalkeeper, today announcing the signing of Tim Melia. Melia's name is a little familiar to Sporting KC as the goalkeeper spent time last year with Kansas City as a backup keeper when both Andy Gruenebaum and Eric Kronberg had gone down injured. He sat on the bench for three MLS games and traveled with the club to Nicaragua for the CONCACAF Champions League against Real Esteli during his time with the club.

He'd been with Chivas USA at the beginning of the season before being waived and later becoming a league keeper. Over his five year career in MLS, the 28 year old has made six league appearances, five of them starts. Two of them were this year, when he came on as a substitute after Dan Kennedy was red carded in a loss to San Jose. In the next game, Melia's first start of the season, he was sent off in the 67th minute himself as Chivas was down 3-0 to Houston.

Melia will likely compete with homegrown goalkeeper, Jon Kempin to be Luis Marin's backup this season for Sporting. My hope is that no matter how that battle finishes up, Melia is still the second keeper in the 18 for KC for most of the season. This would then free up Kempin to go on loan the entire year to Oklahoma City and start every game under Jimmy Nielsen. More than anything right now, Kempin needs games, and him sitting on the bench in KC backing up Marin isn't the best way to do that. If Kempin does beat out Melia for the second spot on the depth chart, then you can recall him if need be should Marin go down or get suspended.

The signings is a little surprising when it comes to the comments that Robb Heineman made in his #flyNtweet Q&A. Heineman was asked about the goalkeeping situation, to which he responded that two were on the way. As a follow up, he was asked if either one was from MLS. Heineman responded negatively to that comment. Considering that Melia wasn't technically with an MLS team at the end of the season, it's not totally inaccurate, but he was still an MLS goalkeeper and still on the league's payroll.

Sporting to Open 2015 Season at Home

For the first time since the club rebranded as Sporting Kansas City, the team will open the MLS season at home. Today MLS announced the home openers for all the teams, and Kansas City will be opening the season at home on Sunday, March 8th.

Sporting KC will play the New York Red Bulls at Sporting Park in a 6pm kick off to start the season. The game will also be the first MLS game to be shown on Fox Sports 1 with the new television deal kicking in this coming year. It'll be the first chance that fans have the chance to see what Fox is going to do with MLS with the new TV deal. With the game being the first of a double header, the second game being Seattle vs New England, I don't expect Kansas City to get Fox's "A" team for the game.

This will be the third straight game that Sporting will see the New York Red Bulls. Sporting KC ended the regular season against the Red Bulls, losing 2-0 at Sporting Park and then turned around losing 2-1 to the Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena in the wildcard round of the playoffs. This will be the fourth time in the last six years, and fifth time overall that Sporting will open a season against a team that they ended the prior season against (2012-2013 Philadelphia Union, 2011-2012 DC United, 2009-2010 DC United, and 1996-1997 San Jose Clash).

Unfortunately, it looks like this will be all we get from the schedule until January when it's rumored the full schedule will be released.

Sporting Add Nemeth and Marin, Pass on Re-Entry Draft

After being mentioned that deals were close, today Sporting KC confirmed the signings of Krisztian Nemeth and Luis Marin. The 25 year old Hungarian last played with Roda JC Kerkrade in the Dutch league. Nemeth was starting to become a regular for Hungary during their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, appearing in five of their qualifiers, scoring one goal. His last appearance for his country though was back in October of 2013 when he played in Hungary's 2-0 win over Andorra, the game right after coach, Sandor Egervari, resigned. Since then he's been unable to get a call up from the next two coaches.

Coming into KC, Nemeth can play any of the three forward positions according to Vermes, which should give KC some options up top next season. Nemeth has experiencing playing in a 4-3-3 system, so that part of his transition should be okay, it'll depend on whether he can adjust to Vermes' high press usage of the formation. As I mentioned yesterday, he certainly has the pedigree to do well in MLS with the likes of Liverpool and Olympiacos on his resume. The question will be whether he is going to be able to stay healthy (an issue that's dogged him for much of his career).

Marin will come in and likely be Kansas City's starting goalkeeper in the 2015 season. The Chilean has mainly been a back up to Chile's number 2 goalkeeper at Club Universidad de Chile, but has been a starter much of the rest of his career. He's also played a role with his national team, appearing eight times for Chile and was on the country's roster for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

From watching some highlight videos, Marin seems to be a quick distributor of the ball. That's something that Kansas City really hasn't had, but with the way that KC likes to play, could be a useful tool for the club this year.

In other news, true to Robb Heineman's word in his Q&A on Twitter the other night, Sporting didn't have any interest in anyone in the second stage of the re-entry draft. The team passed on their pick in today's draft.

Lagerwey Headed to Seattle - Former SKC Wizards Update

One of the big talking points of the offseason has revolved around the "biggest free agent" not a player on the field, but Real Salt Lake's General Manager and former KC Wiz goalkeeper, Garth Lagerwey. Lagerwey is out of contact with Salt Lake and the question this offseason had been where he'd go. From the start it appeared that he wouldn't be staying with RSL. The main rumors had him headed to Toronto to assist with getting the first Canadian club into the playoffs. But a few days ago it came out that Lagerwey was going to head to Seattle and join the Sounders front office. A surprising move that caught many people off guard, but his addition to the Sounders front office will have the Sounders be a continued favorite to win trophies.

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

Active without a club or unknown
Vicente Arze
Federico Bessone
Jose Burciaga
Bobby Convey
Toni Dovale
Christian Duke
Edson Elcock
Mechack Jerome
Peterson Joseph
Michael Kafari
Neal Kitson
Rauwshan McKenzie
Michal Mravec
Victor Munoz
Nelson Pizarro
Akeem Priestly
Scott Sealy
Martin Steuble
Ivan Trujillo
Konrad Warzycha

MLS
Davy Arnaud - DC - Offseason.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Offseason.
Aurelien Collin - Orlando City - Offseason.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Offseason.
Andy Gruenebaum - San Jose - Offseason.
Michael Harrington - Colorado - Offseason.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Offseason.
Eddie Johnson - DC - Offseason.
Kei Kamara - Columbus - Offseason.
Chris Konopka - Toronto - Offseason.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Offseason.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Offseason.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Offseason.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Offseason.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Offseason.

NASL
Stefan Antonijevic - Fort Lauderdale - Offseason.
Alex Martinez - Carolina - Offseason.

USL
Brian Fekete - Pittsburgh - Offseason.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Jonathan Leathers - Charlotte - Offseason.
Kyle Miller - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Yomby William - Richmond - Offseason.
John Wilson - Charleston - Offseason.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Seattle - Just signed for Seattle.
Adnan Gabeljic - St. Louis - Did not play in St. Louis' 7-6 win over Detroit.
Pat Healey - Baltimore - Scored a goal in Baltimore's 13-8 win over Milwaukee. Had an assist in Baltimore's 14-10 win over Milwaukee.
Boris Pardo - Wichita - Started in Wichita's 12-3 loss to Missouri.

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Auerbach - Germany - No game until 2/22.
Scott Angevine - Vasa - Finland - Offseason.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - No game this week.
Mitchell Cardenas - Atlético Coatzacoalcos - Mexico - No game this week.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Offseason.
Eloy Colombano - AD Berazategui - Argentina - No game until January 31.
Daneil Cyrus - Ha Noi T&T (W Connection) - Vietnam (Trinidad) - Offseason.
Pablo Escobar - Cúcuta Deportivo - Colombia - Offseason.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - Started and played 86 minutes in Wigan's 2-1 loss to Watford.
Herculez Gomez - Tigres - Mexico - Dressed but did not play in Tigres' 1-0 win over America. Dressed but did not play in Tigres' 3-0 loss to America.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Offseason.
Jeferson - América RN - Brazil - No game until January 25th.
Will John - Maghreb Fes - Morocco - Tied Olympic Safi 1-1.
Igor Kostrov - Veris - Moldova - Veris withdrew from the Moldovan National Division, Kostrov is without a club now.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Offseason.
Neven Markovic - Servette FC - Switzerland - No game until 2/8.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - No game until 3/6.
Lawrence Olum - Kedah FA - Malaysia - Offseason.
Pablo Punyed - Stjarnan - Iceland - Offseason.
Oriol Rosell - Sporting Club de Portugal - Portugal - Did not dress in Sporting's 1-1 draw with Moreirense.
Soony Saad - BEC Tero Sasana FC - Thailand - Offseason.
Yann Songo'o - Blackburn - England - Dressed but did not play in Blackburn's 3-1 loss to Brentford.
Milos Stojcev - FK Sarajevo - Bosnia - On break until February.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - No game until 2/28.

Dwyer Officially Re-Signed, Sporting Close on Marin and Hungarian Nemeth

What'd been hinted at since the weekend and even officially stated by Robb Heineman on Sports Radio 810 is now officially true. Today, Sporting KC formally announced that Dom Dwyer had signed a contract extension with Sporting Kansas City. Dwyer had a break out year in 2014, scoring 22 goals in league play, and 24 in all competitions, both were club records that had stood since the team's inaugural season, when Preki set the records.

While Dwyer says that the deal is a sign to "back off right now" it also helps KC out if teams don't back off. The new deal increases any potential transfer fee a team wants to pay to get Dwyer's services.

Also today, Sam McDowell with the Star was able to get confirmation from a source on KC's side of things that the club was in discussions with Chilean goalkeeper, Luis Marin. Reports out of Chile have been linking Marin with a move to MLS for a little while now, and over the weekend he was linked with Sporting KC. And while McDowell says the club is still finalizing the contracts, reports in Chile say that Marin is set to sign a four year deal with the club.

McDowell was also able to put a name to the forward that KC was close to signing, presumably the one that Heineman mentioned in his interview with 810. Krisztian Nemeth, a Hungarian is fairly well traveled having played in Hungary, England, Greece, and the Netherlands looks headed to Kansas City. While only 25, Nemeth has, on paper, a great pedigree, having been under contract with both Liverpool and Olympiacos, but made minimal appearances for the two clubs, spending most of his time with the reserves or on loan. Still, the talent is there that originally attracted the English club to him. He helped lead the Liverpool reserves to the championship in their division when he was with the club. Nemeth has also featured for his national team, playing 15 times for the full Hungarian national team, scoring once and was a fixture in the country's youth system. Most recently, he was with Roda JC Kerkrade of the Dutch league, scoring 8 goals in 19 league appearances for the club in the 2013-2014 season. If he can find his form, and if he can stay healthy (an issue that marred his time with both Liverpool and Olympiacos) he can be successful in KC and could be a steal of a signing.

A Look at Heineman's #flyNtweet

With the offseason in full swing, it'd been a while since Robb Heineman had hosted one of his Twitter Q&A sessions. So today with a trip home from New York, Heineman held a #flyNtweet. Fans asked a number of questions, I'll just touch on a few of the higher points here.

One of the first questions posted a proposed starting 11 and asked Heineman how many of the 11 he expected to start the season. Heineman responded with just over half, six of the 11 he expected to start. You can make assumptions, but it's easy to guess Dwyer, Zusi, Feilhaber, Sinovic, Besler, and Marin as the six Heineman is thinking of. To go along with all those changes to the starting lineup that was posted, Heineman also said that he expects 10 new players to be brought in. Considering the team was sitting on 19 players under contract, adding 10 isn't that much of a surprise.

A number of the questions that Heineman was asked pertained to the team's pursuit of Roger Espinoza and bringing him back into a KC uniform. Heineman continues to have high hopes for bringing up back, and also stated that the Honduran would not be a DP if and when he returns. His return is something that Heineman seems to be really interested in and wanting to happen.

Speaking of Espinoza and the defensive midfield position, Heineman said the team is looking at several DMs. He also said that DM is one of the three positions that he felt needed the most improvement along with goalkeeper and left winger.

Elsewhere on the field, another question from fans was the health of Chance Myers and how his recovery was going. Heineman said that Myers is currently ahead of schedule and will start.

When it came to the Superdraft and Sporting's 3 first round picks, Heineman said that right now he's guessing that the team will trade some of those picks. Whether that's for allocation money, or to move up in the draft like Heineman hinted at yesterday, remains to be seen.

Another question that Heineman has been asked that has been a topic of discussion off and on all year is the future of Erik Palmer-Brown. With the interest from Juventus apparently still going strong the question is how long he'll stay. When asked about the plans for EPB, Heineman said that he'd like to go to Europe. He does come back later though and says that there aren't plans to sell him this winter. Of course since EPB isn't 18 yet and can't get an EU work permit yet, selling him before his 18th birthday doesn't make sense anyway.

In terms of player signings, Heineman confirmed another one for the club, saying the team has signed a guy that can play on the wing, another area that Heineman said needed to improve. Heineman was also asked about signing another designated player, to witch Heineman responded that the chances were "strong to quite strong." When I responded wtih a question asking if that mean there would be a fourth DP slot or if that meant getting rid of Claudio Bieler, Heineman responded that the team has allocation money that would be able to be used to pay down the salary to below DP levels. As a follow up to that, Heineman was asked whether the new DP was a new player or if Dwyer's contract would make him a DP. He confirmed that it would be a new player, meaning Dwyer signed his new contract for under a DP contract. Heineman was also asked specifically about TFC's Dominic Oduro, which he responded by saying that while he's a guy they like, his salary is too high. Heineman also said that the two players that Sporting is looking to bring in this year to play goal are both from outside MLS curently. He also confirmed that KC's new goalkeeper is not a DP as well.

Another question for the team heading into 2015 was whether Brazilian Igor Juliao would return to KC. The Fluminense right back was on loan last year, and Heineman seems to be optimistic on him returning to Kansas City for the new season.
Heineman also has high on the possibility of bringing back Jacob Peterson.

There's another opportunity for KC to pick up players this week in the second stage of the re-entry draft. Based off Heineman's Tweet though it doesn't look like KC fans should expect much from that draft.

While bringing in new players is important, one area on the field has been lacking a lot since the stadium opened has been the team's home form. Sporting Park hasn't been the fortress that the team really wants. It hasn't become a stadium like Rio Tinto where Sporting can have a long unbeaten run. Heineman said that this is one of the biggest things that the team is emphasizing.

Questions about the CBA came up, and while Heineman said that he can't speak on it, he did make one comment regarding the potential layout of the league, saying that the odds of adding 2 more DPs to bring the total to 5 or doubling the cap were both 0.

One response I was sad to see was Heineman's answer to a question about a hall of fame in Kansas City. I'd read articles last week about US Soccer signing a non-compete agreement with the city of Frisco, Texas to negotiate building a Hall of Fame there. But it's still disappointing to see Heineman come out and say it's not going to happen in KC.

Over the course of the Tweets, Heineman did kill a couple of the silly rumors that fans have come up with. Including the idea that Sporting should go after Steven Gerrard of Liverpool or make a trade with Columbus to try to bring Kei Kamara back to Kansas City or even the thought of moving US-Mexico away from Columbus before the US team actually loses there.

Another area that hasn't been touched on in a while that was brought up again is the stadium sponsorship of Sporting Park. Since the split with the LiveStrong corporation Sporting Park has not had a stadium sponsor. And unfortunately according to Heineman, there is no new news on it either.

Another off the field area that Heineman touched on was some news that was also in the letter the team sent to the Garden City mayor about the USSF training facility. The facility will apparently be starting in March, a big step for Kansas City.

But remember about Heineman's answers:

“@jhujhubee: @RobbHeineman Also, favorite part about your job?” Twitter trolling
— Robb Heineman (@RobbHeineman) December 16, 2014

Sporting Sign Haitian Midfielder, James Marcelin

Sporting announced their third addition of the offseason today, announcing the signing of Haitian midfielder, James Marcelin. Marcelin spent last year with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL, making 15 appearances for the club as they advanced to the Soccer Bowl before losing to the San Antonio Scorpions. Before that he'd spent time with in the USL playing with the Antigua Barricuda.

He does have MLS experience though, playing with both the Portland Timbers and FC Dallas from 2011 through 2012, appearing 39 times in MLS games.

Marcelin, a defensive midfielder, has also appeared for his country, playing 22 times for Haiti, scoring three goals as well. He becomes the third Haitian to play for Sporting KC after Peterson Joseph and Mechack Jerome.

On the surface, one thing that is a question is this quote from Timbers GM, Gavin Wilkinson, from when Marcelin was waived by the club. The quote implies that some off the field action is what led to Marcelin's waiving, something Wilkinson deemed unprofessional.

I hadn't seen much of the Strikers last year, but I would think this move is more for depth purposes. He's a decent addition, but not one that I think should really be the go to guy at the defensive midfield position every game for Kansas City.

Sporting Park to Host Gold Cup and USA Again

For the fourth time in five years, Sporting Park will host the US men's national team next summer as part of the Gold Cup. The US national team will close out Group A on Monday, July 13th at Sporting Park against an opponent still to be determined. The US will open play in the Gold Cup on Tuesday July 7th in Frisco, Texas before moving to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on the 10th for the second game before finishing the group phase in Kansas City.
The US will be attempting to sweep this cycle's Gold Cups, giving them an automatic berth in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. Another team winning the Gold Cup would lead to a one game playoff at a later date to decide who would represent CONCACAF at the competition.
From reading the release put out by Sporting, tickets to the Gold Cup double header will not be included in season ticket packages this time around, unlike 2011. Season ticket holders will have access to an exclusive pre-sale prior to tickets going on sale to the general public.
In the USA's previous three trips to Sporting Park, the US is 3-0-0 with a +5 goal difference (6 for, 1 against). In Kansas City as a whole, the US men are 5-0-0, scoring 13 while allowing 3. Add in the US women's record in KC, and the US men and women are 8-0-3 in Kansas City, scoring 25 and conceding just 7.
This could also mean that Kansas City host three national team games in 2015. There will be the two Gold Cup games, and there is still the Mexico vs Paraguay friendly in March that hasn't been confirmed to be in KC just yet. With KC on the short list to host the 2017 Copa America Centenario the three games would be a chance for KC to impress further. The city has already shown they'll support the US. And the Olympic qualifiers showed that the city will show up for games that don't include the US.

Review of SKC Academy Graduates in College

The college soccer season is over, and with it is a final review of the college season for Sporting KC Academy graduates. Here's a look at how each graduate did this season. For the seniors I've also included their career numbers in college.

Class of 2010

Brandon Fricke (Butler University) - D - RSr - Started all 18 of Butler's games, scoring a goal and adding an assist at Butler went 6-7-5. Appeared in 71 games, scoring 6 goals and recording 2 assists in his college career.

Class of 2011

Eric Hymer (Fort Hays State) - D - Sr - Started all 21 of Fort Hays games as they went 11-6-4. Played in 70 games and recorded 1 assist in his college career.

Raymond Lee (Saint Louis University) - MF - Sr - Played in all 20 of Saint Louis' games, scoring 2 goals and recording 4 assists as Saint Louis went 14-4-2. Played in 74 games, scored 14 goals and added 6 assists in his college career.

Eric Moore (Rockhurst University) - D - Sr - Played in 8 games, scoring a goal as Rockhurst went 9-6-2. These were the only appearances of his college career.

Michael Oakley (University of Missouri Kansas City) - D - Sr - Played in 14 games, starting 11 of UMKC's 20 games, scoring one goal as UMKC went 8-10-2. Appeared in 67 games, scoring 2 goals and recording 2 assists in his college career.

Paul Oliver (California Baptist) - D/MF - Sr - Played in 16 of Cal Baptist's 18 games, starting 13, scoring 5 goals and adding an assist as Cal Baptist finished 8-9-1. Played in 54 games, scoring 8 goals and adding 3 assists in his career.

Jordan Rideout (University of Missouri Kansas City) - F - Sr - Started 11 of UMKC's 20 games, scoring 2 goals as UMKC went 8-10-2. Played in 66 games, scoring 23 goals and adding 2 assists in his college career.

Taylor Vinnage (Benedictine) - GK - Sr - Played started all 17 of Bendictine's games, recording an assist as Benedictine went 7-8-2. Played in 55 games in his college career.

Class of 2012

Andrew Brown (Bradley University) - MF - Jr -Played in all 20 of Bradley's games, starting 19 of them, recording 3 goals and 3 assists as Bradley went 9-11.

Eric DeJulio (Creighton University) - D - Jr - Started all 22 of Creighton's games as the Blue Jays went 16-3-3.

Daniel Hare (Loyola University in Chicago) - D - Jr - Played in 17 of Loyola's 19 games as they went 8-6-5.

Andrew Lightner (Dayton) - D - RSo - Started 18 of Dayton's 19 games, recording 2 assists as Dayton went 7-7-5.

Andrew Miller (Baker University) - D - Jr - Played 14 games as Baker went 9-9-3

Nate Opperman (University of Evansville) - F - Jr - Played in 10 of Evansville's 17 games, recording 2 assists as Evansville went 6-10-1.

Derek Schrick (University of Missouri Kansas City) - MF - Jr - Did not play in any of UMKC's games.

Chris Tuso (Baker) - MF - Jr - Played in 9 games as Baker went 9-9-3.

Shane Woods (Drury University) - F - Jr - Appeared in 12 games, starting one, recording an assist as Drury went 16-5.

Class of 2013

Joe Amico (Jacksonville) - D - So - Played in all 16 of Jacksonville's games, starting 14 as Jacksonville went 4-12.

Chris Arce (Neosho CC) - MF - So - Played in 13 games, starting 8 of Neosho's 19 games as they went 14-4-1.

Matt Bernard (Drake) - MF - RFr - Played in 7 games, starting 1 as Drake went 5-11-3.

Paul Dean (Rockhurst University) - D - So - Started all 17 of Rockhurst's games, scoring a goal and adding 3 assists as Rockhurst went 9-6-2.

Seo-In Kim (Duke) - MF - So - Played in 18 of Duke's 19 games, starting 5, recording 2 goals and an assist as Duke went 9-9-1.

Adam Lightner (Northern Illinois University) - D - So - Played in 14 of Northern Illinois' 17 games, starting 2 as Northern Illinois went 3-9-5.

Clay Stewart - (University of Missouri Kansas City) - MF/D - So - Played in 14 games, starting three of UMKC's 20 games, scoring one goal as UMKC went 8-10-2.

Wes White (University of Missouri Kansas City) - F - RFr - Started 17 of UMKC's 20 games, scoring four goals and adding four assists as UMKC went 8-10-2.

Austin Wilcox (University of Missouri Kansas City) - MF - So - Played in 14 of UMKC's 20 games, starting six of them, scoring two goals as UMKC went 8-10-2.

Drew Wilson (Fort Hays State University) - D - So - Played in 20 of Fort Hays 21 games, starting 19 of those games, scoring two goals and adding an assist as Fort Hays went 11-6-4.

Kyle Vassar - (University of Missouri Kansas City) - D - RFr - Played in four of UMKC's 20 games as UMKC went 8-10-2.

Class of 2014

Darby Cronin (University of Missouri Kansas City)- MF - Fr - Played in 13 of UMKC's 20 games, starting one and recording one assist as UMKC went 8-10-2

Andrew Dittemore (Missouri State) - GK - Fr - Did not play in any games as Missouri State went 9-4-4.

Andy Ericks (Colorado School of Mines) - MF - Fr - Played in 7 games as Colorado went 12-7-1.

Heath Honold (Wake Forest) - F - Fr - Played in 5 games as Wake went 10-7-2.

Mason Leonard (Drake) - D - Fr - Started all 19 of Drake's games, recording a goal and an assist as Drake went 5-11-3.

Blake Levine (Baker) - F - Fr - Played in 20 of Baker's 21 games, scoring six goals as Baker went 9-9-3.

Matthew Lewis (Fordham) - D - Fr - Started all 21 games for Fordham, recording an assist as Fordham went 8-9-4.

Andy Lopez (North Carolina) - MF - Fr - Did not play in any games as UNC went 15-5-2.

Noah Mudd (Trevecca) - D - Fr - Played in all 16 games as Trevecca went 5-10-1.

Joey Piatczyc (West Virginia) - MF - Fr - Played in 17 of West Virginia's 19 games, recording 8 assists as West Virgina went 11-7-1.

Cole Stevenson (Denver) - F - Fr - Played in 18 of Denver's 20 games scoring 1 goal and recording 2 assists as Denver went 11-8-1.

Austin Williamson (Northeastern State University) - GK - Fr - Made 1 appearance as Northeastern went 16-3-2.

Zach Wright (North Carolina) - F - Fr - Played in 17 of UNC's 22 games, scoring one goal and recording 5 assists.

Sporting KC Announce New PBP Announcer and Other News From Heineman Interview

Robb Heineman made an appearance on Between the Lines with Kevin Kietzman and made one big announcement and dropped news on other announcements coming. The main reason for his appearance was the announcement that Nate Bukaty will become the team's new play-by-play announcer for the club. Heineman said the move had to do with the club's commitment to being local. It also addresses Heineman's earlier comment about someone who will be here for the long term. I know that Cal Williams had high hopes for his career and while I'll definitely miss hearing him on the call, or even just having a in depth soccer talk with him in the Members' Club, I understand the move from that aspect. As long as Bukaty's play-by-play doesn't go full Brad Feldman or Shep Messing homer talk I should be able to survive the move.

In regards to the broadcast, Heineman also mentioned other work that they are trying to do. The club will keep Jake Yardrich on the broadcast team last year. After spending the past few seasons as Williams' color analyst, Yardrich moved down to be the sideline reporter in 2014. Heineman also mentioned that the club is current talking with a former player about returning to the team as well to fill out the broadcast team.

The second half of the interview moved more to on the field player movement. Heineman admitted that the moves made were motivated both by the poor finish to the season and salary cap considerations. He put the trade of Aurelien Collin firmly into the cap consideration move, explaining that with the deal Matt Besler signed during the summer, KC didn't want to put that much of the cap into just the center back position for the team.

Heineman did mention that there was some other movement that was done, including a new goalkeeper. The assumption with the goalkeeper is that it is Chilean, Luis Marin, who is linked with a move to MLS and Kansas City. Marin, from the highlights I've seen looks like he should fit in well and looks comfortable with quick distribution, which is something I think that KC could do more to exploit next season against teams. After his tweet over the weekend, Heineman also confirmed that the team would be making a formal announcement on the re-signing of Dom Dwyer.  This on the surface would appear to be the biggest move that the team has made of the offseason. Not only does it keep Dwyer in KC, it also means that should he continue to do well and teams in England come after him, the price KC can command goes up because of how long the team has him locked up.

The final bit of player news that Heineman brought up was that the team was signing another forward to be Dwyer's back up. Kietzman didn't touch on it, but the fact that Heineman said that a forward was being brought in to back up Dwyer would seem to signify that Claudio Bieler's tenure with the club is going to be ending in the near future. With Dwyer signing a new contract, and how much that contract will be, having a designated player as his back up would continue to be a mistake for the club.

In the final bit of the interview, Heineman talked about the league currently and where it stands. One thing that he brought up was that the league needs to clean things up. The example he specifically brought up was the playoff system. The league has had a new playoff system almost every year that it's been in existence, and with the rumored expansion to six teams from each conference, it could very well be changing again next year.

Heineman also talked about the transparency of the league, mentioning that the league needs to explain things more to fans with regards to the league. This has been one of the big complaints from fans was the inability to follow the league as closely because of the lack of transparency in how things are done in the league.

So it seems we could be in for a busy week of information from the team.

Comets Remain Undefeated

The Missouri Comets continued their undefeated start to the season as they topped the Wichita B-52's for the second time this season, this time by a score of 12-3.

Unlike the last time these two teams met, the B-52's were able to keep things close for a half. Neither team was able to get on the board in the first quarter, with Danny Waltman being called upon to make a number of import saves to keep the score scoreless. The second quarter started much the same before four and a half minutes in, Coady Andrews deflected a Wichita clearance into the net to give the Comets the first goal of the game. Near the midpoint of the quarter the Comets found themselves on the power play after a boarding penalty. With the man advantage they doubled their lead as Max Touloute found John Sosa who scored to make it 2-0. This is how the scores remained heading into the half time break.

The third quarter is where the Comets really broke the game open, scoring six goals to put the game away. It started less than a minute in as Vahid Assadpour scored to make it 3-0. Just under six minutes in, the Comets made it 4-0 as Leo Gibson picked up his first assist of the night, setting up Touloute for the goal. The Comets continued to fly and eight minutes in, Assadpour had his brace off an assist from Sosa. Just over a minute later though the B-52's were on the board through John Markey. The Comets though responded in kind as Milan Ivanovic's shot was deflected in off of Gibson to restore the four goal lead. Late in the half the Comets again struck in quick succession, scoring two goals just over 30 seconds a part. Alain Matingou started the scoring off another assist from Gibson before Brian Harris finished out the scoring in the quarter firing home a restart after a touch from Sosa.

The fourth quarter saw the B-52s try to make a game of it, but the teams ended up exchanging goals for most of the quarter. The quarter started with the Comets finishing up a power play from the third quarter, and right as the penalty expired, Sosa picked out Bryan Perez who beat Boris Pardo to make it 9-1. Wichita responded quickly as Pardo found Brady Bryant, who got in behind Missouri's defense and beat Waltman to make it 9-2. Six minutes in the Comets again found themselves on the power play and again the Comets took advantage as Gibson found Sosa for his second of the night to make it 10-2. The final quarter saw a number of power play opportunities, the B-52s took advantage of their own after a penalty on the Comets for too many men. With the extra attacker and putting in their sixth attacker, the B-52s again cut the lead to seven through Matt Clare. Shortly after that the Comets were again down a man for a boarding foul on Sosa. The Comets though were the ones that took advantage of Wichita throwing numbers forward as Touloute won the ball and was able to walk it into the net to make it 11-3. Less than a minute left the Comets won a power play themselves after the Wichita sixth attacker, Alex Moseley handled the ball outside the box. On the ensuing shootout attempt, Gibson's shot hit the post, but was turned in by Harris to finish the scoring for the night at 12-3.

The Comets now have a weekend off before returning home the weekend after Christmas to take on the San Diego Sockers, which should be a more competitive game against one of the better PASL teams.

Sporting KC Closing in on Re-Signing Dwyer

In a week that say the team trade two long serving and well liked players in Aurelien Collin and CJ Sapong, and saw the departure of play-by-play man, Callum Williams, Sporting KC fans really needed some good news this week. Fans finally got some tonight thanks to a Tweet from team president, Robb Heineman.

While it doesn't appear to be 100% quite yet, based on the Tweet from Heineman, is seems it'd be a shock if Dom Dwyer is not re-signed to a new contract soon by the club. According to Heineman's Tweet, there are apparently still some agent details to work out, but "Dwyer will b in kc 4 3 more (at least)."

This was certainly a much needed step for Kansas City and for Dwyer. What it does for KC, is that it not only locks down their team's main forward and single season record holder, but it also means that if Dwyer continues his goal scoring form that he showed in the 2014 season, and a team in England or Europe comes calling, the price for his services goes up.

For Dwyer, re-signing will likely see him get a decent pay bump from his salary last year, which had a base of $80,000 and a guaranteed compensation of $92,500 per the players union. Hopefully he can continue his goal scoring form.

Does Sporting Have Their New Goalkeeper?

Reports out of Chile have Sporting KC set to sign a new goalkeeper. That goalkeeper is Luis Marin. The 31 year old has been playing with Club Universidad de Chile on loan since 2013 from O'Higgens FC of Chile. Universidad is one of the top teams in Chile, having won the 2014 Apertura this year. Marin has also been capped for his national team, playing eight times for Chile. He had been on Chile's provisional roster for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

At 31, he's at the prime age for a goalkeeper, which should suit Kansas City perfectly. He can come in and be the starter here and hopefully in the next two years begin to get pushed by KC's homegrown goalkeeper, Jon Kempin.

Sporting still has one more spot for a goalkeeper on their roster. The likelihood is that it's either a cheap veteran or a rookie right out of college in my opinion.

Sporting Garden City?

Sporting Kansas City looks like they're trying to expand their affiliate network further. Already with 13 affiliated youth clubs, Sporting is looking to expand it further into Western Kansas as the team is on the agenda for an upcoming meeting in Garden City, Kansas about building a youth complex there with STAR Bonds and the potential creation of a PDL team.

Starting on page 74 of the document is a letter from Sporting to the city discussing the club and their proposal to build a youth soccer complex with Sporting Garden City being the primary tenant of the facility.

The hope for the facility from reading the letter is that the facility may take on a residency type feel as there's talk in the letter of building dormitories, classrooms, etc. The fields themselves would be a mix of synthetic and grass fields with a "championship field" stadium as well. The stadium is where the team would hope to have a PDL team play. Sporting's hope is that a local investor would step up to run the PDL club but the club would have Sporting's support.

The PDL part is where Sporting lose me a bit on this. While Garden City wouldn't be the smallest city to have a PDL team (Portsmouth, NH, St. Albans, VT, and Bluefield, WV all have teams), it just seems like an odd place to put a team. Would the team go to the Mountain Division and have to travel to the likes of Albuquerque, Las Vegas, and Provo, or would they fit in the Heartland Division with the likes of Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. Honestly a Garden City team would probably be better off in the NPSL playing in a South Central Conference that would see their longest trip being San Antonio and close trips to Wichita and Joplin.

I like the plan for the youth development, it's certainly an area that KC could find players in, they've done it before with the likes of Eduardo Moreno playing in KC's academy a few years ago, training with the first team and spending a little time with the US U18 national team in Bradenton, FL. As for the PDL, I would think SKC could be better served trying to get a team back in KC, or to try to put a team in Omaha and try to get into the Creighton pipeline a little bit.

Sporting Pass on Re-Entry Draft. Kronberg, Gruenebaum Selected

MLS held the first phase of this year's Re-Entry Draft. And like most years, there was little movement. The prior four drafts had averaged under three picks in the first phase. Today, three players were taken, none of them going to Kansas City, as Sporting passed on making a selection in the draft. Peter Vermes has still yet to pick someone in the first phase.

Of the three players that were taken, two of them were Sporting KC players. With the first pick, Montreal selected KC's former starter, Eric Kronberg. With the Impact having dumped Troy Perkins, Kronberg will likely be battling Evan Bush for the starting job in Montreal. With the second pick in the draft, the San Jose Earthquakes grabbed KC's other available goalkeeper, Andy Gruenebaum. Gruenebaum had played well for Kansas City, but continued to struggle with injuries, missing games at three separate times during the season. He'll likely come in and either compete with or be the back up to David Bingham. The third player taken was Toronto FC grabbing Real Salt Lake's Robbie Findley.

Kansas City on List to Potentially Host Copa America Centenario

Kansas City could be hosting the premier national team competition in the Western Hemisphere in 2016. The Copa America will be hosted in the US in 2016 as the Copa Centenario. It will include the nations of CONMEBOL as well as six teams from the CONCACAF region, including the USA and Mexico.

CONMEBOL is apparently eying 23 cities in the US as potential hosting cities for the tournament according to Globo in Brazil. One of those cities is Kansas City.

The list apparently came up in a CONMEBOL Exective Committee meeting. The map has two different colors for cities listed, but no explanation of those colors. Kansas City is grouped a number of favorites to host the tournament like Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago, etc. Whether that means anything or not is unknown. But it'd certainly  be fun to have the tournament in Kansas City.

Re-Entry Draft Tomorrow

Tomorrow MLS hosts another one of their drafts, the first stage of the Re-Entry Draft. The draft, a mechanism added in the last CBA to allow players some movement within the league. Tomorrow's first leg is usually the slower of the two stages of the draft. Since the draft started in 2010, only 11 players have been taken in the first stage of the four prior drafts. Last year saw the most activity ever in the first stage as five players were selected.

This year, there are 62 players available to select in the draft. The rules of this stage of the draft are simple. The players are every MLS player that meet certain requirements (at least 23 years old with 3 years experience, at least 25 with at least 4 years of experience, or at least 30 years old with at least 8 years of experience) and have had their contract options either declined or are out of contract. If a player is selected at this stage, the team that selects him is agreeing to either pick up that player's option or to make them a bona fide offer. If the player doesn't accept the contract, the team owns that player's MLS rights.

Usually the second leg, which offers more flexibility is where there is more activity.

For Sporting KC, Peter Vermes has never made a selection in first stage of the re-entry draft, passing every year so far. For me, even though KC is in a bit of a rebuilding mode right now, I see no reason that this strategy of Vermes' is going to change. In fact Vermes hasn't really even used stage two of the draft either, only selecting one player, Frankie Hejduk (who was almost immediately traded to LA for Luke Sassano) ever.

Looking at this year's list I again don't see any players that Vermes is going to want to live without. Come next week Sporting could look at grabbing someone like Hendry Thomas.

Meanwhile, three Sporting players are available for selection, Josh Gardner, who's retired and taken up individual volleyball, and two of Sporting's goalkeepers, Andy Gruenebaum and Eric Kronberg.

Mexico and Paraguay to Play in KC

El 27 de marzo será el debut de Ramón Díaz como DT de Paraguay vs #CostaRica,Luego el 31 ante #México en Kansas.
— Elmer Polanco (@PolancoESA) December 11, 2014

Reports from Mexico and Paraguay today are reporting that the two national teams will be meeting in Kansas in March of 2015.

The location for the friendly has not been announced as of yet, but if it is "Kansas" one would assume that it is Sporting Park. Of course we've learned over the years that foreign media will refer to the whole of Kansas City as Kansas. So it's a possibility that the game could be played at Arrowhead Stadium.

The game would be the first stand alone national team game in Kansas City to not feature the US national team game. All prior national team games in KC not involving the US team have all been tied in with other competitions, like the Gold Cup or Olympic qualifying.

It should certainly be a fun atmosphere for the game wherever it ends up being held.

Former SKC Players Moving All Around - Former SKC Wizards Update

The list of former players has once again expanded and changed as the MLS season has ended and teams are moving players. Aurelien Collin, CJ Sapong, and Soony Saad all join the list of former players. Meanwhile, others are moving to new clubs, Michael Harrington was traded by Portland to Colorado, while another, Rauwshan McKenzie is looking for a new club. Meanwhile, Sal Zizzo was taken in the expansion draft, but apparently has already been traded by NYCFC to the New York Red Bulls to help NYCFC secure Ryan Meara on loan.

It wasn't just left to MLS though, Jamar Beasley also has a new club, signing with Muskegon Risers. A professional club in Michigan according to their website, although it does not appear that they have a league at this time.

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

Active without a club or unknown
Vicente Arze
Jamar Beasley
Federico Bessone
Jose Burciaga
Bobby Convey
Toni Dovale
Christian Duke
Edson Elcock
Andy Gruenebaum
Mechack Jerome
Peterson Joseph
Michael Kafari
Neal Kitson
Eric Kronberg
Rauwshan McKenzie
Michal Mravec
Victor Munoz
Nelson Pizarro
Akeem Priestly
Scott Sealy
Martin Steuble
Ivan Trujillo
Konrad Warzycha

MLS
Davy Arnaud - DC - Offseason.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Started and played 120 minutes in New England's 2-1 loss to LA.
Aurelien Collin - Orlando City - Offseason.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Offseason.
Michael Harrington - Colorado - Offseason.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Offseason.
Eddie Johnson - DC - Offseason.
Kei Kamara - Columbus - Offseason.
Chris Konopka - Toronto - Offseason.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Offseason.
Khari Stephenson - San Jose - Offseason.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Offseason.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Offseason.

NASL
Stefan Antonijevic - Fort Lauderdale - Offseason.
Alex Martinez - Carolina - Offseason.

USL
Brian Fekete - Pittsburgh - Offseason.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Jonathan Leathers - Charlotte - Offseason.
Kyle Miller - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Yomby William - Richmond - Offseason.
John Wilson - Charleston - Offseason.

Indoor
Adnan Gabeljic - St. Louis - Did not play in St. Louis' 9-3 loss to Milwaukee.
Pat Healey - Baltimore - No game this week.
Boris Pardo - Wichita - Started in Wichita's 8-5 win over Chicago.

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Auerbach - Germany - Started and played 90 minutes in Auerbach's 2-0 loss to Meuselwitz.
Scott Angevine - Vasa - Finland - Offseason.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - No game this week.
Mitchell Cardenas - Atlético Coatzacoalcos - Mexico - No game this week.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Offseason.
Eloy Colombano - AD Berazategui - Argentina - No game until January 31.
Daneil Cyrus - Ha Noi T&T (W Connection) - Vietnam (Trinidad) - Offseason.
Pablo Escobar - Cúcuta Deportivo - Colombia - Offseason.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - Came off the bench and played 7 minutes in Wigan's 1-0 loss to Norwich.
Herculez Gomez - Tigres - Mexico - Started and played 59 minutes in Tigres' 0-0 draw with Toluca. Came off the bench and played 7 minutes in Tigres' 0-0 draw with Toluca.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Offseason.
Jeferson - América RN - Brazil - No game until January 25th.
Will John - Maghreb Fes - Morocco - Lost -0 to Difaa El Jadida.
Igor Kostrov - Veris - Moldova - Did not play in Veris' 1-0 loss to Sheriff.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Offseason.
Neven Markovic - Servette FC - Switzerland - Did not dress in Servette's 3-1 win over Chiasso.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - Started and played 63 minutes in Spartak's 1-1 draw with Rostov. Started and played 56 minutes in Spartak's 2-0 win over Ural.
Lawrence Olum - Kedah FA - Malaysia - Offseason.
Pablo Punyed - Stjarnan - Iceland - Offseason.
Oriol Rosell - Sporting Club de Portugal - Portugal - Did not dress in Sporting's 3-1 win over Boavista. Dressed but did not play in Sporting's 3-1 loss to Chelsea.
Soony Saad - BEC Tero Sasana FC - Thailand - Offseason.
Yann Songo'o - Blackburn - England - Dressed but did not play in Blackburn's 2-1 loss to Sheffield Wednesday.
Milos Stojcev - FK Sarajevo - Bosnia - On break until February.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Saarbrucken's 1-0 win over Astoria Walldorf.

Sporting Blue Wedding Continues, Sporting Waive 2 More, Will Have New Announce Team

The changes to Sporting KC roster continue, and they've now expanded beyond the field to the broadcast booth as well.

The team has made no formal announcement, but with the waiver draft this afternoon, after the expansion draft, two more Sporting KC players appeared on the list available to be drafted, Christian Duke and Martin Steuble.

Duke, a Sporting KC academy product that the team drafted in the 2013 Supplemental Draft. He never appeared in a competitive game for Sporting Kansas City but has spent part of the last two seasons on loan to Sporting's two USL affiliates, Orlando City and Oklahoma City.

Steuble, a midseason acquisition along with Jorge Claros, made just three appearances for the club after signing, one start. The other two were late game substitutes, totaling just 69 minutes for the club. Recently he's been away with the Philippines national team at the AAF Cup where he'd played every minute of their three group games. In the semifinals, he played 90 minutes in their 0-0 draw with Thailand, but in the return leg was sent off in the 82nd minute as the Philippines fell 3-0.

Williams and Gutierrez Will Not Be Back

The other news today was that Sporting KC's broadcast team of Callum Williams and Diego Gutierrez would not be back next season. Williams had been with the team since the 2011 season, covering play-by-play duties for SKCTV. He'd developed a following of fans in KC and around the league. One thing I've heard consistently was his even balanced commentary that was never too bias for the home team. Whoever replaces him will certainly have some big shoes to fill in the eyes of the fans.

Gutierrez, the former KC Wizards captain, was in his first season in the booth. He'd replaced Jake Yadrich, who moved from the booth to the sideline this season. Gutierrez didn't have as many fans as Williams did, a lot of the comments regarding him was that his commentary was too bias towards Kansas City and that he struggled to stay in the flow of the game. There's been no announcement on who will replace them in 2015.

Sporting Lose Zizzo in Expansion Draft, Pick Up Anibaba

The MLS expansion draft is done, and Sporting KC pretty much made it out of the draft unscathed. The only player from Sporting KC that was selected in the draft was winger, Sal Zizzo, who had already had his option declined by the club. New York City FC took Zizzo with their 9th pick of the expansion draft. Zizzo had played 19 league games for KC, 24 in all competitions, and scored one goal for the club. He also added three assists in league play for Kansas City. The loss of Zizzo is felt more off the field because of his role in the Benny Feilhaber Show. With Zizzo off the board, Sporting had pulled back forward, Jacob Peterson. But with just two picks left, no more Sporting players were taken.

On top of Zizzo not being expected back, Sporting also got themselves allocation money for the pick.

The other part of the draft that Sporting fans were keeping an eye on were Orlando's selections. With the future considerations from the Aurelien Collin trade still hanging out there, each pick that Orlando made was met with comments of disappointment or hope that a player would be coming to KC. After Orlando's fourth pick, Pedro Ribeiro, was taken, Sporting's President Tweeted "Nice pick by Orlando..." immediately getting fans to focus on that pick specifically, but the top four in general.

After the draft was over, the future considerations became clear as sources in both Orlando and Kansas City said that it was former Seattle Sounders defender, Jalil Anibaba, taken with Orlando's third pick, that was headed to Kansas City. Anibaba played in 16 games for the Sounders last year, starting 14 of them. That was his first season in Seattle, before that he'd spent four years in Chicago. In 2013 with the Fire, Anibaba played every minute of Chicago's 34 games. Anibaba had been drafted one spot before Sporting KC's former forward, CJ Sapong in the 2011 draft. He'd actually been a player that myself and others thought would be a good fit for Kansas City as Sporting had needed center back depth heading into the 2011 season. Overall, I think getting Anibaba is a good move. He's experienced and gives KC options at both center back and right back. He's also not overly expensive, with a 2014 base salary of just under $120,000. His guaranteed compensation is a little higher, close to $160,000, but still manageable for Kansas City.

Another Look at the Expansion Draft for KC

Tomorrow, Orlando City and New York City FC will both select up to 10 players from the existing 18 MLS teams. Yesterday the protection and exposure lists came out from the teams. Since then, there's been a lot of speculation and a number of mock drafts on who would be taken by the two clubs. Since then, mock drafts have been flowing around. Within those drafts, KC players have generally been taken in most, but not all of them.

Again, here are the players that Sporting KC has left exposed: Claudio Bieler, Jorge Claros, Antonio Dovale, Chrisitan Duke, Andy Gruenebaum, Michael Kafari, Eric Kronberg, Victor Munoz, Lawrence Olum, Jacob Peterson, Soony Saad, Martin Steuble, and Sal Zizzo.

From the different drafts I found I've seen Bieler, Claros, Gruenebaum, Saad, and Zizzo all taken. So here's a look at my thoughts on those five plus the rest of KC's exposed players and the likelihood of them being taken.

Claudio Bieler - Was selected number one overall in the draft done by the Columbus Crew's digital team. Of the two teams, Bieler would probably be more likely to go to Orlando than New York. With New York already having two DP slots filled, I doubt they'd potentially use the third on Bieler. As for Orlando, I still don't think them taking Bieler is likely. They're certainly still look for strikers, but I'm not sure that Bieler is the target that they'd look at in the draft.

Jorge Claros - If his salary on the Players Union site is accurate ($90,000), this is certainly an appealing selection. He's a World Cup veteran and still near the peak of his playing level. He's probably the most surprising available of KC's exposed players. With how much time KC spent looking to bring him in and the issues that KC had at the deep midfield position in 2014 it's a surprise that he's exposed. I could certainly see him being selected.

Andy Gruenebaum - To be fair, the draft that had Orlando taking him was done before the news that KC had not picked up his option. Still I'm not sure that either club spends a pick on Gruenebaum. They both have the ability to renegotiate the contract with players, but with some of the goalkeeping talent available, I'm not sure either team would take the chance on a player who's missed plenty of time over the last two seasons with injury.

Soony Saad - This is a pick for rights. With Saad set to leave MLS for Thailand, if either team picked him up, it'd be in the hope of him returning to MLS and that team holding his MLS rights. Saad did was a decent goalscorer for Kansas City, but could never establish himself as a consistent scorer in his four years in KC. Based on his experience before signing with MLS, I would assume that Saad would look to move to Europe from Thailand before trying his luck in MLS again, unless a good offer came along. But with him still being young, it'd be a good late round flyer for a team.

Sal Zizzo - Another player that is no longer on KC's roster. The draft with him taken talked up his wing play in Orlando's system. While he wasn't a horrible winger for Kansas City, he didn't really provide enough to the offense as a winger in KC's system for me to think he'd be taken in the expansion draft.

As for the rest of the players, here's a quick look (I'm combining a few).

Antonio Dovale - Has already returned to Spain, I think his return to MLS, while possible, is not likely to happen.

Chrisitan Duke, Michael Kafari, and Victor Munoz - Have played a grand total of 36 competitive minutes for KC, none of these three are being taken.

Eric Kronberg - Kronberg had been a career back up until this year when he was given the starting job with Kansas City. He didn't have a great showing, making mistakes on when to come off his line and when to stay home. Like Gruenebaum, with the number of keepers available in the draft I can't see Kronberg being taken.

Lawrence Olum - Like Saad, Olum's intentions to leave have already been made known and KC has already terminated his contract. So this would only be for Olum's MLS rights. But unlike Saad, youth is not on Olum's side so taking a flyer on him in case he returns seems unlikely.

Jacob Peterson - A work horse that has played everywhere in Vermes' system it seems, Peterson is out of contract so the team would be drafting his MLS rights. While Peterson has seen some success here, he's been a role player throughout his career. This could make him attractive to Orlando or New York as a veteran presence.

Martin Steuble - The Swiss-Filipino played minimal minutes for Kansas City this year. I think the lack of time and familiarity with him will probably keep him from being taken.

And while KC may lose two players, there's still the potential of them picking up a player tomorrow via their "future considerations" from the Aurelien Collin trade. The speculation on the future considerations immediately turned to tomorrow's expansion draft, especially after Vermes said the considerations would be a player. There are really two ways that this could break down. The first is that one of the 10 players that Orlando selects tomorrow will immediately be on their way to Kansas City. A lot of that speculation has centered around Philadelphia goalkeeper, Zac MacMath, who was originally part of the CJ Sapong trade rumor when it came up on Sunday night. The thing that might make that unlikely is Philadelphia's trade that sent Amobi Okugo to Orlando as well. Part of that deal could have been a "handshake agreement" to not take any of their players in the expansion draft. There are other goalkeepers available that KC could look at if they wanted to grab a keeper this way, the likes of Raul Fernandez (who I doubt KC takes as he'll miss close to a 3rd of the season while on national team duty), Jeff Attinella, or even Troy Perkins.

The other possibility is that KC would have one of their players selected by Orlando and the considerations would be Orlando just returning that player to us at the end of the draft. That would effectively allow KC to protect 13 players. The good news is we'll all be able to listen in to the draft.

SKC Academy Graduates Eliminated from College Cup

No Sporting KC players will be competing in this year's College Cup. The final two schools with SKC academy graduates in it, Creighton and North Carolina both went out on penalty kicks in the Elite Eight. Eric DeJulio and Creighton hosted UMBC going 0-0 over 120 minutes before falling 4-3 on penalty kicks. DeJulio took one of Creighton's missed PKs. The other graduates, Andy Lopez and Zach Wright did not play for North Carolina as the Tar Heels came from 2-1 down to tie the game at 3-3. The teams then went through eight rounds of PKs before UCLA came out on top.

Next week I'll have a look at each player's full season.

Class of 2010

Brandon Fricke (Butler University) - D - RSr - Season over.

Class of 2011

Eric Hymer (Fort Hays State) - D - Sr - Season over.

Raymond Lee (Saint Louis University) - MF - Sr - Season over.

Eric Moore (Rockhurst University) - D - Sr - Season over.

Michael Oakley (University of Missouri Kansas City) - D - Sr - Season over.

Paul Oliver (California Baptist) - D/MF - Sr - Season over.

Jordan Rideout (University of Missouri Kansas City) - F - Sr - Season over.

Taylor Vinnage (Benedictine) - GK - Sr - Season over.

Class of 2012

Andrew Brown (Bradley University) - MF - Jr - Season over.

Eric DeJulio (Creighton University) - D - Jr - Played in Creighton's 0-0 (3-4) shootout loss to UMBC.

Daniel Hare (Loyola University in Chicago) - D - Jr - Season over.

Andrew Lightner (Dayton) - D - RSo - Season over.

Andrew Miller (Baker University) - D - Jr - Season over.

Nate Opperman (University of Evansville) - F - Jr - Season over.

Derek Schrick (University of Missouri Kansas City) - MF - Jr - Season over.

Chris Tuso (Baker) - MF - Jr - Season over.

Shane Woods (Drury University) - F - Jr - Season over.

Class of 2013

Joe Amico (Jacksonville) - D - So - Season over.

Chris Arce (Neosho CC) - MF - So - Season over.

Matt Bernard (Drake) - MF - RFr - Season over.

Paul Dean (Rockhurst University) - D - So - Season over.

Seo-In Kim (Duke) - MF - So - Season over.

Adam Lightner (Northern Illinois University) - D - So - Season over.

Clay Stewart - (University of Missouri Kansas City) - MF/D - So - Season over.

Wes White (University of Missouri Kansas City) - F - RFr - Season over.

Austin Wilcox (University of Missouri Kansas City) - MF - So - Season over.

Drew Wilson (Fort Hays State University) - D - So - Season over.

Kyle Vassar - (University of Missouri Kansas City) - D - RFr - Season over.

Class of 2014

Darby Cronin (University of Missouri Kansas City)- MF - Fr - Season over.

Andrew Dittemore (Missouri State) - GK - Fr - Season over.

Andy Ericks (Colorado School of Mines) - MF - Fr - Season over.

Heath Honold (Wake Forest) - F - Fr - Season over.

Mason Leonard (Drake) - D - Fr - Season over.

Blake Levine (Baker) - F - Fr - Season over.

Matthew Lewis (Fordham) - D - Fr - Season over.

Andy Lopez (North Carolina) - MF - Fr - Did not play in North Carolina's 3-3 (6-7) shootout loss to UCLA.

Noah Mudd (Trevecca) - D - Fr - Season over.

Joey Piatczyc (West Virginia) - MF - Fr - Season over.

Cole Stevenson (Denver) - F - Fr - Season over.

Austin Williamson (Northeastern State University) - GK - Fr - Season over.

Zach Wright (North Carolina) - F - Fr - Did not play in North Carolina's 3-3 (6-7) shootout loss to UCLA.

Saad Headed to Thailand, Juliao Weighting Options

The departures from Sporting Kansas City continued today. To go along with the departures of Aurelien Collin and CJ Sapong, it looks like the team will be losing Soony Saad as well.

Saad is currently out of contract with Sporting KC, reaching the end of his original contract with the club. Saad signed with MLS in 2011 and was assigned to Kansas City via a weighted lottery. He scored on his debut with the club on his 19th birthday, becoming the youngest goalscorer in team history.

Sporting had made a bona fide offer to Saad to retain his MLS rights, but this point it doesn't look like it'll matter. The rumor started on Wikipedia of all places, as Saad's page was updated to show that he now played for BEC Tero Sasana FC in Thailand.

The move was confirmed by Ives Galacrep today, explaining that he would be signing on a free transfer with the club. Saad confirmed his departure from the club himself on Twitter, thanking the "#SKCNation for all your support the last 4 years."

It's a big of a surprising move to me, not that I expected Saad to stay, I was thinking he'd probably leave, but Thailand is one of the last places I'd expect him to go. I thought he'd go to Europe or the Middle East to be even closer to national team duty with Lebanon.

Juliao Weighting Options

One player that could potentially be headed back to Kansas City is right back, Igor Juliao. The Brazilian who had been on loan to Kansas City last year. Juliao played 23 games for Kansas City, the majority of which occurred after starting right back, Chance Myers went down injured. His defensive play needs improvement, but the attacking side of his play looked good in KC's system.

At this time though he's back in Brazil with his parent club, Fluminense. Juliao is willing to return to Kansas City or to another team, but he says he's wanting to play for Fluminense next year. In the end though he says he'll see how things go in preseason with his Brazilian club and then make a decision on what to do.

The problem for Juliao though is that might be too late for Peter Vermes and KC. With Myers' status still unclear coming off of his ruptured Achillies, Vermes needs to make sure that things at right back are set heading into preseason. If Juliao isn't ready to commit to Kansas City for the 2015 season, by the time he does, Vermes may have moved on to other available options.