Match Day 10: Returning Home

After a three game road trip that saw Sporting Kansas City take on three Western Conference rivals, Sporting Kansas City returns home on Sunday to take on another Western Conference opponent Sunday. Sporting KC welcome the LA Galaxy to Children's Mercy Park tomorrow in a game that will be shown on Fox Sports 1.

The LA Galaxy come into tomorrow's game on the back of a big win at home against the previous unbeaten Real Salt Lake. The Galaxy completely dismantled RSL, winning 5-2 at the Stub Hub Center. For the Galaxy though they look to have been dealt an injury blow though as Steven Gerrard's status for tomorrow is unlikely right now as the Liverpool legend did not train with the club on Friday. Add that to the fact that midfielder Nigel de Jong will be serving the third of a three game suspension tomorrow, and the Galaxy central midfield could be quite different than expected tomorrow. Even with those absences, the Galaxy have a bunch of fire power with the likes of Mike Magee and US national team player, Gyasi Zardes up top.

Kansas City has welcomed the likes of Justin Mapp, Chance Myers, and Paulo Nagamura back to training with the first team, but expecting any of the three tomorrow to start may be a bit of a stretch this early. Sporting's front line got a little bit of rest on Wednesday night in Vancouver, starting the game on the bench, before coming on when the Whitecaps went down to 10 men. The trio of Brad Davis, Dom Dwyer, and Graham Zusi seem a good bet to return to the starting lineup tomorrow. Elsewhere the only other big change is likely to be Tim Melia stepping back into the starting goalkeeping role for Kansas City.

Davis - Dwyer - Zusi

Espinoza - Feilhaber 

Olum

Sinovic - Besler - Coelho - SAS

Melia

Number to Remember - 7 - Sporting Kansas City is unbeaten in seven straight home games against the LA Galaxy. The last LA Galaxy win in Kansas City was a 1-0 win back in 2007 at Arrowhead on a goal by Gavin Glinton. The streak is made longer by KC being in the Eastern Conference for the entire streak and the Galaxy not playing in Kansas City every year.

Key Match Up - Roger Espinoza vs Giovanni Dos Santos - A pair of internationals will match up tomorrow with Espinoza likely having to be the main one looking to shut down the Galaxy's Mexican international Dos Santos. He's likely going to want to find space around Lawrence Olum to work against the slower of the two midfielders, but Espinoza's hard nosed tackles could make for an interesting match up.

PREDICTION - The Galaxy are flying high after the win last week against RSL and KC is coming in with some tired legs after three games on the road and the last two having been on the West Coast. It has the potential to not be a very pretty game for Kansas City with some tired legs going against a fresher Galaxy side. That said Peter Vermes has shown the ability in the past to get the most out of a side that has been worn by the road. I'm not sure that KC gets all three points tomorrow, but they'll certainly cause the Galaxy a number of issues in the middle, especially if Gerrard isn't there to play.

SKC - 1 (Dwyer)
LA - 1 (Zardes)

S.A.S. Thursday After Stats

In the first minute, Matt Besler moved past Chris Klein and into sole possession of 6th place for minutes played in league play for KC, he finished the game with 16,471 minutes played.

Besler made his 183rd league start for KC, tying him with Klein for 6th all time on that list.

At 22 years, 348 days, Diego Rubio became the 17th youngest goal scorer in Sporting KC's history, he knocked Chris Klein out of the top 20.

Alec Kann made his Sporting KC debut.

In the 9th minute, Roger Espinoza moved past Chance Myers and into 17th place for league minutes played for KC, Espinoza finished the game wtih 10,447 minutes played.

Sporting End Losing Streak, but Can't Top 10 Man Vancouver

Making four changes from the team that lost on the weekend against the San Jose Earthquakes, Sporting Kansas City ended their three game losing streak getting a 1-1 draw against the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place last night. Peter Vermes inserted Connor Hallisey, Diego Rubio, and Jimmy Medranda up top while Alec Kann replaced Tim Melia in net. All four showed well when given the chance to start, but neither they nor the trio of Brad Davis, Dom Dwyer, and Graham Zusi, who all came on as subs could find a winning goal despite being a man up for almost 40 minutes after Kendall Waston was sent off for picking up two yellow cards on fouls against Rubio.

Vancouver started the game out on the front foot, taking the game to Kansas City winning a couple early corners. On the first one Waston found himself open in the box, but his shot was cleared away for a second corner for the Whitecaps. Unfortunately on the second corner, KC again didn't mark up well enough and Cristian Techera found Christian Bolanos unmarked, Bolanos hit a side volley while moving away from goal that beat Kann and gave the Whitecaps the lead after just 14 minutes. After the goal though Kansas City slowly started to get into the game more, pressuring the Vancouver back line and causing some trouble Benny Feilhaber played in some good free kicks that no Sporting player could get on the end of while Medranda and Hallisey were causing problems on the wing. The pressure was rewarded with an equalizer in the 27th minute. Lawrence Olum took a weak shot from outside the box but Rubio, who was on the shoulder of the last man raced onto it as it went towards goal and pushed it past David Ousted and into the net to tie the game at 1-1. KC continued to push the game after the goal and almost took the lead minutes later as the ball was played to Medranda at the top of the box who fired a low shot back across goal but Oustad did well to get down and slow the shot down and then grab the rebound. The Whitecaps countered and Vancouver forward Masato Kudo forced a save out of Kann. That was actually the last shot that the Whitecaps would officially record in the entire game. KC didn't fare much better, but did have the better of the play, keeping Vancouver in their end for much of the rest of the half.

KC continued the pressure in the second half, and that pressure led to Waston's sending off in the 51st minute. Rubio raced to try to get an errant back pass that was going between Waston and Oustad. Rubio beat the pair to the ball and touched it towards the end line. As he did that, Waston raised his leg and caught Rubio in the calf, knocking the Chilean over. With the man advantage, Vermes started to throw on more regular starters, first inserting Dom Dwyer for Rubio, then inserting Brad Davis for Hallisey, and Graham Zusi for Medranda as the final sub. Unfortunately for Kansas City they couldn't really do much with the man advantage. With only 10 players, the Whitecaps clogged the middle of the field and especially the box area keeping Kansas City from getting any clear looks on goal. For their part though Kansas City didn't take many shots of their own either. Even with all the traffic in front of goal, you would think that KC would at least attempt more shots and hope for a deflection to carry a shot past Oustad, but instead KC continued to pass around looking for a clear shot at goal that never came. Crosses were cut out by Oustad or the Vancouver defense before they reached their intended target and KC was forced wide with almost every ball. Before the game most fans would have probably taken a point out of the game, but after spending 39 minutes up a man (now 133 on the season) and not being able to take full points is disappointing.

Wizards Man of the Match - Diego Rubio - Rubio was a thorn in Waston's side for the 51 minutes he was on the field. He caused problems for the Costa Rican leading to the red card. Also did a good job of not just watching the Olum shot slowly roll to Oustad, instead jumping it for his first goal.

Player Ratings - Kann 6, Dia 4, Coelho 7, Besler 5, Abdul-Salaam 5, Olum 5, Espinoza 6, Feilhaber 6, Hallisey 6, Rubio 7, Medranda 7. Subs Dwyer 5, Davis 4, Zusi 4.

Rangers Drop Second Straight

The Swope Park Rangers dropped their second game of the season and second game in a row, dropping a 2-1 result against the Vancouver Whitecaps 2 at the Swope Soccer Village. The Rangers first game at their home didn't go to plan for the Rangers and head coach Marc Dos Santos.

Things started very well for the Rangers as they were able to grab the lead in just the 14th minute. Sporting KC loanee, Daniel Salloi received the ball out away from goal on the left side. He dribbled into the middle towards goal before trying to slot a ball through to Kris Tyrpak into the box. The ball was partially cut out by a sliding challenge, but Tyrpak was able to still get the ball and slot a ball into the near corner to put the Rangers on top 1-0. Right after the goal the Rangers continued to pressure and looked like they'd be able to double their lead but Salloi put a curling shot near the corner of the box just wide of the post and the score stayed 1-0. The lead lasted until the 30th minute when Jacob VanCompernolle brought down Whitecaps forward, Alphonso Davies in the box. Whitecaps captain, Kyle Greig stepped up and sent Jon Kempin the wrong way tying the score at 1-1. That's where the half ended with the two teams level.

The second half was end to end with neither side creating really clear chances until the 55th when the Whitecaps had a number of chances in front of goal, but Kempin came up with a couple saves, the ball was partially cleared but from about 30 yards out where Ben McKendry settled the ball and fired a shot that looped over Kempin and into the net as Kempin was getting back towards his line giving the Whitecaps a 2-1 lead. The Whitecaps continued the pressure and kick save by Kempin kept the score from becoming 3-1. As the half rolled on the Rangers threw more and more numbers forward, the Rangers didn't have a lot of offense on the bench and with that threw defenders Amer Didic and Oumar Ballo up at forward to try to knock down long balls. Unfortunately the Rangers were unable to find the back of the net and fell to 2-2-1 on the season.

Gabeljic in US Open Cup - Former SKC Wizards Update

Sporting KC's 2014 draft pick Adnan Gabeljic looks to be out of professional soccer, but he looks set to play in this year's US Open Cup. Gabeljic is in San Francisco now and will be competing in the first round of this year's US Open Cup as he is playing with amateur side, San Francisco City FC. The PDL side will be taking on CD Aguiluchos USA in the first round of the tournament, with the winner taking on USL side, Sacramento Republic.

Here is the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Vicente Arze
Jamar Beasley
Brian Fekete
Faik Hajderovic
Michael Kafari
Chris Konopka
Kyle Miller
Victor Munoz
Amobi Okugo
Akeem Priestley
Yann Songo'o

MLS
Jalil Anibaba - Houston - Did not dress in Houston's 1-0 loss to Columbus.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Started and played 79 minutes in New England's 3-0 loss to DC.
Servando Carrasco - Orlando City - Dressed but did not play in Orlando's 3-2 loss over New York.
Aurelien Collin - Orlando City - Dressed but did not play in Orlando's 3-2 loss over New York.
Herculez Gomez - Seattle - Started and played 71 minutes in Seattle's 3-1 loss to Colorado.
Michael Harrington - Chicago - No game this week.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - No game this week.
Kei Kamara - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Columbus' 1-0 win over Houston.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Dressed but did not play in Montreal's 2-0 loss to Toronto.
Mikey Lopez - NYCFC - Started and played 78 minutes in NYCFC's 2-0 loss to Philadelphia.
Yura Movsisyan - Salt Lake - Started and played 90 minutes in RSL's 5-2 loss to LA.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Philadelphia's 2-0 win over NYCFC.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 1-0 win over Houston.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Started and played 89 minutes in New York's 3-2 win over Orlando.

NASL
Bernardo Anor - Minnesota (loan) - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes in Minnesota's 1-0 win over New York.
Stefan Antonijevic - Tampa Bay - Did not dress in Tampa's 3-1 loss to Carolina.
Marcel de Jong - Ottawa - Dressed but did not play in Ottawa's 2-0 loss to Edmonton.
Mechack Jerome - Jacksonville - Started and played 90 minutes in Jacksonville's 1-1 draw with Fort Lauderdale.
James Marcelin - Carolina - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Carolina's 3-1 win over Tampa.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 3-2 win over Miami.

US
Christian Duke - Swope Park - Started and played 90 minutes in Swope Park's 1-0 loss to OKC.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 1-0 win over Swope Park.
Ryan James - Rochester - Dressed but did not play in Rochester's 2-1 win over Montreal.
Alex Martinez - Charlotte - Did not dress in Charlotte's 3-2 win over Richmond.
Tony Rocha - Orlando - Started and played 90 minutes in Orlando's 2-1 win over Pittsburgh. Started and played 90 minutes in Orlando's 2-1 loss to Harrisburg.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 1-0 win over Swope Park.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 3-2 loss to Charlotte.

Indoor
Pat Healey - Baltimore - Offseason.
Mike Jones - Dallas - Offseason.
Boris Pardo - Missouri - Offseason.

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Siah Jamegan - Iran - Defeated Tractor Sazi 2-1.
Scott Angevine - YPA - Finland - No game until 5/5.
Claudio Bieler - Belgrano - Argentina - Started and played 65 minutes in Belgrano's 0-0 draw with Atletico Tucuman.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 28 minutes in Chivas' 1-1 draw with Pachuca.
Reinaldo Brenes - AD Belen Siglo XXI - Costa Rica - Did not dress in either of Belen's games.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Dressed but did not play in Bengaluru's 5-0 loss to Mohun Bagan.
Jorge Claros - Alajuelense - Costa Rica - Started and played 57 minutes in Alajuelense's 2-1 loss to UCR. Did not dress in Alajuelense's 3-1 win over Cartagines.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - No game this week.
Toni Dovale - CD Leganes - Spain - Dressed but did not play in Leganes' 3-0 win over Ponferradina.
Pablo Escobar - Jaguares de Córdoba - Colombia - Did not dress in Jaguares' 2-0 loss to Patriotas Boyaca.
Luis Gil - Queretaro - Mexico - Did not dress in Queretaro's 3-2 loss to Monterrey.
Jeferson - Madureira EC - Brazil - Offseason.
Will John - RoPS - Finland - Started and played 58 minutes in RoPS' 4-1 loss to Haka. Came off the bench and played 27 minutes in RoPS' 1-0 win over PK-35.
Igor Juliao - Ferroviária - Brazil - No game until 5/4.
Igor Kostrov - Slavia-Mozyr - Belarus - Started and played 90 minutes in Slavia's 1-0 loss to Krumkachy.
Luis Marin - CD Palestino - Chile - Started and played 90 minutes in Palestino's 3-1 win over Colo Colo. Started and played 90 minutes in Palestino's 1-1 draw with Huachipato.
Neven Markovic - KS Lechia Gdansk - Poland - Did not dress in Lechia's 3-0 loss to Piast Gliwice.
Michal Mravec - RoPS - Finland - Dressed but did not play in RoPS' 4-1 loss to Haka. Came off the bench and played 60 minutes in RoPS' 1-0 win over PK-35.
Krisztian Nemeth - Al-Gharafa - Qatar - Defeated Al Mu'aidar 1-0 in the Emir Cup.
Erik Palmer-Brown - Porto (loan) - Portugal - Did not dress in Porto B's 2-0 win over Sporting Braga II.
Pablo Punyed - IBV - Iceland - No game until 5/1.
Oriol Rosell - Vitoria (Sporting Club de Portugal)  Portugal - Did not dress in Vitoria's 1-1 draw with Estoril.
Brendan Ruiz - DJK Don Bosco Bamberg - Germany - Tied Burglengenfeld 2-2.
Soony Saad - Pattaya United (BEC Tero Sasana) - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Pattaya's 2-1 win over Army United.
Peter Schmetz - Wuppertaler SV - Germany - Started and played 120 minutes in Wuppertaler's 1-1 (5-3) shootout win over Rot-Weib Oberhausen.
Kevin Souter - Deveronvale FC - Scotland - Started and played 90 minutes in Deveronvale's 3-0 loss to Forres Mechanics.
Martin Steuble - Ceres-La Salle - Philippines - Offseason.
Milos Stojcev - Atromitos - Greece - Came off the bench and played 22 minutes in Atromitos' 1-0 loss to AEK Athens. Started and played 90 minutes in Atromitos' 1-1 draw with AEK Athens.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - Did not dress in Saarbrucken's 3-0 loss to Astoria Walldorf.

Match Day 9: West Coast Swing

Sporting Kansas City continue their West Coast road trip tomorrow with a game up in Canada against the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place. The pair has already met once this year with Kansas City winning the first match up 2-1 at Children's Mercy Park back in March.

The Whitecaps come into the game after a very productive win on the weekend, defeating FC Dallas 3-0 thanks to an own goal, Jordan Harvey, and Kekuta Manneh. The win was Vancouver's first in four games after a pair of losses and a draw with Los Angeles at home. Vancouver currently sits two points behind Kansas City, currently in 7th place on 10 points with a 3-4-1 record. The big question for the Whitecaps heading into tomorrow's game could be whether they choose to stick with Octavio Rivero at center forward or if hey potentially give a chance to Blas Perez in the game. Neither of the forwards has scored a goal yet this season, but Rivero seems to have been struggling more at the position in the early going of the season.

Kansas City is looking to end their three game losing streak and try to salvage something out of the road trip after losing 1-0 in San Jose Sunday. With another game on Sunday at home against the LA Galaxy the question is again how much rotation does Peter Vermes go with. With the announcement today that Sporting is loaning Jordi Quintilla to the Swope Park Rangers tomorrow, it leaves KC with few options in the midfield if KC decides to rotate there. Elsewhere KC could throw in the likes of Connor Hallisey or Jimmy Medranda on the wing, Seth Sinovic at left back, or Ike Opara spelling one of KC's two center backs.

Hallisey - Dwyer - Zusi

Espinoza - Feilhaber

Olum

Sinovic - Opara - Coelho - SAS

Melia

Number to Remember - 2014 - That's the last time KC had a losing streak go more than three games. KC lost four straight games in late August and early September of 2014, falling 3-0 to DC, 3-1 to Houston, 3-1 to New England, and 2-1 to New York.

Key Match Up - Lawrence Olum vs Pedro Morales - Filling in for Soni Mustivar has not been easy for Lawrence Olum, he performed better against the Earthquakes on Sunday but is still probably the weak link right now in KC's lineup. Morales is the Whitecaps leading scorer and will like his chances in the match up against Olum.

PREDICTION - Sporting came out and had plenty of pressure in the loss to San Jose; the question becomes how much gas is left in the tank for Kansas City after that. The Whitecaps looked good in their win over Dallas and will cause Kansas City plenty of problems. Unfortunately I'm not sure KC can get things done on the road this time. That said this is MLS and after the recent performances Sporting winning this game would be "peak" MLS.

SKC - 0
VAN - 2 (Morales, Manneh)

Sunday of Stats

Here are some stats from today's game between KC and San Jose.

When Matt Besler left the field in the 75th minute, he left having tied Chris Klein for minutes played in league play for KC. The pair are tied for 6th with 16,381 minutes played.

Besler started his 217th game in all competitions for KC, passing Klein for 6th place all time on that list.

In the 60th minute, Graham Zusi moved past Jack Jewsbury and into 8th place for minutes played in league play for KC. He finished the game with 13,306 minutes played.

Roger Espinoza made his 157th appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Tony Meola for 15th all time on that list.

Referee No Call Takes Center Stage in KC Loss to San Jose

Sporting Kansas City fell for the fourth time in the last five games and now have a .500 record after falling 1-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes in San Jose. The loss is the 16th straight winless trip Kansas City has made to San Jose since the year 2000, this time it was a Chris Wondolowski goal that was the only difference in the game, but it certainly wasn't the only talking point as a seemingly clear penalty kick was missed at the opposite end of the field minutes before Wondolowski's goal from the spot.

Kansas City came out from the gate very hard with some high pressure that caused the Earthquakes all kinds of trouble. Giveaways in their defensive third led to a number of good chances for Kansas City with Benny Feilhaber forcing a good save from David Bingham on a chip early on. Later in the half Dom Dwyer had a golden chance to put KC on top as Feilhaber lofted a ball into the box for him, Dwyer made good connection with a header but Bingham got a hand to it and was able to touch it around the post and out of play. KC certainly looked like the better side, but the high pressure left KC open on the counter and a poor play by Matt Besler almost cost them as a giveaway led to a three on one situation with Nuno Coelho, but the Portuguese defender did a good job of breaking up the play as the Quakes tried to square the ball to an open player. KC's defense at times struggled with the Quakes as a ball played back across the box was allowed to just slowly roll through while KC defenders seemed to watch. Luckily the shot ended up deflecting wide of KC's post.

KC continued the pressure in the early going of the second half and was able to continue to find success going forward except for that final ball, and then the controversy started in the 55th minute. Dom Dwyer got played in behind the San Jose defense as he played right on the shoulder of Victor Bernardez. As Dwyer made it into the box baring down on Bingham, Dwyer had his ankle/calf caught bringing him down, but referee Jair Marrufo and his assistant Philippe Briere didn't seem to even look twice at it as Dwyer threw his hands in the air wondering where the call was. The non-call seemed to go to Kansas City's head as from there the Earthquakes started to get more of the game and then in the 57th minute won a penalty kick of their own. After Besler had done a good job of knocking the ball away from Wondolowski, Simon Dawkins collected the ball inside the box. Tim Melia came off his line and brought Dawkins down as Dawkins attempted to round Melia. This time Marrufo correctly pointed to the spot and Wondolowski stepped up and buried the penalty to put the Earthquakes in front.

Now down a goal KC pushed forward looking to find an equalizer. KC was able to hold the Earthquakes in deep but struggled to create clear chances as the Earthquakes crowded the box and area in front of goal. KC's best chance late on fell to Brad Davis on a set piece but his effort went just over the bar. KC falls to 4-4 on the season and now heads to Vancouver for a midweek game against a Whitecaps side that has found some scoring since the two teams last met.

Wizards Man of the Match - Nuno Coelho - Bailed out Besler big time in the first half with some smart defensive play. Overall he did a very good job of maintaining position on his mark and keeping them from getting clear looks on goal.

Player Ratings - Melia 5, Dia 4, Coelho 7, Besler 5, Abdul-Salaam 5, Olum 5, Espinoza 5, Feilhaber 6, Davis 4, Dwyer 5, Zusi 4. Subs Opara 5, Rubio NR.

Rangers Fall for the First Time

The Swope Park Rangers suffered their first loss of the season on the road tonight in Oklahoma City, falling 1-0 to the OKC Energy. The loss drops the Rangers record to 2-1-1 on the season ahead of a Wednesday night game against the Vancouver Whitecaps 2 at Swope Park.

It was a back and forth affair for most of the night while the Energy had the best of the chances. FC Dallas loanee, Coy Craft had the Energy's two best chances in the first half, both efforts went off a post. Rangers goalkeeper, Jon Kempin was also busy having to make a few saves in the first half to keep the game scoreless.

The second half saw the Energy dictate play for the most part while the Rangers tried to absorb the pressure and counter more. Kempin continued to have a big game, coming up with big saves and getting some help again from the post on a free kick by Jose Cuevas that Kempin tipped onto the post and out of the way of danger. He also came up with a big save on Peter Toth on a shot from distance. In the 80th minute though there was nothing that Kempin could do on the Energy's winning goal. After pinning the Rangers in deep the Energy worked the ball around the box to the far side and crossed a ball back to the back post where two Energy players were unmarked. Defender Kalen Ryden headed the ball back across goal, past Kempin and into the side netting to give the Energy the lead.

After OKC grabbed the lead the Rangers really started to press the attack. The best chances both came from substitutes, the first came to Kris Tyrpak who was able to get a 2v1 situation. Instead of looking to cross the ball Tyrpak tried to slot a shot on goal but it was deflected wide of the post by an OKC defender. Their best chance though came in the 88th minute when a Jimmy Mulligan cross made it through the box to Daniel Salloi who was about 10 yards from goal, but the forward put his volley into the ground and it bounced over the goal without threatening the OKC goal. The Energy held on late and took all three points as the Rangers fell to 2-1-1 on the season.

Match Day 8: Heading to Unfriendly Confines

Sporting KC return to the field tomorrow afternoon in San Jose in an attempt to end their two game losing streak. After a 3-0 start to the season, KC has just won one of their last four games to drop them to 4-3 on the season. They'll now travel to some very unfriendly confines at Avaya Stadium. Kansas City has had very little success away from home against the Earthquakes outside of Kansas City in their history, especially over the last 16 years.

The Earthquakes are currently just one point behind Kansas City at this early point of the season, currently 3-2-2 sitting on 11 points. They have their own injury issues at the moment with six players on their roster listed as being out for tomorrow's game. The biggest of those losses for the Earthquakes is probably Clarence Goodson, most of the rest probably wouldn't be key contributors in tomorrow's game. As has been the case for the last few years, the San Jose offense is lead by Chris Wondlowski who is leading the Golden Boot race at this early point of the season.

Kansas City has their own injury issues, although not as numerous. The big issue is Soni Mustivar who did not travel with the team for their two game road trip to San Jose and Vancouver. His absence in the center of midfield has been a big hole in Kansas City's system since he went out. Lawrence Olum has struggle in replicating his style of as the defensive midfielder in KC's system, he just doesn't have the engine that Mustivar does and KC hasn't made any other changes to their system to compensate for that. Elsewhere KC could look to make some lineup changes with another game on Wednesday, KC could look to rest some legs ahead of that game.

Hallisey - Dwyer - Zusi

Feilhaber - Espinoza

Olum

Sinovic - Besler - Coelho - SAS 

Melia

Number to Remember - 2000 - That's the last time that Kansas City took all three points in San Jose, almost 16 years ago. Kansas City's last win in San Jose came on August 16th, of 2000 when a mostly reserve Kansas City Wizards team went into Spartan Stadium and won 3-0 on goals by Francisco Gomez, Vicente Figueroa, and Chris Henderson. Kansas City is 0-10-5 in San Jose since that win in 2000, the last time Kansas City even got a point there was a 1-1 draw back in 2011.

Key Match Up - Matt Besler vs Chris Wondolowski - The pair of World Cup veterans will likely be matched up plenty on the night. Wondolowski has scored 7 goals in his Earthquakes career against Kansas City, and scoring again wouldn't be a surprise.

PREDICTION - Kansas City really hasn't played well in San Jose over the past few years, the Earthquakes have been able to control the games and really not allow much in the way of chances for KC. While KC has been a decent road team since the rebranding, they struggle in San Jose with the style that the Earthquakes play. Unfortunately with the congested schedule upcoming for KC I'm not sure that Sporting get anything out of this one.

SKC - 0
SJ - 1 (Wondolowski)

Healey and Baltimore Win MASL Title - Former SKC Wizards Update

The MASL season has officially ended this past weekend and former Kansas City draft pick Pat Healey and the Baltimore Blast walked away with a 2-0 series win over Soles de Sonora after a 14-13 win in Mexico in game two of the series this past weekend. The championship looks to be the only one the Blast will win in the MASL as they look set to break away and form another new professional indoor soccer league next season.

Elsewhere, Chris Konopka's short term deal with Ross County is over and the goalkeeper is once again looking for a club. He is still in Scotland at the moment though on trial with Hearts who are looking for a back up goalkeeper.

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

Active without a club or unknown
Vicente Arze
Jamar Beasley
Brian Fekete
Adnan Gabeljic
Faik Hajderovic
Michael Kafari
Chris Konopka
Kyle Miller
Victor Munoz
Akeem Priestley
Yann Songo'o

MLS
Jalil Anibaba - Houston - Started and played 90 minutes in Houston's 4-1 loss to LA.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in New England's 2-2 draw with Orlando.
Servando Carrasco - Orlando City - Came off the bench and played 1 minute in Orlando's 2-2 draw with New England.
Aurelien Collin - Orlando City -Dressed but did not play in Orlando's 2-2 draw with New England.
Herculez Gomez - Seattle - Came off the bench and played 15 minutes in Seattle's 2-1 win over Philadelphia.
Michael Harrington - Chicago - Started and played 90 minutes in Chicago's 2-1 loss to Montreal.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 3-1 loss to Dallas. Came off the bench and played 5 minutes in Portland's 3-1 win over San Jose.
Kei Kamara - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Columbus' 3-2 win over NYCFC.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Dressed but did not play in Montreal's 2-1 win over Chicago.
Mikey Lopez - NYCFC - Did not dress in NYCFC's 3-2 loss to Columbus.
Yura Movsisyan - Salt Lake - Started and played 89 minutes in Salt Lake's 1-0 win over Vancouver.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in Philadelphia's 2-1 loss to Seattle.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 3-2 win over NYCFC.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Started and played 90 minutes in New York's 2-0 loss to San Jose. Dressed but did not play in New York's 2-1 loss to Colorado.

NASL
Bernardo Anor - Minnesota (loan) - Did not dress in Minnesota's 3-0 win over Fort Lauderdale.
Stefan Antonijevic - Tampa Bay - Dressed but did not play in Tampa's 1-0 win over Edmonton.
Marcel de Jong - Ottawa - Started and played 90 minutes in Ottawa's 1-0 loss to Carolina.
Mechack Jerome - Jacksonville - Started and played 90 minutes in Jacksonville's 2-1 win over Miami FC.
James Marcelin - Carolina - Started and played 90 minutes in Carolina's 1-0 win over Ottawa.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Oklahoma City - No game this week.

US
Christian Duke - Swope Park - No game this week.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Game postponed.
Ryan James - Rochester - Came off the bench and played 18 minutes in Rochester's 0-0 draw with New York II.
Alex Martinez - Charlotte - Did not dress in Charlotte's 3-2 win over Charleston.
Amobi Okugo - New York - Did not play in New York's 0-0 draw with Rochester.
Tony Rocha - Orlando - Started and played 90 minutes in Orlando's 1-0 loss to Harrisburg.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Game postponed.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 2-1 loss to Bethlehem.

Indoor
Pat Healey - Baltimore - Had 4 assists in Baltimore's 14-13 win over Sonora.
Mike Jones - Dallas - Offseason.
Boris Pardo - Missouri - Offseason.

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Siah Jamegan - Iran - Started and played 45 minutes in Siah's 1-1 draw with Saipa.
Scott Angevine - KPV - Finland - No game until 4/24.
Claudio Bieler - Belgrano - Argentina - Started and played 90 minutes, recording 2 assists in Belgrano's 3-3 draw with Arsenal.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - Started and played 58 minutes in Chivas' 1-0 win over Atlas.
Reinaldo Brenes - AD Belen Siglo XXI - Costa Rica - Did not dress in either of Belen's games.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Did not dress in Bengaluru's 5-3 win over Ayeyawady United. Started and played 90 minutes in Bengaluru's 2-0 win over Salgaocar.
Jorge Claros - Alajuelense - Costa Rica - Did not dress in Alajuelense's 4-1 win over Perez Zeledon. Started and played 90 minutes in Alajuelense's 1-0 loss to Saprissa.
Eloy Colombano - AD Berazategui - Offseason.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Lost 1-0 to San Juan Jabloteh.
Toni Dovale - CD Leganes - Spain - Dressed but did not play in Leganes' 2-0 loss to Alcorcon.
Pablo Escobar - Jaguares de Córdoba - Colombia - Did not dress in either of Jaguares' games.
Luis Gil - Queretaro - Mexico - Did not dress in Queretaro's 1-0 win over America.
Jeferson - Madureira EC - Brazil - Did not dress in Madureira's 1-1 draw with Volta Redonda.
Will John - RoPS - Finland - Started and played 85 minutes, scoring a goal in RoPS' 2-2 draw wtih HJK.
Igor Juliao - Ferroviária - Brazil - Started and played 90 minutes in Ferroviaria's 1-1 draw with Salgueiro.
Igor Kostrov - Slavia-Mozyr - Belarus - Came off the bench and played 36 minutes in Slavia's 3-1 loss to Granit.
Luis Marin - CD Palestino - Chile - No game this week.
Neven Markovic - KS Lechia Gdansk - Poland - Did not play in either of Lechia's games.
Michal Mravec - RoPS - Finland - Dressed but did not play in RoPS' 2-2 draw with HJK.
Krisztian Nemeth - Al-Gharafa - Qatar - Started and played 90 minutes in Al Gharafa's 1-0 loss to Al Khor.
Erik Palmer-Brown - Porto (loan) - Portugal - Started and played 90 minutes in Porto B's 2-1 win over Farense. Started and played 90 minues in Porto B's 2-0 win over Feirense.
Pablo Punyed - IBV - Iceland - No game until 5/1.
Oriol Rosell - Vitoria (Sporting Club de Portugal)  Portugal - Did not dress in Vitoria's 3-0 loss to Maritimo.
Brendan Ruiz - DJK Don Bosco Bamberg - Germany - Lost 2-1 to SV Seligenporten.
Soony Saad - Pattaya United (BEC Tero Sasana) - No game this week.
Peter Schmetz - Wuppertaler SV - Germany - Started and played 90 minutes in Wuppertaler's 2-0 loss to SC Dusseldorf West. Started and played 90 minutes in Wuppertaler's 2-0 win over VfR Fischeln.
Kevin Souter - Deveronvale FC - Scotland - Started and played 90 minutes in Deveronvale's 2-1 loss to Brora Rangers.
Martin Steuble - Ceres-La Salle - Philippines - Offseason.
Milos Stojcev - Atromitos - Greece - Came off the bench and played 26 minutes, scoring a goal in Atromitos' 1-0 win over Panionios.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - Started and played 75 minutes in Saarbrucken's 1-1 draw with Neckarelz.

Sporting Still Chasing Castellano?

Back in December there were reports out of Spain that Sporting Kansas City were interested in Dani Castellano, a midfielder/defender for La Liga side, Las Palmas. At the time not much was made of the reports and the rumors slowly faded away, but now with the primary transfer window for MLS teams starting to wind down, the rumors are back.

Univision is reporting that Castellano is still on the radar for Sporting KC and the club has sent scouts to games three times to observe him. Two of those times have come since the initial rumors, once in February when Las Palmas played Rayo Vallecano and again in March when they took on Real Madrid.

Castellano has played in 24 La Liga games for Las Palmas and another five games in the Copa del Rey, mainly as a left back for the club. He has traditionally been a midfielder throughout most of his playing career and only seems to have shifted to that position this year.

This is an interesting move if it's true, because on the surface it doesn't seem like the type of move that Sporting KC or Peter Vermes would make. The big thing on that point is the fact that Castellano is under contract until the summer of 2017, a little over a year from now. KC has never been a team that would really go out and pay a transfer fee, preferring instead to wait until a player is out of contract to bring them in.

SAS Monday After Stats

Brad Davis made his 400th appearance in all MLS competitions (league and playoff) in his career.

Matt Besler made his 216th start in all competitions for KC, tying him with Chris Klein for 6th all time on that list.

At 31 years, 282 days, Lawrence Olum became the 16th oldest player to score a goal for KC in all competitions, knocking Benny Feilhaber out of the top 20.

He also became the 16th oldest goal scorer in all competitions for KC, knocking Frank Klopas out of the top 20.

Benny Feilhaber's assist was his 26th in league play for KC, tying him with Josh Wolff for 6th all time on that list for KC.

Roger Espinoza made his 156th appearance in all competitions for KC, tying him with Tony Meola for 15th all time on that list.

Seth Sinovic made his 125th league appearance for KC, tying him with Meola for 17th all time on that list.

Sporting Up Performance But Still Fall on the Road

Sporting KC came out and played much better on the road tonight in Dallas than they had at home on Wednesday against the Colorado Rapids, but it wasn't enough as Sporting fell for the third time in four matches. KC scored first but couldn't make the lead hold up and couldn't find an equalizer late with a flurry of chances to fall 2-1.

Kansas City started the game off well as Kansas City almost too the lead in the 14th minute. A long ball over the top found Brad Davis, who got a nice deflection off of Ryan Hollingshead to keep it in his path. The touch carried the ball towards goal where Davis squared the ball to Dom Dwyer, but before he could get a shot off Zach Loyd made a great sliding tackle to knock the ball away and ending the chance. Dwyer had another opportunity minutes later off a free kick. Dwyer got on the end of it and pushed an effort towards goal, Chris Seitz made the save and the ball came back to Dwyer as he was falling over, Dwyer got the ball past Seitz towards the goal line but then the ball hit his arm, keeping the ball in front of him as he headed the ball across the line from his stomach. The play was called back due to the handball on Dwyer though. Throughout the first half a lot of Dallas' best efforts came through Fabian Castillo, mainly coming down the right side of KC's defense. He made Saad Abdul-Salaam and Nuno Coelho both look silly in the 20th minute when he cut between the two of them before knocking a ball across the face of goal that no one for Dallas got on the end of. Two minutes later, Kansas City grabbed the lead at the other end of a Benny Feilhaber corner. The ball went near post towards Coelho, but no one got a head or hand to it and the ball bounced towards the back post where Lawrence Olum had lost Hollingshead and was able to knock the ball into the net. After the goal Dallas really started to press the game on KC, but would have to wait until the 35th minute to find the equalizer as Sporting's defense made a number of mistakes to set it up. On a long ball by Kellyn Acosta, Matt Besler tried to step in front of Maximiliano Urruti to win the ball, half way into his step up realized he wasn't going to get there. Urruti then beat Amadou Dia to the ball and then touched the ball ahead to Michael Barrios. Barrios seemed to be offside when Urruti touched it, but no call was made. Barrios controlled the ball and then fired a shot from a tight angle that Tim Melia got plenty of hand/body on but couldn't keep it out as Dallas tied the game. Dallas really started to push the game after that and KC seemed desperate to get to half time, in the 40th minute they had another good chance as Castillo played Victor Ulloa through on goal, but Melia was quick off his line and blocked Ulloa's shot. Late on KC had one good chance as Dwyer was played in on goal but with just Seitz to beat, the KC striker fired his shot wide of the post as the teams went into the half level at 1-1.

Over half time KC seemed to get things settled with their defense and came out in the second half looking much better than they had defensively in the first. On the offensive end, KC should have taken the lead in the 60th when Dwyer played a nicely flicked pass into the path of Jimmy Medranda, but Seitz came up with a good save. Dallas went the other way quickly and Castillo forced a good save out of Melia at the other end. For the most part though that was Castillo's big contribution of the second half as Sporting were able to shut the Colombian down in the second half. Unfortunately a foul by Dia on Urruti at the top of the box gave Dallas a free kick in the 68th. Like the first Dallas goal it was a situation KC could have avoided with some better defensive clearing, but Mauro Rosales stepped up and curled the free kick over the wall and into the net to put Dallas on top 2-1. Over the final 20 minutes KC kept Dallas pinned in their own end for the majority of the play, but really couldn't create clear chances on goal that really tested Seitz in the Dallas goal. The best chances came in second half stoppage time. First off a Davis free kick from a similar position as Rosales, Davis curled his through the wall but Seitz was there to make a save. The ball got knocked back and another cross came towards substitute, Ike Opara, Seitz came way off his line for it, but missed leaving the goal wide open but Roger Espinoza's knock towards goal was cleared off the line by Dallas and eventually out for a corner. Off the corner another chance came to KC through Diego Rubio, but Rubio fired his shot from inside the box over the goal for KC's last decent chance of the game as Dallas walked out with all three points.

Wizards Man of the Match - Brad Davis - Was a constant headache for Dallas down KC's left side throughout the first half; so much so that Dallas brought on Atiba Harris at half time to try and deal with him better than Hollingshead did. Served in a number of dangerous free kicks and had forced a strong save from Seitz late on for Dallas to preserve the win.

Player Ratings - Melia 5, Abdul-Salaam 6, Coelho 6, Besler 4, Dia 4, Olum 5, Espinoza 5, Feilhaber 5, Davis 6, Dwyer 6, Medranda 6. Subs Opara 5, Sinovic 5, Rubio NR.

Match Day 7: Playing in the Rain

Sporting Kansas City gets the chance to quickly get over the performance on Wednesday night against Colorado with a game tomorrow against FC Dallas. That's assuming the game takes place as it looks like Dallas will be dealing with some severe weather tomorrow evening that will start around the same time the game is scheduled to start. The weather could certainly play a big role in tomorrow's game even if it is played, the style of play will change greatly if Dallas gets the amount of rain that is predicted tomorrow.

Dallas comes into the game having played in the midweek as well, picking up a big 3-1 win over the road against the Portland Timbers. A stand out performance for them, a very good result on the road, that they got without Mauro Diaz playing in the game. Goals from Michael Barrios, Tesho Akindele, and Fabian Castillo helped Dallas to the win. Their attack, while lacking that "go to" striker is more dangerous because of the fact that Dallas can beat you from so many different ways. Even though it appears that Diaz will miss out tomorrow night as well, Dallas isn't a team that KC can take lightly.

Peter Vermes' starting lineup on Wednesday against the Rapids would seem to point to KC not taking Dallas lightly (unfortunately that probably didn't help the performance on Wednesday) resting the likes of Benny Feilhaber and Dom Dwyer, at least for a half on Wednesday. With the busy schedule KC has just kicked off that's not surprising. Both I'd expect in the starting 11 tomorrow. Elsewhere on the field though it looks like injuries will keep Soni Mustivar and Chance Myers another week. That means that Lawrence Olum and Saad Abdul-Salaam seem likely to get another start for Kansas City down in Dallas. The big question may be whether club captain, Matt Besler returns from his concussion tomorrow after being on the bench on Wednesday.

Davis - Dwyer - Zusi

Espinoza - Feilhaber

Olum

Dia - Besler - Coelho - SAS

Melia

Number to Remember - 0 - KC has won zero games in Dallas since KC's 4-1 win there back in 2011, Graham Zusi's coming out party. To be far, KC has played there just twice in that time frame, drawing one and losing the other last year.

Key Match Up - Dia/SAS vs Barrios/Castillo - The wingers for Dallas are quite good and have plenty of pace to use. They're going to be a handful for Dia and Abdul-Salaam to deal with. In KC's favor though the pair were able to do well against them last year in three of the clubs' four meetings in all competitions last year.

PREDICTION - Dallas was a preseason MLS Cup favorite with how Oscar Pareja has built the club and what he has been able to get out of the talent the club has. He has some of the best young, Latin talent in the league in the likes of Castillo and Barrios. The defense has also been strong with the likes of Matt Hedges controlling the back line. They are just a good all around team. I'm not sure that KC is going to be able to get out of Dallas tomorrow with anything to show for their efforts unfortunately.

SKC - 1 (Dwyer)
FCD - 3 (Urruti, Castillo, Barrios)

Okugo Loaned to USL Red Bulls 2 - Former SKC Wizards Update

Amobi Okugo finally has a new club, at least for now. While Okugo has been training with the New York Red Bulls in hopes of earning a contract with the club while they suffer through injury issues, he'll instead be going to the club's USL side. Okugo, who was waived by KC is on a guaranteed contract with MLS, so while he's waived, he's still under contract. With that so, the league has loaned Okugo to the New York Red Bulls 2 in the USL. He made his first start over the weekend against Bethlehem Steel, scoring a goal in their 4-0 win.

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

Active without a club or unknown
Vicente Arze
Jamar Beasley
Brian Fekete
Adnan Gabeljic
Faik Hajderovic
Ryan James
Michael Kafari
Kyle Miller
Victor Munoz
Akeem Priestley
Yann Songo'o

MLS
Jalil Anibaba - Houston - Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in Houston's 1-1 draw with Seattle.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Started and played 89 minutes in New England's 1-1 draw with Toronto.
Servando Carrasco - Orlando City - Started and played 90 minutes in Orlando's 2-1 loss to Philadelphia.
Aurelien Collin - Orlando City -Started and played 90 minutes in Orlando's 2-1 loss to Philadelphia.
Herculez Gomez - Seattle - Came off the bench and played 11 minutes in Seattle's 1-1 draw with Houston.
Michael Harrington - Chicago - Started and played 90 minutes in Chicago's 0-0 draw with NYCFC.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 1-1 draw with LA.
Kei Kamara - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 2-0 loss to Montreal.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Dressed but did not play in Montreal's 2-0 win over Columbus.
Mikey Lopez - NYCFC - Did not dress in NYCFC's 0-0 draw with Chicago.
Yura Movsisyan - Salt Lake - Started and played 90 minutes in Salt Lake's 1-0 win over Colorado.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Philadelphia's 2-1 win over Orlando.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Came off the bench and played 65 minutes in Columbus' 2-0 loss to Montreal.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Started and played 90 minutes in New York's 2-0 loss to KC.

NASL
Bernardo Anor - Minnesota (loan) - Did not dress in Minnesota's 2-0 win over Edmonton.
Stefan Antonijevic - Tampa Bay - Did not dress in Tampa's 1-1 draw with Miami.
Marcel de Jong - Ottawa - Started and played 90 minutes in Ottawa's 1-1 draw with Indy.
Mechack Jerome - Jacksonville - Started and played 90 minutes in Jacksonville's 2-0 loss to New York.
James Marcelin - Carolina - Started and played 90 minutes in Carolina's 3-2 win over OKC.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 3-2 loss to Carolina.

US
Christian Duke - Swope Park - Started and played 90 minutes in Swope Park's 1-1 draw with San Antonio.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 2-2 draw with St. Louis.
Alex Martinez - Charlotte - Did not dress in Charlotte's 2-1 loss to Cincinnati.
Amobi Okugo - New York - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in New York's 4-0 win over Bethlehem.
Tony Rocha - Orlando - Did not dress in Orlando's 4-1 loss to Louisville.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 2-2 draw with St. Louis.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 1-0 win over Rochester.

Indoor
Pat Healey - Baltimore -Played in Baltimore's 7-4 win over Sonora.
Mike Jones - Dallas - Offseason.
Boris Pardo - Missouri - Offseason.

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Siah Jamegan - Iran - Started and played 90 minutes in Siah Jamegan's 1-0 loss to Foolad FC.
Scott Angevine - KPV - Finland - No game until 4/24.
Claudio Bieler - Belgrano - Argentina - Started and played 69 minutes, recording an assist in Belgrano's 3-0 win over Gimnasia La Plata.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 11 minutes, scoring a goal in Chivas' 3-0 win over Puebla.
Reinaldo Brenes - AD Belen Siglo XXI - Costa Rica - Did not dress in Belen's 2-0 win over Uruguay.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Started and played 90 minutes in Bengaluru's 1-1 draw with Shivajians. Started and played 90 minutes in Bengaluru's 3-1 win over East Bengal.
Jorge Claros - Alajuelense - Costa Rica - Started and played 90 minutes in Alajuelense's 2-1 loss to Herediano.
Eloy Colombano - AD Berazategui - Offseason.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - No game this week.
Toni Dovale - CD Leganes - Spain - Came off the bench and played 36 minutes in Leganes' 4-0 win over Real Valladolid.
Pablo Escobar - Jaguares de Córdoba - Colombia - Did not dress in Jaguares' 1-0 win over Atletico Huila.
Luis Gil - Queretaro - Mexico - Did not dress in Queretaro's 0-0 draw with Toluca.
Jeferson - Madureira EC - Brazil - Lost 1-0 to Vasco da Gama.
Will John - RoPS - Finland - Came off the bench and played 21 minutes in RoPS' 1-0 loss to Mariehamn.
Igor Juliao - Ferroviária - Brazil - Did not dress in Ferroviaria's 0-0 draw with Linense.
Chris Konopka - Ross County - Scotland - Dressed but did not play in Ross County's 1-0 win over Patrick Thistle.
Igor Kostrov - Dinamo-Auto - Moldova - Did not dress in Dinamo's 2-1 loss to Zimbru.
Luis Marin - CD Palestino - Chile - Started and played 90 minutes in Palestino's 2-0 loss to Antofagasta.
Neven Markovic - KS Lechia Gdansk - Poland - Did not dress in Lechia's 2-0 win over Ruch Chorzow.
Michal Mravec - RoPS - Finland - Dressed but did not play in RoPS' 1-0 loss to Mariehamn.
Krisztian Nemeth - Al-Gharafa - Qatar - Started and played 90 minutes in Al Gharafa's 3-1 loss to Qatar SC.
Erik Palmer-Brown - Porto (loan) - Portugal - Started and played 45 minutes in Porto B's 2-1 loss to Mafra. Did not dress in Porto B's 2-1 win over Sporting Covilha.
Pablo Punyed - IBV - Iceland - No game until 5/1.
Oriol Rosell - Vitoria (Sporting Club de Portugal)  Portugal - Did not dress in Vitoria's 2-0 loss to Rio Ave.
Brendan Ruiz - DJK Don Bosco Bamberg - Germany - Defeated Alemannia Haibach 2-0.
Soony Saad - Pattaya United (BEC Tero Sasana) - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Pattaya's 1-0 win over Satun United.
Peter Schmetz - Wuppertaler SV - Germany - Started and played 90 minutes in Wuppertaler's 2-0 win over SC Kapellen-Erft.
Kevin Souter - Deveronvale FC - Scotland - Started and played 90 minutes in Deveronvale's 0-0 draw with Huntly.
Martin Steuble - Ceres-La Salle - Philippines - Offseason.
Milos Stojcev - Atromitos - Greece - Came off the bench and played 16 minutes in Atromitos' 4-2 win over Kalloni.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - Started and played 66 minutes in Saarbrucken's 2-2 draw with Eintracht Trier.

S.A.S. Wednesday After Stats

Due to life issues I'll have no post game from last night's game, but here are some stats from last night.

Dom Dwyer's goal was his 40th league goal for KC, breaking his tie with Chris Klein for 4th on that list.

Roger Espinoza made his 155th appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Seth Sinovic for 16th on that list.

Graham Zusi started his 143rd game in league play for KC, breaking his tie with Mo Johnston and Jack Jewsbury for 8th on that list.

Match Day 6: A Day 20 Years in the Making

Tomorrow Sporting Kansas City will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their first game on the exact date the game took place. In fact they'll take on the same opponent, the Colorado Rapids at Children's Mercy Park tomorrow. The two teams are current separated by five points in the standings at this early stage with Kansas City on 12 points and Colorado on seven through five games.

The Rapids come into the game having lost their last match up 1-0 against Real Salt Lake on the road after a major miscommunication between their back line and goalkeeper Zac MacMath. The confusion ended with Joao Plata having an easy finish for the game's lone goal as Salt Lake won 1-0. The Rapids are 2-2-1 on the season at this point, and have scored just three goals in those five games. Of course they have only conceded three goals as well as their defensive showing last year has continued to the 2016 season. Their defense has once again been their strong point, and as the season goes on they will add more as the season progresses. New midfielder, Jermaine Jones will serve the last of his six game suspension from last season tomorrow night and will return. Then this summer, Tim Howard will come to join the Rapids and take over in goal for them. Tomorrow though the Rapids will have neither and will hope that designated player, Shkelzen Gashi can finally get going.

Kansas City is welcoming back a couple players that have returned to practice from concussion with Matt Besler and Brad Davis both being involved in practice this week. That'll be a boost for the team, although I'm not sure that either starts tomorrow. KC has other injury issues though as Chance Myers and Kevin Ellis both look set to miss tomorrow's game due to injuries they picked up against New York. Soni Mustivar also looks set to miss another game as well meaning Lawrence Olum would likely fill in again. I wouldn't expect much in the way of changes from last week's game in New York, other than the injuries suffered.

Zusi - Dwyer - Hallisey

Espinoza - Feilhaber

Olum

Dia - Opara - Coelho - SAS

Melia

Number to Remember - 4 - Through 20 years of games between the two teams, Kansas City has lost just four times against the Rapids. Last year's 2-0 loss in a make up game from earlier in the season was the first loss in KC to the Rapids in league play since 2002.

Key Match Up - Dom Dwyer vs Axel Sjoberg - Sjoberg at 6'7" makes tall forwards look small, he's going to match up very strongly against Dwyer. KC can't rely on the long ball to Dwyer, at least long ones over the top. In their last home game against Salt Lake, Dwyer Island was in full effect because KC couldn't get him the ball. If they plan on a lot of route one balls tomorrow Dwyer Island will return.

PREDICTION - KC is the better of the two teams based on what I've seen of Colorado this year. Their offense struggles to put away the chances that they create, and is really carried by their defense. Kansas City has shown an ability to play a much more balanced style, although their defense is probably still the stronger of the two. Twenty years ago KC won this game by a scoreline of 3-0. Honestly I don't expect that score tomorrow night, I expect a 1-0 win for KC, but it's the anniversary of the first game and there's only one way this game should end.

SKC - 3 (Dwyer, Feilhaber, Dwyer)
COL - 0

Sporting KC Best XI - Forwards

Time to finish up Kansas City's Best XI with the forwards. Sporting KC has never really been a high scoring team, if you were to ask MLS followers what type of team KC was most would probably talk in some way about their defense and goalkeeping, not the team's attack (unless it is talking about Preki). Of the eight teams that have played every season of MLS so far, Kansas City is sixth in terms of goals in both league (887 goals) and in all competitions (1065). That being a factor certainly limits the number of players that would make the list. The list for Kansas City fans to vote for included six players on it; Dom Dwyer, Mo Johnston, Kei Kamara, Scott Sealy, Digital Takawira, and Josh Wolff.  I originally didn't think it would be hard until I really started working on it, and then it became difficult.

I have talked about longevity with the club and that being a factor when looking at what players I chose. Here I tried to do the same, but at the same time I don't feel like I can totally ignore someone like Dom Dwyer, who is the highest scoring forward in all competitions in the club's history, despite playing just over 100 games for the club. So I started going further into the stats, in terms of goals in league play the list breaks down like this: Wolff (43), Dwyer (39), Kamara (38), Johnston (31), Sealy and Takawira (28). In all competitions the order of that list does change, Dwyer moves up to first place after his three goals this season to 48, Wolff is second with 46, Kamara third at 41, Johnston fourth at 32, Takawira at 31, and Sealy at 30. On area that people want forwards to contribute is with getting that winning goal in those terms, Kamara and Wolff both had 11 in league play while Dwyer is third with 10, Takawira has eight, Sealy has seven, and Johnston had six. After going through these areas I felt there was one player I could drop from my list that was Sealy who had the fewest goals across all competitions, and had played less than 100 for KC across all competitions.

With the list at five the next area I looked the player's contribution to the team based on the minutes they played. Looking purely at goals, Dwyer leads the way with a goal every 164 minutes in all competition and in league play for Sporting since joining the club. Three of the remaining four scored a goal somewhere between every 200 and 300 minutes, Kamara was at 243 in all competitions, 234 in league, Takawira was at 241 and 243, while Wolff was a goal every 281 minutes in all competitions and 267 in league. Johnston finished last among those stats with a goal every 443 minutes in all competitions and every 406 in league play.  Before I eliminated Johnston though I wanted to take into account the numbers when factoring assists because Johnston had the most among the players, recording 31 in all competitions and 28 in league play. The knocked his numbers almost in half, but he was still well behind the other players. The player who actually got the most help was Takawira whose 20 assists in all competitions and 19 in league play got him very close to Dwyer: Dwyer (143 minutes per goal/assist in all competitions, 139 in league), Takawira (147, 145), Kamara (161, 154), Wolff (170, 166), Johnston (225, 214). At this point, while Johnston certainly should be a club legend some day and I'll never forget his contribution to get Kansas City to the 2000 MLS Cup final I don't think he's one of the Best XI forwards for KC.

With the final four I really couldn't narrow them down any further with anything but personal opinion, in fact it was hard to cut down the final five really. So for the final four I just went with my personal preference and in that case I went with the two highest scorers for Kansas City as forwards, Dwyer and Wolff. The pair consistently was able to find the net regularly for KC and seem set to continue to regularly do it in Dwyer's case. In the end though really any of the final five I could more than make a case for their inclusion in the Best XI.

With that done here is my Sporting KC Best XI:

Dwyer - Wolff

Klein - Arnaud - Preki - Zusi

Zavagnin

Besler - Conrad - Garcia

Nielsen

Rangers Remain Unbeaten

The Swope Park Rangers continued their unbeaten start to their inaugural USL season as they picked up a 1-1 draw with fellow expansion side, San Antonio FC in their home opener. The Rangers were able to grab an early lead off a corner as the ball bounced around in the box it eventually fell to Sporting KC loanee Daniel Salloi who fired the ball past Josh Ford and into the net to make it 1-0 to the Rangers. San Antonio though controlled much of the game though and kept the Rangers pinned back in their own end. Danny Garcia was a big part of the San Antonio attack. Jon Kempin in the Rangers net came up with a number of big saves to keep SPR in front. Unfortunately San Antonio finally broke through in the 42nd minute. Garcia was played through on goal by Carlos Alvarez. As Kempin came off his line Garcia knocked it over him and into the net tying the game at 1-1.

The second half continued much the same way as the first half did with SAFC controlling the play, in fact other than the goal by Salloi, the Rangers did not get another shot on goal all game. Kempin and the Rangers defense though continued to hold strong and was able to preserve the point for the Rangers. Swope Park is now off until the 23rd when they make their first trip to Oklahoma City to take on Jimmy Nielsen and the OKC Energy.

Sunday After Stats

Graham Zusi recorded his 46th league assist for Kansas City, breaking his tie with Chris Klein for 2nd all time on that list.

Zusi's assist also resulted in his 26th game winning assist in all competitions, passing Preki for the most all time in club history.

Zusi started his 142nd game in league play for KC, tying him with Mo Johnston and Jack Jewsbury for 8th all time on that list.

Dom Dwyer scored his 39th league goal for KC, tying him with Klein for 4th all time on that list.

In the second minute, Roger Espinoza hit 10,000 minutes for his MLS career with KC, he's the 18th player to hit that mark for KC.

Espinoza made his 154th appearance in all competitions for KC, tying him with Seth Sinovic for 16th on that list.

Espinoza started his 130th game for KC, breaking his tie with Aurelien Collin for 19th on that list.

Benny Feilhaber scored his 19th league goal for KC, tying him with Teal Bunbury for 13th all time on that list.

It was Feilhaber's 22nd in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Mark Chung for 13th on that list.

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

It was his 9th away from home in league play, tying him with Sapong for 12th on that list.

Melia Carries Sporting to Three Points

Sporting KC's Tim Melia continued his good run of form in the early 2016 MLS season with a six save performance, including a penalty kick stop as Kansas City topped the New York Red Bulls 2-0 at Red Bull Arena. Kansas City took advantage of lax New York defending and the counter attack to score their two goals and to give Melia the offensive support that he needed to help KC to get all three point. Unfortunately it wasn't all good news for Kansas City as they were forced to use all three substitutions on injuries tonight with Kevin Ellis, Chance Myers, and Roger Espinoza all leaving the game due to injuries.

The two teams went back for forth early on with Connor Hallisey putting an effort wide of goal on the volley after a cross from Benny Feilhaber. Ten minutes later, Lloyd Sam fired a deflected effort that went just wide of Tim Melia's near post to keep the game tied at 0-0. Three minutes later though KC grabbed the lead as Sporting struck on a perfect counter. Dom Dwyer held up a long ball up to him before playing it through to Graham Zusi who was running through. With the leading goal, KC had to deal with mounting pressure from the Red Bulls as New York threw numbers forward. Melia was called into action to make saves on the likes of Sam and Bradley Wright-Phillips to keep the Red Bulls off the board. KC suffered their first injury sub in the 42nd minute when Kevin Ellis had to leave the game with a groin injury, replaced by Ike Opara. Ellis was having trouble even walking on his own after picking up the injury. In first half stoppage time the Red Bulls had another good chance as Sacha Kljestan played the ball through to Sean Davis who blasted a shot off the post and the rebound was fired over the goal.

Early in the second half Kansas City was forced to make another substitution due to injury as Chance Myers had to sub out for Saad Absdul-Salaam. Abdul-Salaam made a fairly quick contribution to the game in the 60th minute when he helped set up KC's second goal. On a throw in for KC, Abdul-Salaam threw the ball into the box toward Dwyer and Chris Duvall. No other New York player broke to the ball and it was allowed to bounce in the box.Dwyer held off Duvall as the ball bounced past the pair and Dwyer fired the ball inside the near post to double Kansas City's lead. The two goal lead looked like it'd only stand a few minutes when Ike Opara was called for a hand ball when a cross by Sam was blocked by Opara's hand. Wright-Phillips stepped up to take the penalty kick but Melia came up with a big save, diving to his right side to knock away the shot and keep KC up by 2-0. Melia continued to come up with big saves on the likes of Mike Grella and Wright-Phillips as Kansas City got back to their winning ways and moved to 4-1 on the season.

Wizards Man of the Match - Tim Melia - Came up with six saves, including one on a penalty kick, Melia had another big game for Kansas City.

Honorable Mention - Graham Zusi

Player Ratings - Melia 9, Dia 6, Ellis 6, Coelho 7, Myers 6, Olum 6, Espinoza 7, Feilhaber 6, Zusi 8, Dwyer 7, Hallisey 5.Subs: Opara 7, Abdul-Salaam 6, Medranda NR.

Match Day 5: Another Match Up of Depleted Sides

For the second straight week Sporting KC will play a game with an injury depleted side against a team that is suffering from injury issues of their own. Kansas City travel to New York to take on the injury depleted New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena. It's a match up of teams with opposite records at this early point of the season with KC sitting at 3-1 while the Red Bulls currently have a 1-3 record.

The Red Bulls injuries issues start in defense where they are without potentially three starters as well as another back up center back. Three center backs look set to be out again for New York through injuries, Damien Perrinelle, Gideon Bah, and Ronald Zubar all look like they could miss out for the Red Bulls. Last week they played outside backs Karl Ouimette and Connor Lade at center back. The defensive issues though got worst as outside back Kemar Lawrence left the Red Bulls game last week against New England with a knee injury and is now doubtful for tomorrow's game. The defensive issues have led the Red Bulls to allow a league high nine goals in their first four games of the season. Offensively their leading scorer, Bradley Wright-Phillips has yet to get off the mark this season for the Red Bulls.

Kansas City's injury issues continue to mount as well. Defensively Matt Besler has yet to clear the league's concussion protocols, meaning he'll miss this weekend's game as well. The club also had another player pick up a concussion, Brad Davis will miss the game because of the concussion. Also missing tomorrow's game will be midfielder Soni Mustivar who picked up a hamstring injury. This will force more changes to the KC lineup, and questions of whether KC will go with someone like Lawrence Olum to replace Mustivar or whether Benny Feilhaber or Jordi Quintilla slide back into a more "deep playmaker" role that Feilhaber played at times last year. The good news for the midfield is that KC will welcome back Roger Espinoza, who missed last week due to a red card suspension. His absence was very apparent last week against Real Salt Lake.

Hallisey - Dwyer - Zusi

Feilhaber - Espinoza

Quintilla

Dia - Ellis - Coelho - Myers

Melia

Number to Remember - 0 - That's the number of wins that Kansas City has in their last six games against New York across all competitions. KC has gone 0-4-2 in those games, including a 2-1 playoff loss in 2014. The last win came back in 2013, a 1-0 win at Red Bull Arena with Aurelien Collin scoring the goal for KC.

Key Match Up - Kevin Ellis vs Bradley Wright-Phillips - The New York forward has yet to score a goal this season something that can't last forever. Kansas City will need to try to shut down Wright-Phillips who has scored six goals over the course of KC's current six game winless streak against the Red Bulls. Against Salt Lake Nuno Coelho was trying to do too much in the absence of Besler, hopefully with an extra week of working with Ellis, the pair will be able to work better together and keep Wright-Phillips in check.

PREDICTION - New York is certainly allowing a fair number of goals right now, allowing nine through their first four games, but KC really struggled to in terms of creating chances against Real Salt Lake last week, not even recording a shot until almost first half stoppage time. With another makeshift back line in front of their attack, hopefully KC can put together more in terms of offense. On the other end, Espinoza's return should help to protect the back line a little bit more, as his bite in the midfield was sorely missed. The question is whether Mustivar's replacement can fill his role well enough. I'm just not sure that KC is clicking enough offensively to get the win tomorrow, even though the Red Bulls are struggling.

SKC - 1 (Dwyer)
NYRB - 1 (Wright-Phillips)

Former SKC Wizards Update

Here's is this week's update on former Sporting KC players.

Active without a club or unknown
Vicente Arze
Jamar Beasley
Brian Fekete
Adnan Gabeljic
Faik Hajderovic
Ryan James
Michael Kafari
Kyle Miller
Victor Munoz
Amobi Okugo
Akeem Priestley
Yann Songo'o

MLS
Jalil Anibaba - Houston - No game this week.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Started and palyed 87 minutes in New England's 1-0 win over New York.
Servando Carrasco - Orlando City - Came off the bench and played 66 minutes in Orlando's 4-1 win over Portland.
Aurelien Collin - Orlando City - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes in Orlando's 4-1 win over Portland.
Herculez Gomez - Seattle - Dressed but did not play in Seattle's 1-0 win over Montreal.
Michael Harrington - Chicago - Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in Chicago's 1-0 win over Philadelphia.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Dressed but did not play in Portland's 4-1 loss to Orlando.
Kei Kamara - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 1-1 draw with Dallas.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Dressed but did not play in Montreal's 1-0 loss to Seattle.
Mikey Lopez - NYCFC - No game this week.
Yura Movsisyan - Salt Lake - Started and played 70 minutes in RSL's 2-1 win over KC
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Started and played 90 minutes in Philadelphia's 1-0 loss to Chicago.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Dressed but did not play in Columbus' 1-1 draw with Dallas.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Started and played 90 minutes in New York's 1-0 loss to New England.

NASL
Bernardo Anor - Minnesota (loan) - Started and played 60 minutes in Minnesota's 2-1 loss to Carolina.
Stefan Antonijevic - Tampa Bay - Did not dress in Tampa's 0-0 draw with Indy.
Marcel de Jong - Ottawa - Started and played 90 minutes in Ottawa's 3-0 loss to New York.
Mechack Jerome - Jacksonville - No game this week.
James Marcelin - Carolina - Started and played 90 minutes in Carolina's 2-1 win over Minnesota.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 0-0 draw with Edmonton.

US
Christian Duke - Swope Park - Started and played 90 minutes in Swope Park's 2-1 win over Tulsa.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - No game this week.
Alex Martinez - Charlotte - Did not play in Charlotte's 2-1 win over Harrisburg.
Tony Rocha - Orlando - Started and played 50 minutes before being sent off in Orlando's 0-0 draw with Charleston.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - No game this week.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 0-0 draw with Wilmington.

Indoor
Pat Healey - Baltimore - No game this week.
Mike Jones - Dallas - Offseason.
Boris Pardo - Missouri - Offseason.

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Siah Jamegan - Iran - Lost 3-2 to Persepolis FC.
Scott Angevine - KPV - Finland - No game until 4/24.
Claudio Bieler - Belgrano - Argentina - Started and played 90 minutes in Belgrano's 3-2 loss to San Lorenzo.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - Did not dress in Chivas' 4-0 win over Pumas.
Reinaldo Brenes - AD Belen Siglo XXI - Costa Rica -Did not dress in Belen's 2-1 loss to Limon.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Did not dress in Bengaluru's 1- win over Mumbai.
Jorge Claros - Alajuelense - Costa Rica - Dressed but did not play in Alajuelense's 2-0 win over Santos de Guapiles. Dressed but did not play in Alajuelense's 3-0 win over Carmelita.
Eloy Colombano - AD Berazategui - Offseason.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Lost 3-1 to North East Stars
Toni Dovale - CD Leganes - Spain - Dressed but did not play in Leganes' 3-0 loss to Mallorca.
Pablo Escobar - Jaguares de Córdoba - Colombia - Did not dress in Jaguares' 1-1 draw with La Equidad.
Luis Gil - Queretaro - Mexico - Did not dress in Queretaro's 4-2 win over Tijuana. Did not dress in Queretaro's 2-0 loss to Tigres.
Jeferson - Madureira EC - Brazil - Started and played 53 minutes in Madureira's 1-0 loss to Boavista. Lost 3-1 to Fluminense.
Will John - RoPS - Finland - Started and played 74 minutes in RoPS' 4-3 win over PK-35 Vantaa.
Igor Juliao - Ferroviária - Brazil - Started and played 90 minutes in Ferroviaria's 4-1 loss to Santos. Started and played 90 minutes in Ferroviaria's 1-0 loss to Botafogo.
Chris Konopka - Ross County - Scotland - Did not dress in Ross' County's 5-2 loss to Dundee.
Igor Kostrov - Dinamo-Auto - Moldova - Did not dress in Dinamo's 2-1 win over Speranta Nisporeni.
Luis Marin - CD Palestino - Chile - Started and played 90 minutes in Palestino's 1-1 draw with Union La Calera.
Neven Markovic - KS Lechia Gdansk - Poland - Did not dress in Lechia's 1-1 draw with Legia Warszawa.
Michal Mravec - RoPS - Finland - Started and played 45 minutes in RoPS' 4-3 win over PK-35 Vantaa.
Krisztian Nemeth - Al-Gharafa - Qatar - Started and played 80 minutes, scoring a goal in Al Gharafa's 2-1 win over Al Rayyan.
Erik Palmer-Brown - Porto (loan) - Portugal - Started and played 90 minutes in Porto B's 4-0 win over Academico Viseu.
Pablo Punyed - IBV - Iceland - Did not play in IBV's 5-5 draw with Fram Reykjavik.
Oriol Rosell - Vitoria (Sporting Club de Portugal)  Portugal - Started and played 60 minutes in Vitoria's 1-1 draw with Boavista.
Brendan Ruiz - DJK Don Bosco Bamberg - Germany - Did not play in Don Bosco's 5-0 loss to SpVgg SV Weiden.
Soony Saad - Pattaya United (BEC Tero Sasana) - Thailand - Lost 1-0 to Sukhothai FC. Started and played 90 minutes in Pattaya's 3-1 loss to Buriram United.
Peter Schmetz - Wuppertaler SV - Germany - Started and played 60 minutes in Wuppertaler's 1-0 win over TV Jahn Hiesfeld.
Kevin Souter - Deveronvale FC - Scotland - Lost 4-0 to Keith.
Martin Steuble - Ceres-La Salle - Philippines - Offseason.
Milos Stojcev - Atromitos - Greece - Came off the bench and played 16 minutes in Atromitos' 1-0 win over Panaitolikos.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - Dressed but did not play in Saarbrucken's 4-1 loss to Hoffenheim II.

Sporting KC Best XI - Midfielders

The voting for the midfielders in Sporting KC's "Best XI" has finished up and with that done I'm taking a look at how I selected my team for the Best XI. The first thing I immediately noticed when going in to make my picks was the fact that after selecting three defenders, we were selecting five midfielders, setting up a Bob Gansler-esk 3-5-2 lineup for the Best XI team. With the five spots available, there were 14 players available for selection; Sporting Legends like Preki and Chris Klein were available for selection along with current players Roger Espinoza, Benny Feilhaber, Paulo Nagamura, and Graham Zusi. Also included in the list was the club's first draft pick, Matt McKeon and fellow MLS original, Mark Chung, and players from the middle of KC's history, the likes of Davy Arnaud, Chris Brown, Francisco Gomez, Jack Jewsbury,  Sasha Victorine, and Kerry Zavagnin. Certainly a difficult vote, but easier for me personally than the last one when it came to the defenders.

First, I'm not even going to attempt to beat around the bush here with the first player I selected, Preki, he is the best player to have ever played for this club, the only player to win the MLS MVP award twice in their career, the second time at 40, he absolutely is on the Best XI.. He's the team's all-time leader in goals (71 league, 81 all) and in assists (98 league, 104 all) appeared in over 200 games, starting over 200 in all competitions, falling just one short of that in league play (199). This whole discussion for the top five midfielders for the Best XI really should have just been done as Preki and the other four midfielders as arguments can be made for or against other candidates, but I don't see a logical way that you can argue against his inclusion in this team.

There were two other players that I immediately added to my list of five midfielders, Davy Arnaud and Chris Klein. The recently retired, future Sporting Legend and last year's inductee as a Legend, Arnaud and Klein are both no-brainers for me as a fan. Both are in the top 10 in terms of appearances (Arnaud 240, most in club history, Klein 200), and starts (Arnaud 213, Klein 183), they're also both top five in terms of goals (Arnaud 43, Klein 39) and assists (Arnaud 35, Klein 45). While the pair certainly isn’t Preki, the pair is ahead of the rest of the pack of players in the midfield and easy selections for spots two and three in the midfield.

That leaves us with just two spots left and another 11 players still available for selection. From here one thing I looked at to help narrow my list down was a player's longevity with the club. While players like Mark Chung, Paulo Nagamura, and Sasha Victorine have done a lot for the club, I don't think they've done it over a long enough period of time to give them one of the final two spots on the list. And while it may bother a few of the newer fans I feel that Feilhaber falls into that same category. While he has 18 league goals and 25 assists, he's played less than 100 games for KC (91) and started 84. For the last two spots I felt that there were players that have been at a higher level for longer than Feilhaber has.

One of the hardest parts of the midfield selection was giving some credit to those players who don't play an attacking midfield position. Players like Espinoza, McKeon, Nagamura, and Zavagnin never put up great offensive numbers when they played in Kansas City but that shouldn't keep them from being able to be selected to the Best XI in my opinion. At the same time I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn't a team that would actually take the field, so some lack of defensive help, or two to three players that mainly play the right wing is just fine when selecting your players (it's the same issue that I always used to have selecting my fantasy team, building a good well rounded team, but lacking because I tried to build a "team" and not one to just get points).

After eliminating Nagamura earlier due to his lack of longevity, I'm left with Espinoza, McKeon, and Zavagnin among defensive minded midfielders. While Espinoza has had the most success of the three at the national level and McKeon had a strong career for the Wizards, if I'm going with any defensive minded player in the midfield, it's going to be Zavagnin, second behind Arnaud in terms of appearances in league play with 237, but first in appearances in all competitions (291), starts (281), league starts (228), and is the team's leader minutes played in league (20,516) and all competitions (25,290).

While Zavagnin leads the way if I go with one defensive minded midfielder, I still have seven players left with Brown, Gomez, Jewsbury, and Zusi joining Espinoza, McKeon and Zavagnin. Of those seven I feel I can comfortably knock it down to five, because while Chris Brown and Francisco Gomez both played over 140 games across all competitions for Kansas City, when I think of a Best XI midfield for Kansas City, neither one of those players is even close to the discussion. Brown was a consistent performer, but the way that I think would relate him to many newer fans would be that he was Gansler's Jacob Peterson, he worked hard, it did all the things that were asked of him, and he did well in practice, in an earlier MLS without the skill players there are now that was enough to get you consistent starts. As for Gomez, he just never reached the expectations that were there when he was signed as a Project 40 player (the precursor to the Generation Adidas program). He'd been seen as an eventual replacement for Preki at the attacking midfield position, but never got close to that level.

With the remaining five, I just felt that I could cut the final three I needed to so I could get my five midfielders. While Jewsbury appeared almost 200 times in league play for KC, he struggled for a long time even finding a position on the field for KC. While he eventually slotted in mainly as a defensive midfield, Jewsbury spent time as a forward, wingback, and a winger for Gansler. He was a good player, but when KC brought in a better one for that position, he moved elsewhere on the field. He really fit the jack of all trades joke that people made. The last two I cut from my list were Espinoza and McKeon. I stated the reasons for considering Zavagnin above both of them above, but I'd also put Zusi above both of them. Zusi has been a strong performer for Kansas City, a top 20 goal scorer and already in the top five for assists in both league and all competitions for KC. He very likely won't ever catch Preki for number 1 on the list but should easily set himself as second on that list by the time he retires.

So with just the forward line to go, here is my Best XI for Sporting KC so far:

Klein - Arnaud - Preki - Zusi

Zavagnin

Besler - Conrad - Garcia 

Nielsen

Sunday After Stats

The goal by Justen Glad for Salt Lake was the 1,000th conceded by Kansas City in all competitions.

At 34 years, 146 days, Brad Davis is the second oldest player in his first start for Kansas City.

Davis is the 10th oldest player to start a game for Kansas City, knocking Alex Bunbury out of the top 20 on that list.

Benny Feilhaber's goal was his 10th at home in league play, tying him with Jack Jewsbury and Eddie Johnson for 16th on that list.

It was his 12th at home in all competitions, giving him sole possession of 17th place on that list.

At 31 years, 74 days, he passed Frank Klopas and is now the 19th oldest player to score a goal for KC in league play.

In all competitions he jumped back onto the list, passing Klopas for 20th place.

It was Feilhaber's 18th league goal for KC, breaking his tie with Johnson and Jimmy Conrad for 14th all time on that list.

It was his 21st in all competitions, tying him with Mark Chung for 13th all time on that list.

Kevin Ellis made his 50th league appearance for KC, he's the 54th player to hit that mark.

Chance Myers made his 166th league appearance for KC, breaking his tie with Josh Wolff for 13th place on that list.

Myers made his 136th start in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Diego Gutierrez for 17th all time on that list.

Rangers Win in Tulsa, Continue Perfect Start

The Swope Park Rangers went on their first road trip of the season heading down to Oklahoma for the first of four meetings between them and the Tulsa Roughnecks. Without Jimmy Medranda who had been recalled by the first team for their game against Real Salt Lake, the Rangers were still able to take care of business and pull out a 2-1 win over the Roughnecks to continue their perfect start.

The Rangers were able to grab an early goal through the USL's all time leading scorer, Dane Kelly. Kelly received a ball from Kevin Oliveira at the top of the box, and immediately made a cut to the outside, turned and fired a shot that caught goalkeeper Alex Mangels a bit by surprise as it flew past him and into the upper 90 of the near post to put the Rangers on top. The Rangers almost added to their lead in the 34th but Oliveira's shot from close range was cleared off the line.

In the second half the Rangers were able to hold off the Roughnecks attack from leveling things. In the mean time the Rangers weren't able to extend their lead either. At least not early. Finally in stoppage time the Rangers found their insurance goal. Off a quick throw-in Nansel Salbol let the ball bounce across his body before firing a shot that again caught Mangels by surprise and sneaked past him low at his near post. Like last week against the Timbers the Rangers needed that second goal as later in stoppage time the Roughnecks got a ball over the top that played Taylor Morgan in behind Christian Duke. Morgan fired a shot that beat Jon Kempin to the far post and made the final few minutes of stoppage time much more intense for the Rangers. The Rangers will continue to play on the road next week when they'll travel to San Antonio to take on fellow expansion side, San Antonio FC.

Sporting Out Played at Home in Loss to RSL

Heading into a game without five of their starters the expectation last night heading into the match up between Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake was that Sporting would be on the front foot, and rack up a ton of shots against a RSL team that would sit deep and try to grab a point. RSL though came out playing a much higher line that KC didn't seem prepared for and Sporting never seemed to adjust. With the unexpected strategy from RSL, the visitors were able to dictate play a lot more and slow the game down to the pace that they wanted.

While RSL was the better team KC didn't start the game horribly, Dom Dwyer had a good chance when a Salt Lake defender misplayed a ball intended for Dwyer. The Sporting striker raced down field but was pushed wide of the goal and couldn't get a shot off. In fact it would be until first half stoppage time before KC even got a shot. In the mean time, Salt Lake grabbed the lead in the 29th minute off a set piece. Joao Plata played a nice floated free kick into the box where Justen Glad had completely lost his mark and easily headed a shot past a diving Tim Melia and into the net giving RSL the lead. Unfortunately for KC it wasn't like Glad did anything special to lose his defender, it was just that no one tracked him at all. After the goal KC continued to try to push forward with a lot of those efforts coming through Chance Myers and Brad Davis on KC's right side. Unfortunately Davis was floating a lot of his crosses into the box instead of driving them, making them easy to grab for Jeff Attinella in the RSL goal. KC got some good looks right at the end of the half as a ball over the top found Davis who squared for Dwyer but his effort was blocked, RSL couldn't clear and KC got another opportunity as Graham Zusi got played into the box, touching around a defender his shot towards goal was deflected wide for a corner as the half wound down.

The second half almost started in disaster for KC as Melia had to come up with a pair of big saves right after the half time break on Plata and Yura Movsisyan to keep Kansas City within a goal. Movsisyan had another good chance to double the lead in the 56th after a poor ball by Kevin Ellis allowed Movsisyan in one-v-one with Nuno Coelho, Movsisyan cut around the Portuguese center back and fired a shot that hit off the elbow of the far post and cross bar and bounced away from play to keep KC within one goal. Finally in the 79th RSL was able to double their lead, deservedly so based on their play. After Melia did a good job of keeping Salt Lake out on a corner the ball fell to Soni Mustivar who tried to clear the ball into the middle for Zusi, but he misplayed it right to Luke Mulholland who fired a shot from 30 yards out that it seemed Melia didn't see through traffic and the ball went into the far corner doubling RSL's lead. Down two goals KC still was still relying on balls over the top to try to create offense and Salt Lake continued to pressure, looking like the team still more likely to score another goal. KC introduced young designated player Diego Rubio into the game and he was able to have an immediate impact as in stoppage time he won a penalty kick for Kansas City. Luckily for KC it was called a penalty kick because replays showed the foul on Rubio occurred outside the box and shouldn't have been a penalty kick. Instead referee, Ted Unkel, who had a very poor game for both teams up to that point looked to his assistant on the other side of the field for confirmation on whether the foul was in the box or no, and ended up getting it wrong. Benny Feilhaber stepped up and buried the penalty kick but KC's efforts came too late and KC fell for the first time this season, losing 2-1 to Salt Lake.

Wizards Man of the Match - Tim Melia - Melia kept the game from getting out of hand for RSL making six saves on the night against Salt Lake.

Player Ratings - Melia 6, Dia 5, Coelho 5, Ellis 4, Myers 5, Mustivar 3, Feilhaber 5, Quintilla 4, Davis 5, Dwyer 4, Zusi 4. Subs Medranda 4, Rubio 5.

Match Day 4: Less Than Full Strength For Two Rivals

Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake have developed a less than friendly rivalry since Sporting rebranded from heated preseason games to MLS Cup finals the teams have had their fair share of intense battles. Tomorrow at Sporting Park the two teams will meet for the first time in the 2016 season. Unfortunately the match up tomorrow will be lacking a bit in the way of "star power" as both teams will be missing some of their regular starters either through suspension or through injury.

Of the two teams the one hit the hardest is Real Salt Lake. The visitors tomorrow at Children's Mercy Park are hit so hard by injuries and suspensions that they're the first team to take advantage of MLS's USL hardship call up, calling in a pair of players from the Real Monarchs for the game. RSL will be without three players due to suspension, Kyle Beckerman and Jamison Olave picked up red cards in their last game against the Portland Timbers. After the game Burrito Martinez was suspended by the disciplinary committee, bringing the total to three. They have also been hit hard by the injury bug with Javier Morales suffering a broken rib, Yura Movsisyan having an abductor strain, and a number of other injuries. With all the injuries it'll be a very short handed RSL showing up at CMP tomorrow.

Kansas City won't have their best available either unfortunately either. Roger Espinoza picked up red card in KC's win over Toronto that will keep him out of tomorrow's game. KC is also dealing with the injury bug too, captain Matt Besler is out for tomorrow's game after he picked up a concussion while on US men's national team duty. Along with Besler the club is still going to be without the likes of Paulo Nagamura, the logical replacement for Espinoza, and Justin Mapp, who is still suffering from turf toe. The good news for Sporting KC is that Benny Feilhaber looks set to make his debut for the club in 2016 after missing the first three games with an abductor strain. It also looks like young designated player Diego Rubio could make the game day roster for the first time for the club as well.

Davis - Dwyer - Zusi

Quintilla - Feilhaber

Mustivar

Dia - Ellis - Coelho - Myers

Melia

Number to Remember - 0 - That's the number of league goals that Salt Lake has scored in Kansas City since the opening of Children's Mercy Park. They have scored a couple goals in other competitions, one in MLS Cup and one in last year's US Open Cup. Zero is also the number of both teams have scored in their prior two league meetings at CMP. The last two games have seen Salt Lake sit deep and bunker in against Sporting KC at CMP, a strategy that Kansas City has struggled to break down in the past.

Key Match Up - Amadou Dia vs Joao Plata - Assuming that Plata lines up on RSL's right, it'll probably be the biggest challenge that second year man Amadou Dia has faced all season. Plata, the MLS Player of the Month for March is tied for second in the league in scoring with three goals through the first three games of the season and is a handful to handle. With Morales likely out for RSL tomorrow much more of the playmaking role will fall on Plata which means that Dia is going to be in for a busy night and will need assistance from his left sided centerback, whether that be Nuno Coelho sliding over or Kevin Ellis jumping right into Besler's spot.

PREDICTION - With RSL in the position that it's in with player availability the logical expectation from them would be to come in, sit back and try to hit on the counter or at worst get another 0-0 draw out of their trip. It wouldn't be the first time that RSL has come into Kansas City and played like this. If KC can get an early goal tomorrow things could get out of hand for an undermanned RSL side. But the longer that it remains scoreless or if they allow Nick Rimando to get into a groove tomorrow and it could be a very long night for Kansas City. Unfortunately tomorrow I lean towards the later happening, where KC will go at RSL again and again, but Rimando in RSL's net will keep KC out. While I think KC has a good chance at going to 4-0 on the season, breaking down a compact RSL team isn't going to be easy for them.

SKC - 0
RSL - 0