What's Gone Wrong, and is There a Way to Fix it?

Sporting Kansas City is mired in their worst run of form since the start of the 2011 season when they won just one of their first 11 games. That run though saw Kansas City play 10 of those 11 games on the road before the opening of Children's Mercy Park. This run of form is worse because KC has had five of their last 10 games at home, and has picked up just four points in those five home games. Away from home KC has picked up just one point in their five on the road for a grand total of just five points taken of the last 30 available. At the same time Kansas City has played more games (15) than any other team in the league, the closest is Vancouver and Dallas, who have played 14. Unfortunately for KC though most of the teams currently ahead of the seventh place Sporting KC in the West have multiple games in hand, from the four the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake have to the three for San Jose, and two for Colorado along with Vancouver and Dallas. So Kansas City finds themselves in a situation that will be very difficult to pull themselves out of with their busy second half of the season schedule which will see Kansas City play in potentially three competitions, league, the Champions League, and the US Open Cup, should they advance.

So how have things really gone wrong for Kansas City this year? There's really not one thing that can be pointed to as the exact reason and there's endless speculation on other things involving the team. So I thought I'd take a look at a few of the things that are the big talking points.

Not Replacing Nemeth

In late January Sporting KC agreed to sell Hungarian striker, Krisztian Nemeth to Qatari club, Al-Gharafa ending his stay with Kansas City after only just one season. Reports were that Nemeth wanted a bump in pay after scoring 16 goals across all competitions in 2015, good for second on the team behind Dom Dwyer. KC at the time of the sale was hurt by Nemeth's departure, but obviously felt okay with the players that they had to replace him having acquired Justin Mapp via free agency in December and Brad Davis via trade in January. Neither player could fill the exact role that Nemeth played as that's not the way either player plays. The hope was that Nemeth's production would be replaced with goal scoring by committee. So far the pair has combined for just two goals and zero assists in 15 combined appearances, both from Davis. Mapp has missed the majority of the season after suffering a turf toe injury in preseason and has been limited to just two appearances. The absence of an adequate goal scoring replacement leads to the second topic.

Dwyer Island

Last year with Nemeth on the roster, teams had to respect his ability to cut inside and cause trouble that way. That meant teams had to divide their focus on the forwards between those two. That allowed both Nemeth and Dom Dwyer to be successful in 2015. Without Nemeth this year though, teams are able to key in a lot more on Dwyer and isolate him from the rest of the team. This has helped lead to what fans have started to call "Dwyer Island" as Dwyer is basically all on his own against two center backs that usually have at least a couple inches on the 5'9" Dwyer. And while he'll win his share of challenges, more often than not KC is trying to win the second ball after the opposing center back has beaten Dwyer to the ball in the air.

Another thing that the absence of Nemeth has done to contribute to Dwyer Island is in who Peter Vermes has deployed as his replacement. KC replaced Nemeth, a forward playing out wide as a winger with Davis and Mapp, wingers playing as wingers in KC's system. The first instinct for those two (and Graham Zusi on the opposite wing) is to cut outside and get a cross into the box. That leaves Dwyer in the box all alone for those crosses regularly, which doesn't lead to a high success of finishing. KC's success in the second half against Orlando City the other week that finally led to a goal was the introduction of Jacob Peterson. While Peterson isn't the most skillful player on the team, his mindset of coming in first proved vital in that game helping to set up the equalizer and score the winner. That's something that Kansas City has lacked with Davis or one of the other wingers starting opposite Zusi, KC has no one whose immediate instinct is to be in the box. Vermes has tried to solve this by switching the sides that Davis and Zusi are on, trying to get them so that they're cutting in on their dominate foot, but that hasn't worked as expected and Dwyer remains isolated in the middle without someone to help play off of.

The Fall of Benny Feilhaber

Benny Feilhaber was a finalist for league MVP last year, scoring 10 goals and adding 15 assists in league play for Kansas City over 32 games. This year through 11 games he has scored just twice (both penalty kicks) and only provided two assists, only one of those four has come since mid-April for KC. After missing the first three games with injury, Feilhaber has also been benched twice by Vermes, once in the 1-0 loss on the road to Colorado and again just last night at home against DC. He's had a major let down in form in an important contract year for him. Part of that issue again goes back to Nemeth. Without the unpredictability on the wing for KC, teams are able to focus more on the middle of the field with Dwyer and Feilhaber and this has left both players frustrated and shut down a lot in terms of offense. Being unable to play through the middle has caused KC to go to more work on the wing or long balls over the top which have been far less than successful for KC. Talk last year had been about giving Feilhaber a designated player contract, so far his 2016 form hasn't shown him deserving of a contract of that size.

Trailing Late and Leaving Your DP on the Bench

Sporting Kansas City brought in Chilean forward, Diego Rubio as a forward on a sixth month loan from Real Valladolid of Spain. At the time Vermes compared his style of play to Dwyer's and how he'd be able to supplement Dwyer. Since being brought in though Rubio has appeared in just six games and played 162 minutes. He hasn't appeared in a game since the 2-0 loss to Houston on May 7th. Since then the club has been losing in all four games since that appearance yet Vermes has gone with defensive substitutions or inserting Jacob Peterson instead of the DP. While Rubio is still just 23, his inability to get on the field, even when KC is trailing would seem to be a sign that Kansas City won't be looking to keep Rubio long term. As has become typical under Vermes he has seemed to be adamantly against the idea of playing two "true" strikers at the same time even when trailing. Rubio and Dwyer have spent a total of zero minutes on the field together this season.

The Hulk Becomes Bruce Banner

Last season Kansas City looked to have found a diamond in the rough when Tim Melia took over in goal for Luis Marin. Melia had a solid season getting 8 shutouts, making 82 saves, a number of them big, and it was his play in the box that was impressive as well as he had a strong command of his box which took pressure off the defense. This season though it would seem that "The Hulk" has turned into Bruce Banner. Melia has made a number of mistakes this season (as have others) that have cost Kansas City goals. From poor decisions on passes out of the back that are compounded by defensive giveaways to DC United's goal on Friday night when he came all the way to the penalty spot to punch a ball, but missed, took out his own player and left an empty net for Alhaji Kamara to finish.

The Burden of Success (the Draft)

One issue with the team this season isn't actually directly from this season but a symptom of Kansas City's success over the past few years. KC has had success in the past building their team through the draft, but they've really not gotten a lot out of it since the rebranding due to the success of the team. While KC has picked up the likes of CJ Sapong and Dom Dwyer, since 2013 Superdraft KC has had just one successful draft. In the other three drafts no players from those drafts is still with the club. The 2015 draft saw Kansas City bring in Connor Hallisey, Saad Abdul-Salaam, and Amadou Dia, but the likes of Mikey Lopez, Adnan Gabeljic, Ryan James, and a host of others have been drafted in the other three years and have failed to make the team or stick with the team. Vermes has developed a history of good drafting, but the later picks in the last few years, and trading away picks to acquire other players like Benny Feilhaber has left KC not getting much out of one of their better ways of acquiring players.

There are certainly a number of legitimate issues with Sporting Kansas City right now, but there are also the ones that are speculation, including that Vermes has lost the locker room and a lack of leadership in the Sporting KC locker room. The mindset is that with the way that players have been acting on the field and Vermes benching the likes of Feilhaber and his captain Besler during different stretches of this current run of form, there have to be questions asked of Vermes control of the locker room and if he is losing it. When a team is winning a lot of things can be overlooked because you're picking up points, but when things start to go south things can get a lot stressful in the locker room. Players are fighting for jobs, coaches are fighting for jobs, and it can just cause a lot of trouble. If Vermes has lost the locker room there are other questions that need to be asked about the team and coaches as well at this point. You have to question the leadership in the locker room among the players, including the club's captain, Besler, but also the likes of Zusi, Roger Espinoza, and Feilhaber all of whom are looked at as the leaders of the team on and off the field.

If he has lost the locker room, serious questions probably need to start being asked about Vermes and his ability to continue to coach the team. When a coach has lost a locker room either the team needs to be blown up, with the players most involved with the dissent in the locker room needing to go or the coach needing to head out. For me I'm not sure that Vermes has lost the locker room at this point. I think what we're seeing is general frustration from the team and coach over their play lately.

Even if he hasn't lost the locker room though, there are a number of people that feel that it is time for a change in Kansas City when it comes to coach, that it's time to bring an end to Vermes time in Kansas City. This is another area that I just can't get behind both because I don't see the team doing it and because I personally don't think you need to fire Vermes to turn this around.

So the question is, how can Kansas City fix this? It's certainly not an easy answer and may not be one that can be answered this year, but there are things that can be done to try to. The first is to have a busy summer transfer window. The transfer window for MLS opens in a little over a month on July 4th and is open for a month. KC will need to make some additions and probably some subtractions from the team at that point. The first to be looked at is obviously Diego Rubio as he was only on a three month loan. If you let him go you have to look to get some scoring support to back up Dwyer, because with all the games in the second half of the season (and Dwyer's wife Sydney Leroux expecting to give birth in September), KC is going to need a backup striker who can make the spot starts. Whether they find that in MLS or elsewhere, it's something that would need to be done.

On top of that KC probably needs to look to find more of a scoring punch that can start games for KC. KC has only scored 14 goals through 15 games so far this season, the third fewest goals in the league ahead of only Seattle and Chicago and only Chicago has a worse goals per game record offensively. The team isn't getting goal production from their wing players this year. While Brad Davis has scored two goals this year (second on the team behind Dwyer), Sporting needs more from there to be successful. Whether that involves moving a starter like Zusi or Davis elsewhere on the field, or making a more through a trade within MLS for a big piece, KC needs to get more goals from the wing. For KC's system to be successful, the wingers need to be scoring goals as well. From Nemeth, to CJ Sapong (don't even start about why he wasn't played in the middle more), to Kei Kamara, KC has always gotten goal production from their wings to supplement Dwyer or whoever is up top. With that not happening as much, along with Feilhaber's struggles, KC's offense is very one dimensional and easily shut down.

If KC does choose to make a move within MLS, it may be time for the club to consider breaking up some of its core. The club has relied on the likes of Besler, Feilhaber, Zusi, Chance Myers, Seth Sinovic, and Roger Espinoza for the past few seasons to basically be penciled in as starters most games. With all those players now being over 30 or close to it, it may be time to start to consider breaking up the core a little bit. Feilhaber while excellent last year has struggled to find his form in 2016 and is out of contract this winter, Zusi has struggled to regain his form ever since the 2014 World Cup, only showing the flashes of the form he had before that. The likes of Myers and Sinovic have continued to struggle with injuries this season and as of right now both appear to have lost their starting spots to younger players like Abdul-Salaam, Dia, and Jimmy Medranda. Both were extremely successful in their time in KC, but it may be time to end that if the right deal could be made. The other option is to look to trade off some high salary players that aren't pulling their weight, against players like Zusi, Myers, and Sinovic fall in that group, but so does the likes of Paulo Nagamura who is still making over $200,000 as an injury prone back up. Yes KC needs him when Espinoza is out, but a cheaper option may not be the worst thing for KC to find.

If it comes to the worst and things still don't look like they're going to succeed this year, then at least play the kids. If KC does find itself out of it in terms of making the playoffs, Vermes needs to at least look at sitting some of his veterans to get younger players more time. He's done that some already as Abdul-Salaam, Dia, and Medranda seem to be displacing the wingbacks for KC. Elsewhere the club hasn't had as much success as Jordi Quintilla has struggled to stake a claim as a starter in the midfield for Kansas City while up top Connor Hallisey has struggled to do the same with the forwards.

In the end this season isn't lost for KC, while they certainly have a hill to climb to make the playoffs; this is MLS we're talking about. You go on a five to seven game unbeaten run and you're right back in the playoff race and making a run to MLS Cup. Vermes does need to look at attempting to change things up to try and really get KC to move forward. The ability to do so (or not) may be one of the defining moments of Vermes' time as coach for KC.

Sporting Drawn into Group C for Champions League

Tonight CONCACAF held their draw for the 2016-2017 CONCACAF Champions League. Sporting Kansas City learned their opponents in this year's competition, they'll face one familiar foe and one brand new opponent. Sporting Kansas City were drawn into Group C for the tournament and will face off against Trinidad and Tobago side Central FC and fellow MLS side, Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

The Trinidad side qualified for this year's tournament by winning the 2016 CFU Club Championship held from February through May of this year. Central FC defeated fellow Trinidadian side, W Connection in the finals to win the tournament. This will be the first time that Kansas City has played a team from the Caribbean since the Wizards took on the same W Connection back in 2002 when the competition was the CONCACAF Champions Cup. The Wizards won their series with W Connection 3-0 on aggregate in route to their semifinal appearance that season.

The other opponent will be a very familiar one for Kansas City, as they have already played the Whitecaps two times this season and will play them a third in late August, so Kansas City will have at least five games against the Canadian champions by the time the season is done. The Whitecaps qualified for this year's tournament by winning last year's Canadian Championship beating the Montreal Impact in the final. These games will be the first time that Kansas City and Vancouver will meet outside of MLS league games. So far Kansas City has lost just once to the Whitecaps and hold a 5-1-3 record all time against them.

There are certainly some easier draws that Kansas City could have gotten, Vancouver will be very tough, depending on how they play the tournament, but Kansas City should be able to get through if they can improve their form (and potentially add some pieces over the summer before the CCL kicks off). While they'll have a long trip to Trinidad they do avoid most of the more hostile environments that they could have been drawn with.

Sporting Chasing Former FC Dallas Goalkeeper?

Sporting Kansas City is currently in a difficult situation in league play after failing to win for the ninth time in their last 10 games on Friday night against DC United. The failings of the current roster has led to plenty of speculation as to who Kansas City could bring in this summer as reinforcements to help the team turn their season around. Reports out of Peru talk about a potential reinforcement in an area that most KC fans wouldn't have expected. The reports link Kansas City with former FC Dallas goalkeeper, Raul Fernandez.

The goalkeeper for the Peru national team spent the 2013 and 2014 seasons with FC Dallas, appearing 47 times in that stretch. He recorded 11 shutouts and had a 16-18-12 record for Dallas over that stretch. Since leaving Dallas, he has returned to Club Universitario de Deportes in Peru.

It'd certainly be a surprising move if KC did in fact pursue Fernandez considering how well current starter, Tim Melia played last year. That said, Melia has struggled this year and has made a few mistakes that have led to goals (including Friday against DC). In his final year in MLS, Fernandez only made $10,000 more than Melia currently makes for the team now.

While it's not an area of need, having interest in another proven goalkeeper isn't necessarily wrong for Kansas City. That said, if I was looking to address the needs of the team, goalkeeper wouldn't be the area that I would turn to first to correct.

Hajderovic Playing in the PDL - Former SKC Wizards Update

Thanks to Swope Park Rangers General Manager Kurt Austin, we know where Sporting KC draft pick, Faik Hajderovic is playing right now. The fourth round draft pick has signed on to play with the Saint Louis FC U23 team in the PDL. While they're the U23 team for the USL side, Saint Louis FC U23 actually plays in Springfield, MO. The USL side purchased the PDL rights of the Springfield Synergy and rebranded them as their U23 team. The reason for this likely has to do with the fact that St. Louis already has a PDL side, the St. Louis Lions, founded in 2006. The U23 team played their first game of the season last night against the U23 side of the Oklahoma City Energy, falling 4-2.

Here is the rest of this week's update.

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

MLS
Jalil Anibaba - Houston - Came off the bench and played 77 minutes in Houston's 1-0 loss to Chicago.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Dressed but did not play in New England's 4-2 loss to Dallas.
Servando Carrasco - Orlando City - Started and played 90 minutes in Orlando's 2-1 win over Montreal.
Aurelien Collin - New York - Started and played 90 minutes in New York's 1-0 win over Chicago. Started and played 90 minutes in New York's 7-0 win over NYCFC.
Herculez Gomez - Seattle - Came off the bench and played 24 minutes in Seattle's 1-0 loss to Colorado.
Michael Harrington - Chicago - Did not dress in either of Chicago's games.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Came off the bench and played 4 minutes in Portland's 4-2 win over Vancouver.
Kei Kamara - New England - Started and played 90 minutes in New England's 4-2 loss to Dallas.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Did not dress in Montreal's 2-1 loss to Orlando.
Mikey Lopez - NYCFC - Did not dress in NYCFC's 1-1 draw with Toronto. Started and played 90 minutes in NYCFC's 7-0 loss to New York.
Yura Movsisyan - Salt Lake - Started and played 89 minutes, scoring a goal in Salt Lake's 3-1 win over KC.
Amobi Okugo - Portland - Did not dress in Portland's 4-2 win over Vancouver.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Started and played 90 minutes in Philadelphia's 1-0 win over DC.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Did not dress in Columbus' 0-0 draw with Toronto.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Came off the bench and played 4 minutes in New York's 1-0 win over Chicago. Started and played 90 minutes in New York's 7-0 win over NYCFC.

NASL
Bernardo Anor - Minnesota (loan) - Started and played 70 minutes in Minnesota's 4-2 loss to Indy.
Stefan Antonijevic - Tampa Bay - Dressed but did not play in Tampa's 2-1 loss to New York.
Marcel de Jong - Ottawa - Started and played 90 minutes in Ottawa's 2-0 loss to Edmonton in the Canadian Championship. Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Ottawa's 1-0 win over Jacksonville.
Mechack Jerome - Jacksonville - Did not dress in Jacksonville's 1-0 loss to Ottawa.
James Marcelin - Carolina - Did not dress in Carolina's 1-0 loss to Edmonton.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Oklahoma City - Dressed but did not play in OKC's 2-1 loss to Fort Lauderdale.

US
Christian Duke - Swope Park - Started and played 90 minutes in Swope Park's 4-1 loss to Rio Grande Valley.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Started and played 120 minutes in OKC's 0-0 (10-9) shootout win over Mississippi Brilla. Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 1-0 win over San Antonio. Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 3-1 win over Real Monarchs.
Ryan James - Rochester - Started and played 62 minutes in Rochester's 7-0 win over Southie FC. Came off the bench and played 26 minutes in Rochester's 2-1 loss to Orlando.
Alex Martinez - Charlotte - Did not play in Charlotte's games.
Tony Rocha - Orlando - Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in Orlando's 2-1 win over Rochester.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Started and played 120 minutes in OKC's 0-0 (10-9) shootout win over Mississippi Brilla. Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 1-0 win over San Antonio. Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 3-1 win over Real Monarchs.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 4-0 win over Aromas Cafe. Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 0-0 draw with Louisville.

PDL
Adnan Gabeljic - San Francisco - Started and played 83 minutes in San Francisco's 2-1 win over Ventura County.
Faik Hajderovic - St. Louis U23 - Started and played 60 minutes in Saint Louis' 4-2 loss to OKC Energy U23.

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

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Siah Jamegan - Iran - Offseason.
Scott Angevine - YPA - Finland - Started and played 90 minutes in YPA's 4-2 loss to VIFK.
Claudio Bieler - Belgrano - Argentina - Started and played 90 minutes in Belgrano's 1-0 win over Rosario Central.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - Offseason.
Reinaldo Brenes - AD Belen Siglo XXI - Costa Rica - Offseason.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - No game this week.
Jorge Claros - Alajuelense - Costa Rica - Offseason.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Defeated Club Sando 5-2.
Toni Dovale - CD Leganes - Spain - Dressed but did not play in Leganes' 3-2 loss to Huesca.
Pablo Escobar - Jaguares de Córdoba - Colombia - Did not dress in Jaguares' 2-0 loss to Rionegro Aguilas.
Luis Gil - Queretaro - Mexico - Offseason.
Jeferson - Madureira EC - Brazil - Offseason.
Will John - RoPS - Finland - Started and played 69 minutes in RoPS' 1-0 loss to VPS.
Igor Juliao - Ferroviária - Brazil - Offseason.
Igor Kostrov - Slavia-Mozyr - Belarus - Started and played 90 minutes in Slavia's 1-0 win over Neman Grodno.
Luis Marin - CD Palestino - Chile - Offseason.
Neven Markovic - KS Lechia Gdansk - Poland - Offseason.
Michal Mravec - RoPS - Finland - Dressed but did not play in RoPS' 1-0 loss to VPS.
Krisztian Nemeth - Al-Gharafa - Qatar - Offseason.
Erik Palmer-Brown - Porto (loan) - Portugal - Offseason.
Pablo Punyed - IBV - Iceland - Started and played 90 minutes in IBV's 3-0 loss to Vikingur Reykjavik.
Oriol Rosell - Vitoria (Sporting Club de Portugal)  Portugal - Offseason.
Brendan Ruiz - DJK Don Bosco Bamberg - Germany - Lost 7-6 to 1.FC Sand.
Soony Saad - Pattaya United (BEC Tero Sasana) - Started and played 90 minutes in Pattaya's 6-0 loss to Ratchaburi.
Peter Schmetz - Wuppertaler SV - Germany - Started and played 90 minutes in Wuppertaler's 3-1 win over TSV Meerbusch.
Kevin Souter - Deveronvale FC - Scotland - Offseason.
Martin Steuble - Ceres-La Salle - Philippines - Offseason.
Milos Stojcev - Atromitos - Greece - Offseason.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - Dressed but did not play in Saarbrucken's 3-0 win over Kickers Offenbach.

Sunday After Stats

Benny Feilhaber made his 100th league appearance for KC, he's the 30th player to hit that mark.

Sporting has topped their loss total at home for all of last season.

Dom Dwyer's goal was his 27th at home in league play for KC, tying him with Kei Kamara and Davy Arnaud for second all time on that list.

It was his 34th at home in all competitions, tying him with Arnaud for second on that list.

Roger Espinoza started his 139th game in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Chance Myers for 17th all time on that list.

Besler and Zusi Called Up for Copa America

Two of Sporting Kansas City's designated players are heading out on national team duty after tonight's game against Salt Lake. Matt Besler and Graham Zusi were called up by the US Men's National team for this summer's Copa America Centenario.

With MLS taking a break for much of the tournament, Besler and Zusi will only miss two games during the group stage. They'll miss next Friday's game against DC United as well as a game on June 2nd against the LA Galaxy. Should the US advance, they're also likely to miss the US Open Cup game on the 15th and could miss the game against Dallas on the 19th.

The good news for KC is they do have players that can step up in Besler's and Zusi's absence. Ike Opara can easily slot in at center back while Jimmy Medranda, Justin Mapp, or Connor Hallisey could all step in at Zusi' wing position.

Match Day 14: The Monkey Gone, Time to Move Forward

For the first time in five weeks Sporting KC finally got a win on Sunday with a 2-1 win over Orlando City. Now with that monkey off of Sporting KC's back, the club needs to move forward and start to string some results together. This is especially important because while still early, Kansas City is below the red line in terms of playoff positioning and have played the most games in MLS so far this season (along with Dallas and Vancouver). Arguments can be made about the points in hand already, but KC needs to start to pick up points, especially against teams that are currently ahead of them like tomorrow's opponent, Real Salt Lake.

Salt Lake comes to Kansas City for their third of five straight road games for RSL. So far Salt Lake has not scored on the road trip, suffering a pair of 1-0 losses to Colorado and Houston over the past few weeks. Salt Lake though does have a win in KC this season, winning 2-1 at Children's Mercy Park to hand Kansas City their first loss of the season. This time around Salt Lake should have their veteran players like Nick Rimando, Kyle Beckerman, and Javier Morales all available for selection which could cause more problems for KC.

Sporting finally got the win but there are still plenty of questions to be asked about the team, most pressing is probably the continued isolation of Dwyer Island up top. With Brad Davis and Graham Zusi being the regular wing strikers, even when they're inverted their first instinct is not to cut inside but to get down the line for a cross. KC's attack has really missed that cut whose mindset is to cut in first. When KC brought on Jacob Peterson they got someone who was willing to play with that mindset and it paid off with a goal and assist for Peterson. Tomorrow though I'm not sure that Peter Vermes switches things up from the lineup that started the game against Orlando, he could replace Jimmy Medranda if Seth Sinovic is ready to go, but he may stick with the Colombian at left back for another game.

Davis - Dwyer - Zusi

Espinoza - Feilhaber

Mustivar

Medranda - Besler - Coelho - Abdul-Salaam

Melia

Number to Remember - 5 - That's the number of consecutive league games Kansas City has gone without a win against Real Salt Lake in the series. In those five games, Kansas City has scored three goals, all three coming in losses as KC has gone 0-3-2 in that stretch. Only one of those goals has come at home as well.

Key Match Up -KC attack vs Nick Rimando - Sporting KC had over 30 shots against Orlando City and 13 of those were on target. Against Rimando, one of the league's best, Kansas City will need to be much better with their chances. While Salt Lake's defense hasn't been great, Rimando can win games on his own with his saves.

PREDICTION - Salt Lake isn't playing well, but I'm not 100% ready to believe that Kansas City is out of the woods. Orlando's defense has been less than stellar for them and Sunday was basically a must win, and KC played like it taking the game to Orlando for basically all 90 minutes. KC isn't going to get 30 shots again, and if they some how happen to they need to score more than two. Salt Lake away from home again certainly won't help then, I think KC will be able to take all three points from this game.

SKC - 2 (Dwyer, Feilhaber)
RSL - 1 (Plata)

Player Salaries Released

The MLS Players' Union today came out with their yearly release of player salaries. For Sporting Kansas City their salaries went up by about $1 million from the 2015 season. Included in the raises were the likes of Tim Melia getting a decent pay bump, Matt Besler, Graham Zusi, Roger Espinoza and Benny Feilhaber both getting $50,000. The biggest bump looks like it went to Dom Dwyer, whose base salary jumped $100,000 from 2015 when he made $400,000 to 2016 where he's making $500,000. Here is the full list; the first number is the base salary while the second is the player's guaranteed compensation for 2016.

Abdul-Salaam, Saad - $63,000 - $76,750
Anor, Bernardo - 132,624 - $132,624
Besler, Matt - $700,000 - $732,624
Coelho, Nuno - $275,000 - $375,000
Davis, Brad - $355,000 - $355,000
Dia, Amadou - $51,500 - $51,500
Dwyer, Dom - $500,000 - $618,750
Ellis, Kevin - $72,000 - $75,150
Espinoza, Roger - $800,000 - $800,000
Feilhaber, Benny - $400,000 - $412,187.50
Hallisey, Connor - $63,000 - $76,750
Kann, Alec - $63,000 - $63,000
Kempin, Jon - $82,750 - $82,750
Mapp, Justin - $224,070 - $239,070
Medranda, Jimmy - $63,000 - $63,000
Melia, Tim - $150,000 - $152,500
Mustivar, Soni - $200,000 - $200,000
Myers, Chance - $200,000 - $225,000
Nagamura, Paulo - $225,000 - $225,000
Olum, Lawrence - $105,000 - $115,000
Opara, Ike - $125,000 - $131,250
Palmer-Brown, Erik - $65,000 - $65,500
Peterson, Jacob - $137,750 - $144,625
Quintilla, Jordi - $100,000 - $109,525
Rubio, Diego - $300,000 - $333,000
Salloi, Daniel - $51,500 - $51,500
Sinovic, Seth - $105,000 - $112,666.67
Zusi, Graham - $700,000 - $732,102.27

In base salary Kansas City tops out at $6,309,194 and in guaranteed compensation $6,751,824.44, around $3 million above the $3,660,000 salary cap for MLS. That puts Kansas City with the seventh highest payroll in all of MLS, although they have the highest payroll of any team that does not have a player making $1,000,000 or more. To be fair, $485,000 of that difference between the cap and Kansas City’s payroll is made up in the salaries of KC's three DPs base salaries, Besler, Zusi and Diego Rubio. But the rest of the salary difference comes from all the extra "stuff" that MLS has to allow teams to spend over the salary cap. For example, Kansas City technically has two players on their roster, Dwyer and Espinoza, who would qualify as designated players based on their salary, but neither player is recognized as such by the team or the league. If these numbers are correct (and has been discussed year after year you do have to take these numbers with some grain of salt), KC would be using the newer "targeted allocation money" to likely pay down the cap hit by Dwyer and Espinoza so that they do not count as designated players. That extra almost $400,000 gets closer to the cap, but not quite. There are other methods that KC is also likely using to pay down players, including maybe Espinoza or Dwyer if KC didn't want to use all their TAM. The team could be utilizing their general allocation money to assist in paying down the salaries of certain players on the team to keep them under the cap. The other possibility has to do with Brad Davis. Davis was acquired by KC in a trade with Houston, at the time most people expected Davis to take a pay cut (he took a $45,000 one from his salary last year), people also expected that the Dynamo were likely going to be covering at least a portion of Davis' contract, which would have also helped Kansas City to have some cap relief.

Looking at the list there are certainly a few numbers that stand out in terms of over paying/under paying. Amadou Dia continues to be a bargain at the price Kansas City is paying him at. At the same time, Seth Sinovic took a pay cut to come back to Kansas City, a good bit of business there by the team to get a deal done for less money that allowed Sinovic to stay in KC and KC to keep a good starting left back. Jimmy Medranda so far has been the brightest spark in KC's offense, but since this is the first time he's really shown it, his price isn't that surprising, now if he could just continue his breakthrough and get some goals/assists. KC's two free agent signings though have been disappointing to this point, Justin Mapp and Paulo Nagamura both are making north of $200,000 and have played a combined nine minutes so far this season. Certainly not the level of play that you want from players you're paying that much for. You're also likely going to see plenty of comments about Zusi's price tag along with Dwyer and Myers. The best bit of business KC may have done was with Nuno Andre Coelho who has been a rock in defense for Kansas City this season. While a $275,000 base isn't cheap, he's certainly proving so far to be worth every penny.

Sporting to Open US Open Cup Defense on the Road

If Sporting Kansas City is going to defend their 2015 US Open Cup, they'll have to start their run in unfamiliar territory. For just the third time since 2009, Sporting Kansas City will have to play a US Open Cup game on the road when they'll travel to either Minnesota or St. Louis for their fourth round US Open Cup match on June 15th. The game will be the first time that KC has played a US Open Cup proper game on the road against someone other than the Philadelphia Union. Since a 2009 trip to Seattle, Sporting KC has played just two of 16 US Open Cup proper games on the road, both against the Union (2012 semifinal and 2015 final). They've also played one US Open Cup qualifier against the Houston Dynamo at Texas A&M back in 2011.

The pair of opponents will be familiar to Kansas City though. Sporting has played both Minnesota United and St. Louis FC in the fourth round of each of the last two US Open Cup games, both wins for Sporting. Back in 2014 Sporting KC took advantage of a Cristiano Dias red card to defeat United 2-0 while last year after St. Louis topped Minnesota in the third round KC got a header goal from Graham Zusi to see them past a stingy St. Louis FC side 1-0 on their way to winning the US Open Cup.

No matter the match up KC get, it won't be easy. Minnesota is building their NASL roster ahead of their move up to MLS next season and will be looking to impress in that game. Meanwhile St. Louis will really utilize the cross state rivalry to really build up the game (and that's something plenty of Kansas City fans are looking forward to). And while it is great to have drivable road trips to do, part of the magic of the US Open Cup and cup competitions in general is playing teams you don't normally play. When you're only ever grouped with one of three teams each and every year it does lose just a bit of its magic, at least for me. The fact that it is on the road this time does add some intrigue to it though.

Okugo Signs with Portland - Former SKC Wizards Update

After trialing with DC United and the New York Red Bulls, and being loaned to the Red Bulls USL side, Amobi Okugo finally has a new club. The defender/midfielder, who spent the second half of 2015 in Kansas City signed with the Portland Timbers this past week. He becomes another reclamation project for Caleb Porter in Portland to go along with Darren Mattocks.

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
Akeem Priestley
Yann Songo'o

MLS
Jalil Anibaba - Houston - Started and played 90 minutes in Houston's 3-1 loss to San Jose. Dressed but did not play in Houston's 1-0 win over Salt Lake.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Did not dress in New England's 2-0 win over Chicago.
Servando Carrasco - Orlando City - Started and played 90 minutes in Orlando's 2-1 loss to KC.
Aurelien Collin - New York - Started and played 90 minutes in New York's 2-0 loss to DC.
Herculez Gomez - Seattle - Started and played 66 minutes in Seattle's 2-0 loss to Dallas.
Michael Harrington - Chicago - Started and played 62 minutes in Chicago's 2-1 loss to Vancouver. Started and played 90 minutes in Chicago's 2-0 loss to New England.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Dressed but did not play in Portland's 2-1 loss to Dallas. Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 2-1 loss to NYCFC.
Kei Kamara - New England - Started and played 90 minutes in New England's 2-0 win over Chicago.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Dressed but did not play in Montreal's 1-1 draw with Philadelphia.
Mikey Lopez - NYCFC - Started and played 90 minutes in NYCFC's 2-1 win over Portland.
Yura Movsisyan - Salt Lake - Started and played 90 minutes in RSL's 1-0 loss to Houston.
Amobi Okugo - Portland - Did not dress in either of Portland's games.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Started and played 90 minutes in Philadelphia's 2-2 draw with LA. Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Philadelphia's 1-1 draw with Montreal.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Did not dress in Columbus' 1-1 draw with Colorado.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Started and played 90 minutes in New York's 2-0 loss to DC.

NASL
Bernardo Anor - Minnesota (loan) - Started and played 76 minutes in Minnesota's 2-0 win over Jacksonville.
Stefan Antonijevic - Tampa Bay - Did not dress in Tampa's 1-1 draw with OKC.
Marcel de Jong - Ottawa - Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in Ottawa's 3-0 Canadian Championship win over Edmonton.
Mechack Jerome - Jacksonville - Started and played 90 minutes in Jacksonville's 2-0 loss to Minnesota.
James Marcelin - Carolina - Did not dress in Carolina's 0-0 draw with Miami.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Oklahoma City - Dressed but did not play in OKC's 1-1 draw with Tampa.

US
Christian Duke - Swope Park - Started and played 90 minutes in Swope Park's 2-1 win over Tulsa.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 1-1 draw with San Antonio.
Ryan James - Rochester - Started and played 73 minutes in Rochester's 0-0 draw with Charlotte.
Alex Martinez - Charlotte - Did not dress in Charlotte's 0-0 draw with Rochester.
Tony Rocha - Orlando - No game this week.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 1-1 draw with San Antonio.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 82 minutes in Richmond's 1-0 loss to Toronto. Did not dress in Richmond's 1-1 draw with New York.

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

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Siah Jamegan - Iran - Started and played 83 minutes in Siah's 2-0 win over Malavan.
Scott Angevine - YPA - Finland - Started and played 90 minutes in YPA's 5-1 loss to OPS.
Claudio Bieler - Belgrano - Argentina - Started and played 90 minutes in Belgrano's 1-0 loss to Godoy Cruz.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 19 minutes in Chivas' 0-0 draw with America. Started and played 90 minutes in Chivas' 2-1 loss to America.
Reinaldo Brenes - AD Belen Siglo XXI - Costa Rica - Offseason.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Started and played 73 minutes in Bengaluru's 3-0 loss to Johor Darul Ta'zim.
Jorge Claros - Alajuelense - Costa Rica - Started and played 90 minutes in Alajuelense's 2-0 loss to Herediano.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Defeated St. Ann's Rangers 3-0.
Toni Dovale - CD Leganes - Spain - Dressed but did not play in Leganes' 0-0 draw with Gimnastic Tarragona.
Pablo Escobar - Jaguares de Córdoba - Colombia - Did not dress in Jaguares' 3-2 loss to Deportivo Cali.
Luis Gil - Queretaro - Mexico - Offseason.
Jeferson - Madureira EC - Brazil - Offseason.
Will John - RoPS - Finland - Came off the bench and played 9 minutes in RoPS' 1-0 loss to KuPS.
Igor Juliao - Ferroviária - Brazil - Did not dress in Ferroviaria's 3-0 loss to Fluminense.
Igor Kostrov - Slavia-Mozyr - Belarus - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Slavia's 2-2 draw with Belshina.
Luis Marin - CD Palestino - Chile - Offseason.
Neven Markovic - KS Lechia Gdansk - Poland - Did not dress in either of Lechia's games.
Michal Mravec - RoPS - Finland - Dressed but did not play in RoPS' 1-0 loss to KuPS.
Krisztian Nemeth - Al-Gharafa - Qatar - Offseason.
Erik Palmer-Brown - Porto (loan) - Portugal - Started and played 90 minutes in Porto B's 3-1 loss to Vitoria Guimaraes II.
Pablo Punyed - IBV - Iceland - Started and played 90 minutes in IBV's 1-1 draw wtih Vikingur Olafsvik. Started and played 90 minutes in IBV's 3-0 win over Fylkir.
Oriol Rosell - Vitoria (Sporting Club de Portugal)  Portugal - Did not dress in Vitoria's 2-2 draw with Arouca.
Brendan Ruiz - DJK Don Bosco Bamberg - Germany - Lost 4-0 to TSV Grobbardorf.
Soony Saad - Pattaya United (BEC Tero Sasana) - Did not dress in Pattaya's 2-1 win over BEC Tero Sasana. Started and played 90 minutes in Pattaya's 2-1 loss to Muang Thong United.
Peter Schmetz - Wuppertaler SV - Germany - No game this week.
Kevin Souter - Deveronvale FC - Scotland - Offseason.
Martin Steuble - Ceres-La Salle - Philippines - Offseason.
Milos Stojcev - Atromitos - Greece - Offseason.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - Did not dress in Saarbrucken's 1-0 loss to Hessen Kassel.

Sunday of Stats

Here are a few stats from today's game between KC and Orlando.

Dom Dwyer scored his 50th goal in all competitions for KC, he's the third player to hit that mark for KC along with Preki and Davy Arnaud.

In the 43rd minute, Matt Besler hit 20,000 minutes across all competitions for his Sporting career, he's the 6th player to play 20,000 minutes for Kansas City.

At 33 years, 74 days, Paulo Nagamura became the 17th oldest player to play in a league game for KC. He knocked Alex Bunbury off the list.

In all competitions, Nagamura became the 18th oldest player to appear in a game. He knocked Bunbury off of that list as well.

Benny Feilhaber's assist was his 27th in league play for KC, breaking his tie with Josh Wolff for 6th all time on that list.

Roger Espinoza's assist was his 16th in league play for KC, tying him with Chance Myers for 16th all time on that list.

It was Espinoza's 18th ain all competitions for KC tying him with Myers, Francisco Gomez, and Jose Burciaga for 15th all time on that list.

Espinoza made his 142nd appearance in league play, tying him with Myers for 14th place all time on that list.

Espinoza started his 138th game in all competitions for KC, tying him with Myers for 17th all time on that list.

The Streak is Broken

Sporting KC came out and looked bond and determined to end their seven game winless streak today when they welcomed Orlando City to Children's Mercy Park. Kansas City set a club record with 34 shots today but it wasn't until the final 16 minutes that they finally broke through and ended their scoreless streak. The spark also came from an unlikely source, substitute Jacob Peterson who had a goal an an assist as Kansas City won 2-1.

Kansas City looked to set the tone from the start and just three minutes in were denied by the post, after a good run from Jimmy Medranda down the line he squared it for Dom Dwyer whose dummy deflected back to Graham Zusi who curled a shot that hit off the cross bar. Orlando would find most of their luck going the other way on the counter, in the seventh Kaka played Brek Shea through on goal and he played the ball to the back post but it was wide of the post and too far in front of Cyle Larin to be put past Tim Melia. KC kept finding space on the wing when they went to the end line and squared the ball back across goal, but no one was making the secondary run into the box to finish the chances, or players missed their opportunities firing good chances high or wide of the goal. Dwyer thought he'd ended the scoreless streak in the 43rd minute on a turning shot that went in off the underside of the cross bar, but Dwyer was just offside on the play. Just before half time KC had another pair of chances from Dwyer and Zusi that were denied by goalkeeper Joe Bendik while Orlando's Darwin Ceren was on the ground.

The second half saw Kansas City continue to pin Orlando back and create the better of the chances. Off a corner in the 56th minute, Saad Abdul-Salaam put a header onto the post after the corner came all the way to the back post for him, off the rebound the ball eventually made to Dwyer who put a header on goal but Bendik made the save. KC continued to get efforts on goal and shots but Bendik made anything that was on goal keeping the game scoreless. It really began to feel like KC was never going to score and many fans started to dread the inevitable goal by Orlando against the run of play. That goal came in the 67th minute off an Orlando corner kick. Kaka played the ball to the back post where David Mateos headed the ball back to the middle of the goal for Larin. The ball though got knocked around and eventually was knocked by Matt Besler off of Medranda and into the net to put Orlando on top 1-0 and begin the questions of "is this happening again?"

KC came back the other way and almost responded immediately as a Zusi corner found Dwyer but his header was saved on the line by Rafael Ramos. In the 74th Kansas City finally broke through with Dwyer finally finding the net. Benny Feilhaber set up the play with a great scoop pass into the box for Peterson who headed the ball into the path of Dwyer, who with a hint of offside headed the ball past Bendik and into the net to tie the game. Four minutes later Kansas City grabbed the lead as Roger Espinoza played a fantastic ball from the corner of the box towards the six where Peterson met it with a diving header that beat Bendik to put KC on top. KC held off a late push by Orlando looking to find an equalizing goal and finally got themselves back into the win column.

Wizards Man of the Match - Roger Espinoza - Espinoza was all over the field today both offensively and defensively for Kansas City. He did really good at helping to contain Kaka on the defensive side of the ball and offensively provided the beautiful ball to the back post for Peterson on the winning goal.

Honorable Mention - Jacob Peterson

Player Ratings - Melia 6, Medranda 6, Coelho 6, Besler 6, Abdul-Salaam 7, Mustivar 6, Espinoza 8, Feilhaber 6, Zusi 5, Dwyer 5, Davis 5. Subs Peterson 8, Olum NR, Nagamura NR.

Rangers Snap Losing Streak

One Kansas City soccer team finally got themselves back into the win column. After a rough couple of weeks for all Kansas City soccer teams, the Swope Park Rangers were finally able to get a win for Kansas City tonight against the visiting Tulsa Roughnecks. The win was the Rangers second of the season over the Roughnecks, winning the previous encounter by the same 2-1 scoreline.

The first half lacked in scoring, but the Rangers had the better of play as they forced Tulsa goalkeeper Jake Feener into a number of saves to keep it scoreless. He spilled a shot off a free kick by Tomas Granitto that he really should have held, but the Rangers couldn't get on the end of the rebound to find the lead. The Rangers continued to press and Daniel Salloi forced a good save from Feener on a shot from long range to keep the game scoreless as the teams went into the half time break.

The second half saw the Roughnecks come out in a high press, trying to force a mistake from the Rangers, but Swope Park was able to break out of the high pressure with a perfect counter as Salloi played a nice through ball for Tyler Pasher. Pasher raced in on goal and lifted a chip over Feener and into the net to put the Rangers on top 1-0. The Rangers continued to press, looking to add to their lead, but the Roughnecks defense held firm keeping the Rangers from getting really clear looks. Doing so paid off for the Roughnecks as Sammy Ochoa bounced on a ball in the box after a failed clearance from the Rangers. Ochoa buried the ball past Zac Lubin and into the net to tie the game at 1-1 in the 79th minute. The tie game didn't last long though as the Rangers pushed forward again and found a second goal. This time Salloi dribbled across the top of the box before firing a shot that Feener saved but could not hold again. This time though the Rangers had Pasher following in the play and he fired the rebound past Feener and into the net to make it 2-1 to the Rangers. The Rangers continued to find space up top as the Roughnecks pushed forward but could not extend their lead. Nansel Selbol had a really good chance late on as he got played in behind the defense but took too many touches as the defense recovered and ended up having his shot saved by Feener. Later on Ezra Armstrong worked a good give and go down the left side. With space he tried to find Salloi in the middle for a tap in, but his cross was just in front of the KC forward. Late on it was Lubin in the SPR net that played hero, coming up with some good saves, none bigger than a kick save on a flicked shot by Anthony Peters after a cross by Ochoa. Lubin got a leg out in time to knock the ball away and keep the Rangers in front for the win.

Match Day 13: Another Set of Streaks

Sporting Kansas City will play another game this weekend involving two teams in the middle of streaks. After having Houston end their long winless run and allowing Colorado to extend their unbeaten run, Sporting KC will now host Orlando City, who are winless in five straight games. KC extended their winless run to seven on Wednesday in Colorado.

Orlando comes into the game after having drawn 1-1 with the New York Red Bulls at home. Orlando has just won twice on the season, their only road win coming against New York City FC. If Orlando is going to end their winless run they're going to have to do it without their coach, Adrian Heath, who is suspended for tomorrow's game for entering the field of play during Orlando's draw with the Red Bulls. On the field Orlando is also going to be missing some bite in their midfield, as Christian Higuita is suspended for this game after being red carded late on in the same game.

Kansas City is dealing with a suspension of their own, the club appealed the red card that Ike Opara received in the loss to Colorado, but the team has not heard anything back and at this point and is planning on not having him tomorrow. His absence would seem to point to Matt Besler returning to the starting 11 after sitting out Wednesday's game. Elsewhere on the field, Graham Zusi looks like he'll be available for selection again after an injury kept him out on Wednesday, but Seth Sinovic seems likely to miss out due to injury after leaving in the 59th minute. The big question is whether the players that Peter Vermes sat on Wednesday due to performance issues return. Someone like Benny Feilhaber who did not play Wednesday and seems to be considered one of the lead candidates for being sat for performance issues.

Zusi - Dwyer - Davis

Espinoza - Feilhaber

Mustivar

Dia - Besler - Coelho - SAS

Melia

Number to Remember - .92 - That's Sporting KC's goals per game through 12 games this season. That's good for the worst in MLS as Sporting has scored just 11 goals in 12 games so far this season. Dom Dwyer has four of those 11 goals.

Key Match Up - Nuno Coelho/Matt Besler vs Cyle Larin - The Canadian international is leading Orlando in goals this season with four so far. He's proven to be a handful for teams to deal with, and even with Kaka being questionable for the game, Orlando has done well in finding ways to get him the ball in dangerous situations.

PREDICTION - Orlando isn't a very good road team, and has had defensive issues this season. They've done quite a bit of rotating with their center back pairings and another new pairing this week could be something KC could take advantage of. At home KC's likelihood of using the press goes up quite a bit. Doing that against two center backs who haven't played a lot together could be something KC can take advantage of. At the other end though, Orlando has the speed to really hit KC on the counter if KC can't control the game well enough. Earlier this week I'd predicted a 2-1 win for Kansas City, even with the loss Wednesday I think Kansas City can finally break the winless run tomorrow.

SKC - 2 (Dwyer, Zusi)
OCSC - 1 (Larin)

S.A.S. Thursday After Stats

Not much from last night, but here are a couple stats from last night.

Seth Sinovic made his 128th league appearance for KC, tying him with Jimmy Nielsen for 16th all time on that list.

Sinovic made his 125th league start for KC, tying him with Tony Meola for 15th all time on that list.

Kamara Traded to New England - Former SKC Wizards Update

Less than a season after being a finalist for the league MVP award, Kei Kamara has been traded to the New England Revolution for TAM, GAM, two draft picks, and an international roster spot. While there is likely a longer list of what led to the trade, the tipping point occurred this weekend when Kamara, on a hattrick was not allowed to take a penalty kick to try to score his first professional hattrick. After the game Kamara laid into his team and specifically Federico Higuain, who had taken the penalty instead of him. Kamara doubled down on the comments over the next few days and continued to burn bridges in Columbus. With the MLS transfer window closing at midnight early Thursday morning there was a push to get a deal done, and apparently just before midnight New England and Columbus came to a deal.

Elsewhere, on loan defender, Erik Palmer-Brown and Porto B clinched the Portuguese second division with a 3-1 win over Benfica B. Palmer-Brown has worked himself into a starting spot with the club and has been a consistent starter since coming over on loan.

Here's 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 - Started and played 90 minutes in Houston's 2-0 win over KC.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes in New England's 4-2 loss to LA.
Servando Carrasco - Orlando City - Came off the bench and played 2 minutes in Orlando's 1-1 draw with New York.
Aurelien Collin - New York - Started and playd 90 minutes in New York's 1-1 draw with Orlando.
Herculez Gomez - Seattle - Started and played 85 minutes in Seattle's 2-0 win over San Jose.
Michael Harrington - Chicago - No game this week.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Dressed but did not play in Portland's 2-1 loss to Vancouver.
Kei Kamara - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring 2 goals in Columbus' 4-4 draw with Montreal.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Dressed but did not play in Montreal's 4-4 draw with Columbus.
Mikey Lopez - NYCFC - Started and played 90 minutes in NYCFC's 2-0 win over DC.
Yura Movsisyan - Salt Lake - Started and played 90 minutes in Salt Lake's 1-0 loss to Colorado.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - No game this week.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 4-4 draw with Montreal.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Started and played 89 minutes in New York's 1-1 draw with Orlando.

NASL
Bernardo Anor - Minnesota (loan) - Came off the bench and played 24 minutes in Minnesota's 2-2 draw with Ottawa.
Stefan Antonijevic - Tampa Bay - No game this week.
Marcel de Jong - Ottawa - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes, scoring a goal in Ottawa's 2-2 draw with Minnesota.
Mechack Jerome - Jacksonville - Started and played 90 minutes in Jacksonville's 1-0 loss to Edmonton. Started and played 90 minutes in Jacksonville's 1-0 loss to OKC.
James Marcelin - Carolina - Started and played 75 minutes in Carolina's 3-1 loss to Fort Lauderdale.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Oklahoma City - Dressed but did not play in OKC's 1-0 win over Jacksonville.

US
Christian Duke - Swope Park - Started and played 90 minutes in Swope Park's 3-0 loss to St. Louis.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 0-0 draw with Arizona.
Ryan James - Rochester - Came off the bench and played 12 minutes in Rochester's 3-2 win over Charleston.
Alex Martinez - Charlotte - Did not dress in Charlotte's 1-0 win over Montreal.
Tony Rocha - Orlando - Started and played 90 minutes in Orlando's 3-1 loss to Cincinnati. Started and played 84 minutes in Orlando's 2-2 draw wtih Bethlehem.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 0-0 draw with Arizona.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 1-0 win over Wilmington.

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

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Siah Jamegan - Iran - Started and played 90 minutes in Siah's 3-1 loss to Zob Ahan.
Scott Angevine - YPA - Finland - Started and played 90 minues in YPA's 2-1 loss to Kraft. Started and played 90 minutes in YPA's 3-0 loss to TP-47.
Claudio Bieler - Belgrano - Argentina - Started and played 90 minutes in Belgrano's 2-1 loss to Atletico Tucuman.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 5 minutes in Chivas' 1-0 win over Santos Laguna.
Reinaldo Brenes - AD Belen Siglo XXI - Costa Rica - Did not dress in Belen's 1-1 draw wtih Herediano.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - No game this week.
Jorge Claros - Alajuelense - Costa Rica - Started and played 77 minutes in Alajuelense's 3-1 win over Saprissa. Started and played 90 minutes in Alajuelense's 1-0 loss to Herediano.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Lost 1-0 to Defence Force.
Toni Dovale - CD Leganes - Spain - Dressed but did not play in Leganes' 2-2 draw wtih Numancia.
Pablo Escobar - Jaguares de Córdoba - Colombia - Did not dress in either of Jaguares' games.
Luis Gil - Queretaro - Mexico - Did not dress in Queretaro's 3-1 loss to Puebla.
Jeferson - Madureira EC - Brazil - Offseason.
Will John - RoPS - Finland - Started and played 67 minutes in RoPS' 0-0 draw wtih Lahti. Started and played 68 minutes in RoPS' 1-1 draw wtih HIFK.
Igor Juliao - Ferroviária - Brazil - Did not dress in Ferroviaria's 3-3 draw wtih Fluminense.
Igor Kostrov - Slavia-Mozyr - Belarus - Started and played 90 minutes in Slavia's 0-0 draw with Dinamo Brest.
Luis Marin - CD Palestino - Chile - Offseason.
Neven Markovic - KS Lechia Gdansk - Poland - Did not dress in Lechia's 2-1 win oer Ruch Chorzow.
Michal Mravec - RoPS - Finland - Dressed but did not play in RoPS' 0-0 draw with Lahti. Came off the bench and played 11 minutes in RoPS' 1-1 draw with HIFK.
Krisztian Nemeth - Al-Gharafa - Qatar - Lost 3-2 to Al Sadd in the Emir Cup.
Erik Palmer-Brown - Porto (loan) - Portugal - Started and played 90 minutes in Porto B's 3-1 win over Benfica B.
Pablo Punyed - IBV - Iceland - Did not dress in IBV's 2-0 loss to Fjolnir.
Oriol Rosell - Vitoria (Sporting Club de Portugal)  Portugal - Did not dress in Vitoria's 4-1 win over Moreirense.
Brendan Ruiz - DJK Don Bosco Bamberg - Germany - Started and played 90 minutes in Don Bosco's 4-1 loss to SpVgg Bayern Hof.
Soony Saad - Pattaya United (BEC Tero Sasana) - Did not dress in Pattaya's 2-0 win over Osotspa.
Peter Schmetz - Wuppertaler SV - Germany - Started and played 90 minutes in Wuppertaler's 1-1 draw wtih MSV Duisburg II.
Kevin Souter - Deveronvale FC - Scotland - Offseason.
Martin Steuble - Ceres-La Salle - Philippines - Offseason.
Milos Stojcev - Atromitos - Greece - Offseason.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - Did not dress in either of Saarbrucken's games.

Better Than Saturday, But Far From Good

Sporting KC were unable to stop their current skid and extended their winless streak to seven games with a 1-0 loss against the Colorado Rapids. Making four changes to the lineup that lost 2-0 on the weekend, including club captain and vice captain Matt Besler and Graham Zusi, along with the team's reigning MVP Benny Feilhaber, as Peter Vermes hoped to find a way to end the club's run without a win. Unfortunately the changes Vermes made did little to improve the team's attacking ability, and while the overall performance was better, the toothless offense is a big worry.

One thing that has plagued Kansas City during this current run has been mistakes at the back leading to goals for opponents. In the 20th minute a KC giveaway almost saw it happen again as a poor pass by Ike Opara ended up going right to Sam Cronin who fired a one time shot towards goal with Tim Melia out of position, but the shot went wide of the post. Another giveaway by Roger Espinoza after he tried to clear a ball instead of shielding it out of bounds went to Luis Solignac who cut inside and fired a shot that deflected wide of goal. The defensive mistakes still didn't seem to be cleared up. KC's best chance of the first half ended up being a fairly tame shot by Espinoza that was easily collected by Zac MacMath in the 42nd minute.

The Rapids have scored quite a few goals early in the second half and almost did again tonight off an early free kick as Jermaine Jones had a chance on a shot that Melia spilled, but eventually KC cleared it away. Minutes later, Colorado and Jones had another chance, this time Jones beat Melia, but Dom Dwyer was behind the KC goalkeeper, backing him up to clear the ball off the line to keep the game scoreless. KC again had plenty of the ball but really could do nothing with it going forward, with three defensive midfielders, KC really struggled to link their defenders with the forwards and mainly resorted to long balls over the top to Dwyer who was going against the the 6'5" Bobby Burling and 6'7" Axel Sjoberg. Those aren't match ups that the 5'9" Dwyer is going to win a lot of. Meanwhile the Rapids continued to push forward and in the 76th minute found themselves up a man on an interesting call by referee Jose Carlos Rivero. Jermaine Jones raced towards the corner flag with Opara marking him, Jones cut the ball between Opara's legs towards goal and then tried to race onto the ball but instead ran into Opara. Both players went to ground and an obstruction foul appeared to be called on Opara, a fine call even if there wasn't much Opara could have done to avoid it, but then Rivero produced the yellow card, Opara's second of the game and KC was down to 10 men for the final 15 minutes. The Rapids immediately made Kansas City pay off the free kick. The initial cross was cleared, but the ball fell to Dillon Serna who dribbled across the top of the box before getting a yard of space on Jacob Peterson and firing a shot through traffic that Melia didn't appear to see until it was too late and the ball made it into the corner to give the Rapids a 1-0 lead. Down a goal now KC tried to push forward but again struggled to create much at all going forward. KC's best chance to find an equalizer didn't come until stoppage time when Nuno Coelho ran over a free kick and touched it to Dwyer who fired a shot on goal but it was blocked away. Minutes later the final whistle blew and KC will now head home having gone winless in seven and just one win in their last nine.

Wizards Man of the Match - Nuno Coelho - With Matt Besler not playing, Coelho became the organizer of the back line and did a good job of keeping Colorado from getting many looks on goal at home. He continues to be the best defender for Kansas City this season (discounting his performance against Houston).

Player Ratings - Melia 5, Sinovic 5, Coelho 6, Opara 5, Abdul-Salaam 5, Olum 4, Mustivar 5, Espinoza 5, Davis 2, Dwyer 2, Medranda 3. Subs, Dia 5, Hallisey 2, Peterson 2.

Match Day 12: How Many Changes Does Vermes Make?

Sporting Kansas City head coach, Peter Vermes did not mince words after Saturday's 2-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo. Vermes laid into his team in a post game interview about their lack of effort of certain players and their intensity of the field. He hinted at changes coming for the next game, changes he couldn't necessarily make against Houston because of players getting tired. His first chance to show those changes is tomorrow night in Colorado against the MLS leading Rapids.

The Rapids have gone from a team that was a laughing stock in preseason for barely having enough players to dress a full game day 18 to sitting on top of the Supporters' Shield standings with 20 points in the early going. The Rapids are also unbeaten in their last five matches, four wins and a draw, the latest result being a 1-0 win at home vs Real Salt Lake. The goal coming thanks to midfielder Jermaine Jones who has become a major goal scoring threat for the Rapids since joining the club after serving his six game suspension to start the season. Like Kansas City, Colorado has another game coming up this weekend, which could lead to some rotation of the lineup, but with their weekend trip being to Columbus, and tomorrow being a conference game, putting their best lineup out tomorrow should be a given for KC.

Vermes' quotes from the weekend loom large over tomorrow's game. The big question is who sits? Plenty of fan speculation has centered around the likes of Benny Feilhaber and Graham Zusi as both players have struggled at times during this winless run. The question though, if you see one or both of those players is where does the offense come from? Not that Kansas City's offense has been lighting the world on fire, but if you remove two of the top 10 goal providers in team history, where does your chance creation come from? Jimmy Medranda has played well this year and easy arguments can be made for him to start the game tomorrow, but he's not exactly been providing a ton to the offense when he's in. He's providing a spark and energy, but even that hasn't really helped to contribute to goals. In the end it'll be interesting tomorrow to see just how many changes Vermes makes to his team.

Davis - Rubio - Medranda

Espinoza - Feilhaber

Olum

Dia - Besler - Coelho - SAS

Melia

Number to Remember - 7 - Sporting Kansas City have not gone seven games without a win since their 10 game winless run in 2011. Nine of those 10 games were on the road in that stretch before then Livestrong Sporting Park opened.

Key Match Up - Roger Espinoza vs Jermaine Jones - The American international has made himself a big goal scoring threat for the Rapids since his suspension ended earlier this year. In the four games that he's played, he's scored three goals and had two assists with the Rapids have gone 3-0-1 in that stretch. He'll still play his defensive role, but when the Rapids get the ball he's going to go forward, and Espinoza is likely the one that will need to do the tracking.

PREDICTION - There could really not be two teams further apart in terms of form at this early point of the season, the Rapids have 13 points in the last five games, while Kansas City has two in the last six games. Both streaks started when the two teams last met in Kansas City back in April. In MLS terms, this is the classic trap game for Colorado, a team on a nice winning streak, at home against an opponent who just played very poor on the road, and on short rest. In those terms you'd put your money on Kansas City, especially since you can't expect a Peter Vermes coached team to play as badly as SKC did against Houston again. But I just don't have enough faith in the Kansas City offense right now to find the goal for shots, let alone goals, I think KC's winless streak will be extending to seven.

SKC - 0
COL - 1 (Jones)

Sunday After Stats

Peter Vermes coached his 223rd MLS game for KC, becoming the all time leader for games managed for the club.

Benny Feilhaber made his 150th MLS league appearance in his career.

In the 89th minute, Roger Espinoza passed Diego Gutierrez and into 18th place for minutes played across all competitions, he finished the game with 12,248 minutes played.

Espinoza made his 136th start in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Gutierrez for 18th all time on that list.

Seth Sinovic made his 157th appearance in all competitions for KC, breaking his tie with Tony Meola for 16th all time on that list.

Rangers Following In Sporting's Foot Steps, and Not in a Good Way

After a strong start to the season by the Swope Park Rangers, unfortunately they've followed the same path as Sporting KC did after their strong start. The Rangers have lost three straight games after a 2-0-1 start to the season, the latest loss coming last night against cross state rival, St. Louis FC.

St. Louis grabbed the lead in only the 11th minute when a cross by Richard Dixon caused some trouble in the SPR box with Jimmy Mulligan and Jon Kempin not communicating well enough. The ball fell to Schillo Tshuma who beat Kempin to give St. Louis the lead. The Rangers responded to the goal with some good play, Oumar Ballo hit the cross bar on a corner and Kevin Oliveira earned another corner forcing St. Louis goalkeeper Mark Pais to tip a free kick away from goal. In the 39th minute though St. Louis doubled their lead. After a questionable foul called on the Rangers just outside their own box, Chad Bond curled a free kick past Kempin and into the net doubling St. Louis' lead. Before the half was over though things got even worse for the Rangers as Ballo picked up his second yellow of the game in stoppage time and was sent off, forcing SPR to play a man down.

The second half saw St. Louis take advantage of the man advantage early on as Bond played Irvin Herrera in behind the Rangers defense. As Kempin came out, Herrera headed the ball over Kempin and into the net. After the goal the Rangers tried to find a way back into the game but were stopped by the St. Louis defense and Pais in goal. A 79th minute foul by Bond on Oliveria saw the St Louis player sent off for a second bookable offense as both teams ended the game with 10 players. Unfortunately the Rangers could not find any way back into the game.

Something Gives, But Not in KC's Favor

A pair of teams with a combined 11 games winless meeting in a game, while a draw was a possibility, something had to give. Unfortunately for Kansas City that didn't give in their favor as they fell on the road to the Houston Dynamo 2-0 to end the Dynamo's six game winless streak, and extended Kansas City's to six, their longest since 2011.

Kansas City controlled the majority of the game with over 65% possession over the course of the game, but again struggled to translate that possession into meaningful chances on goal, forcing Houston's Tyler Deric to make just three saves. KC did have chances though, Dom Dwyer set up Graham Zusi near the top of the box, but Zusi pulled his shot wide of Deric's post. Over the course of the half, KC dominated possession and looked more like the home team than the Dynamo. An inability to take advantage of that possession though came back to bite them in the 30th minute when the Dynamo took the lead. A long ball over the top to Cubo Torres was flicked into the path of Giles Barnes who fired a shot past Tim Melia and into the net to put Houston on top. While Kansas City couldn't take advantage of all their possession and put shots on goal, Houston didn't have that problem with their possession putting five of their six shots in the first half on frame. The last of those came in stoppage time and doubled Hoston's lead. After some good play by the Dynamo, Andrew Wenger won the  ball in front of Seth Sinovic, touching the ball into the box and roofing the ball into the net past Melia to make it 2-0 before half time.

The second half saw much of the same as Kansas City threw numbers forward looking to find a way back into the game, but their shooting struggles continued. The insertion of Diego Rubio and Jimmy Medranda did add some life to an offense that seemed to be devoid of creativity, but KC still couldn't find the final ball and still struggled to create chances as they failed to win for the sixth straight game.

Wizards Man of the Match - Jimmy Medranda - I almost gave this to no one for the play tonight, but Medranda was a bright spot for KC. I'm not sure if either of KC's starting wingers are the players Peter Vermes talked about not giving enough effort, but Medranda at this point for me as earned himself a run of starts for Kansas City up top.

Player Ratings - Melia 4, Sinovic 4, Besler 4, Coelho 3, Myers 3, Mustivar 4, Espinoza 4, Feilhaber 3, Davis 4, Dwyer 4, Zusi 4. Subs Rubio 5, Medranda 5, Abdul-Salaam 4.

Match Day 11: Something Has to Give

Tomorrow night in Houston two teams that are winless in a combined 11 straight games will square off a BBVA Compass Stadium when Sporting KC and the Houston Dynamo face off. While Kansas City is winless in their last five games since a 2-0 win over the New York Red Bulls, the Dynamo are winless in six since a 5-0 win over FC Dallas. Saying the two teams aren't in form would be putting it politely.

Houston is currently sitting in last place in the Western Conference with just five points from their first eight games on the season. They're scoring plenty of goals on this season, 14 so far (although five came in one game), but at the same time cannot keep from giving up goals. Houston has allowed the third most goals so far this season, 16, one behind second place Dallas, and two behind league leaders, New York, although both have played two more games than Houston has at this early point of the season.

Kansas City for their part hasn't been playing poorly for much of their five game winless streak, they just are struggling to finish, having scored just four goals in their winless run. The defense has continued to play fairly well, they've allowed more than one goal just twice this season, and haven't let any games get away from them so far this season. The 3-4-3 lineup last week that KC pulled out last week surprised the LA Galaxy a bit and I think at this point is something that Peter Vermes can keep in his pocket to pull out when he needs to. This weekend though I'm not sure he goes with that lineup on the road. I have a feeling he's going to revert back to the 4-3-3 that he's used for the past few years as it will allow Kansas City more in the center of midfield against the Dynamo and allow their press that has been more successful on the road this year.

Davis - Dwyer - Zusi

Espinoza - Feilhaber

Olum

Sinovic - Besler - Coelho - Myers

Melia

Number to Remember - 1 - That's the number of home wins that host in this series has in the last nine league games in this series. The home team is 1-3-5 with the last home winning being a Dynamo win 1-0 last year at BBVA Compass Stadium. KC also had a draw there last year, the dramatic 4-4 draw that saw the end of the Luis Marin experiment.

Key Match Up - Brad Davis vs the Dynamo - Davis spent 10 years in Houston playing for the Dynamo, appearing over 250 times in league play. This will be the first time Davis goes back to Houston and the first time he'll face off against the team he spent so much time with.

PREDICTION - Kansas City has trouble scoring goals, while Houston has trouble stopping them, something seems like it will give tomorrow. Either Kansas City's offense will wake up, or Houston's defense will. KC has offensive weapons that could take advantage of Houston's leaky defense if they can get going. That's a big question though the way the offense has played at times lately. Houston also has the ability to really hit KC hard on the counter with the likes of Giles Barnes. Unfortunately I don't see either team breaking their winless run tomorrow.

SKC - 2 (Dwyer, Davis)
HOU - 2 (Bruin, Barnes)

Children's Mercy Park to Host Liga MX Friendly

While Sporting Kansas City looks set to not be playing a friendly against a foreign opponent in 2016, there looks like there will be a friendly at Children's Mercy Park this summer. Sporting announced today that Liga MX sides Pachuca and Santos Laguna will be playing a friendly at CMP on Tuesday, June 21st.

The match up will feature a pair of Mexican sides that have traditionally come to the US to play competitive games in the CONCACAF Champions League. In fact, this will actually be Santos' fourth trip to Kansas City in their history for a game. Back when Sporting KC were the Wizards they hosted Santos Laguna in three different competitions, the 2001 Copa Mercanorte, the 2002 CONCACAF Champions Cup (precursor to the CCL), and the 2009 SuperLiga. Santos holds a 2-1 record in those three games. Pachuca on the other hand has never played in Kansas City as far as I can tell.

The pair of teams could be down a few of their higher profile players for the game though as the friendly takes place on the same day as one of the Copa America Centenario semifinals. Combined the two teams have nine players that have made their countries' preliminary roster for the competition. Pachuca has two players from Colombia, Stefan Medina and Oscar Murillo, one from the US, Omar Gonzalez, and two from Mexico, Rodolfo Pizarro and Hirving Lozano. Santos meanwhile has two from Mexico, Nestor Araujo and Jesus Molina, one from Argetina, Agustin Marchesin, and one from Chile, Bryan Rabello.

A Look at Sporting KC and Red Cards Around the League

Sunday night against the LA Galaxy, Sporting KC played up a man for the final 20 minutes of their 1-1 draw at Children's Mercy Park. The red card given to the Galaxy's Ashley Cole was the fourth given to a Sporting KC opponent this season, the most in all of MLS. The next closest teams have only been up a man twice. With being up a man four times, Kansas City has obviously been up a man more minutes (153) than any other team in the league, the Galaxy is in second place having been up a man 107 minutes on the season.

The big thing for Kansas City over the last two games is that according to the statistics on the league website, Sporting Kansas City has not recorded a single shot on goal while up a man. That's a span of 59 minutes in two games where the game was tied at the time the red card happened. It's one thing to not record a shot when you're leading by a goal or two and up a man, like FC Dallas did this year, recording just a single shot on goal over 24 minutes up a man against DC because they were already up 3-0 at the time the red card occurred. It's also understandable when the red card occurs late in the game, like Colorado not scoring a goal in the final four minutes after going up a man against Seattle, while winning 3-1. But when you're up a man for 20-30 minutes or more in a game, not getting a single shot on goal shows a mixture of bad offense and good defense. But when you have one team that is doing it over multiple games then you have to look specifically at the offense and their inability to test the goalkeeper and generate chances when up a man.

With that in mind I took a look at all the red cards that have been issued in games this year that led to a man advantage for a team on the field. I then took a look at how that team did offensively up a man, looking at their goals, shots on goal, and shots off target and blocked. I also looked at the amount of possession teams had after going up a man. I also made sure to look at whether the team was at home or away, as that can obviously change game plan. Basically I was looking to see if KC's stats were as bad as I felt they were when I looked them up. So far this season there have been 24 red cards in 22 games, 23 of those red cards led to a man (or two) advantage, the only outlier was Salt Lake vs Orlando where Orlando was up a man for 25 minutes after a Demar Phillips red card before Darwin Ceren was sent off in the 45th minute to make the game 10v10 for the final 45 minutes.

As I mentioned earlier, Kansas City leads the league in playing up a man, both in terms of times (4), and in terms of minutes played (153), in those 153 minutes, KC has held possession about 69.4% of the time. In those games, Kansas City has recorded a total of 22 shots; just five of those shots have been on net, none in the last two games. The other 17 shots have either been off target or have been blocked. While up a man, KC has scored one goal, Nuno Coelho's 30 yard shot in the opener against the Seattle Sounders, they have also conceded once while up a man, a penalty kick goal by Pedro Morales in KC's home opener against Vancouver.

So how does Kansas City match up with other teams this season when it comes to red cards?

LA, Colorado, New York City FC, Orlando, and Philadelphia are the next closest in terms of playing up a man, all five teams have played with a man advantage twice so far in 2016 (Portland has also seen two red cards handed to opponents, but both were in the same game). When it comes to minutes played up a man, those five teams are obviously high up the list, but Kansas City has played almost 50 more minutes up a man than any of the other teams. Sporting has seen a pair of red cards late in the first half, along with almost 40 minutes last week at BC Place against the Whitecaps. The fewest minutes KC has spent up a man was actually Sunday against the Galaxy when Sporting only played 20 minutes up a man.

The next highest on the list is the LA Galaxy who have spent 107 minutes up a man in their two games as both times they played up a man started in the first half. The next highest is Orlando City, who would be much closer to KC if not for their having to play 10v10 against Salt Lake. The likes of Philadelphia and Colorado both come next having played over 80 minutes each up a man. Columbus has the most minutes played for just a single red card, having played 72 minutes up a man recently against Houston.

In terms of goals, Kansas City is tied for third with seven teams all of who have obviously spent less time up a man than KC. LA has the most goals, scoring three times in their two times being up a man (all came in 45 minutes against the San Jose Earthquakes). Portland has scored two goals in 59 minutes against Salt Lake, the second of those two goals coming when Portland was up two men on RSL.

KC's struggle to get shots on goal is supported here as well. Their five shots on goal while up a man are tied for sixth, with NYCFC, who KC has spent three and a half times longer up a man. The only team with multiple games with a man advantage with fewer shots on goal in Orlando City who has just four. The leaders in this category are LA and Colorado with nine and seven respectively.

In shots off target and blocked though KC is leading the way with 17 shots, three more than the next closest Colorado. The same is true for total shots where Kansas City leads Colorado and LA by one shot, 22 to 21; they're followed by Portland who has 19 shots. That said, KC playing so many more minutes than those teams, they should be outshooting them by more. KC has averaged a shot every seven minutes or so while up a man. LA meanwhile has averaged one every five minutes while Colorado is getting one almost every four minutes. In fact the only teams worse than KC in terms of shot creation up a man were Orlando who averaged a shot almost every eight minutes, Dallas who averaged a shot every eight minutes (already up 3-0 when they went up a man), and New England who got just two shots over 29 minutes up a man (but were already up 1-0 at the time).

While Kansas City has struggled to create chances on goal and goals, they haven't struggled to control the game when they go up a man. KC is averaging over 69% possession when they have been up a man this season. That's good for fifth of the teams that have had a man advantage, but one of those four is San Jose who had a man advantage officially for just a minute after a red card in stoppage time for Portland. Two of the other three ahead of them, Columbus (77%) and Portland (70%) have played less than half the minutes up a man that KC has (72 and 59 minutes respectively), while third, NYCFC (73%) has played less than a third of the time up a man (43 minutes). So when KC gets the opportunity to be up a man they do quite well at keeping the ball and denying the other team chances. In that vein, they are one of seven teams to have allowed a goal while up a man though, but obviously as you have more time up a man the potential for a team to counter and score does go up, especially with the amount of possession that KC has had.

Before people throw out the fact that KC has played half of their games up a man away, so have the likes of LA, NYCFC, and Orlando, getting two draws and a loss from those three games away from home. Only Philadelphia and Colorado have played both games they've had up a man at home and were 3-0-1, with the home team having the lead in three of the four before the red card occurred. Meanwhile, Kansas City has gone 2-0-2 in their four games up a man, 1-0-1 both at home and on the road. KC is the only team to play multiple games so far this year on the road up a man. They are also the only road team to take advantage of the man advantage to turn a draw or loss into a win (Dallas, the only other team to win on the road was up 3-0 when the red card occurred).

In the end after reviewing all the numbers, did Kansas City end up doing as poorly as I thought? Yes they aren't getting many goals, or even shots on goal, but that's an area that KC has struggled when a team isn't playing 10 men behind the ball bunker. Sporting has shown a lack of ability to break down bunkering teams even when it's an all-out one, so being surprised by the lack of production a man up shouldn't be incredibly surprising. That said, there really does need to be improvement in that area sometimes over the past two games especially I've felt that KC passed up a decent chance looking for a better one and that better one never came as Kansas City would cycle the ball from one sideline to the other in a half circle around the box.

On the plus side, based on KC's possession they are taking the game to teams when they are up a man, they're just not doing enough with it when it happens. Not enough shots, not enough on goal, and not enough ending up in the net. In the end, Kansas City probably isn't the worst when they're up a man, after reviewing the stats so far, I'd have to say that Orlando has been the poorest so far when they've had an advantage, but Kansas City is not very far behind them at all, and have had double the opportunities as well. It's an area that KC really needs to improve on, teams should be able to punish opponents that are undermanned on the field.

Collin Traded to New York - Former SKC Wizards Update

It'd been a rough second season in Orlando for former Kansas City defender, Aurelien Collin. The Frechman lost his starting job at Orlando and had made just two appearances for the club. This past week though Collin was traded to the New York Red Bulls in exchange for a conditional draft pick. The move is a good one for the Red Bulls who won't be fronting all of Collin's salary and will get a proven center back who can help them work through their current injury issues along the back line.

Elsewhere, the 2016-2017 CONCACAF Champions League is taken shape, and a former player could be making an appearance at Children's Mercy Park later this year. Daneil Cyrus and W Connection qualified for this year's tournament after taking second this past week at the CFU Club Championship for Caribbean teams to qualify. Also qualifying was Central FC also out of Trinidad and Don Bosco out of Haiti.

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 2-1 loss to RSL.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Did not dress in either of New England's games.
Servando Carrasco - Orlando City - Came off the bench and played 27 minutes in Orlando's 2-2 draw with New England.
Aurelien Collin - New York - Just traded to New York.
Herculez Gomez - Seattle - Started and played 87 minutes in Seattle's 1-0 win over Columbus.
Michael Harrington - Chicago - Started and played 90 minutes in Chicago's 1-1 draw with DC.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Started and played 90 minues in Portland's 1-1 draw with New England. Came off the bench and played 1 minute in Portland's 2-1 win over Toronto.
Kei Kamara - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 1-0 loss to Seattle.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Did not dress in either of Montreal's games.
Mikey Lopez - NYCFC - Started and played 90 minutes in NYCFC's 1-1 draw with Montreal. Started and played 90 minutes in NYCFC's 3-2 win over Vancouver.
Yura Movsisyan - Salt Lake - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in RSL's 2-1 win over Houston.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Started and played 90 minues in Philadelphia's 1-1 draw with San Jose.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 1-0 loss to Seattle.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Started and played 90 minutes in New York's 4-0 win over Dallas.

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

US
Christian Duke - Swope Park - Started and played 90 minutes in SPR's 2-1 loss to Vancouver.
Cyprian Hedrick - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 1-1 draw with Seattle.
Ryan James - Rochester - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Rochester's 2-1 win over Harrisburg.
Alex Martinez - Charlotte - Did not dress in Charlotte's 2-0 win over New York.
Tony Rocha - Orlando - Came off the bench and played 22 minutes in Orlando's 1-0 win over Montreal.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Started and played 90 minutes in OKC's 1-1 draw with Seattle.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 1-0 win over Toronto.

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

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - Siah Jamegan - Iran - Started and played 90 minutes in Siah's 1-0 loss to Saba Qom.
Scott Angevine - YPA - Finland - No game until 5/5.
Claudio Bieler - Belgrano - Argentina - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring 2 goals in Belgrano's 2-2 draw with Quilmes.
Omar Bravo - Chivas - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 23 minutes in Chivas' 2-1 win over Dorados.
Reinaldo Brenes - AD Belen Siglo XXI - Costa Rica - Did not dress in Belen's 1-1 draw with Herediano.
Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru - India - Started and played 87 minutes in Bengaluru's 2-1 win over Lao Toyota. Did not play in Bengaluru's 2-1 loss to Aizawl. Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Bengaluru's 3-2 loss to Aizawl.
Jorge Claros - Alajuelense - Costa Rica - Started and played 90 minutes in Alajuelense's 2-0 win over Saprissa.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Started and played 90 minutes in W Connection's 2-0 win over Arnett Gardens. Started and played 90 minutes in W Connection's 3-0 loss to Central FC.
Toni Dovale - CD Leganes - Spain - Dressed but did not play in Leganes' 2-1 win over Athletic Club II.
Pablo Escobar - Jaguares de Córdoba - Colombia - Did not dress in either of Jaguares games.
Luis Gil - Queretaro - Mexico - Did not dress in Queretaro's 2-1 win over Pumas.
Jeferson - Madureira EC - Brazil - Offseason.
Will John - RoPS - Finland - Started and played 90 minutes in RoPS' 2-1 win over Inter Turku.
Igor Juliao - Ferroviária - Brazil - No game until 5/4.
Igor Kostrov - Slavia-Mozyr - Belarus - Started and played 90 minutes in Slavia's 4-0 loss to Vitebsk.
Luis Marin - CD Palestino - Chile -  Started and played 90 minutes in Palestino's 3-2 win over San Marcos.
Neven Markovic - KS Lechia Gdansk - Poland - Did not dress in Lechia's 0-0 draw with Lech Poznan.
Michal Mravec - RoPS - Finland - Came off the bench and played 1 minute in RoPS' 2-1 win over Inter Turku.
Krisztian Nemeth - Al-Gharafa - Qatar - Defeated Um Salal 1-1 4-2 on penalty kicks in the Emir Cup.
Erik Palmer-Brown - Porto (loan) - Portugal - Started and played 90 minutes in Porto B's 1-1 draw with Sporting CP B.
Pablo Punyed - IBV - Iceland - Did not dress in IBV's 4-0 win over IA.
Oriol Rosell - Vitoria (Sporting Club de Portugal)  Portugal - Dressed but did not play in Vitoria's 1-0 loss to Benfica.
Brendan Ruiz - DJK Don Bosco Bamberg - Germany - Tied Jahn Forchheim 0-0/
Soony Saad - Pattaya United (BEC Tero Sasana) - Started and played 90 minutes in Pattaya's 3-2 win over BBCU. Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Pattaya's 3-1 win over Chainat Hornbill.
Peter Schmetz - Wuppertaler SV - Germany - No game this week.
Kevin Souter - Deveronvale FC - Scotland - Offseason.
Martin Steuble - Ceres-La Salle - Philippines - Offseason.
Milos Stojcev - Atromitos - Greece - Offseason.
Matt Taylor - Saarbrücken - Germany - Did not dress in Saarbrucken's 1-0 win over Kaiserslautern II.