Category Archives: Sporting_Kansas_City
Donnelly: Sporting Dominates in 1-1 Draw With Red Bulls. Sound Familiar?
It was one of the biggest games of the season for Sporting Kansas City on Sunday at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park… The visiting New York Red Bulls came to town a mere two points behind Eastern Conference leading KC. They were … Continue reading
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Donnelly: Sporting in 1st Place After Win at Toronto FC
Sporting Kansas City moved into first place in the East with a 1-0 win at Toronto Saturday, two points ahead of the New York Red Bulls who visit LIVESTRONG this Sunday. KC deserved the win on Canadian soil, dominating possession … Continue reading
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Donnelly: My Notebook — French Champs Dominate Sporting
French League 1 champions Montpellier Herault SC put a 3-0 beatdown on a depleted Sporting Kansas City squad Tuesday at LIVESTRONG. KC’s lineup didn’t feature a single starter other than Julio Cesar who’s started a handful of games this season, but lately … Continue reading
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Donnelly: Sporting Kansas City Dominates MLS All Star Lineup
Yesterday Major League Soccer announced its 2012 All Star Starting XI…
The All Star game is on July 25th in Philly and will pit the best in the MLS against EPL giant Chelsea.
Sporting KC is represented big time, with more players on the Starting XI than any other team.
That’s some major props to Sporting and its front office, considering KC doesn’t exactly get the national media coverage that some of the other teams do.
Kansas City has three players on the Starting XI – Jimmy Nielsen, Aurelien Collin and Graham Zusi.
My initial thoughts:
Donnelly: Sporting Swelters to 0-0 Tie & Share of Division Lead
It was the most boring game of the season…
Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Houston took place in sweltering heat over the weekend at LIVESTRONG.
First off, I was happy to see Jacob Peterson in the starting lineup. The scrappy winger has straight up earned it with two goals in four appearances. He brings a relentless energy that boss man Peter Vermes loves, so I’m actually a bit surprised it took Peterson this long to get some substantial minutes. But I guess when you’re trying to justify the Bobby Convey deal you’ve got to play Bobby Convey a lot.
Plus Peterson is one of the few Sporting players that is not content with taking the path of least resistance and dumping through-balls into the corners for surging fullbacks to run onto and cross into the box. Instead, Peterson likes to face up his man, maybe try and find a foot or two of space, and fire a shot from in front of goal, something that I have criticized this team for not doing enough.
Donnelly: Hottest Ticket in Town? Sporting KC Saturday & Former SKC Man Davy Arnaud Can’t Believe It
Sporting KC bounced back in a big way on the road this week at Montreal...
Despite not playing its best and conceding many dangerous chances to the home side, KC came away with a 3-1 win boosting the team’s confidence as they head home for Saturday’s 7 pm grudge match against the team that dashed their championship dreams last season, the Houston Dynamo.
And tickets for this baby are going fast, if they’re not already gone. I just looked on Sporting’s ticket site and there werer literally about 8 tickets available. Yep, Sporting Kansas City is the hottest ticket in town right now, aside from the MLB All Star game of course.
However if you don’t have a ticket yet and still want in, don’t sweat it too much. There are several good options for scoring an after-market ticket. The option I use most is simply showing up at LIVESTRONG, heading towards the wafting barbecue smoke and looking for the blue flags flapping in the breeze. There’s almost always a super fan with an extra ticket to unload, and a few times they wouldn’t even allow me to pay for it.
They may also make you chug a beer for good measure and to prove your loyalty to SKC.
Donnelly: Chalk it up to Bad Luck? No, Not Again. Enough with the Excuses.
Sporting continued its mini-slide over the weekend, with a 1-0 loss against fabricated rivals, the Chicago Fire at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park...
That despite that KC outshot the visitors 27-10.
Headlines from some of the other publications around town covering Sporting spoke of a "dominant" performance from the boys in blue. Really?
I wonder if they saw the more relevant stat, "shots on goal," which showed KC with only the slightest edge at 5-4. Let’s be honest, KC takes a ton of shots that never test the opposing keeper or even require a save. So it’s no surprise that they routinely, massively outshoot their opponents, even in the games they lose.
Fake hustle, anyone?
Donnelly: Sporting KC Shocked in Philly, Concede Goal in First Minute
"It’s embarrassing, coming in here obviously the effort wasn’t good enough. 4-0 is a slap in the face and we
obviously can’t dwell on it and move on tomorrow.”
That was Sporting fullback Chance Myers after KC got bullied into a 4-0 loss at Philly.
It started almost immediately after the referee blew the whistle.
The Union’s Lionard Pajoy beat the KC defense to a ball heading over the end line just as his onrushing teammate, Jack McInerney rushed in to finish the point blank roofer.
Donnelly: Biggest Crowd of Season Witnesses Two World Class Sporting Goals
On a hot humid Saturday, LIVESTRONG Sporting Park was packed – even the standing room- for a game against one of the worst teams in the league…
The club reported it was the highest attended game of the season despite that Toronto entered the contest at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with only one win to its credit. And Toronto coach and Dutch legend Aron Winter, was canned just a week or two earlier after failing to bring total soccer to Canada.
Judging from Toronto’s play Saturday, current coach Paul Mariner may not be long for this world either.
Sporting started the game with a bit of a new look due to the fact that Matt Besler had an emergency appendectomy last week, and Kei Kamara is still out for national team duty with Sierra Leone.
Donnelly: Sporting Dominate 1st Half, Hold on for 2-1 Win Over San Jose
Sunday afternoon’s game against visiting MLS leader San Jose was one Sporting Kansas City absolutely needed.
After starting the season red hot, the boys in blue had not won a game in over a month. Their offense had been flagging and their defense was becoming more and more prone to suffering breakdowns at the worst possible moments.
On Sunday in front of a sold out LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, KC flashed back to early season form- at least for the first half- and pulled out an important 2-1 win.
But before we get into that, let’s just get something out of the way right now: the officiating was miserable. Total nightmare. At one point in the second half the ref called a drop ball after Zusi was taken down near the edge of the box. No idea why. And that was after he walked around for five minutes and talked to his assistant, had a chat with nearly every player on the field, and, I’m guessing, consulted a magic eight ball.
OK, back to the game.
Donnelly: Complacent Sporting Team “Satisfied” With Draw on the Road
After starting off the season 7-0, Sporting KC hit a rough patch – a month-long rough patch…
The boys in blue have not won a game since April 18th, and have struggled to replicate the form they showed early on.
Over the weekend at Colorado KC had a golden opportunity to earn 3 points after heading into the locker room up 2-0 thanks to Teal Bunbury’s first half brace. But Colorado notched two goals of its own in the second half and the game ended in a draw.
“I don’t know if there was a certain point in the game where it really turned,” wondered Bunbury, “but I feel like we took our foot off the pedal a little bit after those two goals when I feel like we should have kept pressing them a little more.”
Yes, KC took their foot off the pedal. But why?
Donnelly: Sporting Self Destruct to Drop 3rd in a Row, Vermes Rips Refs
Sporting Kansas City played a decent first half Saturday at the Chicago Fire.
Bobby Convey notched his first goal of the season with a one-timer that was set up nicely by Roger Espinoza’s cut back cross and KC went to the locker room at the half up on the home side 1-0.
The second half was a completely different story. By the time the final whistle blew, Sporting had conceded a penalty, been shown a red card, and saw one of its alleged leaders attempt a fancy juggle inside his own 6 yard box which resulted in the go ahead Chicago goal.
Yeah, total nightmare.
So after starting the season 7-0, KC now sits at 7-3. Sure, the results have been disappointing, but more troubling has been Sporting’s play of late.
Donnelly: “We were not sharp enough,” says Vermes as Montreal Shuts Out Sporting
Sporting KC continued their mini-slide Saturday night at home against the expansion Montreal Impact, losing to the visitors 2-0.
Let’s call it what it was, a poor effort from the boys in blue.
But judging from the immediate online reaction you would think that the sky is falling on the Eastern Conference leaders.
A few examples:
@Sporting_Times tweeted, "When plan b is the same as plan a that happens ………….. MLS has figured #SportingKC out."
And then there was this exchange:
@MtRoyalSoccer, a Montreal supporter, tweeted, "@TheDailyWizKC it does not take out anything from #SportingKC but #IMFC have been progressing every single game."
To which @TheDailyWizKC replied, "@MtRoyalSoccer While we’ve been declining… #SMH."
A little knee jerk perhaps? Certainly there are some issues, as there always are with every team. But the sky is not falling… yet…
Donnelly: Sporting Kansas City’s Perfection Comes to an End in Portland
It was a quick turnaround for Sporting KC. They played at Vancouver on Wednesday night, and then finished their Pacific Northwest road trip Saturday night at Portland.
Playing this away game at JELD-WEN Field felt big. The atmosphere there is similar to LIVESTRONG Sporting Park– it was packed to the gills and loud. However the stadium is a fair amount bigger with a capacity of just over 22,000.
KC seemed to thrive on the vibe, rising to the occasion and settling in after a dodgy first 10 minutes.
After 90 minutes, though, the boys in blue were no longer perfect on the season, even though Portland’s only goal came via a charity own goal. More on that in a sec.
Donnelly: “They are the best team in MLS,” Vancouver Coach says After Scrappy Loss to KC
The debate about Sporting Kansas City‘s streak of not allowing a shot on goal was firmly put to bed Wednesday in Vancouver as the Whitecaps peppered Jimmy Nielsen and the KC defense…
“The big difference for us tonight was the play of Jimmy,” KC coach Peter Vermes said after the game. “His saves at the end were tremendous and I think at the end of the day that’s what saved us…”
The home side tallied 17 shots with 7 of them on target, while KC managed only 2 on target for the night.
Donnelly: Sporting Passes Big Test, Stays Perfect With 1-0 Win Over Real Salt Lake
It’s official.
Sporting Kansas City is killing it. No, we don’t need to get into the whole "Sporting is the best pro team rght now in Kansas City" thing, because that undermines the legitmacy of MLS soccer.
Let’s just call it like it is. SKC are 6-0, have sold out 3 of 4 home games, and have allowed one goal this whole season- and that was off a set piece as a result of a horrible call from the ref.
This past Saturday’s game at LIVESTRONG against Real Salt Lake was one that most considered a likely preview of the MLS Cup Final. Fittingly, the atmosphere was electric, as everyone’s now come to expect.
When it was all said and done, Sporting Kansas City remained perfect at 6-0, though they did finally allow a shot on goal for the first time in 335 minutes. Allegedly.
Donnelly: Standing Room Crowd Watches Sporting Dismantle Donovan’s LA Galaxy
The sun finally poked through the clouds Saturday right before kickoff of the standing-room-only Sporting KC-LA Galaxy game which, to the dismay of many females in attendance, did not feature David Beckham.
In fact, Beckham didn’t even make the trip to KC as he is currently sidelined with an injury.
Straight away KC was looking to get forward, creating a half chance in the first minute. It became apparent quickly that LA, just like Chivas and Dallas, have taken notice of physical KC striker CJ Sapong and decided to do the only thing they can to slow him down.
Namely, grab him, hold him, and generally foul the shit out of him early and often.
Donnelly: Sporting Off to Best Start Ever After Road Win at Chivas USA
Is Sporting Kansas City the best team in the MLS right now? Many knowledgeable observers think so.
KC is red hot right now, and they made history on Sunday with their 1-0 win at Chivas USA. Sporting moved to 4-0 on the season, the best start ever for the KC club.
Was it pretty? No, especially the first half that saw both teams engage in some physical play while creating few real chances.
But an away win is huge, no matter what it looks like and Chivas’ 0-3-1 record belies their talent, which includes speedy former KC winger Ryan Smith. Smith left Sporting early last season citing "family issues." In fact, the home side looked like the most dangerous team Sporting has faced yet this season, though luck wasn’t on their side as several near-chances missed the mark, including one off the post that should have been a goal.
Donnelly: Sporting Stays Perfect in Come From Behind Win Over Dallas
Despite beating FC Dallas by but a single one goal, Sporting Kansas City was dominant on Sunday…
“They are much further ahead than any other team in the league and they have a lot of weapons,” said losing coach Schellas Hyndman after the match. “They play a style of soccer that is very disruptive, both going forward and defending. I don’t think there is another team in the league playing at the level they’re playing at.”
That’s high praise considering the game was knotted at 1-1 going into the 88th minute. If not for several top notch saves by former KC keeper Kevin Hartman, Sporting could have easily scored 4 or 5 goals.
Sound familiar?
Donnelly: Sporting Pummels Reduced New England Revs in Home Opener
St. Patty’s Day at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park offered the 20,000 plus in attendance more than just a green beer hangover and an Irish jig performed by two of the biggest, blackest leprechauns you’ve ever seen.
The place was juiced as the opening whistle blew, the heavy bass blasting on the sound system, nearly drowning out the chants from the sold-out Cauldron.
Head coach Peter Vermes even wore a suit, so you know it was a special night.
