Sporting Kansas City 0 DC United 1
Well it has happened again. Mother Nature forced DC to stay in Chicago so the start of the match was pushed back and then a massive delay in between the halves ended with DC United coming away with the full three points.
No when players mental clocks get messed with and such things do tend to happen. Occurs more often with baseball but when players have something clicking and then they sit in a locker room for as long as they did rhythm is disrupted.
Sadly the second time at Children’s Mercy Park it happened again. For those curious the first time was a 2-0 loss in the US Open Cup to Richmond Kickers in the 2011 quarterfinal after a near two hour delay.
For the fans in the stands for the second half kudos but perhaps the angry fans all stayed as ‘Fire Vermes’ came up and were also heard in social media.
The moment where it went wrong was Tim Melia going for the ball and poor communication as he was partially taken out allowed Alhaji Kamara to score the match’s only goal.
Admittedly the ineffectiveness of the offense has been annoying as chances are going created. They are just not being put away.
The next few weeks will not be as busy with the league partially shutting down for the Copa America but perhaps a break from the league is needed.
Maybe a US Open Cup match is needed against lower league opposition to give the players the confidence back.
When the players speak its words they spout back to the media. Fans are starting to become frustrated. They want results and time to retool is perhaps the answer for Peter Vermes and Company.
CONCACAF Champions League Draw
Sporting KC was matched up with Vancouver Whitecaps and Central FC in group C of the competition.
Maximum of four MLS teams can make it through to the knockout phase.
For Sporting KC each match against Vancouver will be a difficult situation and after being knocked out of the group stage last time around it will be another difficult group to make the knockout round.
Sporting Academy News
Sporting Kansas City’s academy teams U-18 & U-16 are poised to move on into the playoffs for the US Developmental Academy League.
Four members of the U-18 squad currently are under academy contracts with the Swope Park Rangers and so long as they get a result in their final weekend they will enter the playoffs via a wildcard with their high points per a match ratio.
The U-16 squad is firmly in third place in their division needing only a result heading into the final weekend to ensure that they make the playoffs.
Photo Credit: Graham Green
National Team Duty
Both Matt Besler and Graham Zusi appeared for the USMNT in their 4-0 defeat of Boliva at Children’s Mercy Park. Besler started the match and was subbed at half time. Zusi came on for Michael Bradley in the second half.
Soni Mustivar made a second half appearance for Haiti as they fell to Columbia 3-1 in their only friendly leading up to their entrance in the Copa America.
Swope Park Rangers Update
Nice draw away against Sacramento Republic 1-1 as Swope Park came away with points via a brilliant long range goal from Kevin Oliveira. Considering the squad is not partaking in the US Open Cup via being an MLS farm team this has no doubt helped in getting the result.
Marc Dos Santos has insisted that this team is being built to compete and so far they have done so. Only question is when the fruits of the youth come through to the senior MLS team.
Sporting Kansas City
MLS
