The Daily Links- Zusi Scores in USMNT Victory, Sporting Has A New Beat Writer

by justinmayhugh on Jan 26, 2012 5:00 AM CST in The Digital Crawl

Graham Zusi- USMNT's latest hero. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The big story yesterday was Sporting Kansas City's own, Graham Zusi, scoring a goal in the USMNT's 1-0 victory over Panama last night.

Joe will be posting his thoughts on last night's game in the near future, so I won't get too much into the match. Just a few quick hits:

Brek Shea needs a break. He's looked rather ordinary these past two matches. I think Jurgen needs to give the guy a rest.
Nick Rimando gets my Man of the Match award. Panama could have scored at least a couple of goals if not for some great saves from Rimando. That leaky US defense sure could use Matt Besler, couldn't it?
Teal Bunbury still has one of the most inconsistent first touches out there. Regarding last night's match, it was no where to be found.
Zusi scored last night's goal the same way he scored his two goals in USMNT training: by not giving up on a play and seeing it through until the end.

Over at This Sporting Life, they have a very good post about Sporting Kansas City's current designated player situation. It hits on some pretty interesting ideas in regards to Sporting CEO Robb Heineman's tweet from early yesterday morning.

At this point, I don't really feel like signing a DP is necessary, which I know is a departure from how I felt a couple of months ago. But the way I see it as things stand today, Kansas City was one game away from reaching the MLS Cup. True, they lost Omar Bravo, and Davy Arnaud this offseason, but neither one of those players had an impact during Sporting's playoff run.

With the addition of Bobby Convey, and Paulo Nagamura, and the continued maturation of Sporting's slew of talented younger players, I think Kansas City is in prime position to make a legitimate run at the MLS Cup. At the very least, I'd have to think Sporting is the favorite to win the Eastern Conference.

True, it would be nice to have that true #10 to provide consistent service to our forwards; a player that can break down the opposition's defense, and anticipate his teammates runs. Sporting tried to land that guy in 2011, and it didn't work out. That's not to say it couldn't work out in 2012. I just think it would have to be an ideal situation, and it sounds like that's not going to happen... Which is okay. I believe Sporting can bring home the MLS Cup with the current roster.

The wait is over. Sporting Kansas City has a new beat writer. Steve Brisendine announced on twitter yesterday that he will be following in the footsteps of Andrew Wiebe. Brisendine has written a couple of nice Sporting KC posts recently for MLSsoccer.com, so it's great news hearing that he's gotten the full-time gig. Congrats, Steve!

Finally, I'd like to start leaving you a short YouTube clip in every Daily Link post that I find to be rather amusing. Just something to maybe entertain you for a minute or so. Or in the case of today's clip, for about 14 seconds. I guarantee it will be 14 of the greatest seconds in your life.

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