The Daily Wiz - All Posts

Jerome and Joseph Called Up for Haiti Friendlies

2013-05-20T19:07:56Z

Mechack Jerome and Peterson Joseph were the sixth and seventh Sporting player to be summoned for international duty when it was announced they would be on the Haitian national team for two friendlies next month.

Haiti will play Spain on June 8th in Miami and will then head to Rio de Janerio, Brazil to take on Italy on June 12th. Jerome and Joseph will join the Haitian squad after Sporting Kansas City's June 1st match against the Montreal Impact. Fortunately for Sporting, their June break to accomodate for the FIFA International dates means that Joseph and Jerome will not miss any league matches.

There is a possibility that they could miss a US Open Cup with the fourth round taking place on June 12th. Sporting will have to win their third round match next week against either Minnesota United FC or the Des Moines Menace to reach that point.

Jerome first debuted for the Haitian National Team in 2008 and was a part in their third place finish at the 2012 Caribbean Cup. He has made 22 total appearances for his country. Joseph has made a couple of appearances in FIFA World Cup qualifying and Caribbean Cup qualifying, making his total number of appearances 13.

Both players are also likely to be called up for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July, which Haiti will be a participant in.

Sporting KC at DC United: Five Talking Points

2013-05-20T16:47:56Z

Just one week after knocking off the Houston Dynamo on the road, Sporting Kansas City drew with a struggling DC United team at RFK stadium. There were moments where Sporting probably should have won it, but they weren't able to make it happen. The draw, however, gives us a lot of points to talk about going into the week and ahead of the huge match on Sunday with Houston at Sporting Park.

1) Kamara looked lost, but all is not lost.

Kei Kamara has now subbed on in three matches so far for Sporting but yesterday he did not look good at all. I believe I said in one of the comments that he had the awareness of a cucumber. He was not a good setup man for Bieler in the box and missed several opportunities to try and score a goal later in the match. Essentially, Kamara looked lost out there when he subbed into the match in the second half. Now, he has looked decent in the first two matches he subbed in, he just has to get used to having a legitimate finisher in the center that he can set up for goals. A few more matches and I believe we'll see Kamara and Bieler working together like a well-oiled machine.

2) Ike Opara is kind of awesome

While Claudio Bieler is the biggest signing so far for Sporting Kansas City, more props need to be given to the Sporting front office for picking up Ike Opara. Opara has been a phenomenal backup so far, filling in nicely for Matt Besler and Aurelien Collin at different times during the season. Whether it has been as a great line of defense on the back line or getting physical on set pieces. In fact he was a huge part in the own goal yesterday, using his body to get Ethan White into the way of the ball, forcing the goal. Opara has been a great part of Sporting's acquisitions this offseason and has performed excellently this season.

3) Mechack Jerome is not Chance Myers

Now don't get me wrong, Mechack Jerome has been a great substitute for Chance Myers on the back line. His defense has been a plus and he has really been an asset in helping at the fullback position. However it's in the offense where he differs from Chance Myers. Myers will bring the ball up the flank and provide a lot of chances (pun intended) whereas Jerome is more content to stay back. While this doesn't hurt Sporting too much overall, it certainly isn't helping them when they need service into the box and no one is there bringing the ball up.

4) Is Sporting really as good as their reputation?

Let me provide you with an interesting statistic. Against the top five teams in the Eastern Conference, Sporting is 4-0-0 with three of those wins coming on the road. They have shutout three of those teams and hold a +6 goal differential. Against the bottom four teams, Sporting is 1-3-1 with an even goal differential. It simply doesn't make sense that Sporting has been so good against the good teams and subpar against the bottom teams in the standings. Maybe it's because the lesser teams tend to play back and try to salvage a draw whereas the top teams try and attack and Sporting makes them pay. Regardless, Sporting needs to perform better and rack up points against the bottom feeders if they want to contend for the Supporters Shield later in the year.

5) Yes, that was a goal.

In my time as a soccer viewer I have never seen such a blown call as what happened on Sunday. Ike Opara was most certainly onside and should have had a goal without a doubt. Some people have called for some kind of accountability for referees in the past but yesterday's decision really makes a case for it. There should be no reason a professional referee messes up that badly on a call. I'm not even mad that it cost Sporting a win, I'm mad that a professional level referee can mess up that badly. Sporting should have put it away later in the match, but that call really did impact the match in a big way.

Sporting KC controversially draws DC United 1-1

2013-05-19T23:53:19Z

Ike Opara should've had his first MLS goal and Sporting Kansas City should have won. At least that's based on the assumption that everything that happened after Ike Opara's blown offsides call that disallowed his goal still happened.

Regardless, Sporting Kansas City was not able to get another goal to ensure a victory and settled for a draw with DC United 1-1.

The chance for Opara's first MLS goal came in the 30th minute. Jacob Peterson tried a through ball in the box and found the foot of Opara waiting near the far post, where he tapped it in for the apparent goal. The assistant referee, however, thought otherwise and raised his flag to call offsides on Opara. Opara was was shocked, as well as many other people including the DC United commentary team, who you'll hear in the highlight video below.

Ike Opara, however, was a crucial part of the actual goal scored by Sporting Kansas City. In the 60th minute, a corner kick by Graham Zusi curled its way into the box and found the back of the head of United defender Ethan White, which propelled the ball into the net. Opara's physicality in going up for the ball knocked White into the way of the ball, which gave Sporting a 1-0 lead. So even if Opara didn't get the goal, he can take solace in the fact that he was a big part of the actual goal.

The lead, however, didn't last for long. Chris Pontius crossed a ball and found Kyle Porter streaking inside the box next to the far post. Porter tapped it in past Nielsen to the near post and tied the match at 1-1. It was Porter's first MLS goal.

Sporting had a couple of chances late in the match and, given the recent history of Sporting beating United late, they seemed ripe for another goal opportunity. However they were not able to put a goal behind Bill Hamid's line and they ended up with a final score of 1-1.

DC United snapped their seven-match losing streak and gained a point for the first time since March 16th. They still sit in last in the Eastern Conference, two points behind Chicago. Next week they host Portland in an effort to climb out of the Eastern Conference basement.

Sporting Kansas City still sits in second in the Eastern Conference, but fell three points behind New York with their win over Los Angeles earlier in the day. They also sit only one point ahead of Houston and Houston has a game in hand against Sporting. Sporting will have a chance to prove themselves against the Dynamo once again next Sunday as they host Houston at Sporting Park at 2:30.

Sporting KC at DC United MatchThread

2013-05-19T20:30:05Z

The Teams

Sporting Kansas City

5-3-2, 3-2-1 on road

20 Points

2nd in the East

Manager: Peter Vermes (5th season)

DC United

1-1-8, 1-0-4 at home

4 Points

10th in East

Manager: Ben Olsen (4th season)

Other Info

Date: May 19th, 2013

Gametime: 4:00 pm central

TV: KSMO 62

Location: RFK Stadium, Washington DC

Let your opinons be heard.

Sporting KC at DC United Match Preview

2013-05-19T12:00:06Z

The last time that Sporting KC and ~~Handball~~ DC United met Sporting stole a win late after Soony Saad put a ball in position for Claudio Bieler to score the match winner in the 89th minute. Since then Sporting has risen to the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference.

DC United has gone straight down.

About the Teams

Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Kansas City just ended the Houston Dynamo's multi-year home unbeaten streak after Aurelien Collin's header gave them the win 1-0. They are sitting pretty at the top of the East just one point down to New York, whom they have beaten already this year. They have also beaten DC United the last five times they have played and the last time Sporting lost at RFK they were still the Wizards.

DC United

Once a preseason MLS Cup contender, United has simply not played good soccer so far in 2013. They have four points out of ten matches and have only won one match the entire season. Things are not looking good so far for Ben Olsen's crew.

Players to watch

Sporting KC- Matt Besler

Matt Besler has missed the past three matches due to injury and will be supposedly returning today against DC United. However that's not the only reason to watch Besler. His partner in crime for the centerback position Aurelien Collin is suspended for this match due to his number of yellow cards he has accumulated so far in this season. Besler will have to come back and anchor the defense well in order to preserve a Sporting victory.

DC United- Dwayne De Rosario

The past two times that Sporting Kansas City and DC United have met, United has been without star midfielder Dwayne De Rosario. De Rosario, who notched his 100th career goal last week, will be someone to watch in the midfield because if anyone can take advantage of the absence of Oriol Rosell, who is also missing the match due to yellow card suspension, De Rosario can.

How they wil win

Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Kansas City will have to take advantage of a very poor DC United defense and wrack up the score. Houston was able to go into RFK stadium and come out with a 4-0 victory, there should be no reason why Sporting shouldn't be able to do the same.

DC United

Even with Matt Besler back, Sporting could be vulnerable on defense due to losing one of their starting defensive midfielders and one of their starting centerbacks. If Dwayne De Rosario can create some mismatches in the midfield and create some opportunities, DC may be able to steal one.

Predictions

Lineups

Sporting KC: Nielsen, Myers, Besler, Opara, Sinovic, Nagamura, Joseph, Feilhaber, Zusi, Bieler, Kamara.

DC United: Hamid, Korb, White, Mcdonald, Riley, Kitchen, Porter, DeLeon, De Rosario, Pontius, Townsend

Score

Sporting KC 3-0 DC United

Sporting should not have a lot of trouble this game as long as they keep playing like they've been playing. The losses of Collin and Rosell may hurt a bit, but their offense should still be extremely potent at RFK stadium.

FC Kansas City shuts down Boston Breakers 2-0

2013-05-19T03:33:28Z

One of the best defenses in the league held one of the best offenses in the league to a clean sheet as FC Kansas City knocked off the Boston Breakers 2-0.

There was a scary moment early as the Blues' leading scorer Renae Cuellar went down in the second minute after a violent takedown from Breakers midfielder Jo Dragotta which caused her to have to leave the match for a bit. Luckily she came back in the sixth minute and was able to play for the rest of the match.

A little more than ten minutes later and Kansas City was very thankful that Cuellar came back. Lauren Cheney played a nice ball to Cuellar which she then turned into a 1-on-1 breakaway using her speed. She put it past the Boston keeper in the near post to put the Blues up 1-0.

They went into halftime with that score.

The Blues officially put it away in the 64th minute after a Carli Lloyd cross found the foot of Lauren Cheney who finished it for the score. This gave Cheney her second goal of the year and her second in two matches.

With the Blues up 2-0, the defense was able to hold of the Boston offense for the rest of the match and the Blues emerged victorios, keeping their home record undefeated.

Kansas City improved to 3-1-1 on the year and jumped up to third place in the league with ten points. They sit three points behind both Sky Blue FC and Portland Thorns FC, but they have a game in hand against both.

Boston fell to 2-1-2 and will settle at fourth in the league with eight points. They will return home next Saturday to take on the Washington Spirit.

The Blues will stay in Kansas City for next week's match which will be a doozy. They take on the first place squad in Sky Blue FC at Shawnee Mission District Stadium next Saturday.

FC Kansas City vs Boston Breakers Preview and MatchThread

2013-05-19T00:00:10Z

The Blues went into Rocheter, New York last Saturday and came out with their first ever loss to the Flash on the back of Abby Wambach's brace. FCKC returns home tonight to defend their undefeated home record against the Boston Breakers.

About the Teams

FC Kansas City

The Blues have done very well so far in their first season. They were undefeated in their first three games and had only given up one goal, a penalty kick. Renae Cuellar had also scored in all three matches.

Last week, however, that all ended. Cuellar was held scoreless and the seemingly impenetrable defense of the Blues allowed two goals en route to their first loss in franchise history.

However that performance looked independent of their first three matches. The center back combination of Lauren Sesselmann and Becky Sauerbrunn still anchors a rock-solid defense that will win the Blues a lot of matches.

Boston Breakers

The Breakers have been the best offensive team in the league, averaging 2 goals per game. That's due in no small part to forward Sydney Leroux, who has scored four of those goals in four matches.

The Breakers are coming off of a 1-1 draw to the Washington Spirit so it's not like they're unstoppable, but that offense will need to be kept in check.

How they will win

FC Kansas City

The Blues will have to step up defensively in order to beat the Breakers. Most importantly they will have to make sure that Leroux does not get an opportunity to get a shot off. If they can do that, they can use their scoring efficiency up top to grab a match-winner.

Boston Breakers

Last week at Western New York showed that the Blues' defense is mortal. In order to win the match, the Breakers will have to score and score often. Two goals will be a necessity and three would probably get the job done, but scoring is essential.

Prediction

FC Kansas City 2-2 Boston Breakers

This will be a high scoring struggle where the offenses of both teams will be vital to the match. Hopefully the Blues' defense can limit the Breakers' offense, but we'll just have to see.

Matchday 13: Sporting KC at DC United

2013-05-18T17:53:37Z

The place to be for all previews, recaps and analysis of the match between Sporting Kansas City and DC United.

We talked with Black and Red United's manager Adam Taylor about the upcoming match between Sporting Kansas City and DC United.

1) What was once such a promising season has quickly gone downhill for D.C. What's been the biggest reason why?

I think most of us have come to realize that the underperformance so far this year by D.C. United is in large part a case of over-expectations. After the seven-match undefeated run to finish the regular season last year and the playoff win over New York, this looked like a team that had a solid spine that would only improve on the offensive end with the return from injury of Dwayne De Rosario. So the offseason was less eventful than it probably should have been, with no true fulltime starters being brought into the fold, even as Andy Najar departed for Belgium. I won't go so far as to call last year's run a mirage, but Ben Olsen's tactics haven't worked nearly as well in 2013, partly due to regression to the mean, but also in large part because his charges, from role-players like fullback Daniel Woolard to former MLS Best XI guys like DeRo or Chris Pontius, haven't lived up to individual expectations.

2) There's been talk of a management shakeup soon, are you in favor of this or not?

At this point, I am all for a new general manager to replace Dave Kasper. Kasper, who was Kevin Payne's No. 2 for a long time before KP's removal and relocation to Toronto this winter, is incredibly good at navigating the various MLS salary mechanisms - understanding and taking advantage the alchemy of allocation and the various flavors of designated player - but he is less accomplished at player evaluation and obtaining/retaining players, especially starters, at salaries that will leave the team flexibility to make new acquisitions without resorting to the various accounting tricks to make everything fit under the salary cap.

I'm less eager to see Olsen let go, honestly. Though I'm sure he did have a hand in player acquisition, and it's his job to get them ready to perform from the start of each game - and they really haven't been in the right mindset from the start of any of their games this year - I'm not convinced that firing him will do anything to make the team better, either now or next year. Until a new GM is in place, a coaching change (other than an Alex Ferguson or a Jogi Loew, of course) won't amount to much more than shuffling deck chairs.

3) Last time Sporting and D.C. played it was a very physical game that frustrated both sides. Will we see the same on Sunday?

I've got to think yes. Over the last few years, when Peter Vermes and Ben Olsen meet, no matter each team's usual M.O., both sides look for the physical battles and try to frustrate the other in the middle. It was against the Sporks at the end of 2011 that Olsen first started experimenting with the 4-2-3-1 that eventually became his base system in the second half of 2012. He's started to move on from that system as the results haven't come this year, but whatever formation he runs out, I'd expect another battle on Sunday.

The Daily Wiz - All Posts

Jerome and Joseph Called Up for Haiti Friendlies

Sporting KC at DC United: Five Talking Points

Sporting KC controversially draws DC United 1-1

Sporting KC at DC United MatchThread

The Teams

Sporting Kansas City

5-3-2, 3-2-1 on road

20 Points

2nd in the East

Manager: Peter Vermes (5th season)

1-1-8, 1-0-4 at home

4 Points

10th in East

Manager: Ben Olsen (4th season)

Other Info

Date: May 19th, 2013

Gametime: 4:00 pm central TV: KSMO 62 Location: RFK Stadium, Washington DC

Sporting KC at DC United Match Preview

About the Teams

Sporting Kansas City

DC United

Players to watch

Sporting KC- Matt Besler

DC United- Dwayne De Rosario

How they wil win

Sporting Kansas City

DC United

Predictions

Lineups

Score

Sporting KC 3-0 DC United

FC Kansas City shuts down Boston Breakers 2-0

FC Kansas City vs Boston Breakers Preview and MatchThread

About the Teams

FC Kansas City

Boston Breakers

How they will win

FC Kansas City

Boston Breakers

Prediction

FC Kansas City 2-2 Boston Breakers

Matchday 13: Sporting KC at DC United

Gametime: 4:00 pm central

TV: KSMO 62

Location: RFK Stadium, Washington DC