Less than a month away from players reporting. The team departs for Tucson on Jan. 20th, so they'll probably have training in KC starting around the 16th or 17th. They're in Tucson for 2 weeks and play in The Desert Friendlies. Vs Houston on the 29th and Portland on the 1st. They return to KC on the 2nd and are in KC for a little less than a week then head to Orlando. In Orlando they play in the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic vs Montreal on the 9th, DC on the 13th, and Tampa on the 16th. They'll have a fourth game on the 23rd vs someone from the other group.
televised, no. Streams online, probably, especially the Disney tournament, that one has been streamed the last few years.
Okay, well, streams are definitely good. Since I currently have no tv. Are we talking officialish streams, like on youtube? Or the kind of crap you have to hunt and watch and be unable to tell who any players are?
Previously they've been streamed through the teams YouTube channel. Not fantastic, but decent enough.
As long as that's the case, I am strongly looking forward to February. Having not paid attention to the preseason before, do we expect to get much time with the new guys, like Bieler and Feilhaber?
Likely yes, top minutes last year in preseason went to Myers, Besler, and Kamara. As long as they're healthy they'll get plenty of time. If Vermes follows his history, any trialists will do most of their impressing in training.
The Desert Cup was streamed on Youtube from their people at least two years ago, might have been last year. Disney games are already confirmed for Watch ESPN/ESPN3 online.
The Desert Diamond Cup will be streamed on MLSSoccer.com, but KC isn't participating in that. KC is in the Desert Friendlies. I would be shocked if they streamed those matches. & here's a link for tickets. https://fctucson.ticketsocket.com/ $15 for FC Tucson vs. KC (doubleheader) & $10 for KC vs. Portland
the Disney championship/consolation matches were on ESPN3 last year. the group stage matches were on MLSSoccer.com. I would assume the same with this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Desert Friendlies streamed since MLS is making a pretty clear effort to make the preseason more organized (with the Tuscon and Orlando hubs) and more accessible (more matches have been streamed each year).
Several moments later Convey tripped over a folding chair which closed quickly around his left leg, severing it from just above the knee and showering several neaby teammates in gallons of blood. He's expected to miss four to six weeks.
From the looks of the video shot at the training facility that sporting released today, bieler now wears #16 and sinovic #15.
I predicted a while back that Sinovic would switch to #12, which he had at Creighton, so that Bieler could take #16. Lopez would actually make more sense as #15, since he was #5 at North Carolina and apparently has some significant similarities to Espinoza. The team's website still shows Sinovic as #16 and no number assigned yet for Bieler and Lopez.
Sporting KC just hosted a happy hour, introduction thing at my work for the jersey sponsorship. I talked to Vermes and he said Seth and Michael Thomas has the best showing in the beep test and that the team is at an overall higher fitness level than they were last year. Jimmy tried really hard to convince me he won the beep test. Jimmy, Seth, Chance, and CJ were there today signing stuff and taking pictures with people.
This is very good news, and impressive. There was a lot of buzz during the last offseason about how hard many of the players were working to stay fit, with several remaining in KC rather than scattering as usual. Starting with seven straight wins seemed to validate such an approach. However, I have not seen anything to that effect this time and was a little worried that there might be a bit of complacency. Guess not!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fctucson/sets/72157632579145149/ I'll take some pics of the practice on Friday. I'll post them on FaceBook or @CactusPricks
http://www.kvoa.com/videos/sporting-kc-arrives-in-tucson-for-training/ Like & follow the Cactus Pricks on FaceBook or @Twitter