2012 Sporting KC Preseason

Unfortunately, getting the ball cleared isnt a new issue for our squad. It is something we have struggled with for years at times. It seemed to get a little better last year and hopefully it is something that corrects with experience. We have given up a lot of goals due to poor clearances. I think we lost a game late last season due to one although I cannot remember exactly what game it was.

 

I'm not worried. Its their first game in a long time and as the coaches said in the post-game, moments like that is what pre-season is all about; getting through the rustiness.

 

Interesting that Cesar got the shortest shift of the starters. He would seem to be the one most on the bubble from the presumed starting XI. He stepped up big time last year but only after some awful time in back. It's great to have depth at MF though what with Espinoza either being suspended or playing with a yellow so much.

 

Stop bringing reality into the discussion. Everyone knows that Roger is a loose cannon and is lucky he is only suspended 2/5ths of the games instead of the 1/2 he probably deserves....

 

Go over to the RSL board for a dose of 'real' (ha!). You'd think lil' Roger was the devil incarnate.

 

Roger is a dirty hack who constantly takes cheap shots unlike our team of complete angels like Beckerman and Espindola.

 

Oh, I know - they were appalled that someone could have a bad tackle during a preseason game that resulted in things getting out of hand (despite not, to my knowledge, ever actually seeing the tackle) and then tried to disguise his attempt to kill Beckerman by pretending like he was going for the ball at LSP and had the audacity to get the crap kicked out of him at Rio Tinto. I'm pretty sure that the consensus there is that he was somehow able to put his body in the way of every challenge and therefore their players were the ones being victimized.



Honestly, though, I do understand that they are going to think the way they do about Roger and I'm not too put-out for that. We all have our opinions about opposition players which are generally created on the basis of only a few plays between the two teams and whatever high-profile stuff outside of direct competition.

Like I can't help but find Feilhaber to be a diving prick for the red he drew on Collin/Diop... and I even have the op to see him play in USMNT matches too. And, though I don't think about it as much now, I do still reflect on Dempsey having broken Conrad's jaw.

Roger was largely introduced to most of the league via his two essentially back-to-back red cards (due to striking an opponent, no less) and then are told Espinoza had a tackle bad enough to cause a brawl and then he gets a red card with a very poor tackle at LSP... That's a lot for an RSL fan to get past.

 

To be honest though and I was saying this during the game, NE was to me the whiniest team I witnessed at LSP and Benny was a major part of that (but not the only). Throwing their arms up at every call along with other poor body language. Tons of whining and obvious venting/ frustration. Maybe it was their poor season, but they were huge whiners during at least that match.

But I agree with your point in your post. Players are very often judged from one to two incidents that the opposing fans see along with word of mouth (from venting homer fans). I remember after the Seattle game and leading up to our rematch against Portland the Timber's SBNation blog, after seeing Bravo's dive, claimed he was playing extremely scummy soccer and was one of the scummiest players in the league. It was a total dive by Bravo, but he certainly doesn't play "scummy". He's a very competitive and driven player and that is very often confused with a "dirty". I won't defend his dive, but that isn't reflective of his overall play.

For that, I admit I've been unfair with a good number of opposition players. Though its hard not to sometimes.

The general perception is that whenever a player tackles hard, he's dirty. Most hard tackles are poor timing and/ or poor judgment (Roger's main problem). To me, a dirty player is someone who consistently displays poor attitude, a willingness to take cheap shots and tackle with poor intent. The issue with calling a player "dirty" is that you have some players that are much more clever about it their antics and don't always pick up that label. Then you have other players that are simply clumsy and occasionally mental error-prone but don't display ill intent, but pick up the title of a dirty player.

 

Anybody on here planning on attending some of this Disney tournament later this month? I'm seriously considering going to the game on the 29th against the Whitecaps and was curious if anyone else had planned on going.

 

The only information that I can find so far about today's outcome is in the Wikipedia entry for "2012 D.C. United season" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_D.C._United_season#Arizona_training_camp). It indicates that SKC won 2-1 with the goals scored by Zusi (34'), Saad (62'), and Burciaga (78'). Can anyone confirm this and provide more details, such as the starting lineup?

Edit: Never mind, thought of Twitter after posting. Same XI as last week except Sapong for Bunbury (no appearance at all by Teal). Zusi scored on a free kick. Nagamura replaced Cesar at halftime, and everyone else switched out at 60'. Saad was CF and scored on a pass from Peterson.

 

Burciaga is trialing with DC? Our Burciaga?

 

Highlights are now available: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbTWl6lffKU"]Zusi, Saad lead SKC to preseason win over DCU - YouTube[/ame]

From the write-up posted above:
"guest player Jose Burciaga, Jr., a former left back for Kansas City (2001-2007) and current guest player for D.C. United this pre-season."

 

Kamara and Espinoza make it 2-0 today after 40 minutes. Apparently Kamara's was first with some help from Sony, and Espinoza later hit from about 30 yards. Would love to see some more of that from Espinoza next year.

 

Dom and Soony sound like they are having a really good camp. Teal had better pick up his consistency this year.....he's got plenty of developing firepower behind him ready to take up the slack if he goes into another monster size slump.

 

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/16/3434518/speculating-about-sporting-kansas.html#storylink=rss

Anyone know whats up with Cyrus and Diop?

 

Great job avoiding all the obvious puns.

 

Not such a great job by some on Twitter, however......