That's a really good article by Marca! What surprised me even more is that the response from some of the posters in extremely positive. Praising Sporting and their overall style of play. Its nice to see MLS getting some good face time, and especially good to see one of its teams getting so much recognition.
Ive always thought Kevin Kietzman to be pretty insincere when it comes to soccer generally and Wiz(ards)/SKC; however, I see honesty and effort in this: http://whb-am.tritondigitalmedia.com/common/more.php?m=49&r=21
Pretty good article about the evolution of KC from the rebrand to now. http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/...city-is-sitting-pretty-these-days/?ref=soccer
I like the fact that some national news outlets are taking notice of SKC with their early season wins and success with the local fans. However, I still think that much of the country still looks upon Kansas City as some backwater small market area that should produce also-rans to teams like LA, NY, and Seattle. It seems as though the writers over at the MLS web site are just waiting for SKC to eventually fall on their face so the rightful heirs to the championship throne can take their rightful place. So they really agree with Jason Kreis that SKC is really not a fun team to watch? Well, probably not fun to watch them when they are beating your team. I could continue venting, but enough said......
This last weeks 2 games were not fun to watch attacking wise. Defensively yes. If this team would just put a 1/3 more shots on goal it would change that quite a bit. We really do have a hard time putting them on frame. An abysmal 31.7%. Seriously we are 41 for 129. That is not good
http://www.tf1.fr/telefoot/news-football/mls-le-reve-americain-d-aurelien-collin-7181436.html Aurélien Colin's american dream.
SPOT ON. I discussed my thoughts here after the NE game (we should have scored at least six and it could have been nine)... we've just squeaked through the balance of these games from a scoring perspective. Our defensive effort has carried this season so far.
http://www.sportingkc.com/news/2012/04/sportings-haitian-xavi-reveals-reason-lengthy-absence Doesn't need it's own thread, but the Haitian Xavi is back, and the reason why he was gone.
I was thinking we were doing pretty poorly on the offensive end as well. Then just today I checked the season stats for the league. We're actually tied for fourth in the league in goals scored. I didn't think we had scored very many, but most of the league has scored even less.
Besler is going to the prom. http://www.kctv5.com/story/17752945/sporting-kc-player-makes-prom-extra-special-for-one-teen Seriously, this team is full of quality individuals.
Pitch Invasion Podcast Tom Dunmore and i posted today including a 25 minute interview with Robb Heineman. Questions focused on Robb's transparent and accessible relationship with Sporting Kansas City supporters and the success of the team's rebranding and stadium efforts. Hope you enjoy it: http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2012/04/26/pitch-invasion-podcast-episode-4-april-2012/
This isnt specific to SKC but Nick Wright is leaving 610 for Houston. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/10/3605466/nick-wright-to-leave-610-am-for.html
An observation on our broadcast: Callum and Jake look weird during their "live" bits in the pregame show. I think they're being green-screened into a much earlier shot out of the pressbox, and it almost looks like they are CGI characters. (FWIW, I sometimes see the same effect during games on MLS Live.) Maybe the frame rate is off? Or it's a limitation in the technology we're using? I don't know, but it doesn't look right.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2012/05/24/power-5-center-backs-crazy-not-stupid-2 MLS selects Collin as #2 best CB. Had to post this because of the Jimmy Conrad comments....love it.
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/06/3643312/star-magazine-interview-robb-heineman.html Robb being Robb... most interesting part to me was:
I could have sworn there was an article before the season started quoting Sasha Victorine about that system. Dunno when we'll see it in place.
I know they've been working on it for a while now, but I hope that this might indicate it's sooner than later... might be wishful thinking, but I'm willing to risk it.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/cycl...armstrong-livestrong-sporting-part/55645742/1 decent article about the stadium name and the Lance Armstrong allegations.