Soony Saad Steals the Show in Episode 2 of ‘Collin’s Corner’

The second episode of Collin’s Corner, the Eiffel Tower–side advice forum with Sporting Kansas City defender Aurélien Collin, went up today, and while the host himself continues to charm with Gallic flair, we were partial to second-year striker Soony Saad’s delivery of his question. See it here:

Yeah, we’ve watched it three times and Saad still cracks us up. The 19-year-old forward is supertalented with the ball at his feet, but if the soccer thing doesn’t work out, he may have a future in sketch comedy or John Hughes–style teen flicks.

Also: Collin cannot—will not—disrespect the cat.

H/T: MLS Insider

C.J. Sapong’s Body Fat is 5.4, Wooing Skills Closer to Zero

The Sporting Kansas City striker still has our vote for MLS Rookie of the Year, even after we watched this:

We’re also still looking forward to his first call-up to the USMNT.

(If you’re scoring at home, “two up two down” is a hand signal for the state of Virginia.)

Kei Kamara is the Al MacInnis of MLS, and His Team Is On the Rise

They don’t have a skills competition at the MLS All-Star Game, but if they did, we’d put money on 26-year-old Sierra Leone international Kei Kamara to win the Hardest Shot contest. His shot is anvil-heavy, and all he needs is a sliver of space to get it off. Case in point, versus DC United on Sunday:

That was Kamara’s seventh goal of the year (in 22 appearances) and he and his team are peaking at the right time. After a miserable 1-6-9 road trip to start the season, Sporting Kansas City opened their state-of-the-art new stadium, Livestrong Park, on June 9, and reeled off a 14-game unbeaten streak. That run was broken by a stomach-punch loss to Seattle on Aug 6, but SKC has bounced back with two wins in a row since then, cruising past Portland 3-1 two weeks ago and dropping DC this past Sunday on Kamara’s strike. They’re currently 9-7-9 and in second place in the East.

In addition to the 6-3, 185-pound Kamara, SKC lines up Mexican star Omar Bravo, U.S. international Teal Bunbury, and our pick for 2011 Rookie of the Year, CJ Sapong (who has a U.S. national team call-up in his future if he keeps progressing).

Coach Peter Vermes threw all four of them at DC on Sunday, and despite the presence of (essentially) four strikers, and attacking midfielder Graham Zusi (five goals, four assists this year, and, according to Mrs. BP, not unpleasant to look at), his team was still solid defensively: they got a shutout, and they surrendered just a couple of clear chances. (Kansas City lines up the pedigreed Julio Cesar at centerback, with solid Americans Seth Sinovic, Matt Besler, and Chance Myers following his lead on the backline.)

SKC also has more home games remaining (7 out of 9) than any other team in the league. You have to like their chances heading down the stretch. Judging by this clip from after the DC game, they do too:

Stadium Sparkles, Game Fizzles in Livestrong Sporting Park Opener

Watching last night’s historic home opener for Sporting Kansas City, we were reminded of something Billy Bob Thornton said in Bad Santa: “They can’t all be winners, can they?”

After spectacular stadium openers in Vancouver and Portland earlier this season, we got a dud of a game in the debut of Livestrong Sporting Park. While the stadium looked terrific, the two bottom-sitting teams in the Eastern Conference, SKC and Chicago, played to a choppy 0-0 draw.

Both sides entered the game with just one win on the season, prompting many observers to say that something had to give last night. Surprise: nothing gave—though something probably should have in the 85th minute, when Kansas City’s Omar Bravo was scythed down in the Chicago box:

ESPN announcers John Harkes and Adrian Healey claim that the referee got it right, but we beg to differ. Chicago defender Bratislav Ristic may have gotten some ball there, but he definitely clipped Bravo’s foot on arrival.

Put it this way, if the ref had given a penalty, would anyone have complained? No. And the home crowd would have gone home happy—doubly so since KC was playing with 10 men at the time of the above challenge.

Goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen had been red-carded in the 67th minute for handling the ball outside the box while stopping a Dominic Oduro breakaway. Nielsen was the last man back, and the ref had no choice but to send him off.

KC had a goal by midfielder Graham Zusi called back for a close offside in the 15th minute, and later in the opening half, Zusi struck a fizzing drive just over Chicago keeper Sean Johnson’s crossbar.

But nobody found the back of the net, and the draw extended both teams’ winless streaks into double digits.

(Sidenote: the U.S. will play Guadeloupe at Livestrong Sporting Park on Tues., June 14—9:00 ET, Fox Soccer Channel. Check out this edition of MLS’s The Daily for a glimpse at some of the slick details inside Kansas City’s new stadium.)

Livestrong Sporting Park Opens Tonight

And not a moment to soon for the home team. Sporting Kansas City were burdened with a 10-game road trip to start the season while workers finished up their $200-million soccer-specific stadium, and it was a rough ride.

They went 1-6-3 and sit dead last in the Eastern Conference on the night they finally open their brand-new home, which is sponsored by former cyclist Lance Armstrong‘s cancer-fighting organization.

Kansas City will also be without Craig Rocastle (Grenada), Roger Espinoza (Honduras), Stephane Auvray (Guadeloupe), and Shavar Thomas (Jamaica) due to international duty—and first choice goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen is unavailable due to illness.

Yes, it’s been a tough couple of months for SKC. But they can take heart in the boost they’ll surely get from the occasion, the crowd, and the fact that their opponents are the eighth-place Chicago Fire (1-4-7), who are just four points ahead of Kansas City in the standings despite having played two more games.

Whatever the challenges, though, it’s undoubtedly a must-win game for coach Peter Vermes’s team. As club CEO Robb Heineman told the league website:

“It’s a massive game. It’s the biggest game in the history of the franchise since we’ve owned it. It’s not MLS Cup. It’s not a US Open Cup final. But it’s right there, number three probably in the history of the franchise. We’ve got to win. Everybody knows that. It’s a big summer for us.”

Most of that summer will play out in the state-of-the-art confines of Livestrong Sporting Park, where 17 of Kansas City’s remaining 24 games will take place.

The field is natural grass, and the stadium has a capacity of 18,500, expandable to 25,000 if needed. There are luxury boxes, field level seats, and two massive HD video screens. The two-story Victory Suite contains a pizza oven where fans can pick their own ingredients, and a well-stocked wine cellar.

Membership in the team’s Sporting Club is free, and all those who join will have access to the Members’ Club section of the stadium, where they can get a beer, burger, and a bag of chips for $5.

SKC has sold more than 11,000 season tickets to the new venue.

Click here for a virtual tour of the stadium.

Tonight’s game is on ESPN2 at 10:00 p.m. ET.

MLS Weekend Preview: International Call-Ups Thin the Ranks

There is probably no team with more of a desire to see MLS conform to FIFA’s International Fixture dates than the Red Bulls.

When New York kicks off in Columbus tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 (MSG +/Direct Kick/MatchDay Live) they will be without five starters and a backup keeper due to international call-ups.

Tim Ream and Juan Agudelo will be with the U.S. as it faces Argentina, Rafa Marquez will play for Mexico, Dane Richards will suit up for Jamaica, Roy Miller got called in by Costa Rica, and second-string netminder Bouna Coundoul was tapped by Senegal.

Add the fact that Thierry Henry will miss the game with a hamstring strain (here we go again with that guy), and you are going to see a very … interesting lineup take the field for New York tomorrow afternoon.

We have no idea how they’re going construct a backline in the absence of three defensive regulars (Miller, Ream and Marquez), and with substitute Chris Albright rehabbing from surgery. Teemu Tainio will probably move from midfield to outside back, but coach Hans Backe will have to make multiple other adjustments as well, all over the field.

The other teams hit hardest by call-ups are Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake, both of which had three players tapped for international duty.

Kansas City visits Chicago on Saturday (4:00, TeleFutura) without Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone), Stephane Auvray (Guadeloupe), and Shavar Thomas (Jamaica).

Real Salt Lake hosts Los Angeles on Saturday night (9:00, DK/MDL) while missing Will Johnson (Canada), Arturo Alvarez (El Salvador*), and Alvaro Saborio (Costa Rica).

The Week 2 schedule kicks off tonight when Seattle welcomes Houston to Qwest Field (Fox Soccer Channel, 10:00 p.m. EST). Both clubs will be looking for their first win of the season after Seattle started with consecutive 1-0 losses to Los Angeles and New York, and Houston was surprised at home by the same scoreline when Danny Califf poked home a rebound for Philadelphia last Saturday.

Following tonight’s tussle in Seattle, there are eight games on Saturday. In addition to the matchups mentioned above we have (home teams listed first):

Toronto FC vs Portland, 2:00 p.m., TSN (Canada), MDL

The Reds face an expansion team for the second straight week to start the season, and, as their 4-2 loss to Vancouver showed last week, that’s probably for the better. Toronto is still working out the kinks as they try to implement new coach Aron Winter‘s system. Portland began its MLS existence with a 3-1 defeat to defending champion Colorado last week, and should welcome the chance to measure themselves against the struggling Reds.

Philadelphia vs Vancouver, 4:00 p.m., MDL/DK

Both teams started the season with a bang last week, the Union upsetting Houston on the road and Whitecaps FC overwhelming Toronto at home. The Sons of Ben will be out in force for the home opener at PPL Park. Philly will want to keep tabs on Vancouver playmaker Davide Chiumiento, whose midfield brilliance was somewhat overshadowed by new DP Eric Hassli‘s two goals last week.

New England vs DC United, 4:30 p.m., MDL/DK

Charlie Davies brings his magic to the Big Razor to face a New England team that narrowly escaped rainy Los Angeles with a 1-1 draw last week—and will play without Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi, both of whom were called to the Gambian national team, this week. CD9 scored two to lead the Black-and-Red to a 3-1 win over Columbus last Saturday.

FC Dallas vs San Jose, 9:00 p.m., MDL/DK

The Hoops will be without centerback Brek Shea, who was red-carded in last week’s 1-1 tie with Chicago. San Jose hopes to make up for last week’s tough home loss to Real Salt Lake, a game in which they created but failed to convert several good chances.

Chivas USA vs Colorado, 10:30 p.m., MDL/DK

It doesn’t get any easier for Robin Fraser‘s rebuilt squad: they welcome the defending champs one week after a 3-2 home loss to high-flying Sporting Kansas City. The Rapids will be without international call-ups Sanna Nyassi (Gambia) and Omar Cummings (Jamaica), but they’ll still present a stiff challenge for the Goats.

*Alvarez was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and represented the U.S. at the U-17, U-20 and U-23 levels, but chose to play for his parents’ native El Salvador at the senior level.

Sporting Kansas City Donates Stadium Name to Livestrong Charity

According to The Kansas City Star, Lance Armstrong, the soon-to-be-completely-unmasked former cyclist and cancer survivor, had an interesting reaction when Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City approached him about naming their new stadium after his nonprofit organization, Livestrong.

“You mean that sport where they fall down, roll around, and act like they’re [injured]?” said the most famous practitioner of that sport where they fill themselves to the eyeballs with pharmaceuticals, shave their legs, and ride (possibly motorized) bicycles.

But when he homed in on the details of the deal, Armstrong’s skepticism vanished. Sporting Kansas City was not only offering the naming rights to its $200-million soccer complex for free, the club also proposed donating a portion of its stadium revenues—a minimum of $7.5 million for the six-year arrangement—to Livestrong, which has raised more than $400 million for cancer research since 1997.

Armstrong and Livestrong CEO Doug Ulman both recognized a sensible deal when they saw one, and agreed to the partnership, which was announced in Kansas City on Tuesday.

Livestrong Sporting Park, as the stadium was christened on Tuesday, will open on June 9, when Sporting KC hosts the Chicago Fire.

The arrangement is unique in North American sports, as no other venues in MLS—or in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB—are named after a charity.

Our Armstrong crankiness aside, this is a terrific move by Sporting Kansas City and an excellent partnership. It gives both sides a boost in profile and, as James Starritt wrote on the SKC website SportingTimes.net:

“A portion of everything we spend at the stadium will trickle down to Livestrong, which in turn will help direct and fund cancer research, awareness and educational programs.

My football team and I are going to save lives.”

Cheers to all involved—even the guy who somehow managed to completely dominate the most PED-soaked sport in the world while remaining “totally clean” himself.

KC Rebrand: Sporting Kansas City

Poised to move into a brand-new $180-million soccer-specific stadium for the 2011 season, the Kansas City MLS franchise officially changed its team name, logo, and colors yesterday.

The new name is … drumroll, please … Sporting Kansas City.

The new colors are slightly different shades of blue from the previous royal blue kits the Wizards wore (which were actually pretty tasteful). The new home shirts are a sky blue the club is calling “Sporting” blue, and the aways are indigo.

The new logo can be seen above. Some KC fans have already pointed out that it bears a strong resemblance to the MLS Eastern Conference logo, right here:

We have mixed feelings about the changes. We’re not sorry to see the Wizards moniker go (though it changes the answer to one of our favorite sports-trivia questions, see below*) but we liked the team’s colors and shirts.

We’re also skeptical of the new “Sporting” designation—especially of CEO Robb Heineman’s statement that it’s not an inspired-by-Europe choice of a team name:

“This, to us, is not European whatsoever. This is all about our connection to the community and us trying to be innovative in what we’re trying to do.”

Really Rob? You didn’t have Sporting Lisbon, or, to a lesser extent, Spanish club Sporting Gijon, in mind when you picked this name? And what connection does the term have to the Kansas City community?

Let’s see, the primary tenants of your previous venue, Community America Ballpark, are a baseball team called the T-Bones. Your NFL franchise is called the Chiefs; your baseball team (across the border in Missouri) is called the Royals and … you have a roller derby team called the Roller Warriors…. That’s about it for KC sports, and not a “Sporting” in the bunch—or anything that suggests or connects to the term.

Maybe you should have echoed the legacy of George Brett, Frank White, and Bret Saberhagen of the 1985 Kansas City Royals championship team and gone with Real Kansas City. (Hey, Spain has several teams with ‘Real’ in their names; Salt Lake would get over it.)

Or better yet, you could have summoned the old Kansas City NASL team, the Spurs (which led the league in attendance in 1968) and bagged both local relevance and a European reference in one shot.

But Sporting? Please tell us how that connects to the Kansas City community.

In any case, the as-yet-unnamed stadium in Wyandotte County is on track to open in time for the team’s first game in 2011, and will put 12 of the league’s 18 franchises in their own soccer-specific stadiums (expansion Portland will begin play in their own venue, PGE Park, next spring).

*Name the five pairs of teams that share nicknames across different pro sports. (It used to be six, but the Wizards’ name change drops one pair of teams, as the Houston Oilers and Winnipeg Jets did when they went extinct years ago. Answers in the comments.)

Kansas City Implements Phase 1 of Five-Part Playoff Plan

Following MLS Week 28, the Kansas City Wizards stood nine points shy of the eighth and final playoff berth with three games remaining on their schedule.

The team ahead of them, Colorado, has two games left.

The Wizards path to the playoffs was clear, if (almost hopelessly) convoluted: They needed to win out, and to have Colorado drop its last two. (That last part is not quite as farfetched as it sounds: the Rapids final two games are against the top two teams in the West, Los Angeles and Real Salt Lake.)

Last night at Toyota Park, Kansas City took the first step, downing Chicago 2-0 on goals by Davy Arnaud and Teal Bunbury. (The Wizards, by the way, lead the league in “bury”s—in addition to Bunbury, they have midfielder Jack Jewsbury.)

Chicago has already been eliminated, but they certainly did not roll over last night: they nearly took the lead 15 minutes in when DP Freddie Ljungberg found rookie and potential Name Hall of Famer Corben Bone at the top of the box. The 22-year-old Wake Forest product hit his one-timer just wide of the near post.

After that, the Wizards gradually seized control of the game and started asking questions of Fire keeper Andrew “No relation to Lenny, thank you” Dykstra.

They finally broke through in first-half stoppage time when Bunbury sprung Arnaud in the box, and the attacking midfielder—who has seven caps and one goal for the U.S. national team—struck an expert finish, bending the ball around the onrushing Dykstra and into the far post side netting.

Bunbury wrapped up the three points with a goal in the 80th minute.

Kansas City now stands six points behind Colorado with two games remaining for both.

What a Wednesday: Collapse in Mexico; Electrifying Comebacks in MLS

 

Monterrey 3, Seattle 2

Seattle Sounders FC was pretty much out of the CONCACAF Champions League before the start of last night’s game at Monterrey. Admitting as much, coach Sigi Schmid started a team of reserves.

Yet that group edged to the brink of history, leading Monterrey 2-0 into the 73rd minute, after an own goal by the hosts and a tally by Harvard grad—and former high school teammate of Charlie Davies—Michael Fucito.

(Quick digression here: Fucito, an MLS attacker, was a strike partner in high school with Charlie Davies, the best American striker alive right now—and they went to the tony Brooks School, in North Andover, Massachusetts. Can you imagine how much they must have torn it up against all the Sloanes, Camerons and Winthrops in their conference? All right, back to the game.)

Fucito put Seattle up 2-0 just before halftime, and the Sounders held on to that lead until the 74th minute, 16 minutes away from becoming the first MLS team to claim three points on Mexican soil in a CONCACAF competition.

That was when Seattle defender Zach Scott failed to step up, keeping Monterrey’s Aldo De Nigris onside, and De Nigris headed in a rebound to make it 2-1.

Just three minutes later, Monterrey was ahead 3-2—and that’s the way it ended.

Humberto Suazo scored in the 75th and was taken down in the box in the 77th to set up Luis Perez’s game-winning penalty.

Real Salt Lake 3, Arabe Unido 2

With two goals from Will Johnson and one from Alvaro Saborio, Real Salt Lake overcame an early 1-0 deficit and held on to beat Panama’s Arabe Unido 3-2 to move to the top of Group A in the CCL. The win, their third in four tournament games, makes RSL the first MLS club to win on the road in the group stage of the CCL this year.

• • • 

Major League Soccer saw Monterrey its stunning comeback—and raised it one, as both Dallas and Kansas City staged thrilling rallies from two-goal deficits in front of raucous home crowds.

Kansas City’s fight-back was especially huge, as it kept the Wizards in the playoff hunt.

Dallas 2, New England 2

Say you’re New England—or any MLS team, really—and you’re up 2-0 on Dallas with 10 minutes to play.

Never mind that Dallas is all but assured of a playoff spot and you are all but assured of November tee times: You know what’s going to happen.

That’s right—the game is going to end in a tie, as 12 of Dallas’s 24 games entering this one had done.

Make it 13: David Ferreira drew, then buried, a penalty in the 80th minute (after missing one earlier in the game) and then set up Jeff Cunningham’s stoppage-time equalizer to make it 2-2 and run Dallas’s unbeaten streak to 16 games.

Kansas City 4, Houston 3

After Kansas City’s rugged 2-0 win at Chivas USA last weekend, we said they had “a winnable” mid-week home game against already-out-of-it Houston, and then a showdown with playoff-bound Dallas the following Saturday—after which their postseason prospects would be greatly clarified.

We admit it: we were looking past the Houston game. And for the first 45 minutes last night, Kansas City did the exact same thing.

The look on coach Peter Vermes’s face as his team trailed 3-1 at the break said it all: it was a well-balanced combination of disgust and rage. Houston’s ultra-soft third goal, a tap-in by Adrian Serioux after a weak clearance from the KC backline, was particularly galling.

Kansas City fans must’ve been thinking, Well, maybe we’re not a playoff team after all. If we can’t beat a last-place team, at home, with our postseason hopes on the line, then hey, what more evidence do we need?

But the second half was a different story altogether. Dynamo keeper Pat Onstad did his impression of a grade-schooler’s goal kick, scuffing the ball to KC forward Teal Bunbury, who made a direct deposit into Onstad’s goal to make it 3-2.

Michael Harrington got free on the right in the 72nd minute, torched his defender and chipped in a cross that Ryan Smith side-footed toward goal. It deflected off Serioux and in to make it 3-3.

Substitute Josh Wolff completed the rally in the seventh minute of stoppage time, snapping in a header off another great ball from Harrington on the wing.

Kansas City lives to fight another day—and at 9-9-6 they are just three points out of the last playoff spot.