Preview | SKC-VAN: Bottom feeders clash at LSP

-Setting the Stage- Tonight's game certainly won't be marked on the MLS calendar of highly anticipated match-ups. In fact, the league is probably happy to have the game covered up directly by the Gold Cup finals, featuring the United States and Mexico. As these two foes meet up at the Rose Bowl, battling for glory, the two worst teams in MLS (in terms of points) will be squaring off at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.

-The Breakdown- Both of these teams clearly are not where they want to be at this point in the season. Having said that, merely just looking at the table in soccer doesn't always tell the full story. Each of these teams has decent talent and potential, but they'll need to rack up some points through the final stretch of the season if they want any hope of making the playoffs.

[Sporting Kansas City] is definitely on the best stretch of form they've seen all season. Through the last six matches, SKC has gone unbeaten. Peter Vermes' side will want to continue the good run of form, and maybe add some more drive to the offense, which was fairly dull the last two matches. The defense has been solid as of late, and this will only improve because Aurelien Collin, (A.K.A the Ferocious Frenchman) will be back in the side after having to sit out at Philadelphia because of accumulated yellow cards. As Sporting take the pitch at LSP, traces of the third game of the season ­-- when the team traveled to Vancouver and gave up a three-goal lead -- will be in the back of their mind.

[Vancouver Whitecaps] just recently dismissed their head coach Teitur Thordarson, and appointed Tom Soehn, who has experience coaching in Major League Soccer. Since Soehn's hiring, the Whitecaps have looked better, only losing one game in their last four. The team's last match was home to the Philadelphia Union, and surprisingly, they pulled out a victory. Vancouver will be looking to keep the confidence going tonight (7:30 central time, at LSP).  

Anticipated Starting 11

                                       Sapong       

              

                            Zusi    |    Arnaud   |   Kamara

                                     Auvray | Diop

                     Harrington | Collin | Besler | Myers

                                           Nielsen

Personal Battles

These two are sure to go at it all night long, as both have tremendous physicality. Collin will be hoping he can get into the head of Hassli as he did Steven Lenhart last week.

Predictions 

On paper, this match looks the opposite of marquee. But when two teams are desperate for points, something has to give. I think there will be plenty of offense coming from both sides. If Sporting Kansas City wants to contend realistically for post-season, they'll have to win games such as this, especially at home. I do have 

confidence in Sporting, I would just feel better if they had a thoroughly convincing victory tonight.

Sporting KC 2-0 Vancouver Whitecaps

 -Kamara

 -Arnaud 

RECAP | PHI-SKC: Survival Mode, with your host Jimmy Nielsen

                                 PHI             SKC
Shots:                       26                  8
Shots on Target:       7                   0


Kind of tells the story of the night, huh? Sporting Kansas City was under constant pressure, bombarded by chance after chance, only staying even with Philadelphia with heroics from the defense, and a bit of luck. The main hero of the night was Jimmy Nielsen, who had seven big-time saves to prevent the valuable point on the road for Kansas City. Other members of the team also helped greatly on the defensive effort, included the "well traveled"* Julio Cesar, who Callum Williams said "played his best game in a Sporting Kansas City jersey." I'd have to agree, as he was smooth on the ball, and solid when challenging the likes of Sabastien Le Toux and Carlos Ruiz. 

* If this term is used ever again I think I will pull my hair out. 

On the other side of things, Sporting Kansas City's offense was dull, predictable – and practically invisible. However, maybe that was part of Peter Vermes' game plan going into last night's game. For long stretches of the match, almost everyone was behind the ball. To make it worse, once SKC actually did win possession, they had absolutely no urgency to get forward. Maybe this was a good thing, as the SKC did have a solid fort on defense, but it's just frustrating for fans to watch them play defense for 95% of the match.

The Union had many chances throughout the night. The most memorable were from Le Toux and Ruiz. In the first half, Philadelphia's big Frenchman had a free kick pretty close to Jimmy Nielsen's goal. He struck the ball up and over the wall. His shot dipped and swerved to the near post, which Nielsen had to sprawl out to, in order to save SKC's clean sheet. Later in the game, Ruiz found his way to the back post, where a ball was floated over to him. He was practically unmarked, and headed the ball back over Jimmy Nielsen. Luckily for Sporting, the ball hit the crossbbbar, and Ruiz was left clueless how hadn't notched a goal.

So clearly, Sporting Kansas City has to feel very relieved that they escaped the City of Brotherly Love* without a loss. This point that they picked up is valuable in several ways, and should boost SKC's confidence even more heading into Saturday's home game against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

*Big cliché when describing the city of Philadelphia. Sorry, I just had to.

[+] Positive(s):

• Defensive consistency
• Full-game focus by the entire team

Negative(s): 

• Lacked any real confidence or creativity going forward on offense

Player Ratings 

                      Nielsen-9

   Myers-6 Cesar-7 Besler-6 Sinovic-5

                   Sassano-6 Diop-5

   Kamara-5         Arnaud-6      Bravo-5

                           Bunbury-4

Subs: Sapong-6 Auvray-6 Harrington-7

Man of the Match: Jimmy Nielsen

I really don't need to explain my choice for Man of the Match in great detail. Pretty much, Nielsen kept Sporting in the game many times, and was the main reason they came away from the game with a point.

The Playoff Race: An in-depth look at the standings

Sporting Kansas City started the 2011 Major League Soccer season in what seemed to be the most unique fashion ever: For the team's first 10 road games they were on the road. With the odds stacked against Peter Vermes' team, most critics had already excluded them from their list of teams in contention for the playoffs.

At first fans were reluctant to side with common sense; obviously they didn't want their team to have a death wish, having not even started the season. However, as the league got under way, it seemed as though the season would be too much for Sporting KC. After the long road trip had concluded, the Wizards' record was not one to be proud of. Out of 10 games, they had won only once, lost six times, and tied three. Total, they had picked up a measly six points.

Now, after the unreal start to Major League Soccer's 16th season, Sporting Kansas City have come home to their brand new LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. And done fairly well as of late. Can they did themselves out of this hole they're in? Can Sporting turn around their season, and at least put themselves in contention for the playoffs? Take a look at the current standings, and decide for yourself:   

A few things I notice right away:

• Sporting Kansas City are at the bottom of the table, with 13 points total
• They've played 13 games so far, which is the lowest number in the Eastern Conference
• Chicago, New England, and Toronto are all only two points ahead of Kansas City, with 15 points each

The Breakdown

Sporting Kansas City is at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. However, they have many games left to play this season, most of them being at the newly-opened LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, which SKC has gone undefeated at so far. If Sporting continues their good form at LSP, they are sure to creep up the table.

Another thing to take into account is in the Eastern Conference, every single team is very close to each other, in terms of points. For example, only 10 points separate first from last. To make things even more complicated--and tight-knitted--Sporting Kansas City has games in hand on every single team in their division. So it's not really fair to judge their position on the table--at least for now. Toronto FC, who are one point ahead of Sporting, have played four more games than KC. New England and Chicago, who are both tied with Toronto, each have at least two games in hand on Sporting. What all of this means is that Sporting Kansas City have plenty of games left in the season to catch up with teams higher up on the table, putting them in a decent position to make the playoffs.

Playoffs?

This year, there will be more teams in the playoffs than ever before. Over half of  all Major League Soccer teams will be participating after the regular season has concluded. Specifically, an astonishing 10 out of the league total of 18 teams. However, even with the standards lowering this year, Sporting Kansas City will still have to work non-stop to contend for a spot in the post-season.

But with the tables turning, and with consideration of many factors, I think they will make the playoffs--but just barely. The race at the end between KC, CHI, NE, TOR, and even DC should be fantastic to watch for neutrals, but agonizingly close to call for die-hard fans. We'll just have to wait and see how everything pans out. But here is my prediction on for the final Eastern Conference standings:

1 Philadelphia

2 New York

3 Columbus

4 Kansas City

5 Houston

6 Chicago

7 DC

8 New England

9 Toronto

Do you think Sporting KC will make the playoffs this year? What will the final Eastern Conference standings be? Make your guess, and give your say on the playoff race in the comments.

New Podcast | 6-18-2011

[Length]-29:00

[Hosts]- Alex and Isaac

[Guest(s)]- Christian Sinclair, founder of Ad Astra SKC

__________________________________________________________

Alex and Isaac (joined by guest, Christian Sinclair):

• 
  

-Discuss Christian's new supporters' group (Ad Astra SKC)-Recap SKC-SJ game
-Discuss Ryan Smith rumors

-Recap SKC-SJ game
-Preview next match, away to the Philadelphia Union

Check it out here.

RECAP: Hard-fought battle brings first victory at LSP for Sporting KC

It certainly wasn't easy for Sporting Kansas City to pick up their first ever win at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park; to come out with three points they had to fight for the entire 93 minutes of Friday night's game. And at the center of this battle was none other than Aurelien Collin and Steven Lenhart.


The first half was fairly balanced, as Sporting and the Earthquakes were both trying to find a rhythm. Neither team succeeded in this, as the game continued on, with no real flow. There were chances for both sides: Like Khari Stephenson's free kick from far out, which knuckled and almost caught Jimmy Nielsen off guard. Once Sporting started to feel the pressure, they turned it onto San Jose. Toward the middle of the half, Besler played a floating ball over the top, which Bobby Burling careless headed back to Busch without much thought. Zusi ran behind the defense, took control of the ball, but then hit a shot that would have been wide of frame, even if Busch hadn't made contact with the ball (which he did, and the refs didn't catch).


In the second half, Lenhart and Collin continued to go at it. Especially because Sporting was pinned back on defense for the majority of the 45. The 'Quakes turned up the pressure as the half wore on. Ball after ball was sent into the box, only to be cleared by SKC's defense. On one of the lofts into the box, Collin was crushed to the ground by Lenhart. San Jose's super-physical forward finally got a yellow for his actions.


Collin made one more fantastic play to save the three points in the dying minutes of the match. Scott Sealy, former KC Wizards player, recieved a ball played behind the back four, but didn't shoot early enough. Collin sprinted back to catch up with Sealy, and amazingly, got between the ball/endline and Sealy. With his final action of the game, Collin sheilded the ball out of play (and got knocked to the ground, once again), which secured Sporting Kansas City's first ever victory at LSP.


[+] Positive(s):

• Defensive Battles
• Effective Breakaways
• Young players made impact on game

[-] Negative(s):

• Offensive creativity/ firepower

Overall Team Rating: 7


Man of the Match: Aurelien Collin
Other candidates: Sinovic, Sapong, Zusi