One Win Away From the MLS Cup Final

Sporting Kc will be in the drivers seat this Sunday afternoon when they take on the Houston Dynamo for the right to play either RSL or the LA Galaxy. Sporting Kc welcome the Dynamo to what should be a packed, proud, and dare I say it pulsating LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Well, at least the Cauldron will be. Nevertheless tomorrow's game will be the last home game for Sporting Kc this season and It should be a good one,

The Houston Dynamo could usually come into Sunday's fixture knowing that they have one thing over Sporting Kc - their set pieces. But, Sporting Kc have become almost as good as Houston on their set pieces. In-fact 5 out of Sporting Kc's last 7 goals have been from set pieces and only 1 has come in open play. Granted this little bit trivia is good to know when playing against the Houston Dynamo but should we advance to the final we can not rely on just set pieces alone.

As for Sporting Kc, Omar Bravo may be set to make a return after missing the first two games of the playoffs for KC with a slight groin injury while Bunbury and Sapong are each hitting form at the right time. As for the back-line Jimmy Nielsen and co. haven't let a goal in for over 360 minutes, a stretch of 4 games.

MLS MVP candidate Brad Davis has been the key to Houston Dynamo's success this season and his left foot is the reason for Houston's threat on set pieces. Not to mention the fact that Houston have many aerial threats within there side.

Regardless of Houston's threat on set pieces I believe Sporting Kc can pull through in this Eastern Conference Final and advance into the MLS Cup Final to face either RSL or LA Galaxy at The Home Depot Center.

Predicted Score: 
Sporting Kc - 2 (Sapong, Bunbury)
Houston Dynamo - 1 (Ching)

#ibelievethatwewillwin

#cheesyhashtags

Sporting Kc Advance to the Eastern Conference Final



Sporting Kc players celebrate CJ Sapong's goal



Last night in the freezing rain Sporting Kc did what everyone expected them to do - beat a injury-plagued Colorado Rapids side at home. More than 18,000 fans came out to support their side as they easily beat the Rapids 2-0. But to be fair, Colorado were missing upwards of 6 starters, throw in a suspended Tyrone Marshall and you have one of the worst Colorado sides int he past year.

To be completely honest Colorado did not look at all like they wanted to play, they were missing so much creativity in the middle of the park, their chances were restricted to pretty much nothing. And their confidence wasn't helped either when Aurelien Collin took the lead in the 28th minute off of a Zusi free kick. It was poor marking from a Colorado side that was missing the defensive presence of Moor and Mastroeni.

Sporting Kc ended the series in the 76th minute when CJ Sapong rose highest to get on the end of yet another Zusi free-kick. It was a fantastic leap from Sapong who was left completely un-marked by the Colorado defense.

Knocking out the reigning champions in the freezing rain was amazing. The best part of the night for me was when we sang, "GOO BAAACK TO COOOLORADOOOOO!" following a tremendous effort by the boys in blue. Now Sporting Kc will get to host either Philly or Houston on Sunday depending on results in Houston tonight.

This team is gaining momentum at the perfect time, there is so much belief in the side to go out there on Sunday and beat either Philadelphia or Houston and go to the MLS Cup final.

Player Ratings
Nielsen - 6, Myers 7, Besler 6, Collin 8, Sinovic 6, Cesar 7, Espinoza 6, Zusi 9, Kamara 7, Bunbury 6, Sapong 8. Subs: Saad NA, Diop NA, Arnaud 6.

Sporting Kc Easily Topple a Distraught Colorado Rapids Side

The man of the hour, Teal Bunbury. - via Getty Images

Last night Sporting Kc might of had the best start to a 2-legged playoff match-up ever when they beat Colorado away 2-0 in Denver on a freezing Halloween-eve. Beating Colorado was great for Sporting's confidence heading into the second leg at LSP, not to mention the fact that Colorado now have to play on Wednesday without SIX starters and a suspended Tyrone Marshall.

It was a quiet 1st half to say the least and it seemed as if both teams were OK with the 0-0 draw but then after the break Teal Bunbury drew first blood. The goal came after some decent possession for KC, Julio Cesar picked his head up in the middle of the park and played a fantastic through-ball right into the path of Bunbury who easily finessed it into the bottom right corner. Sending the traveling supporters into a craze

It was again Bunbury who was causing the Colorado Rapids back line trouble in the 59th minute when he made a darting run in to the box with the ball at his feet as Tyrone Marshall came through the back of Bunbury, prompting the referee to give a PK and a red card to the offender (not to say Bunbury didn't go down easily).

KC talisman Davy Arnaud could of made it three when he was played an excellent through ball by Jeferson who found the racing Arnaud, but the 31 year old couldn't really get a solid foot on it and Perkins made the save.

All-in-all it was a great win for Sporting Kc. We put a huge dent in the defending MLS champions' playoff chances with that win, and now Sporting Kc know that they are only 2 wins away from being in the MLS Cup final. However, I applaud the Rapids players, they didn't get upset and nasty after the loss like the NYRB's did, poor showing from the "best of MLS".

Sporting Kc To Face Colorado Away In One Of Two Games

Earlier tonight it was learned that Sporting Kc will face Colorado away on Sunday night in Denver. Following that first away game Sporting will welcome The Rapids to what should be a hostile environment at  LSP on Wednesday in the second and final game.

Colorado beat Columbus 1-0 off of a lone Omar Cummings goal right before half-time on a freezing Thursday night in Denver. Following the win Colorado earned the right to face Sporting Kc in a 2 game series. While The Rapids are a decent squad, it could be worse for Sporting Kc. The LA Galaxy will have to fly 2,450 miles across the entire US from LA to NY to face a Red Bull's side that is gaining momentum at the right time. This is what LA receives for winning the supporter's shield?

Regardless Sporting Kc just needs to go to the mile high city and get at least a draw knowing that when they come back to KC the friendly confines of LSP will be waiting to greet them.

The Playoffs, Sporting Kansas City Style

It's that time of year again and the Sporting Kansas City faithful are getting geared up for what should be an exciting playoff race. Albeit the spot still isn't locked down, Sporting Kc have a very good chance at being with the MLS elite when the playoffs kick off in late October and early November.


The next game Sporting Kc has to clinch a playoff spot might just be the biggest of the season, as Sporting welcome the New York Red Bulls to LSP. And when the final "regular-season" game comes around on October 22 Sporting Kc will have to face DC United, a team that as of right now are 5 points out of a playoff spot. However, if we were to win against the NYRB's next Saturday we would clinch a playoff spot. In-fact if the season were to end today we would be in the playoffs no questions asked.

Basically, no matter what happens there is a 98.2% we will make the playoffs. But we don't want to just finish in a wild-card spot and hope we win the following game to actually get into the playoffs. No, we want to finish top of the East and have as many playoff games as we can here at LSP, plus the higher we finish the better chance there is of us getting a lower-quality team to face. If we choose to let fate handle our playoff destiny then we could end up facing a team of a higher caliber. I mean, which hypothetical scenario would you want to have: Away playing against a star studded LA Galaxy? Or home against an expansion side Portland Timbers? I would choose the latter one. On the other hand, just making it into the playoffs would deem this season a success, and would save Peter Vermes' job. After we seemingly shot ourselves in the foot with a horrendous 10 game road trip that saw us sink to last place in the entire league. But, due to some great home form and some stand-out performances from the youngsters (Sapong, Besler, Zusi, etc.) we now find ourselves in a situation that other clubs would die for.

Sporting Kc's Actual Playoff Chances

As the season comes to a close many fans will be wanting to know where their team is in the playoff race. Fortunately Kurt Austin (@kaustin01) shared with me a sweet site displaying stats on Sporting Kc's playoff race. I'll go ahead and post them here for some quick analysis.

98% - Chance Sporting Kc will make the playoffs.

8.6% - Percentage points it changed our chance of making the playoffs after the 2-1 win over Columbus.

0% - Chance Sporting Kc finishes with the Supporters Shield.

100% - Percentage Sporting Kc has at getting first seed in the Eastern Conference if they win their last 3 games.

64% - Percentage Sporting Kc has at being in the playoffs if they lose their last 3 games.

53, 51, 50, 49 - Points needed for Sporting Kc to finish in a playoff spot.

-2.3% - Percentage points it will change our chance of making the playoffs if we lose against San Jose.

You can check out where I got these stats and some other cool stuff here