Sporting Kc vs. Philadelphia Union might just be the biggest game this season in terms of playoff contention. Sporting Kc are currently in 2nd place in the East with 40 points, while the Philadelphia Union sit right below them in 3rd with 39 points. Should Philadelphia win they would leap frog Columbus and Sporting Kc. On the flip-side if Sporting Kc win the find themselves at the top of the East with a little bit of breathing room.
Most Dangerous Player
Sebastien Le Toux. The Frenchman will be looking to his already impressive scoring and assisting record for Philadelphia. The former Seattle man has scored 7 times and assisted on 8 occasions for the Union. His strength and awareness could do serious damage to Sporting Kc.
Weakest Link
Goalkeeping. Philly's goalkeeping situation is in shambles. Both Mondragon and MacMath have been injured. Leading Philadelphia to dip into the MLS keeper pool and take one. While it is hard to say whether this reserve goalkeeper is good, Mondragon has been a rock back there and having him out of the starting XI is a huge blow.
Football Style
Philadelphia like to use a quick passing system that helps them get up the field as quick as possible. They don't like to sit back and let other teams come at them. It's a very in-your-face type of footballing style. While the Union have been good this season I believe Sporting Kc deserve to be ahead of them in the standings and anything but a win at LSP on Friday night could be devastating for either teams.
Key Match Up
Sporting Kc's strikers vs. Philly's goalkeeper. While the MLS reserve pool keeper will certainly have a tough time trying to keep the likes of Kamara and Bravo from scoring the real problem could be in the striker delema for Sporting Kc. Vermes will have to pick between either Sapong or Bunbury. While Bunbury looked lively against RSL Sapong has been tremendous this season, scoring goals from all types of angles.
Prediction
Sporting Kc - 2 (Sapong, Bravo)
Philadelphia Union - 1
Showing posts with label Philadelphia Union. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philadelphia Union. Show all posts
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sporting Kc Earn Important Road Point At PPL Park
Sporting Kc played a dirty, sloppy and hard-fought game against the Philadelphia Union in a midweek league game at PPL Park, and most importantly, walked away with a well deserved point. Now Sporting Kc find themselves with only 5 road games left in the entire season and 14 points through 14 games.
The First Half
Peter Vermes fielded a lineup that was somewhat identical to the one we saw at home on Friday night against the San Jose earthquakes, the two biggest changes were Cesar coming in at CB for the suspended Collin, and Bunbury in for Sapong, which was a surprise to say the least.
Sporting started the game relatively well, Kamara and Bravo had some early looks but both shots were off target. Then Philly got going and created some of their own chances, but none of them were converted.The high-pressure system that Philly used for much of the half was just a taste of what was to come for KC. Not much more to the first half than that, Bunbury was again trying to do it all by himself, and Cesar looked a little off balance. It was a really sloppy game from Sporting and Philly, but the latter looked by far the better team.
The Second Half
Sporting Kc made one change coming out of the halftime break. Sapong on for Bunbury, something that most fans were pleased with. Bunbury just hasn't looked himself these past couple of games, and I believe Sapong should have started.
Sporting Kc came out with more intent in the second half but played with a lot less pressure than they did in the first. Mainly due to Vermes wanting to get something out of this game, a point at least. But Philadelphia showed why they're second place in the Eastern Conference and created A LOT of chances. One of those chances nearly payed off in the 72' minute when Sassano failed to close down Le Toux from a couple yards outside KC's box and the ensuing cross from Le Toux was nearly turned in by the unmarked head of Ruiz, but the crossbar came to Sporting's rescue once again. The last 20 minutes of the game Sporting Kc dropped almost all 11 men behind the ball to try and stop any attack from Philly. Hence, the Union went on to record 26 shots but only 7 of those were on target as compared to Sporting's 8 shots, out of those 0 were on target. But Sporting Kc did hold on, mainly due to the fact that Nielsen was a beast all night.
They earned a very valuable point on the road, and are now unbeaten in 6 games.
Player Ratings
Nielsen 8*, Myers 6, Besler 6, Cesar 7, Sinovic 5, Sassano 6, Diop 6, Arnaud 6, Bravo 5, Kamara 6, Bunbury 4.
Subs: Sapong 6, Harrington 6, Auvray N/A.
*Denotes Man Of the Match
The First Half
Peter Vermes fielded a lineup that was somewhat identical to the one we saw at home on Friday night against the San Jose earthquakes, the two biggest changes were Cesar coming in at CB for the suspended Collin, and Bunbury in for Sapong, which was a surprise to say the least.
Sporting started the game relatively well, Kamara and Bravo had some early looks but both shots were off target. Then Philly got going and created some of their own chances, but none of them were converted.The high-pressure system that Philly used for much of the half was just a taste of what was to come for KC. Not much more to the first half than that, Bunbury was again trying to do it all by himself, and Cesar looked a little off balance. It was a really sloppy game from Sporting and Philly, but the latter looked by far the better team.
The Second Half
Sporting Kc made one change coming out of the halftime break. Sapong on for Bunbury, something that most fans were pleased with. Bunbury just hasn't looked himself these past couple of games, and I believe Sapong should have started.
Sporting Kc came out with more intent in the second half but played with a lot less pressure than they did in the first. Mainly due to Vermes wanting to get something out of this game, a point at least. But Philadelphia showed why they're second place in the Eastern Conference and created A LOT of chances. One of those chances nearly payed off in the 72' minute when Sassano failed to close down Le Toux from a couple yards outside KC's box and the ensuing cross from Le Toux was nearly turned in by the unmarked head of Ruiz, but the crossbar came to Sporting's rescue once again. The last 20 minutes of the game Sporting Kc dropped almost all 11 men behind the ball to try and stop any attack from Philly. Hence, the Union went on to record 26 shots but only 7 of those were on target as compared to Sporting's 8 shots, out of those 0 were on target. But Sporting Kc did hold on, mainly due to the fact that Nielsen was a beast all night.
They earned a very valuable point on the road, and are now unbeaten in 6 games.
Player Ratings
Nielsen 8*, Myers 6, Besler 6, Cesar 7, Sinovic 5, Sassano 6, Diop 6, Arnaud 6, Bravo 5, Kamara 6, Bunbury 4.
Subs: Sapong 6, Harrington 6, Auvray N/A.
*Denotes Man Of the Match
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Sporting Kc Face Off Against The Philadelphia Union
*First off before you read this article check out the poll to the right, it's extremely important that you vote for the one you think is the best name, thanks guys! Enjoy.*
Sporting Kc head north to face off against one of the newer teams in the league, the Philadelphia Union. Although they are one of the most recent expansion teams in MLS they've done quite well this season, netting 16 goals and only conceding 12.They also have a solid 22 points in only 14 games, giving them 2nd place in the Eastern Conference.
Sporting Kc will be without some of their marquee players. Including Ryan Smith and Aurelien Collin. Meaning that we should see the same formation we've seen the past few games, except Collin comes out and Cesar will come in, along with fellow CB Matt Besler.
As far as the game itself goes I think Sporting Kc have a chance. They're on a role and the're defense is looking very good (we'll see what effect Cesar has on that). Philadelphia on the other hand are win-less in three and seem to be having trouble scoring goals. But Philly are undefeated at home this season so let's not get too excited.
Lineup
Prediction
Sporting Kc - 2 (Sapong, Bravo)
Philadelphia - 1 (Mwanga)
Sporting Kc head north to face off against one of the newer teams in the league, the Philadelphia Union. Although they are one of the most recent expansion teams in MLS they've done quite well this season, netting 16 goals and only conceding 12.They also have a solid 22 points in only 14 games, giving them 2nd place in the Eastern Conference.
Sporting Kc will be without some of their marquee players. Including Ryan Smith and Aurelien Collin. Meaning that we should see the same formation we've seen the past few games, except Collin comes out and Cesar will come in, along with fellow CB Matt Besler.
As far as the game itself goes I think Sporting Kc have a chance. They're on a role and the're defense is looking very good (we'll see what effect Cesar has on that). Philadelphia on the other hand are win-less in three and seem to be having trouble scoring goals. But Philly are undefeated at home this season so let's not get too excited.
Lineup
Prediction
Sporting Kc - 2 (Sapong, Bravo)
Philadelphia - 1 (Mwanga)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)